JACKSONVILLE — On a day in which Tim Tebow was busy re-inventing himself and looking like the old Tim Tebow, the one who sledgehammers opponents into submission, Florida’s defense and special teams did what they’ve been doing all year long, which is to say they took care of business. Urban Meyer called Florida’s 41-17 win over Georgia “one of the best team wins we’ve had at Florida.” His number one-ranked Gators might simply call it another day at the office.
Tebow, whose Heisman Trophy chances had been under siege from critics who speculated that he was (a) hurting; (b) slumping or (c) a shell of the player he once was because he had taken too many hits, had a statement game. Instead of the tentative Tebow we saw last week in Starkville, this was the decisive, play with reckless abandon Tebow of old. He ran over, around and through the Georgia defense for 85 yards and two touchdowns and went over the top for two more to roommate and best buddy Riley Cooper, who turned in one dandy of a one-handed catch in the corner of the end zone for Florida’s second touchdown with 3:20 left in the first quarter.
“That was a da-da-da, da-da-da,” Florida coach Urban Meyer said, referencing the ESPN Sports Center theme song. That was Tebow’s second touchdown hookup with Cooper. The first was good for 22 yards and Florida’s first touchdown with 12:21 left in the first quarter.
Tebow re-invented himself as the old Tebow Saturday with those two touchdown passes and touchdown runs of 23 yards with 1:32 left in the first half and five yards with 13:30 left in the third quarter. He was completely in charge, re-asserting himself as the best player in all of college football. If he was fading on the back stretch in the Heisman race last week, he was Secretariat leading by a couple of lengths at the quarter pole when this one ended.
Tebow was the set of jumper cables that Florida’s offense needed to get cranked up for the final stretch of games in the regular season. His touchdown near the end of the first half and the one at the beginning of the third quarter, set up by a pass A.J. Jones batted into the air and dived to intercept, put the Gators ahead 31-10, just the second time all season that the Gators had put up more than 30 points on a Southeastern Conference opponent.
Jones followed up a great game last week at Mississippi State with the best game of his career. In addition to the two interceptions, Jones had a sack and five tackles. Meyer didn’t seem the least bit surprised by Jones’ performance.
“Last year he didn’t play much,” Meyer said. “Two years ago he played because he had to and we didn’t have anyone else behind him. Now he’s a grown man that’s taking care of his business and he’s a program guy. He’s a result of Coach (Mickey) Marotti; he’s a result of the great family he comes from. He’s a much different player than he was. He’s earned that. I’m really proud to have a guy like that. He does well in school, he’s a high character person and good things usually happen to guys like that.”
With a 21-point lead and a half to play, Meyer had no problems transforming himself into Woody Hayes. The Gators went three yards and a cloud of dust the rest of the way, but they didn’t have to be fancy or take any risks, not with the defense swarming and special teams operating at the highest level they’ve played all season.
Georgia did manage a touchdown after the second Tebow touchdown to close the gap to 31-17 with 6:17 remaining in the third quarter, but every inch of that 79-yard drive came with a price. Georgia needed 14 plays and way too many ticks off the clock (7:31 to be exact) to get the touchdown.
After that, the Gators got physical and nasty on defense and Florida’s kicking dropped two punts inside the Georgia five and delivered a second bomb of a field goal to make it 34-17 with 7:42 left in the game.
On Georgia’s next three possessions, the Gators came up with three interceptions — a second one by Jones, a diving pick by Ryan Stamper and an icing on the cake pickoff and return for a touchdown by Brandon Spikes with 6:24 left in the game.
The Gators played it close to the vest the rest of the way, but they didn’t have to take chances. Following the Stamper interception, Caleb Sturgis nailed a 44-yard field goal to go with the 56-yarder he drilled in with 4:47 left in the first half.
The 56-yarder was the second longest field goal in Florida football history (Chris Perkins kicked a 60-yarder against Tulane in 1984) and it was a decision that Meyer made without hesitation. In years past, Meyer would have punted. Saturday, he let Sturgis kick away.
“He does it in practice,” Meyer said. “CBS asked me, ‘Did you really think he’d make it?’ No it’s just Florida-Georgia so at least try it [sarcastic grin]. He does it in practice all the time.”
Punter Chas Henry did his part with a 61-yard bomb of a punt that hugged the turf at the Georgia six like a Tiger Woods nine-iron. In the fourth quarter, he dropped a 42-yarder down to the Georgia three. For the game, he punted three times for a 48.3-yard average and gave up zero return yards.
“Eight games into the year we’ve given up zero punt return yards and I don’t know that’s ever been done before,” said Meyer, who praised gunners Joe Haden and Adrian Bushell, said his instructions to Henry were “make sure you get great hang time on that ball and make it come down wet.”
The kickoff coverage team also got into the act, corralling Georgia’s Brandon Boykin, who came into the game with two 100-yard kickoff returns for touchdowns this season. Boykin had 37 and 31-yard returns in the first half, but in the second half, the Gators corralled him, allowing him 38 yards on his last three runbacks.
“We held a dangerous kick returner — a guy who had a couple of 100 yarders and not against small teams … South Carolina and Tennessee — and we cupped him the whole night and held him to 20 yards per return.”
The combination of punt and kickoff coverage helped the Gators to a decisive second half field position advantage. The Gators average starting field position was the 50. Georgia’s average position was its own 14.
In winning their 18th straight game and eighth this season, the Gators put together perhaps their best overall effort of the season. While there were glimpses of the complete game that everyone has been waiting for all season, the Gators gave enough of a show to let the critics know that maybe they aren’t as vulnerable as advertised earlier in the week.
Because the critics had been chipping away the last two weeks, Meyer brought in Florida basketball coach Billy Donovan to speak to the team leaders Thursday night. Donovan, who had to deal with the pressure to repeat as national champion in 2007, had a simple, direct message for Tebow, Brandon Spikes and the other leaders — don’t let outsiders disrupt you.
Meyer didn’t want the Gators to start believing all the “what’s wrong with the Gators” talk that was flowing freely. Donovan’s talk helped put an end to it.
“What’s wrong with this? What’s wrong with this?” Meyer said. “Nothing’s wrong. We’re 8-0. That was the message.”
The Gators are 8-0 two thirds of the way through the regular season and after Saturday’s win over Georgia they still have room to improve but they aren’t nearly as vulnerable as some folks thought before kickoff. Just ask the Georgia Bulldogs.