ATLANTA – Back on Sept. 27, after the Florida Gators had dropped a 31-30 loss in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium to Mississippi, reigning Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow vowed while fighting back tears that no one would play harder, no team would play harder and that Florida would not lose again.
Thanks to a fourth-quarter rally for the ages, Tebow and the Gators are just one victory away, in all probability, for a shot at their second national title in three seasons during the remarkable four-year reign of coach Urban Meyer.
Tebow, playing without his partner Percy Harvin, engineered two long scoring drives in the final 15 minutes to lift the No. 4 Gators to a 31-20 victory over top-ranked Alabama in the Southeastern Conference Championship Game at the Georgia Dome.
Jeffrey Demps scored on a 1-yard run to culminate an 11-play, 62-yard scoring drive to put Florida back ahead, 24-20, with 9:21 left to play in the game which had four lead changes and will go down in history as one of the most exciting, well-fought games in college football history.
Then after the Florida defense stopped the Crimson Tide, Tebow and the Gators drove 65 yards on 8 plays, the last a 5-yard scoring pass from Tebow to his roommate, Riley Cooper, with 2:50 remaining that gave Florida its final margin of victory.
Defensive back Joe Haden secured the victory when he intercepted a desperation pass by Crimson Tide redshirt senior John Parker Wilson, who had led his team to 12 straight victories and the No. 1 ranking but couldn’t get the 13th that would have sent Nick Saban’s Alabama team to the BCS National Championship Game in Miami on Jan. 8.
Instead, Florida likely will get the berth as long as the computers and two human polls that determine the final BCS rankings don’t somehow leave Florida on the outside looking in. The final rankings will be announced Sunday night at 8 p.m. on FOX, which televises the BCS championship game. Oklahoma, No. 2 in the BCS rankings, was to meet Missouri later Saturday in the Big 12 Championship game in Kansas City, while Texas, No. 3, waits at home to see how things shake out.
Tebow completed 14 of 22 passes f or 216 yards and three touchdowns, two to Cooper and one to Carl Moore. The 6-3, 240-pound quarterback also led the Gators in rushing with 56 yards on 17 carries.
The Gators finished ahead on the statistical board, with a 359-323 edge in total yards and a 143-136 edge in rushing. Wilson was 12-of-25 passing for 187 yards and one interception – the only turnover of the game by the two teams. Glen Coffee, who had one of Alabama’s two rushing touchdowns, rushed 21 times for 112 yards.
With Harvin watching, Florida’s offense didn’t look like it missed him on its first drive of the game. With Tebow touching the ball on seven of the nine plays, Florida marched 59 yards in 4:28 to a 7-0 lead. The touchdown came on a third- and-goal, 3-yard pass from Tebow to Carl Moore, who got between his man and the football. Jonathan Phillips’ PAT kick followed the score at 8:17 of the opening quarter.
Two of Tebow’s biggest plays plays on the drive were a 14-yard pass to Louis Murphy on the second play and a 14-yard run for a first down at the Alabama 17 on the fourth play. In between, Jeff Demps took an option pitch from Tebow and ran 12 yards. Then after a 9-yard pass to Nelson, Tebow ran 5 yards for a first-and-goal at the Alabama 3. Two Tebow runs followed and netted zero yards before the junior quarterback bought some time, rolling left and finding Moore with a deft low pass that only his receiver could catch.
On the ensuing kickoff, Florida stopped Alabama’s dangerous returnman Javier Arenas at his own 18, inciting the crowd. But the Florida defense was burned on the first play when Wilson found Julio Jones on a short down-and-in pass. Jones broke the tackle of Joe Haden, broke another by Major Wright and ran away from Brandon Spikes’ diving tackle to go 64 yards before he was run out at the Florida 18 by a hustling Wright.
The Gators’ defense hardly had a chance to catch its breath when Wilson handed the ball off to Coffee, who went through a huge hole on the right side, sprinted into the secondary and then dove toward the goal line, getting the ball into the end zone just 54 seconds after Florida’s touchdown, and Leigh Tiffin’s PAT tied the game at 7-7 with 7:23 to play in the quarter.
The quick shift in momentum gav e the Alabama defense life, and the Crimson Tide forced a Florida punt on its next possession. Arenas returned the punt 19 yards and another 5 yards was tagged on to the end of the play, giving Alabama a first down at the Florida 25. But the Gator defense stiffened after allowing an initial first down on a 12-yard pass from Wilson to Nick Walker. So Tiffin nailed a 30-yard field goal at 3:28 and Florida trailed 10-7 for the first time since the second half of its 31-30 loss to Ole Miss on Sept. 27.
When Florida’s offense went three and out on its next possession, there was cause for concern, especially as Alabama ended the first quarter adding 23 rushing yards to move the football into Florida territory. A 13-yard run by Coffee gave the Tide a first down at the Florida 33, but then < st1:City w:st="on">Wilson missed on two passes, bringing up a fourth-and-9 play from the Florida 32.
Unknown to Florida, Tiffin was poked in the eye on the previous kickoff, so the Tide sent backup placekicker Corey Smith in to attempt a 49-yard field goal. But the Gators smelled a fake and they were right as holder/punter P.J. Fitzgerald took off but was stopped after gaining just one yard by walk-on special-team player Bobby Kane.
Recharged, the Gators marched 67 yards in eight plays for the tying field goal, a 19-yarder by Phillips with 8:59 remaining before half. Tebow had two big plays on the drive, rushing 11 yards on a third-and-7 play for a first down at the Florida 45. Then on the next play, Cooper ran a stutter-and-go, got behind his man and Tebow dropped the=2 0pass into his hands for an eventual 51-yard completion.
However, a costly 5-yard false-start penalty on right guard Mike Pouncey followed and the Tebow’s third-down run from the Alabama 8 came up two yards shy of the end zone, bringing in Phillips, whose conversion made him 11-of-11 on field-goal attempts this season.
On the ensuing kickoff, Arenas fielded Caleb Sturgis’ kick by the sideline and his momentum carried him out of bounds at the Alabama 4. Fitzpatrick punted 47 yards to the Florida 43, where Brandon James made a fair catch. On the first play, James rushed for 4 yards and Florida got another 15 yards when Rashad Johnson horse-collared James to the ground.
From the Alabama 38, Tebow got another first down when three rushes totaled 11 yards. He then hit Aaron Hernandez on a second-down pass for 22 yards for a first-and-goal at the Alabama 5. On third down, Tebow had an empty backfield as Florida spread the Alabama secondary out, and Nelson made a nice move and caught a 5-yard touchdown pass with gave Florida a 17-10 lead with 2:59 to go that it would take to the locker room.
But the Crimson Tide came out in the third quarter and totally dominated, running 25 plays on two long drives and scoring 10 points to take a 20-17 lead into the final quarter.
After forcing Florida to go 3-and-out on the first possession of the second half, Alabama started from its own 9-yard line following a 57-yard punt by Henry. Wilson threw incomplete on first down, but connected on his next passes during the 15-play scoring drive that ended with freshman Ingram banging his way into the end zone from 2 yards out with 6:20 left in the third quarter.
Ingram and Coffee lugged the ball nine times total for 45 yards and Wilson got the rest with his right arm, three of his completions going to Jones for 38 yards. Ingram’s touchdown and Tiffin’s PAT made it 17-17 all.
Tebow got his team back in business with a 34-yard pass completion to Murphy on the first play of the drive to the Alabama 37. But the Gators got no closer than Alabama’s 25, where on fourth down Phillips’ 42-yard field goal went wide right.
Wilson brought the Tide right back with 10-play drive to Tiffin’s 27-yard field goal with 8 seconds remaining in the quarter, but the Gators behind 20-17 entering the final quarter.
What the Tide didn’t know is that Tim Tebow and the Florida Gators had them right where they wanted them.
SEC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
Saturday, Dec. 6, 2008
FLORIDA 24, ALABAMA 20
At Georgia Dome, Atlanta
Scoring by quarters 1 2 3 4 — Final
Alabama (No. 1 BCS) 10 0 10 0
Florida (No. 4 BCS) 7 10 0 14
FIRST QUARTER
UF—Carl Moore 3 pass from Tim Tebow (Jonathan Phillips kick good) at 8:17.
Drive: 9 plays, 59 yards, 4 first downs, 4:28 time elapsed following Alabama punt.
Key plays: Tebow hit Louis Murphy for 14 yards and first down on second play; Jeff Demps took an option pitch from Tebow 12 yards; Tebow kept for 14 yards for another first down to the Alabama 17; touchdown came third-and-goal from the Alabama 3 as Tebow bought some time, rolled left and threw to Moore, who made a diving catch.
Score: Florida 7, Alabama 0.
ALA—Glen Coffee 18 run (Leigh Tiffin kick good) at 7:23.
Drive: 2 plays, 82 yards, 2 first downs, 0:54 time elapsed following Florida kickoff.
Key plays: John Parker Wilson connected with Julio Jones over the middle and Jones broke tackles by Joe Haden, Major Wright and a diving effort by Brandon Spikes for 64-yard gain to the Florida 18. Coffee=2 0scored on run off right tackle, diving into the end zone.
Score: Alabama 7, Florida 7.
ALA—FG Tiffin 30 at 3:28.
Drive: 5 plays, 12 yards, 1 first down, 2:15 time elapsed after Chaz Henry’s 37-yard punt and 20-yard return by Javier Arenas plus 5-yard penalty on Florida for illegal shift.
Key plays: Wilson connected with Nick Walker on play-action pass for 12 yards. But Florida defense allowed no yards on two rushes and Cunningham hurried Wilson into incompletion on third down.
Score: Alabama 10, Florida 7.
SECOND QUARTER
UF—FG Phillips 19 at 8:59.
Drive: 7 plays, 66 yards, 2 first downs, 3:15 time elapsed following Alabama’s fake 49-yard field goal that was stopped when P.J. Fitzgerald was stopped by Florida’s after a gain of 1 yard by walk-on special team player Bobby Kane.
Key plays: Tebow rushed 11 yards on a third-and-7 play for a first down at the UF 45; Tebow hit Riley Cooper on a stutter-and-go pattern for 51 yards to the Alabama 4. But a 5-yard false-start penalty against right guard Mike Pouncey before the next play set the Gators back, and three runs, two by Tebow, netted only seven yards.
Score: Florida 10, Alabama 10.
;
UF—David Nelson 5 pass from Tebow (Phillips kick good) at 2:59.
Drive: 9 plays, 57 yards, 3 first downs, 4:20 time elapsed following Alabama punt.
Key plays: Brandon James got 4 yards on first play and Alabama was penalized 15 yards when Rashad Johnson horse-collared him; Tebow rushed 5 yards on third-and-4 for first down at Alabama 27; Tebow connected on 22-yard pass to Aaron Hernandez for a first-and-goal at the Alabama 5; TD pass came on third-and-goal.
Score: Florida 17, Alab ama 10.
THIRD QUARTER
ALA—Mark Ingram 2 run (Tiffin kick good) at 6:20.
Drive: 15 plays, 91 yards, 6 first downs, 6:53 time elapsed following Chaz Henry 57-yard punt and no return by Arenas.
Key plays: The running of Coffee (6 carries, 31 yards) and Ingram (3 carries, 14 yards) and the passing of Wilson, who missed his first pass but completed his next four passes for 46 yards (three to Julio Jones on the drive for 46 yards
Score: Alabama 17, Florida 17.
ALA—FG Tiffin 27 at 0:08.
Drive: 10 plays, 65 yards, 4 first downs, 3:40 time elapsed following Phillips’ 42-yard field-goal that sailed wide right, his first miss of the season after connecting on his first 11 field-goal attempts.
Key plays: Wilson started the drive with a 17-yard completion to Nick Walker and then followed it with a 9-yard run. Three Coffee runs netted 15 yards and Wilson connected with Jones for 22 yards to the UF 12 before the Gators stiffened and forced the field goal.
Score: Alabama 20, Florida 17.
FOURTH QUARTER
UF—Jeffrey Demps 1 run (Phillips kick good) at 9:21.
Score: Florida 24, Alabama 20.
UF—Cooper 5 pass from Tebow (Phillips kick good) at 2:50.
Score: Florida 31, Alabama 20.
GAME STATISTICS
Officials: Tim Ritter, referee; Russ Pulley, umpire; Gus Morris, head linesman; Julian Mapp, line judge; Richard Morales, field judge; Chris Conley, side judge; Dale Keneipp, back judge; Matt Moore, alternate; Travis Odom, communicator; Jim Allison, replay official.
Coin toss: Alabama wins the toss, elects to receive.
Weather: Dome. Temperature: 72 degrees. No wind.
Attendance: 75,892 (Georgia Dome record).
Records: Alabama 12-1, Florida 12-1.