Tebow Returning for Senior Season
Tim Tebow is coming back. The Florida quarterback told a crowd celebrating the school's latest national title Sunday he wants to lead the Gators to another championship.
Tebow thrilled the 40,000 fans by saying: "Oh, by the way, let's do it again. I'm coming back."
In 2007, Tebow became the first sophomore to win the Heisman Trophy. In the Gators' 24-14 win over Oklahoma on Thursday night, Tebow completed 18 of 30 passes for 231 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran for 109 yards.
"Overall, I just felt loyal to this place," Tebow said after the celebration. "I feel like I'm a role model and a lot of times people start things and don't finish them. I didn't want to be like that. I wanted to be loyal to the university. I wanted to finish what I started and play another year."
Tebow talked to several NFL coaches about his pro prospects, he said feedback was mixed, but nothing they told him really swayed his decision. He knew he wanted to stay in Gainesville, and told coach Urban Meyer on Saturday.
"Some of that stuff is tempting at the next level and everything that goes along with it, especially ending on a great note and ending up with a national championship and moving on from there," Tebow said. "But I love these guys and coach Meyer and this program too much. I feel we can still end on a bang next year."
AP News
Florida Wins BCS Championship
Tim Tebow enjoyed the battering-ram runs. He liked the old-school jump pass.
Drawing a rare penalty, that really made Tebow's day.
With No. 1 Florida about to finish off No. 2 Oklahoma 24-14 for the BCS championship Thursday night, Tebow was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct.
"I didn't trash talk or say anything, but I did the Gator chomp," he said. "I was pretty excited. Just gave it a little Gator chomp, and it was also for the fans."
The rough-and-tumble style won't satisfy fans of Utah, Southern California and Texas, who were all hoping to claim the top spot.
No matter to the Gators. They finished far ahead of the Utes in the final Associated Press poll Friday, receiving 48 of 65 first-place votes. Utah got 16 firsts and USC drew one.
Gators #1 in AP Poll
The Gators (12-1) won the SEC Championship on Saturday by defeating previously No. 1 Alabama 31-20 in Atlanta.
Oklahoma (12-1), the Big 12 champs, is ranked No. 2, Texas No.3, Alabama No. 4 and Southern Cal is No. 5.
The Gators and Sooners are expected to meet in the Bowl Championship Series title game Jan. 8 in Miami. The final BCS standings and bowl pairings will be announced starting at 8 tonight on Fox.
In the USA Today coaches poll, the Sooners are ranked No. 1 with 31 first-place votes, while the Gators are No. 2 with 26 first-place votes. Texas is No. 3, with Alabama and UCS tied at fourth.
Led by quarterback Tim Tebow, the Gators scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns Saturday to rally past Alabama. The Gators outgained the Crimson Tide 133-1 in the game's final 15 minutes.
"One of the great challenges maybe our team has ever had," UF coach Urban Meyer said on his television show Sunday. "When you start talking about blue collar vs. white collar, fast vs. tough. The foundation of our program is toughness.
"It starts in February, it goes through training camp, it goes through summer conditioning with our strength coach Mickey Marotti. It goes through every Tuesday and Wednesday practice. It finishes in December in the fourth quarter against Alabama in the SEC Championship Game. The tougher team won that game.
"I'm proud of our players No. 1, but I'm also proud of the support system that's involved. Toughness wins football games. Toughness won that football game Saturday."
SEC Notes: Florida has now won eight SEC championships. UF is 7-2 in SEC title games, the most wins in the league. ... The Gators set a school record with 587 points scored in a season. The old record was 559 set in 1996 ... Tebow has thrown two or more touchdown passes in nine straight games. ... Receiver David Nelson has nine catches this season, four of them for TDs. ... The Gators scored 30-plus points in their nine SEC games this season.
Florida Wins SEC
Tim Tebow led #4 Florida on two touchdown scoring drives in the 4th quarter in Saturday's SEC championship game to win the Conference and knock off #1 and previously unbeaten Alabama 31-20.
The reigning Heisman winner had been 0-5 in his Florida career when trailing in the 2nd half - now he's 1-5.
Florida trailed 20-17 before Tebow put the Gators on his broad shoulders.
Gators playmaker Percy Harvin didn't play as he recovers from a badly sprained ankle suffered last weekend against Florida State. The lack of Harvin was evident at times, but Tebow and a host of other playmakers kept the stingy Crimson Tide defense on its heels in the final quarter.
Tebow threw 3 touchdowns, his final to roommate Riley Cooper.
The Gators win the SEC and are almost assured a spot in the BCS title game.
Florida improves to 12-1, 'Bama falls to 12-1.