Dooley: No one hurting more than Tebow

You think you took this loss hard.

You should have seen Tim Tebow.

After an emotional press conference following Florida's stunning 31-30 loss to Mississippi, Tebow sent a message to Florida fans.

"I just wanted to say one thing," he said.

And then we wondered if he was going to get it out. He took some deep breaths amid the uneasy silence, tried to compose himself as tears flowed and finally said the following:

"To the fans and everybody, I'm sorry. I'm extremely sorry. We were hoping for an undefeated season. That was my goal, something Florida's never done here. But I promise you one thing: a lot of good will come out of this. You have never seen any player in the entire country play as hard as I will play the rest of this season and you'll never see someone push the rest of the team as hard as I will push everybody the rest of this season and you'll never see a team play harder than we will the rest of this season. God bless."

This was a tough one to take. Especially for the Florida quarterback.

This was what he had worked all summer for, that chance to lead his team from behind in the closing minutes. He had come so close. Some of it he could control like the pass to Louis Murphy — open, behind the defense — that fell out of the receiver's reach. Some of it he could not, like the blocked extra point that should have tied the game.

This was considered Tebow's Kryptonite a year ago, making big plays when the Gators needed them the most at the end of a game. Georgia, Michigan, Auburn and LSU. He kept coming up short but this year would be different.

And he showed that when Florida got the ball with a little more than five minutes to play after the deflating 86-yard touchdown pass from Jevan Snead to Shay Hodge gave the Rebels the lead.

He completed four straight passes for 53 yards, then let Percy Harvin take it the rest of the way from the 15. But then that kick that never had a chance.

So it was on the quarterback again.

"It's something you want as a football player," Tebow said. "The whole time I had 100 percent trust and faith in my team. We were going to win for sure."

But they didn't.

Tebow completed three passes to move the ball to the Ole Miss 41. Then the miss to Murphy, who had a hard time getting off a jam on the post pattern. Then another just out of Harvin's reach near the goal. After Brandon James gained nine yards, it was on Tebow again.

"I thought I'd will myself to the first down," he said.

Like he has so many times before.

But not this time.

That's why Saturday night was a restless one for the face of Florida football.

"There will be a lot of plays when I go to bed I'll be thinking about," Tebow said.

There is no doubt that what killed Florida on a perfect day for football was its imperfections in the basic areas that Urban Meyer preaches. Ball security, special teams, great defense. None of them were there.

"I am surprised and disappointed," Meyer said. "We just have to get better. We've lost a couple of games around here and we're going to find out what we're made of."

On Saturday, they were made of a lot of mistakes that are uncharacteristic for Meyer's Florida teams. His Gators played one of the worst quarters since he showed up here, losing two turnovers and getting outscored by Ole Miss 17-0 in the third.

But they fought back. Just not far enough back.

And their quarterback has nothing to apologize for.

Tebow takes losses hard, harder than any player I've ever seen and took this one harder than any before. It's part of what makes him so special, that incredible competitiveness.

But this was a team loss on the heels of a team win in Knoxville.

The Gator Nation is hurting today.

Nobody more than its quarterback.

And we will find out about this team over the rest of this season. What we really will find out is whether or not there are enough guys in that locker room who felt the same as their leader.