Thompson comes up with the big catch

<p>With Florida down 10-6 against Arkansas and time winding down in the third quarter, the Gators needed a big play to change momentum.</p><p> They found one from an unlikely source.</p><p> Sophomore receiver Deonte Thompson's wide-open 77-yard touchdown catch from quarterback Tim Tebow put the Gators ahead 13-10 with 2:59 left in the third.</p><p> Thompson's only catch of the game was his third touchdown this season and first since Sept. 13 against Troy. Thompson missed games against Tennessee and Kentucky with a pulled hamstring. </p><p> "Deonte needed that," Florida coach Urban Meyer said. "He's been here for a while and we're just waiting for him to do that and not when you're up by 20 or 30 points. I think we were actually behind at the time and that was a big-time play.</p><p> "It energized our team, it energized the stadium, but most importantly it energized the player who we have to have make big-time plays like that."</p><p> The 77-yard TD pass play to Thompson was the longest completion in Tebow's career. It came on a play-action fake.</p><p> "We had been having a lot of success in our play-action passing," Tebow said. "We had seen where we had a few looks earlier where we could have forced it down but we were kind of getting Aaron (Hernandez) open on some underneath stuff. He was doing a good job."</p><p> Tebow said with the free safety coming down on Hernandez, Thompson was able to spring free.</p><p> "They actually sort of busted the coverage because the corner tried to cut and he thought I was going to go the corner route to Aaron like I did three or four times and no one was covering (Thompson)," Tebow said. "It was funny because I didn't know it was a busted coverage and he didn't know it was a busted coverage.</p><p> "It was kind of in-between and I just kind of put it out there hoping he would see it and go get it. He did and it was a great play by him."</p><p><i>Contact Kevin Brockway at 352-374-5054 or at brockwk@gvillesun.com.</i></p>