Tebow, Gators find themselves again

JACKSONVILLE — On Halloween, Florida's football team dressed up as last year's team.

This was the Florida team so many in the Gator Nation have been waiting for all season, aggressive on offense and a turnover-producing machine on defense. The quarterback was his old self, catapulting to the top of the Heisman race and having that Heisman moment.

It came when he ran 26 yards for an important score at the end of the first half, breaking Herschel Walker's record for career rushing touchdowns against the team Walker played for in the town where Tebow grew up.

Messrs McCoy, Ingram and Spiller, your moves.

"It's breathtaking," Tebow said. "It's Herschel Walker. How am I going to be in the same air as Herschel Walker?"

Could he have dreamed it up any better? Could he have believed it four years ago?

But this was more than just Tebow beating Herschel and Georgia in one tackle-breaking run. This was a team and its quarterback finding itself. After the struggles in Starkville last week, this was an offensive coordinator being able to walk out of a stadium with a broad grin. It was a group of players who could finally breathe again.

They had heard a lot of the chirping and it was starting to wear on a bunch of guys who were, after all, unbeaten. But they knew they weren't playing at the high level they expected to play at this season.

"We're a proud team," said Steve Addazio, the offensive coordinator. "Our players did a good job of rallying. They feel and hear all of the stuff going on. It can tug at you in a lot of places. It was a hard week for all of us."

The aftermath of the close call at Mississippi State weighed on the team and its coaches. Linebacker Brandon Spikes admitted to a reporter that he and Tebow had a little "skirmish" that they had worked out. Billy Donovan came in Thursday to tell the team to stick together. Meyer fired them up in a meeting at the team hotel on Friday.

Nobody felt the weight of expectations more than Tebow. And when he played poorly last week and the questions started coming about the offense, he took it personally.

"You could see something different in the way he prepared for this game," wide receiver David Nelson said. "He feels like, if the offense isn't playing well, he's not playing well. If you take a stab at the offense, you're taking a stab at him. He did take it personally."

Tebow was Tebow again against the Bulldogs. Maybe it was their woeful defense, but Florida has struggled against some other bad defenses. This night would be different right from the start. Six plays, six points on the opening drive. There was tweaking of the offense, and Florida found out the best way to solve the red zone issues was to stay out of it for the most part.

And with a defense getting four picks in the second half, the black-helmeted Bulldogs were overpowered the way fans have been waiting for them to overpower teams all year.

"Everyone said to chill out and have fun," Meyer said. "There's only one way to have fun and that's to go sing that fight song."

They sang it with great vigor on Saturday night in front of a stadium that had once been full and was now half-empty. This was such a familiar scene and this was a familiar team.

You remember these guys, right?

And you remember the quarterback?

"I take it upon myself when there is criticism of Coach Addazio or the offensive line or the receivers," Tebow said. "A lot of it can be changed by how I play."

And when the big guy plays like he did against Georgia, these guys aren't losing.