We all know Tim Tebow is a demi-god on the football field. His statistics are exceptional and his performance against some of the most fearsome and athletic defenses in college football has been nothing short of otherworldly. But a chink appeared in Tebow's armor Saturday night when Kentucky defensive end Taylor Wyndham came unblocked on a third down play late in the third quarter, sacked the former Heisman winner and drove his head into teammate Marcus Gilbert's knee.
At the time, Florida led comfortably 31-7. Tebow, playing sick, had already carried the ball 16 times for 123 yards.
Superman got whiplashed. And then he got sick on the sideline. Florida pronounced him "fine," but Tebow was taken to the hospital before the game ended and will stay there overnight. reportedly with a "bad concussion." Whether or not it was the illness combined with the hit, or just the hit, the question has to be asked: Should Tim Tebow still have been in the game?
Everyone felt sick when Tebow went down, or at least they should have. The Kentucky defense didn't exactly have a moment of silence immediately afterward; I thought Kentucky's players celebrated for way too long in the immediate aftermath of the hit. Tebow doesn't milk attention. Generally when he gets hit, no matter how hard, he immediately gets back up. That's the kind of player he is. When he went down and stayed down, Kentucky's defenders should have shown a little class and stopped celebrating. After all, they were still losing by 24 points, it's not like they'd just won the game.
Second, what the hell happened with ESPN2 suddenly going to commercial as Tebow lay on the ground immobile? And coming back with an advertisement? This was the potential story of the college football season so far and for about five minutes they completely bungled the coverage. Millions of people were sitting on the edge of their seats when they abruptly cut away. There was no explanation at all. It's rare that ESPN's coverage completely flunks in a crucial situation, but ESPN2 pulled it off.
Finally, the shot of Tebow being carted off the field puking into a bag was borderline too much. In fact, the whole puking angle was way overplayed during this game. Plenty of guys puke before big games, sick or otherwise, why do we need to see it for this game and no other? What's more, why do we need to hear Bob Davie commentating on the puking? I think we know what puking looks like.
But back to the question we began this column with, did Urban Meyer do Tim Tebow a disservice by leaving him in the game too long?
No matter what angle you consider it from, this wasn't an easy call.
I feel he should have been left in the game. 24 point lead in the 3rd quarter isn't a "huge" lead in the SEC. Still a lot of football to be played. Florida scored 31 in one quarter. So could Kentucky, but not likely. The point is, anything can happen and we've all seen unbelievable things happen in football. If they had the 24 point lead in the 4th with 7-8 minutes left in the game, then yeah take him out, but knowing how Urban likes to leave his players in just to cover the spread, chances are Tebow would have still been in the game.
Of course he should have been on the field. Everyone is say the game was well in hand.. Was it? I mean After the 1st quarter out offense wasn't doing much in terms of scoring, and UK was slowly gaining momentum. Not enough so that they looked like they would pull off a win, but if they had scored 2 more TDs you are looking at a possible 31-21 game..
If he was actually taken out of the game prior to that drive, people would have been baffled and questioning Meyer too... That is not the time to pull your starters.. especially in the SEC on the road.
And yeah, as I watched Tim go down and his arms and fingers go stiff.. my heart sank to the ground... and then I want to see if he's ok, but all I can see are UK players running and jumping around like they just took the lead. Meanwhile, we are left wondering if our QB will ever walk again. You'd think the ominous hush that fell over the crowd (or all the trainers rushing onto the field) would be a sign to the Wildcats that maybe they should stop dancing and maybe show an ounce of class. Just sayin.
I'm guessing that was his last series. Punch one in there, and then pull him. No, Kentucky wasn't coming back and winning that game, but the only way they do is if the defense quits and play as if the game is won. And the only way that happens is you take Tebow out at the half, which is really the only reasonable way he wouldn't have been in for this drive.
Overall, I hope they are cautious with him, and save him from himself. As a Gator fan, I'll take a loss at LSU with Brantley shitting the bed if it keeps Tebow's brain from being scrambled for life. Too good of a guy, and has given us so much joy and entertainment, he deserves to be protected. Hell, the way this season is going, we could lose one and still make it to the title game anyways.
Clay: As any long-standing Gator fan will tell you, the starters should NEVER come out unless the lead exceeds the 31-3 lead the Gators had at FSU in 1994 begining the fourth quarter. Anything less in points (or more in time) on the road in a division game, you MUST stay with the starters. Foley has it in all head football coaches contracts after the 1994 debacle. No discussion.
Lost in the aftermath of all this was Tebow's ridiculous rushing night. Combined with some of the crazy Tennessee runs, Tebow has never run the ball this well. Forget Baby Rhino, this was Baby Cheetah. He's multi-skilled like Babe Ruth when he was the leagues best pitcher and the best hitter -- need to throw it deep (2007), need short yardage converter (2006), need Tommie Frazier (2009). Just hope we haven't seen the arrow go through Achilles' heel here.
Sorry to jump in on an unrelated topic, I just thought this was the best place to ask SEC questions.
I was at the Georgia-Arizona State game, what happened when the AZ St linebacker shoved the official, a flag was thrown ad then the ref waved the flag off. Did the tv announcers explain it? The official was in the way of the LB who shoved him, but there has to be a better explanation.
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I feel he should have been left in the game. 24 point lead in the 3rd quarter isn't a "huge" lead in the SEC. Still a lot of football to be played. Florida scored 31 in one quarter. So could Kentucky, but not likely. The point is, anything can happen and we've all seen unbelievable things happen in football. If they had the 24 point lead in the 4th with 7-8 minutes left in the game, then yeah take him out, but knowing how Urban likes to leave his players in just to cover the spread, chances are Tebow would have still been in the game.
Of course he should have been on the field. Everyone is say the game was well in hand.. Was it? I mean After the 1st quarter out offense wasn't doing much in terms of scoring, and UK was slowly gaining momentum. Not enough so that they looked like they would pull off a win, but if they had scored 2 more TDs you are looking at a possible 31-21 game..
If he was actually taken out of the game prior to that drive, people would have been baffled and questioning Meyer too... That is not the time to pull your starters.. especially in the SEC on the road.
And yeah, as I watched Tim go down and his arms and fingers go stiff.. my heart sank to the ground... and then I want to see if he's ok, but all I can see are UK players running and jumping around like they just took the lead. Meanwhile, we are left wondering if our QB will ever walk again. You'd think the ominous hush that fell over the crowd (or all the trainers rushing onto the field) would be a sign to the Wildcats that maybe they should stop dancing and maybe show an ounce of class. Just sayin.
I'm guessing that was his last series. Punch one in there, and then pull him. No, Kentucky wasn't coming back and winning that game, but the only way they do is if the defense quits and play as if the game is won. And the only way that happens is you take Tebow out at the half, which is really the only reasonable way he wouldn't have been in for this drive.
Overall, I hope they are cautious with him, and save him from himself. As a Gator fan, I'll take a loss at LSU with Brantley shitting the bed if it keeps Tebow's brain from being scrambled for life. Too good of a guy, and has given us so much joy and entertainment, he deserves to be protected. Hell, the way this season is going, we could lose one and still make it to the title game anyways.
The timing of the bye week is really unbelievable. Can you imagine if LSU was the 3rd rather than the 10th?
Having said that, one road loss to a top ten ranked team doesn't knock Florida out of contention. Concussions are so tough to analyze.
Clay: As any long-standing Gator fan will tell you, the starters should NEVER come out unless the lead exceeds the 31-3 lead the Gators had at FSU in 1994 begining the fourth quarter. Anything less in points (or more in time) on the road in a division game, you MUST stay with the starters. Foley has it in all head football coaches contracts after the 1994 debacle. No discussion.
Lost in the aftermath of all this was Tebow's ridiculous rushing night. Combined with some of the crazy Tennessee runs, Tebow has never run the ball this well. Forget Baby Rhino, this was Baby Cheetah. He's multi-skilled like Babe Ruth when he was the leagues best pitcher and the best hitter -- need to throw it deep (2007), need short yardage converter (2006), need Tommie Frazier (2009). Just hope we haven't seen the arrow go through Achilles' heel here.
Sorry to jump in on an unrelated topic, I just thought this was the best place to ask SEC questions.
I was at the Georgia-Arizona State game, what happened when the AZ St linebacker shoved the official, a flag was thrown ad then the ref waved the flag off. Did the tv announcers explain it? The official was in the way of the LB who shoved him, but there has to be a better explanation.
Thanks.