The Gators lucked out in this latest edition of college football’s rank obliterating game day.  Anyone who has watched the Florida Gators take the field and play the last three years has seen plenty of big hits that the Gators have landed as well as received.  Tim Tebow, the football Jesus who walks on water, was no stranger to the pounding abuse of the game, dishing out much of the punishment himself as a quarterback who runs like a fullback.  But in a game where Tebow was sacked hard, a moment of pure fear struck the Gator Nation as Tim Tebow didn’t get up.


Tebow laid there after his hit and stayed there.  Teammates were seen trying to check his responsiveness to no avail.  Even the Kentucky Wildcat fans were quiet in the moment where the player that had such character that other teams seem to speak more highly of him than their own was laying unconscious on the grass.  It took several minutes for Tim Tebow to stand up, assisted, and walk to the sidelines before he was carted off the field and taken to the hospital for further evaluation.  Tebow even had a successful game and put up impressive numbers before the injury, but none of that seemed to matter as the image of him being taken away was displayed for the world to see.

We may have all seen Tebow rocked as Florida rolled to victory over the Wildcats on Saturday, but in a season where all but the top 3 teams in the nation have not mattered, nor earned their rankings, many wonder if Florida will join the list of teams who have fallen from grace.  Alabama is looking impressive as always, but their team has never had problems till the end of the season where they soften up.  Texas has looked like a mere specter of the high flying team of last year.  Even with 1, 2 and 3 all playing off their game, the disparity between the top three and the rest of the field is tremendous.

But is Florida still that much ahead of the rest of the pack without the charismatic leader that is Tim Tebow? Last year, Tebow declared that the Gators would not rest or take any play off after the upset to Ole Miss.  His was a speech played over and over throughout the media as Florida abused teams for the rest of the season and put to rest a very good Alabama team to steal a spot in the BCS National Championship game, where they then destroyed the hyped up Oklahoma team for the title.

Expectations for Florida was for an easy repeat this year, with a patsy schedule and 99% of the starters coming back.  But as the season has gotten underway, the lack of Percy Harvin has been noted and the receiving core has looked much weaker.  The defense still looks near impenetrable, largely due to the starters all coming back.  If the Florida offense can get running on all cylinders, and Tebow at the helm, Florida may start looking like the team they were supposed to be and fulfill the goal of a third national title in 4 years.

After all, defenses win championships.