Primetime College Football: Dores vs Gators
TALENT
Tim Tebow and Florida played their most well-rounded game in a month last weekend to clinch a berth in the SEC championship game.
With star linebacker Brandon Spikes serving a suspension, the top-ranked Gators look to build on their latest performance and win their 19th straight over Vanderbilt, which is trying to avoid its sixth consecutive defeat.
After opening October with three gritty wins over LSU, Arkansas and Mississippi State, Florida (8-0, 6-0) rolled to an easy 41-17 victory over Georgia in Jacksonville. The Gators extended the nation’s longest winning streak to 18 and remained No. 1 in the BCS standings.
Coach Urban Meyer suspended 2008 first-team All-American Spikes who is part of a unit that ranks second in the country both in total defense (236.6 yards per game) and scoring defense (11.0).
While the Gators will be without their defensive leader, Vanderbilt (2-7, 0-5) will play without its starting quarterback. Larry Smith partially tore his left hamstring in the Commodores’ 56-31 loss to Georgia Tech, and he will be out a month.
Senior backup Mackenzi Adams replaced Smith last week and went 12 of 22 for 152 yards to finish the game. He will make his first start since completing 5 of 8 passes for 47 yards with an interception in last season’s 42-14 loss to the Gators. He left that game with a neck injury.
Tebow had touchdown passes on the Gators’ first two possessions against the Bulldogs, then broke Herschel Walker’s SEC record for rushing scores with his 50th. Meyer said the 2007 Heisman Trophy winner played looser than he had in recent weeks, finishing with 164 yards passing, 85 rushing and accounting for four touchdowns.
It was the first time in a month Tebow played like a Heisman Trophy contender. He had totaled two TD passes, three interceptions and one rushing score over his previous three games after suffering a concussion in a 41-7 win over Kentucky on Sept. 26.
Tebow has had little trouble in his two career starts against the coach Bobby Johnson Commodores, throwing for 452 yards with six touchdowns and one interception while running for four scores.
The Gators have won those games by an average of 27.5 points and have 18 consecutive victories over Vanderbilt since a 24-9 loss in 1988. All-time in Gainesville, Florida has 17 wins with one tie (in 1958) since losing the first meeting between these programs 7-0 in 1945.
The Commodores have lost five straight since a 36-17 win at Rice on Sept. 26. They delivered an awful defensive performance against the Yellow Jackets last week, allowing an opponent season-high 597 yards – including 404 on the ground.
PICK: University of Florida Gators
