Gators take down Tide

ATLANTA – Tim Tebow took it upon himself to give Florida a shot at another national championship. If the Gators needed a big run, he tucked it under his arm and ran. If they needed to complete a pass, he threw it right where it needed to be.

With one of his best weapons on the sidelines, Tebow threw three touchdown passes to lead the No. 2 Gators to a 31-20 victory over No. 1 Alabama in the Southeastern Conference championship game Saturday.

Tebow’s clinching TD came with less than 3 minutes to play and the win should be enough to give Florida (12-1) a spot in the BCS title game for the second time in three years. His performance will surely bolster his chances of becoming just the second player to win the Heisman Trophy two years in a row.

“We don’t want to be denied in anything we do,” said Tebow, who carried his team with Percy Harvin watching from the sidelines.

Showing it could win a close game in a season of routs, Florida (12-1) went into the fourth quarter trailing 20-17. But Jeff Demps, among those filling in for the injured Harvin, scored the go-ahead touchdown on a 2-yard run with 9:21 remaining. Tebow finished the scoring with a pass that couldn’t have been thrown any better, hitting Riley Cooper for a 5-yard TD with 2:50 left.

“I’ve had some great players, and I’ve got some great players on this team,” Florida coach Urban Meyer said. “But I’ve never had one like this. Tim’s got something special inside him. I’m not talking about throwing. I’m not talking about running. I’m talking about making everyone around him better. That fourth quarter was vintage Tim Tebow.”

Alabama (12-1) couldn’t have picked a worse time to lose. The Crimson Tide will likely settle for a spot in the Sugar Bowl, ruining any chance of adding another national championship to their glorious history.

Instead, mark down a spot in the title game for Florida, which won it just two years ago with a rout of Ohio State. The Gators came into the game ranked fourth in the BCS standings, but the impressive win over unbeaten and top-ranked Alabama will surely be enough to move them into one of the top spots.

Tebow was 14-of-22 passing for 216 yards and led the team in rushing with 57 yards. He tossed a 3-yard touchdown pass to Carl Moore to finish off Florida’s opening possession, went 5 yards to David Nelson to give the Gators a 17-10 halftime lead, and came through one more time to clinch the victory.

Alabama coach Nick Saban knew who was mainly responsible for his team’s first loss.

Tebow.

“He’s a great competitor. He takes his teammates on his shoulders a lot,” Saban said. “They have a lot of confidence he’s going to make plays, and they play that way. They scored two touchdowns where we had them covered about as well as we could cover them.”

Alabama trailed at halftime for the first time this year, but the Tide was feeling good after Mark Ingram scored on a 2-yard run and Leigh Tiffin booted his second field goal, a 27-yarder that pushed Alabama ahead 20-17 going to the final period.

Tebow made sure the feeling didn’t last.

“Going 12-0 is a hard thing to do,” Saban said. “Every time they needed to make a play, Tim Tebow made plays that made the difference in the game.”