It’s finally time to say goodbye.
Tim Tebow will be making his 21st and final start inside The Swamp on Saturday.
Ben Hill Griffin Stadium has been mostly a place of refuge for the face of college football. He has walked off a loser only twice, but it was those times that he fell short that meant most to Tebow’s career.
Each blemish led to moments of greatness.
The 20-17 defeat to Auburn in 2007, Tebow’s first loss as a starter, showed the first chink in No. 15’s armor. The then-sophomore of an undefeated team had the ball in a tied game with 4:49 left. The next three plays were an incompletion, option to Kestahn Moore for no gain and an incompletion. The Gators punted and the Tigers marched down the field, running out the clock and kicking the game-winning field goal.
More than a year later, Tebow would lead the Gators on back-to-back fourth-quarter touchdown drives to lift them to a SEC Championship Game win. Lest you forget, Florida trailed 20-17 before those two title-clinching possessions — an 11-play, 62-yard drive that took 5:47 followed by an eight-play, 65-yard drive that took 4:37.
The BCS Championship Game victory over Oklahoma needed another game-clinching drive from Tebow, and again he delivered. Leading by three with 9:59 left, Florida went 76 yards in 11 plays and ate up 6:52 off the clock. On the Gators’ next possession, Tebow ran out the clock.
Against Arkansas this year, he led a 14-play, 69-yard drive to set up Caleb Sturgis’ game-winning field goal. He ran or threw the ball on all but two plays.
The 31-30 loss to Ole Miss in 2008 was not Tebow’s fault, but he came up short on the game-ending fourth and 1. He uttered The Promise after the game, a moment that was so shocking yet underwhelming that while covering it live, I had no idea I had watched history.
Twenty-one games later, Florida still hasn’t lost.
In two years of covering him and four years of watching him, that’s the thing that has stuck out most about Tebow — his will to win. Nothing eats at him more.
It sounds unfathomably corny. That makes it no less true.
Now as he wraps up his time in Gainesville, he is in the midst of his worst year as a starter. Florida has, at times, won despite Tebow. The Gators’ defense erases errors and gives the offense a safety net.
He has likely erased all chances of being the best college football player of all time in my book. That doesn’t make him any less impressive to me.
Are some of his feats blown out of proportion? Is he sometimes judged unfairly against his otherworldly 2007 numbers? Do plenty of people sit and wait hoping he fails?
The answer to all three questions is yes.
I don’t know if Tebow will succeed in the NFL. I don’t know if he will win his second Heisman or a third national title. I don’t know if he will ever turn it around this season.
But when you walk out of the stadium Saturday, you know you won’t ever forget watching him.
When you finish watching UF’s win over Florida State, try to cherish your memories of a once-in-a-generation guy.
Just know it took those two low moments to lead to so many great moments.
