Florida State 12, Florida 45
Gainesville, FL (Sports Network) - Tim Tebow accounted for five touchdowns and continued his record-breaking sophomore campaign in powering 12th-ranked Florida past in-state rival Florida State, 45-12, at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
Tim Tebow finished 19-for-28 passing with 262 yards and three touchdowns, and also rushed 13 times for 89 yards and a pair of scores to equal the NCAA record for rushing touchdowns by a quarterback of 22, held by Air Force's Chance Harridge.
The 351 total yards allowed Tim Tebow to surpass Rex Grossman's 2001 school record of 3,904 total yards in a season, adding yet another impressive mark to his ever-expanding Heisman Trophy resume.
"I think about championships and those kinds of things and obviously we didn't win one," said Florida head coach Urban Meyer. "I'm not a big individual award guy, but I think that Tim (Tebow) is one of the better players in America according to my knowledge. I don't really watch the other guys. I know I watched that tailback the other night (Darren Mcfadden) run against LSU and hes pretty good too."
Percy Harvin rushed 16 times for 157 yards and a score for the Gators (9-3), who finished the regular season on a four-game winning streak and a game behind SEC Eastern Division champion Tennessee.
Drew Weatherford completed 20-of-37 for 188 yards and extended his ACC record for consecutive pass attempts without an interception to 235, but the Florida State quarterback and his offense were unable to generate any touchdowns.
Preston Parker had 55 receiving yards to go with 48 yards on the ground, and Gary Cismesia booted four first-half field goals - including a NCAA season- long 60-yarder - for the Seminoles (7-5).
"We could not get in the red zone," said Florida State head coach Bobby Bowden. "I told our offensive staff last week, several times, the two things we've got to be good in to win is in the red zone and 3rd-and-1. We didn't do good in either area. We've moved the ball pretty good, though. The other thing was field position. We moved the ball well, but we had to do it, because we always had 90 or 100 yards to go when we got it. But you have to hand that to them, they won the kicking game, the defensive game and the offensive game. Football is two things, blocking and tackling, and we couldn't do either one of them. We simply could not tackle them. We couldn't tackle Tim Tebow and we couldn't tackle (Harvin)."
The Seminoles opened the game with a 13-play, 76-yard drive that elapsed 5:47 and culminated in a 21-yard field goal from Cismesia.
Florida answered with a quicker strike, needing just seven plays to get into the end zone and take a 7-3 lead. Tim Tebow scored from 23 yards out when he escaped a sack in the backfield, scrambled to the right and cut it back across the field before being dragged down on his way into the end zone.
The Gators defense forced an FSU three-and-out, and the offense went back to work, going 68 yards in five plays for another score. Harvin's 20-yard gallop brought the ball to the Seminoles 32, and on the next play Tim Tebow hit Louis Murphy deep down the right sideline for a 32-yard touchdown and a 14-3 edge with 2:46 to go in the first.
The 'Noles controlled the ball for 12 plays on their next possession, again moving inside the Gators 20. But when Seddrick Holloway was stuffed for no gain on a 3rd-and-1 from the 19, Florida State settled for a 38-yarder by Cismesia.
Florida's offense then went 62 yards in nine plays to make it 21-6 midway through the second quarter. At the FSU 14, Tim Tebow rolled left and hit Murphy on an out route for the score with 8:48 on the clock.
Cismesia capped a 10-play, 56-yard drive with another boot, this one for 28 yards after Weatherford's 3rd-and-10 attempt from the 11 went awry.
Joey Ijjas' 35-yard field goal with 18 seconds left appeared to give the Gators a 15-point cushion going into the locker room, but the 'Noles moved past midfield and called a timeout to set up a Cismesia attempt from 60 yards out. The kick was a low line-drive, but had plenty of leg and fluttered just over the crossbar to trim the Gators lead to 24-12 at the break.
Florida stuck exclusively to the ground game on its opening drive of the second half, needing just six plays to stake itself to a 31-12 lead. Harvin and Kestahn Moore did the bulk of the work moving downfield before Tim Tebow bulled his way into the end zone with the record-tying five-yard TD.
The Gators' next two drives resulted in punts - their first two of the game - but Chas Henry pinned FSU inside the five each time. After a pair of stands by the defense, Tim Tebow hit Andre Caldwell for a 31-yard touchdown with 8:20 left in the fourth to effectively seal it for the Gators.
Tony Joiner made a stop on Parker on 4th-and-2 at the Florida 25 with just under six minutes to go to ensure that the Seminoles would not reach the end zone on the day. Less than three minutes later, Harvin capped the scoring when he burst up the middle for a 24-yard touchdown.
Game Notes
Tim Tebow has 51 total touchdowns (29 passing, 22 rushing) on the season...Murphy finished the game with four catches for 58 yards and the two TDs...Cismesia's 60-yarder was not only the longest in college football this season, but also an ACC record...Florida has won the last four meetings with the 'Noles, and owns a 31-19-2 advantage all-time.
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