Season Preview Mag Porn: Sports Illustrated

Hey, wow, it's great to see SI featuring Tim Tebow and Florida on its college football preview cover...

Whaaa?! That's not Tim Tebow; that's Jevan Snead! And that's not Florida; that's Ole Miss!

Look: I know that SI is going with a theme of "Party Crashers" -- teams that could conceivably break into the BCS (Ole Miss, Penn St, Oregon, Oklahoma State).

But REALLY: Is THIS the year you want to be going with "Party Crashers" as your theme of the season?

This season, of any in recent memory, is DOMINATED -- or WILL BE dominated -- by who-you-think-would-dominate: Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, USC.

Ole Miss, Penn State, Oregon or Oklahoma State may be contenders for at-large BCS bowl bids, but since when has the season been about THAT? There are ALWAYS those teams.

This season will be defined by a true clash of the titans -- if all breaks as we suspect, unbeaten Florida vs. unbeaten Texas (or, at the very least, unbeaten Oklahoma or unbeaten USC).

Now, college football is nothing if not a sport that rarely breaks as you suspect in August, but even if things don't break that way, does anyone not think the Big Four will be in the BCS title game?

I understand what SI is doing - I just don't get why they would. Not when you have the biggest sensation in the sport's history -- Tebow -- plus the two closest competitors in McCoy and Bradford, putting the "Big" in "Big Three."

I am impossibly biased, but I would have begun and ended this year's cover with this:

Can't Spell G.O.A.T. without G-A-T-O-R-S

Either that, or:

Best. Team. Ever.

Sub-headline: "Why Florida May Be the Greatest Team of All Time (And Tebow The Greatest Player)"

I mean, come on. This was a gimme.

Quote of the Day: EDSBS on Tebow's Beard

"It's not a beard, it's a cowcatcher mounted on the front of a pain train."

-- Orson Swindle of the must-read EDSBS. What more could you need to see to read the full post?

(Congrats to Orson Swindle on EDSBS's move to the SBNation network of blogs, where he will join Teblogroll-favorite sites like Alligator Alley and Team Speed Kills.)

Tim Tebow on Wikipedia in 2070

I cannot recommend this parody post from Team Speed Kills more highly -- what Tim Tebow's Wikipedia page will look like in the year 2070. Among the details:

*It is estimated that 1 in 15 American males is named after Tebow.

*In 2010, [Heisman] voters took the unusual step of giving Tebow the Trophy again, "because he's just that good."

*Under [Coach] Tebow, the Gators went 204-0 and won 17 consecutive national titles.

*World peace was achieved in the "Tebow Treaty of 2051."

* In 2059, Tebow was hailed for discovering a cure for cancer.

Read the whole thing here. I tip my cap to you, TSK. "Tebowvania" just might stick.

Tebow Morning Review: Missed Yesterday?

If you didn't stop by TimTeblog.com yesterday -- or only came by once -- you may have missed the half-dozen posts that were published. Here is a quick recap. Check them out here, or scroll down:

*Myth of Tebow "haters" (propagated by Tebow!)
*Does Tebow have a weakness? (Past-tense?)
*Tebow vs. Leinart/Krenzel/Dorsey/Weinke/Martin
*Tebow on expectations.
*Tebow Media Day rundown.
*Tebow-Bradford-McCoy: It is SO on.

More to come throughout the day.

ESPN.com on Tebow, Bradford, McCoy

Time for today's 3:30 read (at 4...): This fantastic overview by ESPN.com's Ivan Maisel of the three-headed trio of Tim Tebow, Sam Bradford and Colt McCoy -- and how they are the ruling class of college football.

Have we ever seen something like this before? The nation's top 3 players (or top three Heisman contenders) playing on the nation's top 3 teams.

*Bradford and McCoy are not just friends, but intrinsically tied by their teams' Big 12 rivalry -- by definition one must win and one must lose.

*Tebow and Bradford are connected by last season's BCS title game -- not to mention (as Maisel points out) the NFL scouts' uniform love of Bradford versus their skepticism of Tebow.

*Tebow and McCoy? Well, if you believe the polls -- or your own instinct -- the two are on a collision course for the 2010 BCS national-title game, leading two unbeaten teams.

Too much in here to pull out a quote. Read the whole thing.

Tim Tebow's Weakness

Today, the Orlando Sentinel's Matt Humphrey asks: Does Tim Tebow have a weakness?

Yahoo's Matt Hinton would probably argue that his "weakness" might be rush-ends pummeling him (see Ole Miss's defensive line last September -- or Michigan's D-line in January '08).

But it is very possible that since the Ole Miss debacle, Tebow (and the O-line) have gotten infinitely tougher about letting him get "gotten to."

In the same way that without the Ole Miss game, the team would not have found its mettle to make its run to the national title, perhaps that was the moment for Tebow to shore up that "weakness."

"Weakness" is probably the wrong word. I like Hinton's description of it as Florida's -- and not Tebow's -- "soft underbelly."

The Title Repeat: Tebow vs. History

Sporting News had an interesting column today, putting Tim Tebow's attempt to repeat as a national champ up against the 5 other QBs of the BCS Era who had a chance to repeat, but failed.

Here is how I see it:

1999 Tennessee (Tee Martin): They failed because Phil Fulmer was too self-satisfied after winning the first title. Tebow, Urban Meyer and Florida want this 2nd one -- and history -- way more.

2000 Florida State (Chris Weinke): Weinke was absurdly overrated. Oklahoma was at the front-end of a half-decade reign of destruction, and FSU was at the tail-end of its relevance. Florida, on the other hand, appears to be at the peak of its dynasty -- last year was a bonus.

2002 Miami (Ken Dorsey): Beyond the fluky ending, the U simply didn't take Ohio State seriously. Mentally unprepared. Meyer, Tebow and Spikes have Florida insanely focused on taking nothing for granted.

2003 Ohio State (Craig Krenzel): Regression to the mean. If OSU played Miami 10 times, the Canes would win 9. OSU's close calls from 2002 finally caught up with them. Meanwhile, Florida had a 30+ point average margin of victory last season (before the SEC title game, the only close call was the one-point loss to Ole Miss), with more to come this season.

2005 USC (Matt Leinart): Ahh, Leinart comes up often. Here is the reality: That '05 USC offense was prolific; its defense was mediocre, particularly for a national-title contender. On the flip side, Florida's defense this season is -- on paper -- potentially the greatest defense in the history of college football.

With history as a guide, the three biggest keys to Florida's bid to repeat:
(1) Mental toughness.
(2) Defense.
(3) Insulating themselves from inevitable flukes.

Tebow leads on No. 1. He has no problem -- as he did in the SEC title game and national title game -- running into the defensive huddle to fire them up. He is the trigger-man for the scoring that will ensure flukes can't hurt the team. That combo separates him from the 5 QBs above.

This sounds a lot like Urban Meyer's "Plan to Win." And it is why Florida will repeat as champs, becoming the first team to do it since the equally dominant Nebraska team of the mid-90s.

Tebow Quote of the Day: Myth of Haters

Does Tim Tebow think he is overexposed? From Florida Media Day yesterday, via Antonya English's blog at TBO.com:

I just try to handle it the best I can, and be as nice as I can and (be) polite. Just be myself, be genuine, and if people get upset with that or people say it's this or that and he just does it for the hype, well you know there's going to be haters just like everything, just like haters of the University of Florida. You have to deal with that.

I have weighed in on this a couple of times over the last few weeks:

I don't believe people think he goes in front of the media "for the hype." I don't believe there is a backlash. I don't believe ther is "Tebow Fatigue." I certainly don't buy that there are Tebow "haters." (Although there are certainly haters of Florida.)

In fact, I think precisely because he is "nice" and "polite" and "genuine," he has immunized himself from backlash, fatigue or haters -- even though, under any normal circumstance, there should be a backlash by now.

(But Tebow is hardly a "normal circumstance.")

More Tebow Quotes from Media Day

More quotes from Tim Tebow from Florida Media Day:

"Our goals for the offseason were to get bigger, faster, and stronger, but also to build chemistry. The strengths of our team right now are chemistry and the leadership. The attitude of guys improving, spending time together, and training has been great."

Who motivates and leads the team leaders?

"Our position coaches, Coach [Charlie] Strong and Coach [Vance] Bedford, lead us. Coach [Urban] Meyer is the number one leader for me. We talk several times a day. His attitude towards the game, improving, and making a difference every day is why I think he’s a good leader."

Do you want to be a great team?

"Absolutely! There is a huge desire by everyone on this team to be great. Not only to be great, but to have a standard of excellence that everyone lives up to is our goal. Every year we want to be great, but I think this year everyone really means and believes it with everyone deep down in their heart."

What about John Brantley?

"I have a really strong relationship with Johnny B. He’s one of my closest friends on the team. We hang out all the time. I try to encourage him overall with his leadership, being more out-spoken. He works hard and does all the right things. I’m very excited for him and the things he will do here. I’m a big fan."

Tebow Quote of the Day

"We have higher expectations on ourselves than anybody else could possibly have."

-- Tim Tebow, at Florida Media Day (8/12/09)

Yahoo's Hinton: Let Tebow Be Tebow

Doc Saturday presents some profound commentary about all this talk over the past week about having Tebow share snaps with John Brantley and Joe "Wildcat" Haden.

Money quote is the Doc's kicker:

Not that anyone is trying, but it's worth reminding anyway that that level of total physical and emotional abandon -- Tebow's trademark from the very beginning, and probably the one element of his game that most bothers his critics at the next level -- is the last thing that should ever be polished away.

Let Tebow Be Tebow isn't a bad slogan. I am excited to see more of Brantley and I wouldn't mind seeing what Haden can do and I'm all for improving Tebow's NFL stock. But really.

Tebow at Media Day: Now With More Crocs!

Hat-tip to OnlyGators, which is the most must-have Twitter feed for Florida fans.

Florida Media Day: Tebow On Podium

Follow the Orlando Sentinel's Andrea Adelson for live-Tweeted quotes.

What Is G? Tebow, Says Clay Travis

Taking a brief break from Florida Media Day crazy.

I continue to be fascinated by Tennessee uber-fan Clay Travis's love-hate (but mostly, interestingly, "love") relationship with Tim Tebow.

He avoids the cliched -- and disingenuous -- opposing fans' weariness of Tebowmania. At worst, it is begrudging respect. Or is that... admiration?

I respect Clay for a lot of reasons, but on this particular topic, it is because he isn't afraid to express the idea: "Damn, I wish he was on MY team."

Clay linked to this YouTube mash-up from back in January set to the Gatorade "What is G?" advertisement, but featuring... well, you-know-who.



No, really: Buy Clay's new book. Doesn't matter that it is about Tennessee. If you love ANY college football team, you'll love this book.

Florida Media Day: Brantley a Next Tebow?

Is backup QB John Brantley a "next Tebow" candidate? Umm, no. He has a better arm but not the running skills (and a much slighter build, obviously).

But Brantley will be Florida's starting QB next season (and probably 2011) and, according to Meyer and Addazio at today's media event, Brantley will be getting "meaningful minutes" this year, even though he backs up the best player in the country.

Why? Given that Florida will likely have large leads late in games, there will be plenty of live snaps during mop-up duty for Brantley. But the coaches are also presumably looking ahead to 2010.

(Presumably, this doesn't have any impact on the use of Joe Haden in "Wildcat" formations -- that is going to be something to see, I can already tell you.)

No, don't worry: There won't be a "BrantleyBlog.com" -- at least not from me.

Oh, and by the time he's done, I expect there won't be any questions about Brantley's NFL-worthiness as a QB. I think if he stays through 2011, he will be a 1st-round NFL pick.

So is Brantley the next Tebow? More like the next Grossman.

New York Times Goes New York Tebow

When the Times met Tebow...: I would hope that the New York Times' college football blog -- The Quad -- is already on your must-read list, daily.

And I'm not just saying that because the Quad's Connor Ennis has a lengthy Q&A with me posted earlier this morning, talking all things Tim Tebow -- and TimTeblog.com.

Check it out here, and it addresses many of the questions you have seen here before (like "Why?") -- and a couple of new ones (like "Do you think Tim Tebow reads TimTeblog?")

The NY Times (via ace reporter Pete Thamel) has arguably been the best in the nation at covering Urban Meyer, from his time at Utah to his move to Florida, the spread, Tebow, etc.

The in-depth reporting Thamel did last October on Tim Tebow's game preparation was one of the best pieces about Tebow ever produced, an all-time valuable addition to "Tebow scholarship."

Tebow Quote of Morning: Jeremy Foley

"I've heard some people say Timmy is overexposed, and that's probably more of a reflection of the world we live in. But in terms of how he lives his life, how he treats people, the way he has time for people, the way his passion is legitimate, his heart is legitimate, he is the most genuine, unique guy I've ever been around."

-- Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley, on Tim Tebow. (via PBPost's Ben Volin.)

Florida Media Day: Questions for Tebow?

The Miami Herald's Jo Goodman estimates that 150 media folks will be at Florida's Media Day today.

Needless to say, I suspect there will be a few questions for Tim Tebow.

(Remind me: What hasn't been covered yet?)

All kidding aside, there is ALWAYS something new to come out. I will be updating as news emerges from the event. Should be a fun one.

Monday Practice: O-Line Must Back Tebow

“What gets lost in the media and fans and everybody else is Tim Tebow -- it’s not Tim Tebow."

That's Urban Meyer from today's practice, which he wasn't happy with. But, wait! There's more:

"It’s everybody else, five guys playing like maniacs out front..."

Translation: The offensive line needs to step up.

"I love Tim, but Tim’s on every magazine. When Tim’s on every magazine, there should be five guys right behind him standing there."

Translation: Credit the offensive line, but they really gotta earn the credit.

"Tim's nothing without those five guys. We have to get back to that."

Translation: The O-line REALLY needs to step up.

More Video! Tim Tebow: Juggernaut

Instead of the usual 3:30 "read," here's the 3:30 "watch." Tim Tebow highlights set to the soundtrack of "Juggernaut." Lyrics most def NSFW.



(h/t: EDSBS for finding/pointing. Glad you're back from vacation, Orson.)

Video: Tosh.0 on Tebow (and Leinart)

The joke was a weird combination of overly simplistic and a little too insidery for non-sports viewers -- though you get the sense Tosh may be a sports fan -- but if you can't have a sense of humor about Tebow Mania, then you probably have no sense of humor at all:



(By the way, feels like Leinart gets much more of the brunt of this bit -- as it should be.)

h/t: An Eye and an Eer

Start the Debate: Is Tim Tebow The Greatest College Football Player Ever?

You know it's a topic near-and-dear to this blog, perhaps the nearest-and-dearest. The question that underscores the entire premise of the blog and what makes this season so insane:

Is Tim Tebow the greatest college football player ever?

Four days into the season, the St. Petersburg Times' Antonya English wastes no time putting the topic of "Tebow-as-greatest-ever" front-and-center on Sunday morning.

The fact that he is even in the discussion is monumental enough. When was the last time we had a player in the the "greatest ever" discussion?

Actually, Matt Leinart was a contender in 2005 -- until Vince Young ripped it away from him. I would put VY up there.

But while VY has one national title -- and in the most impressive way, mind you -- he didn't win the Heisman (although many think he should have).

There are others in recent memory: Reggie Bush was certainly awesome, as was Herschel Walker. Orlando Pace was about as dominant a player as most of us have ever seen.

If you read the Gators Gridiron 2009 cover essay I wrote on the topic of "Greatest college QB ever?", you will see that I have a couple of criteria you can also use for "Greatest player ever":

*National championships.
*Individual awards.
*Statistical dominance.
*Mythology.

I would argue that, based on that widely accepted criteria, Tim Tebow is already in the conversation for "Greatest Ever," even before this season starts. NOW let's start talking...

Layer in another national title and another Heisman, and I don't think it's close. I think he needs the national title (ideally unbeaten) -- rather than another Heisman -- to secure the status.

What I don't get is the way the so-called "experts" hedge about it. "Oh, he could be..." Why not at least concede that he is ALREADY on the short-list of the greatest ever. (Danielson does.)

At this point, he is playing for "best player ever" (even if it isn't a personal goal for him). That superlative is the biggest reason this season so fascinating -- and why I launched the blog.

As I have put it before: When was the last time we got to follow along with someone who might very well be the greatest player of all-time... in real-time?

(My only complaint: Antonya! How could you not interview me for this article? Who has done more thinking and heavy intellectual lifting on this topic than I have? And I give good quotes!)

This Week In Tebow

Catch up on what you may have missed about all things Tebow:

(1) Practice Begins! Tebow has a beard!
(2) Tim Tebow vs. Matt Leinart, Part 1
(3) Tim Tebow vs. Matt Leinart, Part 2
(4) Tebow's legacy: "Promise" vs. 14-0
(5) Tebow as antidote to fan cynicism
(6) Tim Tebow vs. Vince Young, Part Nth
(7) Florida won when they got Tebow to commit.
(8) NFL: Joe Montana needs under-center proof.
(9) Awards Watch: O'Brien
(10) Tim Tebow Song emerges as a meme.

Haden : Tebow :: Tebow : Garrard

Urban Meyer just made Joe Haden a bunch of extra NFL money. More on that in a sec.

So there has been a lot of talk about Tim Tebow earning his NFL keep at QB by playing the "Wildcat" (aka single-wing) role in the pros.

Urban Meyer flipped that: Tebow may be the starter, but Joe Haden is getting "Wildcat" snaps for the Gators on the second day of practice.

Haden is, arguably, the best athlete on the team, and not only is he a sure-fire NFL 1st-round pick, but I would argue he is the best DB in the country.

(Put it this way: Haden started as a true freshman, after having played QB in high school. He's that much of a freak.)

It is just those prep QB skills that Meyer wants to put to work, and it is brilliant.

As for those NFL millions: With the way the Wildcat has become the rage in the pros, that Haden is a 1st-round talent at DB *and* can flip to offense to run the Wildcat makes him all the more valuable to an NFL team.

(By the way, if you find the title to this post curious, it's the old SAT short-hand for analogies. Translated: "Joe Haden is to Tim Tebow what Tim Tebow is to David Garrard." Garrard is a stand-in for the starting NFL QB that Tebow will replace in Wildcat packages.)

Tim Tebow 2009 Vs Matt Leinart 2005

The headline on the front of Yahoo! Sports was gently mocked, but Jason Cole's on-site reporting is a great read, particularly if you want a "national" view of Tebow and Florida.

The gist: Repeating as national champ is brutal. Cole revisits Oklahoma's back-to-back champs in the mid-1970s and Nebraska's back-to-back champs in the mid-1990s.

Another gist: This is going to be a hell of a good team. The expectation SHOULD be 14-0, and beyond: This team has the potential -- for now only the potential -- to be an all-time great team.

Here is my cautionary tale, and I'll hammer it all season: Let's all consider how people were talking in August 2005 about USC. Heck, how they were talking about USC throughout 2005...

...Right up until the calendar flipped to 2006 and USC's "all-time" aspirations imploded. Now most fans remember those great USC teams for losing to Texas rather than being a champion.

As the crazy coverage of Tim Tebow continues this fall, remember back to August 2005, when we were all ready to call Matt Leinart the Greatest College QB of All Time.

And, at the time, it seemed totally justified: He was coming off a title season (USC's 2nd straight, if you count the AP title in '03) and a Heisman year. (He was 6th in Heisman voting in '03.)

Leinart even had the off-field mojo -- a Bizzaro Tebow. Leinart was admired for being a shallow, pretty-boy Hollywood partier. He was the perfect symbol for the fake economic bubble.

Everyone was saying: Well, Leinart is already one of the top QBs of all time. Just one more title... just one more Heisman... and, wow, he'd be the BEST. (Sound familiar?)

And what's scary is how assumed away that title and that Heisman were. Of COURSE USC was going to win another title. And, OK, maybe Leinart won't win a Heisman; Reggie Bush will. Leinart will be No. 2. Good enough.

We all know how that ended: USC didn't win the title. Matt Leinart didn't win the Heisman.

In fact, not only did Leinart not come out of that season considered the greatest QB ever, he was leap-frogged on the "all-time college QB" scale by Vince Young.

Beyond the back-to-back title or unbeaten season -- if you want to think about the history -- Tim Tebow is Leinart 2.0: Just one more title... just one more Heisman... an idealized off-field story...

The stakes are very clear: If Tebow wins another title -- presumably an unbeaten season -- and wins another Heisman, he will be considered the greatest college QB -- perhaps player -- ever.

And if he doesn't? Well, we still view Matt Leinart as a Top 5 all-time college QB. But no one ever talks about him being the greatest ever anymore.