Sour Grapes

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"I do think it shows that either they love us or they hate us — Gator Nation."

Tim Tebow

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Please.

The Tampa Tribune is serving as a convenient soapbox for Tim Tebow to use to spout his conspiracy theories concerning why he was denied a second Heisman Trophy.

Seems to me it might have had something to do with the fact that Sam Bradford's numbers glittered more than Tebow's did in 2008. Last year, Tebow had the impressive season. This year, Bradford did.

Of course, I've been saying for a long time that the Heisman is awarded too darn early. Bradford and Tebow will meet in the national championship game nearly four weeks from now. Two other quarterbacks, both just as deserving of recognition — Colt McCoy of Texas and Graham Harrell of Texas Tech — have bowl games to play in January as well.

And Harrell, who wasn't even invited to the Heisman ceremony although he had more passing yardage than any of the athletes who were summoned to New York, will face the only team that has beaten Tebow's Gators this season — Ole Miss.

Seems to me the prudent thing to do would be to wait until after the postseason games have been played. At least, with the Heisman winner still undetermined, players like McCoy and Harrell would have something to play for besides "school pride."

If the Yale Club would wait until mid-January to vote on the Heisman, the results of the bowl games could be considered — and the voters could be spared the scenario that has been repeated so often in recent years — in which a runnerup in the Heisman vote embarrasses the winner in a nationally televised postseason showdown.

Like when Oklahoma and Josh Heupel beat Florida State and Chris Weinke for the national crown in 2000.

Or when Miami's Ken Dorsey beat Nebraska's Eric Crouch for the 2001 national championship.

Or when Texas' Vince Young scored the national championship-winning TD against Reggie Bush's USC team in January 2006.

Maybe losing the Heisman serves as motivation for the runnerup.

And sometimes, I guess, the runnerup finds other sources for inspiration.

When asked why this alleged bias against Florida exists, he replied, "I think it probably started with (Steve) Spurrier's swagger, to tell you the truth. How he handled situations. He either drew people in or made people not like the Gators and The Swamp."

Well, Spurrier is a convenient scapegoat. He left Florida in 2001. He is back in the SEC — but as the coach of South Carolina.

Tebow's response reminds me of the Aesop's fable, "The Fox and the Grapes." Been awhile since you read Aesop? Well, basically, what it comes down to is, this fox is strolling along and he sees some grapes hanging from a tree. The fox is hungry so he tries to get the grapes, but they're hanging too high.

After repeated failures to get the grapes, the fox gives up and says, "The grapes are probably sour, anyway."

The moral of the story is, "It is easy to despise what you cannot get."

Florida Will Be Worthy Foe For Oklahoma

The BCS selections won’t be announced for more than four hours, although I’m inclined to agree with Stewart Mandel when he says, in Sports lllustrated, that "there will be little suspense" — and most of that will be over whether Oklahoma or Florida should be ranked #1.

In spite of the three-way tie for the Big 12 South title and the rule that put the tiebreaker in the hands of the BCS, it’s hard to argue against Oklahoma’s inclusion in the national championship game after the Sooners exceeded 60 points for the fifth consecutive game Saturday night.

If the Sooners had scored another field goal against Kansas State, they would have broken 60 in six straight.

It’s the most productive offense in memory — the first in the modern era, observes Jake Trotter in The Oklahoman, to score more than 700 points in a season.

Even in their only loss of the year, the Sooners scored five touchdowns.

Now, Oklahoma will have to face what is arguably the best defense it has faced all season. "Finally, perhaps, the Sooner offense may meet its match," writes Trotter.

Actually, Texas fans might argue that the Sooner offense already met its match.

Quarterback Tim Tebow — who won last year’s Heisman but will, I believe, finish second to Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford this year — and the Gator offense get all the attention, but the defense has been quietly doing its job all season.

Granted, TCU — which held the Sooners to 35 points in their September meeting — ranks higher in every team defense category than Florida or any of the teams Oklahoma played this season.

In all fairness, TCU does play in the Mountain West conference. And, while that conference has some respectable programs — like Utah and Brigham Young — it isn’t exactly as deep as the Southeastern Conference.

That’s why Florida will be a worthy adversary in Oklahoma’s final hurdle to the national title. The Gators face high-quality programs every week.

The Gators haven’t scored as prodigiously as the Sooners, and it’s the very absence of the kind of glittering numbers he compiled last year that appears to stand in Tebow’s way this year.

But perhaps the Heisman voters will remember that his success as a sophomore made Tebow the target of everyone he played as a junior — much like the 1973 Miami Dolphins team that had to defend not only its Super Bowl title but its undefeated season every time it took the field.

It’s hard to meet expectations when you’ve got a target on your chest in every game.

Even so, Tebow and the Gators haven’t done poorly. The offense hasn't put up Oklahoma-like numbers, but the defense is highly ranked in most categories and held the top-ranked team in the nation, Alabama, to 20 points in yesterday’s SEC title game.

For the record, the ’73 Dolphins didn’t do too badly, either. In spite of the pressure of being the squad that had to defend the legendary 17-0 season, Miami only lost two games the next year, won the Super Bowl and finished with an overall record of 15-2.

Will Tebow Jump to the NFL?

In Florida Today, David Jones reports that Florida's junior quarterback — and defending Heisman Trophy winner — Tim Tebow is considering "fil[ing] the paperwork with the NFL to see about his possible draft status, should he elect to leave school early for the NFL."

That's not really a surprise in this day and age. It often seems to be less common for an athlete to stay at a school for four years than it is to jump after one's junior year.

Merely filing the paperwork doesn't mean Tebow will leave school early — but it does mean he's weighing that option.

Seen in that context, then, it's prudent to regard Saturday's SEC championship game against top-ranked Alabama as Tebow's final conference game of his collegiate career. If it isn't, it still should be an entertaining game to watch.

Jones also reports that the CBS announcers who will handle the duties in the broadcast booth — Verne Lundquist and Gary Danielson — believe that Tebow could win his second Heisman if he has a big game against Alabama.

And Jones reports that the only man — so far — to win two Heisman Trophies, Archie Griffin, also thinks Tebow has a strong shot.

Former Heisman winners are permitted to vote in the Heisman balloting, but Griffin said he wants to watch Tebow's performance against Alabama before deciding how he'll vote.

Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford is considered the front-runner for this year's Heisman.