No. 1 Florida Gators at No. 4 LSU Tigers
Will he or won’t he? A potential national championship repeat might hinge on the head of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow.
The Gators are either being very cautious or very devious on Tebow’s status in the wake of the concussion he suffered two weeks ago at Kentucky. UF head coach Urban Meyer says that Tebow had his best practice of the week Thursday but that team doctors want to see how the quarterback reacted to the flight from Gainesville to Baton Rouge on Friday before clearing him to play Saturday night against LSU. It will probably be a game-time call (kickoff is 3:30 ET).
As of now, the Gators are 7.5-point favorites on WagerWeb.com, but certainly any Tebow news either way could shift that line a point or two late.
If Tebow can’t go, John Brantley gets the call, and by all accounts Brantley is a future star himself and a terrific pocket passer. He won’t be running the ball much if it all, however.
Frankly, even a loss on Saturday doesn’t seriously hurt UF’s title chances. Pollsters certainly won’t penalize UF for losing without Tebow or even losing with a less than 100 percent version. And UF is accustomed to losing and then bouncing back: Last year the Gators lost the fourth game of the year, to Mississippi, and won it all. In 2006 they lost the seventh game of the year, to Auburn, and won it all. And remember, too, that UF is almost a lock to run through the rest of its schedule and then get a potentially big boost in the computers and polls with a win over an Alabama or LSU or Auburn or Ole Miss in the SEC title game.
It will be interesting to see how much Florida’s running game changes if Tebow is out. Currently UF leads the nation in rushing, while LSU’s defense is just 81st against the run although it did fare well last week against Georgia. Last year, in Florida’s 51-21 home victory over the Tigers, it held the LSU running game to 80 yards on 26 carries.
That LSU offense has been solid but not great this year. QB Jordan Jefferson has connected on 80 of 128 passes for 920 yards, seven touchdowns and just two interceptions – he’ll need to limit turnovers Saturday. RB Charles Scott leads the Tigers rushing attack with 274 yards and a pair of TDs – he was held to just over 30 yards on the ground last year in Gainesville. The Tigers simply must run the ball to take pressure of Jefferson, who has been sacked 13 times already.
The last time these two met in Baton Rouge, LSU won 28-24 after trailing by 10 points three times. And it’s a night game in Death Valley, which is usually when the Tigers are unbeatable: They have won 32 in a row at home on Saturdays under the lights.
LSU and Florida bring the highest combined ranking for a game in Tiger Stadium since 1959. It also marks the second straight year that LSU will host the nation’s No. 1 ranked team – last year No. 1 Alabama won 27-21 in OT. LSU is 2-8-1 all-time against teams ranked No. 1 in the AP Poll.
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