Also: Florida is the greatest academic institution in America (cough). Hyperbole, anyone? Don't take my word for it, here's the Miami Herald's brief account.Simply calling Tim Tebow the best quarterback in college football apparently isn't enough. Gators coach Urban Meyer told a Miami audience that Tebow ''is the greatest player of our era''Red meat, certainly, for the carnivorous Gator faithful but also typical SEC boastfulness to the rest of us.
I'm not sure how Meyer defines era, but arbitrarily let's say it starts in the year 2000. Top of my head there are several players deserving of such mention -- Reggie Bush, Vince Young, Darren McFadden, Adrian Peterson, Matt Leinart, (gasp!) Michael Vick, Larry Fitzgerald and Mike Williams.
Remember all that greatest talk about USC in 2005? The lesson then, as now, is to not go down that road. Expectations for Tebow will be through the roof this year. That's part of the danger in delivering so much, so early: an encore of greater consequence is expected to feed the masses. Disappointment is almost inevitable, as is jealousy and backlash in the rabidly partisan world of college football. Best to celebrate a very good player and save the distinction-making for after he's played that last down.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
7-22-2008 @ 2:54AM
petejayhawk said...
So gay.
All the mission trips and other overcompensatory things in the world can't hide the fact that Tebow digs other men.
He's still a great QB, and god bless him for that. No shame in being gay. He's still awesome.
/stirthecommenterpot
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7-22-2008 @ 5:57PM
Tim said...
As a Gator fan, I can certainly revel in this sort of unabated talk but sure, this is a little much, something I didn't really expect from Meyer who almost didn't take Tebow to the media days for Seniors. I think what Meyer was commenting on, as he has done before only with better wording, is that he's the overall best player and person to come through the league at his caliber. That, I can agree with, sure. He's a role model for not only young atheletes but all young people, especially when we're really lacking in respectable decent role models (celebs, models, players, etc.).
7-22-2008 @ 3:54AM
petejayhawk said...
Really? I said that? Ugh. I'm a moron. Sorry.
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7-22-2008 @ 7:35AM
Brent said...
I think Tim is a great embassador for College Football and let's face it, he is the face of College Football right now. His accomplishments compared to other great atheletes of the decade is debatable, but Tim brings much more to the table in terms of academics, community service, honor and faith, integrity, modesty and he is a great role model for young kids. When you put all that together with his accomplishments on the field, I would have to agree that he is the best college athelete of this decade. And what is he, 20 years old? I see so many others in similar positions to his (atheletes, actors, musicians) and very few are able to keep their head in moments of such success. If any other fan of any other team claims they wouldn't kill to have Tim on their team, I would say they are a F-ing liar. Go Tebow, Go Meyers, & Go Gators!!
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7-22-2008 @ 9:06AM
george said...
tim tbow, a good qb, not th bst of all time. i think h has sen his high,
his low starts this season, look out tebow it is going to get tuff.
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7-22-2008 @ 10:18AM
caj said...
Just because he's not flashy, egotistical, immorral, money-hungry, selfish, womanizing, fame-seeking, or corrupt is no reason to claim he isn't the greatest athlete of our era. Tebow represents a new and improved image of the college athlete - Mature.
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7-22-2008 @ 10:25AM
budo said...
Typical Gator wackos. I have lived in FL for over seven years and would LOVE to get out of this sick hole. Half the players can't read or write but that is OK as long as they win. Stating this guy as the greatest od his "era" (whatever that means) is ludicrous. He's good--OK, but his offensive line is the one that makes his day. So normal for these clowns here--they live and die for their UGLY uniformed thugs.
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7-24-2008 @ 6:39PM
johnson said...
why dont you move back to columbus then?
7-22-2008 @ 1:06PM
crabs1771 said...
face it caj, outside of leinart, you define mature as white players.
/cue fanhouse crybabies
oh and anytime you get the call for 3rd and goal and you have THAT o-line, you're bound to be a pretty damn good quarterback. i'll put him top 10, behind all of those mentioned by brian. and i'd include mcnabb. if that fits in the "era."
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7-22-2008 @ 1:56PM
Scott said...
Florida, nine arrests since Nat'l Championship
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7-22-2008 @ 4:20PM
nomorecrackforurban said...
a bag full of 5 yard touchdowns??on any other team, the running back gets those touches,wonder how their backs feel about that.how many national titles does gaybow have?
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7-22-2008 @ 7:00PM
Kenny said...
He has 1 National Title how many do you have?
7-22-2008 @ 4:20PM
cfb expert said...
tim tebow would warm the bench at texas, oklahoma, missouri, georgia, w. virginia, and southern california. no way could he beat out those teams starting qbs. this trash talk shouldnt be any of a suprise though since florida fans actually think they have a premier program ROFLMFAO. florida fans think being handed a gift mythical national title by a popularity vote (over an unbeaten team) is actually earning a title. when we look at the joke that is florida gator football what we see is a 6th place traditional program from the overrated and weak sec conference. i guess if 6th place traditional teams are premier then ball st, san jose st, and memphis are premier programs as well since they are 6th place traditional teams in their conferences as well. when looking at florida we also see a program whose longest win streak is 13 games. hell baylor has a 9 game win streak in its history. what we also see with florida is the fact they arent even the top program in their own state. florida doesnt have very many conference titles either so does it really suprise us that someone from florida would think they are great lol. too bad the historical documented facts state otherwise.
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7-23-2008 @ 10:58AM
Brent said...
WOW...I usually don't post replies but sometimes you see such ignorance you feel compelled to do something about it. "cfb expert"? That's not "college football expert" is it? I've never heard the word expert used so loosley.
Let's just start with the SEC being week. You do realize that the SEC has won the National Championship 2 years in a row and the year the Gators won it, they had the #1 toughest schedule in the nation. You also realize that Florida, Georgia, & LSU are all top 10 preseason favorites to win this years National Championship. What conference is stronger that the SEC? Big 10? Ohio State has won the Big 10, what 3-4 years in a row? They are 0-8 against the SEC in the Tressel era. I would love to know who your team is and what conference they play in. Florida, again this year, will have one of the top 3 toughest schedules in the nation. Just so you know "expert" that means the conference you play in is tough.
You brought up conference titles. The Gators pretty much swept the 90s in conference titles and we have 2 in this decade. What do they have to do, win the toughest confernce in the nation every year to be a "premier program" as you put it. Oh, and please tell me who is the strongest team in the state of Florida. Miami, FSU? They can't even win the ACC, which is doing better, but still isn't a top 5 conference.
I think you need to get off the farm every once in a while and do a little research before you post such a comment. Boise St had a hell of a team in '06, but no way would they have blown out Ohio State like the Gators did. I was there and there was no doubt left which team was the greatest that year.
You can hate on Tebow all you want; his actions will speak for themselves. Everybody was hating on him before he won the Heisman and dozens of other awards. No one thought he could live up to the hype. He did his Sophmore year and he again will this year, but no one can challenge the success of the Florida Football program and the SEC in the 90s and 00s.
"too bad the historical documented facts state otherwise."
7-24-2008 @ 11:25PM
cfb expert said...
brent i didnt see your comments before so let me educate you to the "historical documented facts" 1st your beloved sec. the sec is the big 12s whipping post. all time stats of sec top 6 against big 12 top 6. alabama 10-15-2 against the big 12 top 6 (ou, tex, neb, colo, texas am, and mizzou. do you comprehend that. the sec top all time program is a cupcake to the big 12 top 6 programs. tennessee is 4-5-1 again another losing record from the sec 2nd traditional team. georgia 4-7 again the 3rd all time traditional sec team is a whipping post for the big 12. lsu is 39-37-5 and the only sec top 6 program that can claim they have a winning record against the top 6 big 12 programs mostly due to their series lead of 26-20-3 over texas am. auburn is 5-12 again the 5th traditional program is a whipping post for the big 12. your beloved florida gators are an amazing 1-6-1 against the top 6 big 12 programs. 5 top 6 sec programs have losing records against the big 12 top 6. NOW FOR THE REAL DOMINANT CONFERENCE STATS. ou is 5-3-1 against the sec top 6 (alabama, tenn, uga, lsu, aub, and florida). NO SEC TOP 6 PROGRAM HAS A WINNING RECORD AGAINST OU. texas is 28-12-3. TEXAS HAS A WINNING RECORD AGAINST ALL TOP 6 SEC PROGRAMS. nebraska is 15-4-1 and has a winning record against 5 of the top 6 sec programs. bama at 3-2 lead nebraska. colorado is 2-9-1, texas am is 27-33-3 (mostly against lsu as stated), and missouri is 5-2 and of the 5 top 6 sec programs missouri has played only uga leads missouri 1-0. texas leads bama 7-0-1 all time, neb leads lsu 5-0-1 all time. yea the sec is great isnt it numbnuts? of the 154 (82-63-9 big 12 lead) games played 80% of those were at sec venues and the sec top 6 teams are still the big 12s top 6 whipping post.
of the 83 national titles handed out from 1936-present (ap, upi, bcs) 48 have went to unbeaten and untied teams (in other words earned). now of the 48 legit earrned titles the big 12 has 12, the big 10 has 9, and the weakass sec has 7. in case you cant comprehend what you read what it means is that alabama has 3, lsu uga, tenn, and auburn have 1 each.. oklahoma, nebraska and notre dame lead with 4 earned unbeaten and untied national titles, texas has 3 so of the big 12 teams ou has 4, neb has 4, texas has 3, and texas am has 1. so once again when we look at legit earned titles the sec is nowhere to be found. i will give the sec credit they lead in popularity titles. you know unearned titles when it was PROVEN ON THE FIELD that no you werent the best team. the sec has 7 1 loss titles (some over unbeaten teams as usual) and the joke from last year with 2 losses. when you lose then you have to BEG for a title i.e. urban meyer. its not earned.
now for tough schedules lets look at the 1aa programs that both the sec and big 12 have played since ww2 (jet age when teams could fly from east to west and line it up thus ending the need to run to the 1aa level) of the top 10 winning % teams traditionally (minus boise st who has only been a 1a member since 1996) here are the number of 1aa cupcakes each has played the last 63 seasons. notre dame 0, michigan 1, ohio st 1 (both michigan and ohio st played 1aa teams last year their 1st since ww2), ou 4, southern cal 5, texas 6, penn st 6, nebraska 16, alabama 27, and tenn 31. i know stats are hard for you to comprehend but as anyone with an i.q. over that of a 5 year oild can comprehend that the sec teams run to the 1aa level because they are too scared to play home and home series with the big boys. now as far as the big 12 only k st and iowa st (35 each) have played more than 21 1aa teams since ww2 while 8 sec programs have played 21 or more in the same time span. south carolina 25, bama 27, vanderbilt 29, tenn 31, kentucky 36, ole miss 40, auburn 41, and miss st 45. there goes any arguement about any tough schedule the sec plays. they pad their records against 1aa teams ooc because they fear traveling to play anywhere and then all we hear from the illiterates is how great the sec is lol. these documented stats prove otherwise.
one last comment. you wanted to know who my team is so ill see if you have anykind of football knowledge at all or not. my team ranks 3rd all time in winning % (above all sec programs), my team ranks 1st in all time scoring with 29,772 points all time, my team ranks 1st in weeks ranked top 5 by ap with 352, my team is tied with notre dame at 95 weeks ranked 1st by the ap (ohio st is 3rd at 93 weeks), my team has 41 conference titles (with 2 other conference members in top 10 all time win%), my team has 535 wins since ww2 (penn st is 2nd at 504, texas 503, bama 499, and nebraska at 497) in other words we have a 32 game lead over everyone in the modern era while playing the 3rd and 5th win teams in that time span 146 times combined the last 75 seasons. the reason i bring this up is because the sec teams usually run from each other i.e. uga who has played bama, tenn, and lsu a combined 90 times the last 75 years (75 year existence of the sec). vince dooley coached 25 seasons yet only played bama 8 times. my team ranks 1st and 8th in win streaks all time at 47 and 31 respectively. when we look at the sec mighty florida longest win streak is 13 games (baylor owns a 9 game streak) all time, georgia longest win streak 17 games from 1945-1947, lsu longest win streak is 19 from 1957-1959, auburn streak is under 20 as well. im not absolutely sure but im thinking 19 game streak for auburn as well. im not sure on the exact number but i know its under 20. now with that said my team has won 20 straight games in this decade and 28 in a row from 1973-1975. that would mean at least 4 20 game win streaks for my team alone while lsu, uga, florida, and auburn all wish they could win 20 straight. even with padding their schedules and avoiding each other they still cant win 20 straight. the 4 streaks by my team as mentioned not 1 GAME against any 1aa team. all those streaks were against 1a competition. my team ranks 1st all time in 10 win seasons at 30 (bama 28), my team ranks 1st all time in 11 win seasons at 18 (fsu 13), my team holds the ncaa record for 14 straight conference titles, my team holds the ncaa record for 75 straight games without a conference loss (no one is even close), my team who is the winningest team this decade is trying to become only the 2nd current 1a program to post 100 or more victories in 2 different decades. nebraska is the only current 1a program that can claim that. my team did lead a decade (1950s) by 13 wins 93-7-2 but only played 102 games that decade. ole miss had 80 wins in the 50s for 2nd. im sure i am forgetting alot of tradition from my team but with these documented historical facts if you cant name my team i would suggest you start posting on gayporn websites since it will have been proven you know nothing about college football.....just before i sent this i read where you claim no one can match the success of the sec in the 90s and this decade lol nebraska is the team of the 90s with over 100 wins and 3 unbeaten earned national titles, and my team leads this decade in wins lol. you are dumb arent you?
7-24-2008 @ 11:48PM
cfb expert said...
was incorrect in earlier post with penn st and texas wins in modern era. penn st has 503 and texas 501 not the 504 and 503 i posted earlier. my team still leads by 32 games over everyone in the modern era with 535 wins.
7-25-2008 @ 2:31AM
cfb expert said...
after doing a little more research i discovered i was wrong on a couple of statements. 1st auburn longest win streak is 20 games which were terry bowdens 1st 20 games as coach and i stated floridas longest win streak was 13 games. its 12. florida won 12 straight in 1995 then ran into nebraska (the team of the 90s). i remember everyone talking trash about how was nebraska going to be able to stop florida. i kept telling everyone that neb would stop florida but florida wouldnt stop nebraska. my prediction of 42-24 was wrong. the game ended what 62-24 didnt it? but then again i am the same guy who told auburn fans on their intro vid (about 6 pages back on the fanhouse blogs under auburn) they would be a 7-5 team last year in july before the season started. they claimed i was stupid and they would show me the 7-5 team and it would be mine lol. you can look it up if you would like. i know every auburn fan that had read my posts last july was sweating bullets when they were playing bama afraid my preseason prediction would be correct. i didnt pick the bowl game because no one knew who auburn would play. they went 8-4 in the regular season and of course defeated clemson in the bowl game.
now for brent i guess you think a program that has 0 earned national titles (unbeaten,untied), 7 sec titles in the 75 year existence of the conference, a losing record to miami (28-25 with what miami winning 6 of the last 7?) is a premier program lol. ou has as many ap national titles as florida does sec titles lmfao. miami has 3 earned titles, florida st has 1 and florida has 0 yet somehow i am supposed to be illiterate enough to believe florida is a premier program lol. now i guess as stated before that ball st, san jose st, and memphis are premier programs because they have something in common with florida. being the traditional 6th place teams in their conferences mean like florida that 5 teams kick their asses on a regular basis in their own conference. just a few facts for you courtesy of rev longbone.
7-27-2008 @ 4:45AM
cfb expert said...
brent where are you? im waiting for a reply about how great the south eastern cupcake conference is. i think maybe youre the person that needs to "get off the farm and do a little research" and i also believe that loose sound you are hearing isnt the word "expert" but in fact your ANAL CAVITY being ripped by the documented historical facts i have provided.
you mentioned something about being in a tough conference that had 3 teams in the top 10 to possibly win a national title or however you put it. did you happen to notice the top 10 all time win% teams and 3 happen to be big 12 programs in fact 2 of the 3 are top 5 all time programs while the sec has 2 top 10 programs. i believe i saw an espn poll or somekind of poll that had ou, texas, missouri, and kansas as all top 12 ranked and texas tech was ranked as well so i think the big 12 programs would know something about playing in a tough conference. did you also notice the posts about my team you wanted to know so badly and all the 1st all time records they currently own? thats called being a premier program something florida wouldnt know anything about. my team also has more unbeaten seasons than losing seasons total in its history. thats being premier.
brent you also mentioned something about me hating tim tebow. i dont hate the kid i just hate the program he plays for since its in the sec. 35 years of following college football religiously and every year its the same b.s. about how the sec is the greatest. you mentioned something about florida winning the best conference every year so i guess you believe in 1971 when the big 8 had the final top 3 ranked teams (only time ever) that the sec was better especially when undefeated nebraska routed unbeaten alabama in the orange and 1 loss ou routed 1 loss auburn in the sugar and colorado had defeated lsu earlier in the season. ou defeated southern cal and texas as well as colorado while colorado defeated ohio st and houston in the bowl game. im sure you believe the sec was better that year right?
one last comment to not only you but sec fans in general. all i hear is how the sec has defeated ohio st so many times in a row so my question to sec fans is this. when is the last time an sec team went to columbus, ann arbor, norman, or los angeles and won? i can tell you that in my 35 years of following ou that i dont remember any sec team coming to norman and winning.
7-22-2008 @ 4:21PM
wakeupfool said...
how many 30yard plus touchdowns does gaybow have?thats what i thought.
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7-22-2008 @ 4:38PM
arliss said...
Urban Meyer is full of shit. Tebow is a fullback playing QB. We'll see how many rushing TD's he has when he goes pro.
There is no team in college football that people should dislike as much as Florida.
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