Not Much Sunshine in Sunshine State

The Sunshine State's college football teams awoke Sunday in a state of flux.

Florida's Tim Tebow was injured. Miami was bruised. Florida State was exposed. South Florida was, well, giddy. It was just as nuts nationally, too, where four top-10 teams lost this weekend. Six times already this season a team ranked in the top 10 has lost to an unranked team. What comes next? Every game could be a potential adventure as September rolls into October.

"As a whole team we have to learn how to finish the game," UM head coach Randy Shannon said Sunday after reviewing the Hurricanes' 31-7 loss at Virginia Tech 24 hours earlier. "The first two weeks I thought they [players] did a nice job with maturity, doing their responsibility, what they needed to get done.

"Now they took a step back."

Top-ranked UF, meanwhile, just wants to steady its nerves after Tebow suffered a concussion in the Gators' 41-7 victory at Kentucky Saturday. Tebow returned home to Gainesville, Fla., Sunday after spending the night at a Lexington, Ky., hospital.

Tebow, the 2007 Heisman Trophy winner, sustained a scary blow to the back of his head when he was sacked by UK defensive end Taylor Wyndham and fell backward into the knee of offensive tackle Marcus Gilbert late in the third quarter.

Wyndham was "sorry" that Tebow was injured.

"I really don't want to be known as that guy," Wyndham told the Lexington Herald-Leader. "I want to be known for other plays and making big plays and stuff.

"When I got up and saw he was hurt, I was kind of upset about it. It's football, but you always hope that nobody gets injured. It was a good hit, a clean hit. I'm sorry he got hurt; I wish the best for him."

The Gators (4-0) are off Saturday; they play at No. 4 LSU on Oct. 10. It might be several days, maybe longer, before Tebow's status becomes clearer. Backup John Brantley replaced Tebow and completed 4-of-6 passes for 30 yards, including an 8-yard TD pass to Riley Cooper in the fourth quarter. If Tebow isn't able to play against the Tigers, Brantley would make his first career start.

Speaking of first career starts, USF quarterback B.J. Daniels returned to his hometown of Tallahassee, Fla., and helped the undefeated Bulls punk the Seminoles, 17-7.

A week after playing their best of the game of the season in a victory over then-No. 7 BYU, the Seminoles fell flat against a Bulls team that was more motivated, better prepared and, quite frankly, just as athletic.

USF head coach Jim Leavitt called it a "historical win."

It was agonizing for FSU fans.

The performance has once again fanned the flames of whether the program is improving under Bobby Bowden, whose team returns to ACC play on Saturday at Boston College. Bowden pointed out Sunday that the Seminoles still have plenty to play for -- winning the ACC Coastal Division and a berth into the ACC Championship game in Tampa, Fla.

"There's too much season left to be negative," Bowden said.

While FSU's offense is averaging 28.5 points and 401.5 yards per game, the Seminoles continue to lack big-play potential under offensive coordinator, and head coach-in-waiting, Jimbo Fisher.

FSU struggled against USF, losing four fumbles and finishing with 19 yards rushing. The Seminoles managed only seven points despite having eight possessions in Bulls territory, including first-and-goal at the 3 and first-and-goal at the 7.

"Obviously, we're not over it [overall performance] consistently," Fisher said.

"We don't have enough guys over it consistently. We've got a few guys who stayed over it. Again, we're up and down."

That was a similar message echoed by Shannon, whose Hurricanes must regroup in a hurry at home on Saturday against No. 8 Oklahoma.

The game could mark the return of Sooners quarterback Sam Bradford, who sustained a third-degree separation of his right shoulder in the Sooners' season-opening loss to BYU on Sept. 5. However, many believe a more likely scenario would be to have Bradford back for the Sooners' Big 12 opener against Baylor on Oct. 10.

Bradford reportedly flew to Birmingham, Ala., on Friday to see renowned sports surgeon James Andrews.

"We prepare for Oklahoma's offense," Shannon said.

"We can't prepare for Sam Bradford and the other quarterback. Their offense is what makes the offense go. They're not going to change the plays because of who the quarterback is. They're going to run the offense."

Despite wet weather in Blacksburg, Va., Shannon was disappointed by the Hurricanes' effort. There were turnovers, dropped passes, a blocked punt and blown protections.

"We're not where we want to be at," Shannon said.

"I keep saying that type of thing. It's a great situation for us to learn as a football team. We won two big games but we had to come back and get ready for the third team, Virginia Tech, and we didn't do it. Now we have to step up and say, `What do we want to get done against Oklahoma? Are we going to bounce back, go out there and have a great game plan, go out there and execute?' "