The Great Debate - Tebow v. Ward

VS

It's been all over the place lately. Thanks to Bobby Bowden's comments last week, there have been countless debates over which QB was better: Charlie Ward of Tim Tebow. I thought it was about time to add my two sense into the convo.

There was such an uproar within the Gator community when Bowden made his now infamous comment. I really don't see the big deal. He was backing a guy who won a national championship and a Heisman for the team that he coaches. Nothing wrong with that. In fact, I would be a little put off if Bowden had declared Tebow the greatest ever. I would have thought, "Maybe Bowden has lost it.

On the other hand, there has been a backlash against Gator Nation, and Tebow for that matter, for the response to Bowden's comments. Many people feel that not only should they scream that Ward was better, but that he was way better! If you listened to these people, you would have thought that Tebow lucked into the Heisman and his 2 natonal titles by playing weak competition and playing for a coach that conspires to get him the ball as much as possible.

Both sides are wrong. While it would be easy for me to exclaim from the highest mountaintop how great Tebow is. I'm not going to do that. I'm going to put forth my thoughts on both players candidacy for the best ever title. I'm not completely backing either one.

For what it's worth, I think Tommie Frazier is the greatest football player, let alone QB, to play at the college level. But that's for a different debate.

The Best Ever.

Let's take a look at both player's career stats.

Charlie Ward - 473-750 63% 5,747 yards 49 tds 22 ints 889 rushing yards 10 rushing tds

Tim Tebow - 448-681 66% 6,390 yards 67 tds 11 ints 2,077 rushing yards 43 rushing tds

It's pretty easy to find the flaw in using career stats as a barometer of these two player's greatness. Tebow has played more games than Ward. Charlie only started 1 1/2 years for the Noles, while Tebow is going on his third season. However, I don't see how you can hold that against Tebow. Shouldn't he get a little credit for startig for a national power for 3 seasons? Also, the fact that Ward literally DOUBLED Tebow's interceptions total in half the amount of time is startling. I do appreciate the fact, though, that Ward is only 600 passing yards away from Tebow's total in that short period of time.

For a better barometer, let's Take Tebow's best season (2007) and match it up with Ward's (1993)

Charlie Ward - 264-380 69% 3,032 yards 27 tds 4 ints

Tim Tebw - 234-350 67% 3,286 yards 32 tds 6 ints

The numbers here are closer, with a slight edge still in Tebow's favor. I purposely left out the rushing statistics because that would tilt the scales in Tebow's favor tremendously. The whole 20/20 statistic was an amazing feat. Now, I think Ward's season is a little more impressive than Tebow's because Ward won the national championship. Tebow, not so much...

Heismans are all fine and dandy, but I really don't like to use a biased award as a means of judging a player. I do like to use championships though. As we all know, Tebow leads in that category 2-1 and he's trying to make it 3-1. Now, for the sake of argument, and since I can already hear FSU fans bitching about Tebow not having anything to do with the 2006 title, I'll throw that one out. Let's just focus on 2008 for Tebow and again 1993 for Ward.

Most Seminole fans will have you believe that Ward faced the most difficult schedule ever concocted. How anyone could ever come out of that schedule alive, let alone win a national title is totally incomprehensible. Tebow on the other hand, faced a bunch of soft pansies that wouldn't know how to play football if Walter Camp was their head coach.

Heres the respective schedules:

1993 Florida St..........................................................2008 Florida Gators

1. Kansas W................................................................1. Hawaii W
2. Duke W...................................................................2. Miami W
3. Clemson W.............................................................3. Tennessee W
4. North Carolina W..................................................4. Ole Miss L
5. Georgia Tech W.....................................................5. Arkansas W
6. Miami W.................................................................6. LSU W
7. Virginia W...............................................................7. Kentucky W
8. Wake Forest W......................................................8. Georgia W
9. Maryland W...........................................................9. Vanderblt W
10. Notre Dame L.....................................................10. South Carolina W
11. North Carolina ST. W.........................................11. Citadel W
12. Florida W.............................................................12. Florida St. W
National Championship- Nebraska W...................SEC Championship v Alabama W
.....................................................................................National Championship v. Oklahoma W

Florida St. did have a tougher schedule in 1993 than Florida did in 2008. I'm not disputing that. However, I do think it's a little absurd to claim that their scheule was vastly superiors to Florida. Most FSU fans will point to the Notre Dame game as a major factor in why their schedule was tougher. That's all well and good, but FSU lost that game! Plus, Notre Dame would go on to lose the very next week against a not so great Boston College team. Florida player several teams that had top-raked defenses at the time of the meeting. LSU, Kentucky, Georgia, South Carolina, Florida St. and Alabama all had tremendous seasons defensively. That is, until they played the Gators. Plus, the Gators actually beat 2 number 1 teams, Alabama and Oklahoma. Something that FSU couldn't do.

Take these arguments for what its worth. I don't think it's blasphemous to claim Ward is better than Tebow, especially if you're the head freaking coach of Florida St. I do think it's wrong to discount what Tebow has already accomplished at Florida. Maybe he will be more appreciated by opposing fans once he's no longer playing.

Five in a row!

Tim Tebow and the Florida Gators dismantled the Florida St. Seminoles yesterday at a soggy Doak Campbell Stadium. The Gators racked up over 500 total yards of offense en route to the victory.

Tebow helped increase his Heisman chances with another dominating performance against the School Out West. Tebow accounted for four touchdowns including one rushing and three passing. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Percy Harvin was carried off the field in the second quarter after suffering a right ankle sprain. Seminole fans could be heard cheering as Harvin lay on the ground in pain. Tebow admitted that this helped motivate him to bust someone's ass out there. (Of course those are my own words.)

Now the real task of preparing for 'Bama and the SEC Championship awaits the Gators. Hopefully Harvin will be ready for next week. If you remember, the last time UF was in the SEC Championship, Harvin took home MVP honors as a Freshman.


Here's some highlight from the game. Look for Florida St. Safety Jamie Robinson to get his shit ruined at the 1:23 mark:




Here's some stats:

Passing
Tim Tebow 12-21 185 yards 3 tds

Rushing
Chris Rainey 8 97 yards
Jeff Demps 9 89 yards 1 td
Tim Tebow 16 80 yards 1 td
Emmanuel Moody 5 40 yards
Percy Harvin 6 13 yards 1 td

Receiving
Aaron Hernandez 4 recs 61 yards 2 tds
Louis Murphy 2 recs 49 yards 1 td
David Nelson 2 recs 36 yards
Brandon James 1 rec 13 yards
Jeff Demps 1 rec 11 yards
Carl Moore 1 rec 10 yards

Tackles
Ahmad Black 6
Brandon Spikes 6
Joe Haden 5
Major Wright 5

Interceptions
Brandon Spikes 1 26 yards
Major Wright 1 2 yards

Sacks
Carlos Dunlap 2
Jay Howard 1
Jermaine Cunningham 1


Player of the Game

Tim Tebow - QB, Ruiner of Shit, Destroyer of Safeties

Tebow put together another highlight reel type game. The image of him leaving the field after scoring his lone rushing touchdown will live on in UF-FSU lore for all time. There was no Geno Hayes this year to pump Tebow up. He didn't need it. Timmy led the Gators to over 500 yards of total offense. Next up: SEC Championship.

Florida - S.O.W. Preview

It's time for the annual Florida - Florida St. game. Thanks to both schools victories over Miami earlier in the season, this will be a true battler for the esteemed Seminole War Canoe trophy.

Finally, FSU is playing with a full roster and no suspensions. Unfortunately for them, this Gators team is possibly playing the best football in the history of the Florida program. Florida St. D's may actually be talented enough to keep up with the Gators on Saturday. Then again, we said the same thing about South Carolina.....



5 Keys to a Gator Victory


1. Score Early.

Florida has been absolutely dominant in the first half of their recent ball games. Playing in a hostile environment like Doak Campbell, it will be all that more important to get out in front early and shut the FSU faithful up. I don't know how effective scoring early will be at quieting the crowd though. I've seen FSU fans do their stupid little spelling thing after their team just picked up a first down in the fourth quarter of a 45-12 losing effort!



2. Instill Fear With Tebow.

Last year, the Seminoles seemed to give up once Tebow started running wild. I'd like to see if a feeling of deja vu came over the FSU D if Tebow started to repeat last season's performance. With all the NFL talk lately, this may be Tebow's last shot at FSU. You know he'll be fired up for this one!








3. Run Percy Harvin

Before there was Geno Hayes calling out Tebow only to get steamrolled. There was Myron Rolle calling out Percy Harvin only to get run right by. Two years ago, Rolle sated that Harvin didn't scare anybody on their D. He also said something to the effect that once he caught Harvin he would lay the wood on him. Harvin responded with something like Rolle couldn't catch him anyway so he wasn't too worried about it. Of course Harvin was correct. I wonder if FSU players are sick of eating crow?




4. DB's Make A Play

You bet your ass that's a picture of Avery Atkins making a play against the 'Noles. That happened to be the best game of Atkins' life. Someone from the Gators' secondary is gonna have to play that type of game on Saturday. Our cornerbacks are tiny compared to FSU's receivers, although that wasn't much of a problem against Georgia. Ahmad Black could be the key in our secondary. It would be a long day for the Noles offense if our secondary provided support for Mr. Spikes and company.






5. Invite UF's chapter of Phi Beta Sigma to Tally

Imagine if you will. You're a Florida St. receiver. You're running your route, hoping Ponder looks your way. Out of your ear hole you hear a blood curdling sound, "SIGMA!!! YOU KNOW!!!!". You immediately turn your head to see this:





You immediately give up on the play and charge into the stands to "take care of ya buness."


5 Players that need to step up


1. Louis Murphy - Murphy had a huge game last season. Plus he's a senior this year. Dallas Baker and Bubba Caldwell both had big games against the Seminoles in their final season. Time for Murphy to continue that tradition.

2. Percy Harvin - I expect Harvin to come close to the 100 yards rushing and 100 yards receiving feat again. He'll probably be the go to guy out of the backfield, and I look for Tebow to throw to him more often than not.

3. Joe Haden - Haden will probably draw the assignment of Greg Carr this weekend. Carr has Haden dominated size wise. However, Haden is a rockstar, and if he plays like the ALL-SEC corner that he should be, Carr should be shut down.

4. Will Hill - With every game that asses, Will Hill sees more and more playing time. This can only be a good thing as Hill is a bona fide superstar. I wouldn't be surprised if he got a pick this weekend.

5. Emmanuel Moody - Of course I had to put Moody on this list. He finally got over 100 yards last week. Albeit against 1-aa Citadel.


Here's some highlights from last seasons beatdown to wet your whistle.




Here's what some Florida and Florida St. fans are saying about the game over at Topix. It's amazing how some Nole fans are trying to play the character card. Really??? Florida St. Fan??? Character???? Wow, they get one bright light (Rolle) and all of a sudden they're the Ivy League of the South.


My prediction

Florida - 48

Florida St. - 15 (All Gano field goals.)

"Y'all put that down. Tim Tebow is going down this week . . . he's going down this week."

Ahhh! The quote heard around Gator Nation. The sad thing is, Mr. Geno Hayes was actually a good football player prior to this comment. Of course, he completely disappeared against Tebow and the Gators.

This may have been the biggest example of words coming back to bite you in the ass in the history of mankind.

The funny thing is, most Seminole fans really believed this douchebag of an idiot.

In fact when Tebow and Hayes got into on the first drive, all the FSU fans around me began whooping and hollering like the bunch of slack jawed retard hillbillies that they are. Of course, the very next play, Tebow bulldozed a couple of Seminoles to convert a first down.

And we all know how the drive turned out....






Unfortunately there's no pansy ass Geno Hayes this year to make some ridiculous ass statement. However, I'm sure there's some shit for brains on the Seminole squad that will say something to fire Mr. Timmy up.

I'll be doing a preview on the game either tomorrow or Friday, so just replay the above highlight over and over until then.

Countdown!

'Twas the day before football, when all through the land
Everyone was stirring, especially CFB fans;

The helmets were hung by the lockers with care,
In hopes that gameday soon would be there;

The cheerleaders were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of touchdowns danced in their heads;
And mamma in her 'jersey, and I in my hat,
Had just settled down for a long fall’s nap,
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the couch to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of the new-cut grass
Gave the lustre of mid-day to OSU fan’s ass,
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,

But a miniature horse, and an Indian with a spear,
With an old time coach, so dagummit lively,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Bobby.
More rapid than War Eagles his players they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;
"Now, Tebow! now, Daniel! now, Moreno and Harvin!
On, Wells! on Bradford! on, Harrell and Garvin!
To the back of the end zone! Go get that ball !
Now sprint away! sprint away! sprint away all!
"As dry leaves that before the Miami Hurricanes fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, on their backs they will lie,
So up to the field the players they ran,
With pads on their shoulders, and a football in their hands.

And then, in an instant, I heard on the tube.
The yelling and screaming of the Gameday Crew.
As I looked at the screen, and was turning around,
Through the door St. Bobby came with a bound.
He was dressed all in garnet, from his shoes to his shirt,
And his golf hat was tarnished with ashes and dirt;
A bunch of players he had suspended from his team,
And he looked like a skeleton from some sort of bad dream.
His eyes -- how they glazed! his dimples how wrinkly!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose was so crinkly!
His droll gaping mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And he looked like he was chasing Joe Paterno;
The combing of a playbook he held in his hand,
And the scribbling all over it made it hard to comprehend;

He had a broad face and a big round belly,
That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old fart,
And I cringed when I saw him, ‘Cus I’m a Gator at heart;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know the ‘Noles were nothing to dread;
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled out the playbook; then left like a jerk,
And laying his finger on top of his nose,
He pointed to a breathe-right strip, for health reasons I suppose;
He sprang to his car, to his team gave a Yo!,
And away they all fled like Geno Hayes at the sight of Tebow.


But I heard him exclaim, as he drove away,

"College football starts tomorrow, Dagummit, watch every play!."

Good 'ol Bobby says he's staying.

Florida State head coach Bobby Bowden hinted that he will be staying in Tallahassee for a few years. This all went down during his interview at the ACC media Days.


Bowden, who turns 79 this upcoming season, said he wants to stay at FSU until he can right the ship. I am fond of Bobby, but I don't think he will be around long enough to see the 'Noles bounce back.


When asked about his future, Bowden said " I'm still the head football coach. But I know we've got to win more than we're winning now. I'm not interested in getting out, though. I plan on getting this thing back to where it ought to be, and go on from there. Time will tell."


Bowden knows his team has been garbage lately. The fact that he thinks he can turn it around just makes him seem a little senile. Another insight into the man's insanity may have came when he was quoted as saying, " My goal is to gt back to the top, but if we get there, we're not going to stay there. There's too many good teams in this conference."


Too many good teams in this conference? Does Bowden think he's in the SEC or Big XII. There are probably one and a half good teams in the ACC. That's about it. What happened to the good old days in Tallahassee when the 'Noles didn't care who was on their schedule? They would just show up and wax that ass. Now, FSU can't even get past Wake anymore.


I know one man that's one pissed off millionaire right about now:

Pic of the day

I can't get enough of these type of pics. Geno Hayes did nothing but run his mouth prior to the game last season. All he did during the game was allow Tebow and the Gators to ruin his shit for 60 minutes.

Brandon Warren moves up on my shit list

It was announced today that former Florida State Seminole standout tight end Brandon Warren will be transferring to Tennessee.

Brandon Warren first asked for his transfer from FSU to go back to his home state of Tennessee, but Bobby Bowden pulled a Charlie Weis and denied him.

Here is the official transcript from the meeting.:

BW: Caoch Bowden, I wanna transfer to Tennessee.
BB: Daggumit, who the hell are you?
BW: It's me Brandon! I started at tight end for you.
BB: What the hell does that mean?
BW: I am on your football team!
BB: A what now?
BW: I give up. Just sign this piece of paper.
BB: Did Tommy and Terry put you up to this? I won't go to that home they wanna put me in.

Bowden the tore up the transfer request and totally cock-blocked Warren from joining the Vols. Latest news has come out that Warren was recently admitted into the University of Tennessee. This should clear the way for Warren to join the Vols.

Of course, with a douche for a coach and no QB whatsoever, Warren's presence may mean absolute crap.

Picture of the day

The above is visual evidence that T.K. Wetherell is an adopted son of Satan. While doing research for a previous blog I came across this top secret photo of Mr. Wetherellsigning his soul over to the devil.

T.K. Wetherell is still alive??????

Yes he is!

Not only that, but the Florida State Athletic Director is actually making some sense these days.

While speaking at a National Football Forum, Wetherell stated that a playoff system in college football is inevitable. The only issue stopping playoffs now is the almighty dollar. As Wetherell put it, unfortunately "the money is going to drive the train on this one." You would think money wouldn't be a problem after the NCAA unleashed it's ingenious 12th game, which allows top-tier tams to participate in light training against J.V. squads.

Wetherell was opposed by a few swamp asses, whose main argument that a playoff system allows only one winner while bowl games allow 32 winners. That's great! When the hell did Division 1 football! become a baseball little league. Try to explain that to Dan Hawkins (and be prepared to be viciously bitch-slapped).

Why not just bypass bowls as well? We should just give every team that participates in every game this year a trophy. That way, no one's feelings gets hurt.

It's funny that the crotch-rots that are putting out this lame argument of only one winner include: Jim Tressel(who doesn't even win when there are 32 winners), Gary Patterson(average mid-major coach that would lose a lot of money from lost bowl appearances), Kevin White, Notre Dame Athletic Director(The man who hired Charlie Weis should have no say in any kind of matter.Ever.), and Kevin Anderson, Army Athletic Director(Army. Enough said.)

While I mostly disagree with just about everything T.K. Wetherell does, I agree with him on this issue. A playoff system in college football is inevitable. What's weird is that I don't know how I feel about this. While a playoff system would leave us with one true champion, bowl season is pretty much the second best time of the year(behind the start of the season). There is something about teams like Florida Atlantic, Troy and Central Michigan getting to do their thing in front of a national television audience.

For now though, T.K. Wetherell is still kicking and he's still an ass.

FSU Joke of the day

What did the UF graduate say to the FSU graduate?

May the defendant please rise.

Picture of the Day

This is a true sign of how far the Florida State program has fallen. As a Gator it kind of saddens me to see the sad state of affairs taking place at the school up North. Then again, all those years of jacking shoes from Foot Locker and defrauding Dillard's is finally catching up to the 'Noles. I think FSU might need a little more than Jimbo Fisher.