Chomp! Chomp! Florida Batters Florida State in Tim Tebow's Finale

On weekend that saw Florida's BCS rivals Texas and Alabama (nearly) fall to in-state rivals, Florida showed how it was done against Florida State, hammering the Seminoles by the 'close' score of 37-10.

Yesterday we at the VFA made the point that winning rivalry games was often a question of who 'wanted it more'.

Now, we'd like to correct ourselves. We're quite aware that both sides 'want' to win. It's obvious—college football players don't exactly go out to lose, do they?

But get this: If you impress during a rivalry game, then everyone gives you the thumbs up on Thanksgiving Weekend, even if you were playing a defense as horrific as Florida State.

Florida State's problem isn't about speed. The speed that Florida State (as a team) has—in our view from watching an awful lot of teams this season—is second to none in the country.

But defense-wise, it's second to about everybody. I think that even Indiana would be disappointed with scoring under 30 against the 'Noles if the two met up. That is the poverty of FSU's defense.

Mind you, Texas A&M and Auburn's weren't great either. But it was Florida who exploited the weaknesses of Florida State's—as they did last year—and you have the feeling that had the 2009 matchup been in Doak Campbell, the result would have been exactly the same.

And to make matters worse for the Bowden-ers, Florida's defense was so dominant that the touchdown in garbage time late on in the game was a little bit on unjust side. Still, it was one heck of a catch, and well worth Youtubing!

And Tim Tebow, was, well, Tim Tebow. There was one horrible fumble late on in the game that the Tebow-haters enjoyed (and we still can't believe that the SEC officials didn't call him for an offensive facemask too), but otherwise, you can hardly complain with 17-21, 221 yard, 3-touchdown effort, could you?

We doubt that he'll put up the same gaudy numbers against Alabama going against a fearsome defensive front, but we think he'll do pretty well.