LSU vs. Alabama Rematch: How Would These Defenses Have Fared Against Tim Tebow?

During his time at Florida, Tim Tebow dominated college football like few other players ever have. He won two national championships as well as the Heisman Trophy and will go down as one of the most decorated players in history.

LSU and Alabama were frequent opponents of Tebow, playing him a total of five times, but their defenses this year have been much better than they were from 2006-09.

How would they have fared against Tebow’s offense, which ranked in the top 10 nationally in scoring every year? Let’s break it down.

LSU vs. Florida Then

The Tigers went 1-2 against Florida while Tebow was under center. In those three games, they gave up 13, 51 and 24 points when the defense ranked 11th, 56th and 17th, respectively, in the nation in scoring defense.

This year’s team ranks second in scoring defense and has only given up 20 or more points on two occasions to the third- and 19th-best scoring offenses. LSU only gave up six points to a 16th-ranked Alabama offense earlier this season.

Alabama vs. Florida Then

The Tide went 1-1 against Florida in 2008 and 2009, both meetings coming in the SEC Championship with the winner ultimately going on to win the national championship.

Alabama allowed 31 points in the first matchup but just 13 in the second. The defense ranked seventh in scoring defense in 2008 and second in 2009, allowing just 14.3 and 11.7 points per game, respectively.

But this year’s squad has only allowed an incredible 8.8 points per game and at least of the players are expected to be drafted in the first three rounds of the NFL draft. As a whole the Tide rank first in just about every major defensive statistic.

LSU vs. Florida Now

Let’s take a look at what the 2008 Florida offense would have done. That year the team averaged 45 points per game and only scored fewer than 30 points twice all season, 26 points to Miami and 24 to Oklahoma in the national championship.

A best guess would be somewhere in the mid-20s as to the number of points the Gators would score against this Tiger defense. Florida had a really high turnover margin that year and that has been one of the signatures of this LSU defense.

Alabama vs. Florida Now

Alabama’s defense has only given up more than 14 points once all season and it was in what is widely considered a fluke game against FCS Georgia Southern. Only LSU and Arkansas have offenses that are comparable to Florida’s 2008 team and the Tide held them to nine and 14 points, respectively.

A safe projection would be holding the Gators to around 20 points.