JACKSONVILLE — Three months into the season, Florida football players have tired of hearing head coach Urban Meyer speak about sticking together and overcoming adversity.
So to help get the Gators out of their recent funk, Meyer turned Thursday to a man who knows about defending a national title: UF men's basketball coach Billy Donovan, whose teams won it all in 2006 and 2007. He talked with the team's leaders about 6and not letting outsiders ruin the Gators' season.
"He was very inspiring," Florida quarterback Tim Tebow said. "It was very motivating for a lot of us."
Inspired by Donovan's message, the Gators defeated arch-rival Georgia 41-17 on Saturday in their most complete victory of the season.
"One of the best team wins we've had at Florida," said Meyer, who gave Donovan credit for the win.
"To have a resource like that an eighth of a mile from my office, it's kind of cool," Meyer said.
After sloppy victories over Arkansas and Mississippi State, the Gators finally held on to the ball (zero turnovers), scored from inside the Red Zone (2-of-3 opportunities) and expertly executed the offensive game plan.
The Gators improved to 17-3 over Georgia over the past 20 years, and Meyer improved to 14-1 in rivalry games against Georgia, Tennessee, Florida State and Miami. And with Tennessee beating South Carolina 31-13 Saturday night, the Gators (8-0, 6-0 SEC) clinched the SEC East division title with two conference games to play.
Meyer and offensive coordinator Steve Addazio devised a game plan that allowed Florida's offense to gain 374 yards and score 34 points. Meyer also challenged the players during practice this week to start performing like the No. 1 team in the country, capped by an emotional speech to the team Friday night.
"We weren't living up to our potential or executing as well as we should have been," Tebow said.
Tebow had a memorable performance playing in front of his hometown crowd for the final time in his college career. He completed 15 of 21 passes for two touchdowns and rushed for 85 yards and another two touchdowns, his first multiple-touchdown game since Sept. 26 against Kentucky. More importantly, he didn't turn the ball over and took only two sacks.
Tebow's first rushing touchdown, a 23-yarder late in the first half, gave him 50 for his career, breaking Herschel Walker's official SEC record. Walker, however, scored five touchdowns in bowl games that SEC officials do not count, so technically, Tebow's 51 career touchdowns are still three short of Walker's career total.
"Just to be mentioned in the same breath as Herschel Walker, it's extremely humbling," Tebow said.
Florida may finally have clicked on offense, but the defense once again stole the show. The Gators held Georgia to 286 yards of offense and intercepted four Bulldogs passes. Linebacker A.J. Jones took two away, while linebackers Ryan Stamper and Brandon Spikes snagged one each.
Spikes returned his interception 5 yards for a fourth-quarter touchdown to punctuate the blowout and send the Georgia half of the stadium home early.
For Meyer and his players, it was the perfect ending to a tough week.
"There's only one way to have fun around here," Meyer said, "and that's singing the fight song after the game."
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