In failure, greatness was born.
Pretty much, that’s the story of the Florida–Ole Miss football rivalry.
Consider they are both in the SEC, the Gators and Rebels don’t play that often. But they played in 2008, and the Rebels came off with a 31-30 stunner over a Florida team that had Tim Tebow, Percey Harvin, Riley Cooper and Aaron Hernandez.
Who would have thought it? Florida came in ranked No. 4 in the nation. The Rebels were 2-2, and they had been only 3-9 the season before while Tebow was picking up the Heisman. But Jevon Snead threw two touchdown passes, and the Rebs held on a fourth-and-short running play by Tebow.
Disappointing for Florida? Yes. But after the game, Tebow gave his “sorry” speech that would turn into one of the signature moments of his time there.
“To the fans and everybody of Gator Nation, I’m sorry,” an emotional Tebow began. “Extremely sorry. We wanted an undefeated season. That was my goal, something Florida has never done here. I promise you one thing, a lot of good will come out of this. You will never see any player in the entire country play as hard as I will play the rest of the season. You will never see another player push his team as hard as I will push everybody the rest of the season. You will never see a team play harder than we will the rest of the season.”
It was all true. The Gators won 10 straight, and in the first nine of them scored at least 30 points. Florida beat Oklahoma for the national title game.
This week, Ole Miss has all of the advantages. The Rebels are ranked No. 3 in the country, and as such, are the highest-ranked opponent that the Gators will face.
Did the loss to Ole Miss help to focus Florida that day seven seasons ago? It certainly didn’t hurt.
Except for a day.
