TO THE FANS AND EVERYBODY IN GATOR NATION

Here is my transcript of Florida Quarterback Tim Tebow's Promise at the end of the post-game news conference after the Gators' one-point loss at home to Mississippi, Saturday, Sept. 27, 2008:

"To the fans and everybody in Gator Nation:

I'm sorry--extremely sorry. You know we were hoping for an undefeated season, that was my goal--something Florida's never done here.

But I promise you one thing: A lot of good will come out of this.

You have never seen any player in the entire country play as hard as I will play the rest of the season.

And you will never see someone push the rest of the team as hard as I will push everybody the rest of the season, and

You'll never See a team play harder than we will the rest of the season.

God Bless."

--Tim Tebow

The Gators then won the rest of their regular season games, and the Southeastern Conference Championship against the No. 1 ranked team in the nation, with a new AP No. 1 ranking, and earned a berth in the BCS National Championship game:

Arkansas..........38-7

LSU...................51-21

Kentucky..........63-5

Georgia.............49-10

Vanderbilt........42-14

South Carolina..56-6

The Citadel.......70-19

Florida State....45-15

Alabama...........31-20

See you in Miami!!!

SEC Game Speaking Points

Florida vs. Alabama Speaking Points Team • Florida claimed its eighth SEC Championship (1991, ’93, ’94, ’95, ’96, ’00, ’06, ’08). It was Florida’s seventh win in the SEC Championship Game. • Florida’s seven championship games victories is the most in SEC history. • Florida has now won 12-or-more games for the fourth time in school history (1995, ’96, ’06, ’08). • Urban Meyer is the third coach in the history of college football to lead a school that was ranked No. 2 (AP) to a win over the No. 1 (AP) team more than once in his coaching career (Joe Paterno, Penn State; Jimmy Johnson, Miami). • Alabama had never trailed in the second half this season until that streak ended after the Gators blanked the Tide in the fourth quarter, 14-0. Offense • Against the No. 1 defense on third down, UF was 7-of-13 vs. Alabama on third downs. Tim Tebow completed four third down passes, three of them for touchdowns and ran the ball four times on third down, and converted three for first downs. • With its first touchdown of the game, Florida set a school record for points in a season. UF entered the game with 556 and the previous school record was 559 in 1996. UF has scored 587 points in 2008. • Alabama had given up 28 points total in its last four games before allowing 31 to Florida • Defense • Florida had a season-high eight quarterback hurries vs. Alabama. • UF tied a school record with its 24th interception of the season (the 2000 team also had 24 picks). Special Teams • Jonathan Phillips set a SEC single-season record with 75 PATs on the season. UF players own each of the top five marks in the department in SEC history. • Chas Henry’s 57-yard punt at the start of the second half was his 13th of 50-or-more this year and his 20th inside the 20-yard line. Henry had 12 punts of 50-or-more yards last season. • Florida’s Brandon James had five kickoff returns for 121 yards today, breaking the SEC single-game record for kickoff return yards. • Florida’s Chas Henry punted three times for a 47.7 yard average, breaking the previous single-game average mark of 45.8 yards (4 punts) set by Georgia’s Gordon Ely-Kelso in the 2005 contest.

GO GATORS! BEAT OKLAHOMA!!