LCB Picks: 2009 SEC Championship Game

#1 Florida Gators vs. #2 Alabama Crimson Tide @ on 4:00 CBS:

Langston: What is a Tennessee fan supposed to do? Who do we root for? Who do we boo harder? The two biggest rivals of UT are showcasing their NFL talent in a battle for the SEC trophy, a game that will vault one of the teams into the BCS title game. On one hand, you have Florida. Winners of three national championships, with two coming in the past three years. On the other, you have Alabama. Winners of twelve national titles, with the last coming in 1992. So do I root for the Gators to stop Alabama's rebirth as a perrenial power? Or do I root for Alabama to stop Florida from having the best four years of a college program? It's a conflicting position to be in, so I'll just avoid those questions altogether and try to enjoy this game for what it is: a match-up of two great college football teams and probably the best game of the year. I'll take Florida by 10, because Tebow is the truth.

Teach: Deckfight explores the topic in more detail down below, but this game is not just for the SEC title or a bid in a national title game. This game may actually decide whether people consider Tim Tebow the greatest college player of all-time or not. Personally, the idea scares me. I have trouble buying into the idea he's the best ever. Maybe I struggle with the statement because I'm now older than college athletes and feel slightly foolish for buying into the mythology of someone younger than myself, like a Jew living under Caesar who finds it hard to believe in Christ. I'm skeptical to say the least. Or, maybe I struggle with the statement because Tebow doesn't play his position like anyone we've seen. Other great running quarterbacks, like Michael Vick or Tommie Frazier, dazzled us with their speed and allusiveness, and Vick most definitely had a cannon for an arm. Charlie Ward was elusive and saw the field as if he had a fly's compound eyes. But Tebow runs like a fullback, throws like a softball player, and never appears to see 360 degrees of angles at a time. Still, he's effective, and he's the main reason Florida is in this game.

I picked against Florida and Alabama once this year. I picked LSU to beat both of them, and each wound up escaping the Bayou Bengals by the hair of their chinny chin chins. Whichever team wins this game will find itself living out a fairy tale. If Florida wins, Tebow, true or not, will be hailed as the greatest ever. If 'Bama wins, then Saban looks more and more like the handsome Prince, riding in on his gallant steed, to awaken a sleeping program, and Mark Ingram inches closer to being the Tide's first Heisman winner. No matter the result this game will change the mythology of college football.

The funny thing about all the coverage of this game, however, is that while Tebow's legacy, Ingram's Heisman candidacy, Greg McElroy's weaknesses, and Julio Jones's pro prospects have garnered most of the attention, this game will most likely be a defensive grudge match, which makes the absence of Florida's Carlos Dunlap a huge loss for the Gators. His absence gives one the feeling that the Gators are walking into a gun fight with only a knife. Alabama pulls out the victory 16 to 14, in a college version of a Pittsburgh-Baltimore slugfest.

Deckfight:

An unlikely defense of Tim Tebow

Somehow Tim Tebow has turned into Kobe Bryant. Both are now generally considered to be above awards. Kobe only has one MVP, though many will consider him to be a more dominant player than Tim Duncan and Steve Nash or even Karl Malone, all whom have two MVP awards. Everyone on the radio, in blogs, in mags generally now considers Tim Tebow to be the greatest college football player ever, but only has the Heisman in what many considered a fluke year. He wasn't supposed to win it as a sophomore, he was supposed to win it last year or this year. How he is not a front-runner this year, on a team that has won 18 straight and maintained the number one position in the polls all year is just a matter of self-deception. No one wants to support the front-runner now, everyone assumes someone else will vote for him, but instead it will probably go to some random guy from Boise St., Cincinatti, or TCU (no, actually it'll probably go to Colt McCoy). Part of this is that now everyone takes Tim Tebow for granted. He once shared time with Chris Leak of all people. The national public was more familiar with Tim Tebow than they were with Obama back in 2006. This guy has been everywhere for so long, that no one cares anymore. I think Bill Simmons has some type of "he's so over-rated he's now underrated scale" or something like that, and Tebow is now #1 on that spectrum.

It doesn't matter to me if Tebow will "succeed at the next level." Most Heisman-winning running quarterbacks don't. But come on, to say that this guy is the greatest college football player ever and then to deny him the Heisman for a mini-accomplished running back like Mark Ingram or for a Texas quarterback so stereotypical that it seems like Friday Night Lights (J.D. McCoy, anyone?) is mirrored on his life is ludicrous. For the first time in my life, I will be cheering for Florida in this game. I would love to see a Boise St.--TCU title game as much as the next person, but this is it right here. I will say it unequivocally: I want Florida to win and for Tebow to win the Heisman. That said, I hate Florida. Always have. I went to another SEC school. My wife went to UGA. I almost went to Florida State. But, come on, what's fair is fair.