NEW ORLEANS — In a college football career filled with superlatives, Tim Tebow gave a performance Friday night that epitomized his larger-than-life persona.
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With the foundation of the Florida program shaken after a week of drama, Tebow set a Sugar Bowl record by completing his first 12 passes and delivered perhaps the most dominant performance of his career, guiding the No. 5 Gators to a 51-24 victory against overmatched No. 4 Cincinnati.
Tebow finished 31-of-35 passing for 482 yards, smashing his career best by more than 100 yards. He threw for three touchdowns and ran for another, leaving in the fourth quarter to one final deafening ovation.
“Tim Tebow,” said the Florida offensive coordinator Steve Addazio, “played the game of his life.”
After days filled with tears and uncertainty, Florida (13-1) played like Florida again. Whether the Gators remain an elite program as they have for the past five seasons will be the biggest question in college football in the off-season now that Tebow is headed to theN.F.L. and Coach Urban Meyer is headed away from the sidelines for a medically relatedindefinite leave of absence.
“It was a big week for the program,” Tebow said. “My time at the University of Floridacoming to an end seemed like a little bit of a roller-coaster. But it was special, it was a lot of fun.”
He added: “I dreamed about being a Gators since I was 6 years old and it was better than I could have dreamed.”
Cincinnati (12-1), which was probably one second away from playing Alabama for the national title if Texas had lost to Nebraska, ended its season with a foul performance. With Coach Brian Kelly leaving the team for Notre Dame and the interim coach Jeff Quinn on his way to take over at Buffalo, a program in flux looked stuck in the mud at the Superdome.
The Bearcat defense had been mostly smoke and mirrors the last two months, giving up an average of 36.5 points in its final four games. As the Bearcats lined up across from Tebow and the Gators, the smoke cleared and the mirrors shattered. Quinn admitted that Kelly leaving had a big impact on the Bearcats.
“To lose him at this point was not an easy thing to do,” Quinn said.
With the next defining Tebow story line destined to be the divisiveness over his status in the N.F.L. draft, he certainly put forth a performance to embolden the optimists and mock the skeptics. Tebow started hot by completing a Sugar Bowl record 12 consecutive passes and never stopped. He hit his favorite target, tight end Aaron Hernandez, nine times for 111 yards, and completed an 80-yard scoring bomb to Riley Cooper.
Tebow made one final case to both N.F.L. scouts and a capper to his college football legacy. To state Tebow’s case for the N.F.L., Meyer jokingly read his statistical line.
“He’s a winner, and unless the job description changes at some other level of football, he’s a winner and he’ll win at the next level, too,” he said. This game will resonate in two ways in the grand scope of college football. Much like Hawaii’s game against Georgia here two years ago, this matchup showed how meaningless and lopsided B.C.S. bowl games can be.
Cincinnati also did not help the perception of the Big East Conference. The league has lost both of its high-profile bowl games, with West Virginia falling to Florida State earlier on Friday.
And that will lead to an inevitable summer of comparisons with the Mountain West Conference, which does not have a B.C.S. berth like the Big East.
The Mountain West’s dominance in bowl games has been perhaps the most prominent overall story line of the bowl season. The Mountain West is 4-0 so far this bowl season, which includes comfortable victories by Brigham Young over Oregon State and Utah over Cal. Wyoming’s overtime upset of Fresno State raised eyebrows, as did Air Force’s blowout victory over Houston.
And after finishing the regular season undefeated, Cincinnati’s dismal performance left them defending their body of work.
“Don’t take anything away from our credibility,” linebacker Andre Revels said. “Our record speaks for itself.”
But the biggest story Friday night was how Tebow’s brilliance stabilized the volatile Florida program for one night.
On Saturday, Addazio takes over as interim coach of one of the flagship programs in college football. The timetable of Meyer’s return is unknown, although a Gator recruit has been quoted as saying that Meyer told him he would return in August.
Meyer reiterated tonight that he felt that way in his gut, but declined to elaborate on his future with the program, not wanting to take the spotlight away from the players.
Meyer has not made it clear what type of medical attention he will receive for his stress and chest pains, which he said have been severe for the past two years.
When asked why the devastation of defeat outweighs the joy of victory, Meyer pondered the thought for a while.
“That’s a great question,” he said. “That’s one I’ve got to figure out.”
One thing is certain for the Gators, however; once their coaching situation solidifies, they’re going to have to search for a new identity with Tebow’s departure.
But when one of the greatest careers in Florida history merged with one of the program’s most tumultuous weeks, Tebow made his final performance in college football his best.
“I can’t imagine there’s ever been another one better,” Meyer said of Tebow’s place in history. He added: “If there’s one better than him, I’d love to shake his hand, because in my opinion he’s the best.”
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