Sometimes in sports, the numbers don’t tell the entire story.
This is one of those times.
When it comes to choosing this year’s Heisman Trophy winner, the gaudy numbers put up by Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford, Texas’ Colt McCoy and Texas Tech’s Graham Harrell are as deceiving as they as staggering.
They tell you that the Big 12 Conference’s three best quarterbacks, playing for the league’s three best teams, were also college football’s three best players this past season, making them worthy of a 1-2-3 finish in the 2008 Heisman voting. And some years, maybe most, those numbers would be telling the truth.
But not this year.
Not after everything Tim Tebow has shown us in single-handedly saving Florida’s season and carrying the Gators to their second national championship game in three years.
This year, the numbers lie.
They are a statistical mirage.
Tebow was the best player in college football.
Bradford and Harrell might’ve been the best passers. McCoy probably was the best all-around quarterback. But Tebow was, without question, the nation’s best football player.
No, his passing, rushing and scoring numbers don’t compare to those of the Big 12’s big guns. He wasn’t as prolific. Or flashy.
Truth be told, Tebow’s individual numbers in 2008 weren’t nearly as impressive as they were in 2007, when, as a sophomore, he dominated games on the field and on the stat sheet to become only the third Gator to win the Heisman.
But the numbers that matter most — Florida’s won-lost record — were significantly better: 9-4 in 2007; 12-1 in 2008.
That the Gators will play for the national championship is a testament to Tebow’s impact.
Not only is Tebow the college game’s best player, but he’s also the college game’s most valuable player. Without him, the Gators are nowhere near a title shot. They’re Florida State, or some other also-ran headed for a meaningless bowl.
Tebow is the college football version of Larry Bird: He makes every member of his supporting cast a better player.
He sees the entire field, finds the weak spots in defenses and distributes the ball to the teammate who can do the most damage, often using himself as a decoy that can’t be ignored in Florida’s spread-option attack.
And when necessary, he takes matters into his own hands, using his head, hulk and heart — as well as his underrated arm — to get the job done.
Physically, Tebow is the most imposing weapon in college football. Strategically, he’s the most effective. It’s as his team’s leader, however, that he is at his Heisman best.
Shortly after Florida lost at home to Mississippi, Tebow apologized and promised no opposing player or team would play harder than the Gators the rest of the way. Thus far, he has kept his word.
In the nine games since — eight routs and a 31-20, come-from-behind victory over then-No. 1 Alabama in the SEC championship game — Tebow has passed for 1,707 yards and 22 touchdowns, and run for 439 yards and 10 touchdowns. And those numbers could’ve grown, had he padded them in games that were already decided.
But he didn’t.
He didn’t care about stats. It didn’t matter who scored or who got credit. He played to win games and championships.
Not to win another Heisman.
Not to join Archie Griffin as the only two-time winners of the prized bronze statue.
So forget the numbers.
The real story is this: Tebow needed to be the best player in college football to save Florida’s season. He was. And he did.
Give him his trophy.
Ray McNulty is sports columnist for Scripps Treasure Coast (Fla.) Newspapers, The Stuart News, Fort Pierce Tribune and Vero Beach Press Journal. Contact him at ray.mcnultyScripps.com or on the Web at www.tcpalm.com.
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