GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Tim Tebow stood on the sideline with his eyes closed. He couldn’t bear to watch.
Tebow directed a 69-yard drive in the final minutes, setting up Caleb Stur gis’ 27-yard field goal with 9 seconds remaining that gave the top- ranked Gators a 23-20 win against Arkansas on Saturday.
“Once I heard everybody cheering and opened my eyes and saw we made the field goal, that was fun,” Tebow said.
On a day when little went right for the Gators (6-0, 4-0 SEC), Tebow took over down the stretch and helped extend the nation’s longest win streak to 16 games.
That final drive may have been Tebow’s Heisman moment. It kept Florida unbeaten and likely No. 1 in the country. It also may have preserved the team’s chances of repeating as national champion.
“I always knew we had a shot,” Tebow said. “We were just going to keep believing until the last second.”
Sturgis overcame an early miss and finished with three field goals, including a 51-yarder in the third.
The Gators had four turnovers and three dropped passes, were gashed against the run and gave up more big plays in one game than they had all season. They missed a field goal and scored once in their first four trips inside the 20-yard line.
“You usually don’t win that kind of game,” coach Urban Meyer said.
But after struggling to move the ball on a relatively cool, sun-drenched afternoon, Tebow led the Gators to scores on three of their final four possessions.
The Razorbacks (3-3, 1-3) entered the game with the SEC’s worst-rated defense. But they hardly looked the part Saturday. They stuffed Florida’s high-powered running game, sacked Tebow six times and forced the Gators into several mistakes.
“We played our hearts out all night,” defensive end Jake Bequette said. “It hurts. Right there with No. 1 team in the nation. Take the positives from this: Can play anyone, anywhere, anytime.”
