What We Learned From Sugar Bowl

Three lessons from Florida's 51-24 win over Cincinnati in the Superdome.

1. Tim Tebow put an exclamation point on a storied career. The Gators quarterback ended his Florida tenure with the single greatest performance in BCS bowl history 482 passing yards, 51 rushing yards and four combined touchdowns in the Gators' romp of Cincinnati in New Orleans. Tebow's 533 total yards eclipsed the record of 467 Vince Young set in the 2005 Rose Bowl. Will he be an NFL QB? Who cares. With a Heisman Trophy and two national titles, all that matters right now is that Tebow will go down as one of the all-time great college players and against the Bearcats he left us with a performance that was vintage Tebow.

2. Cincinnati was expsoed. Blame it on the drama around Brian Kelly's departure for Notre Dame and interim coach Jeff Quinn's leaving for Buffalo if you'd like, but these Bearcats were clearly not national title worthy. Cincinnati was living on the edge defensively, serving as little more than a short break for Tony Pike and Co. as opponents piled up 36.5 points per game in the last four games. The only difference against Florida is that the Bearcats finally ran into a defense that could take away the timing routes that made Pike so dangerous. Facing constant pressure the Cincy offense folded and so too did any argument that this team had as far as earning a share of the national title. It also did little for the reputation of the Big East, which fell to 6-6 in BCS games.

3. The Urban Meyer soap opera certainly didn't affect the Gators. When will he return? After the game, the Florida coach said ''I plan on being the coach of the Gators,'' Meyer said. ''I know I'm anxious to get home. We'll address the future at the appropriate time.'' Of course we don't know any more than we did before the game, but you have to give Florida credit for not being affected by the episode. It would have been easy to have gotten caught up in it all. One day Meyer is gone, the next day he's back and then he brushes off all questions about his health, saying he'd address them at a later date. It's no doubt a reflection of the team leadership, which makes you appreciate that Tebow guy a little bit more. With Tebow gone, what exactly what will be obsess over next season? Maybe a nationwide push to try and get Nick Saban to smile.