Tigers not taking Tebow lightly

• By RANDY ROSETTA
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Oct 7, 2008 - Page: 1C - UPDATED: 12:30 a.m.

• Print
• Email
• Save
• Reprints
• Twitter
• Share

• Del.icio.us
• Digg
• Facebook
• Reddit
• 

Five games into the 2008 football season, Archie Griffin’s rarified status as the only back-to-back Heisman Trophy winner seems to be on very solid footing.

But the fact that Florida quarterback Tim Tebow’s statistics have dwindled a little between 2007 and this season shouldn’t be cause for the LSU defense to exhale.

In fact, the Tigers wondered Monday if Tebow isn’t more dangerous than ever as a quarterback who looks to pass first.

The 11th-ranked Gators (4-1, 2-1 SEC) entertain No. 4 LSU (4-0, 2-0) at 7 p.m. Saturday at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium (CBS) and Tebow will take center stage for Florida, much as he has since the day he took over the quarterback role at the start of last season.

“When you think of their offense, you think of Tim Tebow, a very gifted player and in my opinion, as a sophomore Heisman Trophy winner, I think he’s becoming more well-rounded, undertands the game more,” LSU coach Les Miles said Monday. “It appears to me that he’s making better reads and certainly a very competitive player. He plays best when the chips are down, so I certainly have great respect for their quarterback and their leader on their football team.”

The hulking 6-foot-3, 240-pound Gators signal caller is the focal point of an offense that leads the SEC with 36 points a game, and Tebow has the full attention of the LSU defense, regardless of how his role has shifted as a junior.

Last season, Tebow became the first sophomore to win the Heisman Trophy award, his gaudy numbers making it impossible to hold his youth against him. Tebow racked up 3,286 passing yards and led Florida with 895 rushing yards.

That yardage total alone (4,181) is eye-catching, but it pales in comparison to the 55 touchdowns he accounted for — 32 through the air and an SEC-record 23 on the ground. The 23 rushing scores are also an NCAA single-season record by a QB.

Whether by design or because Tebow has more playmakers around him, his offensive numbers have dipped slightly through five games.

Tebow has thrown the ball six more times in five games than he did last season and has completed three fewer passes for 239 fewer yards.

More notably, Tebow has carried the ball 28 fewer times (61 this season, still a team-high, compared to 89 through five games in 2007) for 205 fewer yards and six fewer touchdowns.

While the minor slippage in production might be an alarm for Gators faithful — and has him off the radar when national media discusses Heisman hopefuls — it’s a different kind of warning for the LSU defense.

“He’s still as talented as he was last year, maybe even better,” said Tigers middle linebacker Darry Beckwith, who has missed the last two games with a knee injury but is expected to return to practice today.