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Tebow leads Florida to romp over Vanderbilt

Nov 3, 2007 - 9:58 PM GAINESVILLE, Florida (Ticker) -- Tim Tebow showed that Florida was not going to let a disappointing loss stop it from taking care of business.

Tebow threw for three touchdowns and rushed for two more as the 18th-ranked Gators rolled to an easy 49-22 victory over Vanderbilt in a Southeastern Conference contest Saturday.

Bouncing back from a disheartening 42-30 loss Georgia last week, Florida (6-3, 4-3 SEC East) continued its dominant run over the Commodores in the all-time series, winning for the 17th straight time and 26th in the last 30 meetings.

It was a much-needed confidence boost for the Gators, who travel to No. 23 South Carolina next Saturday in what could prove to be a critical East Division matchup for the defending national champions.

"Today was a great day," Florida coach Urban Meyer said. "I must say that I didn't anticipate (that)."

"We needed to have a good day," Tebow said. "That was our mindset. We came in with a chip on our shoulder, upset about last week, and our goal was to score every time we touched the ball. We were pretty close to that today."

Rushing for the opening score of the game and another in the third quarter, Tebow set a league record for most touchdowns runs by a quarterback in a season with 14.

He also entered the school record books with those two TDs, moving into a tie with Emmitt Smith and Buford Long for the most single-season rushing touchdowns in school history.

Tebow also completed 22-of-27 attempts for 281 yards. The sophomore twice found Andre Caldwell for a touchdown, including a 14-yard scoring play that gave the Gators a 35-7 lead 42 seconds before the half.

Also entering the record books was wide receiver Percy Harvin, who became the first player in school history to record both 100 yards rushing and receiving in the same contest.

"Offensively Percy Harvin, he's one of the most dynamic playmakers in the country and the first one in the history of Florida football to rush and receive for 100 yards," Meyer said. "He's strong, he's powerful and he's a heck of a football player."

The sophomore finished with 113 yards on the ground on 11 carries and caught nine passes for 110 yards. He twice ran for two scores, including an 18-yard romp for a 14-0 lead with just over five minutes left in the first quarter.

Mainly a runner that gets his big runs by breaking to the outside, Harvin focused on staying behind his blockers to accomplish his impressive performance.

"We knew a lot of teams were going to take away my outside running, so we faked to the outside and ran it inside," Harvin said. "One thing I wanted to work on this year was being patient behind my blockers. Last year, I just used my speed to get out on the outside. I just tried to slow down and get my blocks in front of me."

Caldwell had a career-high nine catches for 103 yards en route to recording his first multi-touchdown contest since last season's 42-0 rout of Central Florida on September 9.

While the offense rolled up impressive stats, the Gators' defense also came up big. It held the Commodores to just 162 yards passing, 255 total yards and caused two turnovers.

"On defense we were all waiting for that," Meyer said. "That was excellent defense to hold a very talented group to a very limited number of yards and plays. We didn't have a sack the entire game because we played against the run."

Mackenzi Adams finished with 160 yards passing and a rushing TD for Vanderbilt (5-4, 2-4 East), which dropped to 1-2 against ranked foes this season.