The 2008 Gators celebrate after defeating Oklahoma in the BCS National Championship Game. (Photo: Jason Parkhurst/UAA Communications)
Welcome Home, Part III: 5 Events That Helped Shape 2008 National Champion Gators
Tuesday, October 2, 2018 | Football, Scott Carter
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By: Scott Carter, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Twelve months earlier, the Gators dismantled Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith and Ohio State to claim the program's second national title. In only his second season at Florida, head coach Urban Meyer had the Gators on top of the college football world.
However, on a Tuesday afternoon in Orlando to cap Meyer's third season, it was Michigan coach Lloyd Carr whose team lifted him off a winner in the final game of his career, a 41-35 win over the Gators in the Capital One Bowl.
Meyer voiced a distraught tone after congratulating Carr at midfield.
Former Gators coach Urban Meyer during the loss to Michigan in the 2008 Capital One Bowl. (Photo: Matt Marriott/UAA Communications)
"We have some glaring errors that need to be corrected real fast,'' he told reporters after the game. "Personnel-wise and coaching-wise."
Wolverines linebacker Shawn Crable piled on after the game when asked what he thought of Mr. Heisman, Gators quarterback Tim Tebow.
"He was ordinary,'' Crable said.
Tebow didn't have his best game of the season (17 of 33 passing for 154 yards, 16 rushes for 57 yards), but the first sophomore to win the Heisman still accounted for four touchdowns to run his season total to 55 (32 passing, 23 rushing).
The Gators lost because their defense allowed Michigan to rack up 524 yards on 86 snaps.
Tebow vowed to return in 2008 and get the Gators back into the national championship picture after a 9-4 season.
"Right now, you are upset about it,'' he said after the Michigan loss. "You just have to work harder and do better and use it as motivation for next year."
Tebow and the Gators delivered, finishing 12-1 and beating Oklahoma to win their second national title in three seasons.
As we continue to take a look back at the 2008 Gators leading into their return to campus on Saturday to be honored on the 10-year anniversary of UF's third national title, we reflect on five key events between the end of the 2007 season and start of the 2008 season that helped the Gators reach the top once more:
SPIKES TAKES LEADING ROLE
As a sophomore in 2007, linebacker Brandon Spikes had the best season of his college career statistically with a career-high 131 tackles and 16 tackles for loss. However, Meyer wanted more.
When Meyer called out his team for its lack of leadership and chemistry following the loss to Michigan, it was to motivate. And Spikes was a primary target.
Linebacker Brandon Spikes took on more of a leadership role for the '08 Gators. (Photo: Matt Marriott/UAA Communications)
Florida's defense surrendered 331 points in 2007, which remains the most in a single season since 1946, and 361.8 yards per game. To improve those numbers, the Gators needed Spikes to lead the unit in more ways than tackles. Spikes responded by becoming the first Gators linebacker to earn first team All-American honors in a decade.
His number of tackles dipped – 93 total, eight for loss – but he became the clear defensive leader for a unit that allowed just 12.9 points per game.
STAFF SHUFFLE
In his first three seasons at UF, Meyer's coaching staff remained intact. He even scoffed at the idea of one of his assistants leaving his program to make a lateral move.
"They should only be leaving to be a head coach, or to go to the NFL and have a more comfortable situation for their families,'' Meyer told reporters.
Still, his comments following the Capital One Bowl loss raised suspicions that perhaps Meyer's coaching staff would have a different look before the 2008 season.
That notion came to fruition only a week later when running backs coach Stan Drayton departed to take the same position at Tennessee. Two days later, associate head coach/safeties coach Doc Holliday, a West Virginia native, took a job as associate head coach/recruiting coordinator at West Virginia. Finally, in late February, defensive line coach and co-coordinator Greg Mattison left to become linebackers coach for the Baltimore Ravens.
While all three reportedly left on their own, whether by coincidence or design, the new assistants took over in problem areas for the Gators. The departures allowed Meyer to retool his coaching staff, hiring former USF assistant Dan McCarney as defensive line coach, Kenny Carter to coach running backs and Vance Bedford to coach the secondary.
REDUCING TEBOW WEAR
When tailback Kestahn Moore struggled to hold onto the football and develop into Florida's go-to runner in '07, Meyer relied primarily on Tebow to pick up the tough yards in the running game. He didn't want to repeat that formula in 2007. Jeff Demps breaks loose in '08 opener vs. Hawaii. (Photo: Jay Metz/UAA Communications)
Thanks to the trio of Chris Rainey, Jeff Demps and Emmanuel Moody, Meyer didn't have to.
Tebow still led the Gators with 673 yards rushing during the Gators' run to the national title, but he carried 34 less times and reduced his passing attempts by 52. Instead, the redshirt freshman Rainey rushed for 652 yards, true freshman Demps gained 605 and Moody, a transfer from USC, added 417 yards on the ground.
The additional production put less pressure on Tebow in the run game and allowed him to develop his all-around game as the most impactful player in college football.
FULL-SPEED PERCY
Already established as the most dynamic offensive player for the Gators since Wes Chandler 20 years earlier, a nagging foot injury to star receiver Percy Harvin was a concern for UF in the offseason.
Harvin underwent surgery in April 2008 to shave bone off the heel of his right foot. The pain in Harvin's foot lingered into the preseason and he was kept out of Florida's 56-10 win over Hawaii in the '08 opener.
The demise of Harvin's speed was greatly over exaggerated.
Once the junior receiver returned, Harvin put together the best season of his three years with the Gators, scoring a career-high 17 touchdowns, averaging a career-high 16.1 yards per catch and 11.9 yards per touch, and finishing second on the team in rushing with 660 yards.
Harvin capped his career with a team-leading 122 yards rushing and a touchdown in Florida's win over the Sooners for the national title.
SECONDARY REBOOT
The Gators had talent in the secondary during the '07 season in future NFL players Joe Haden, Ahmad Black and Major Wright, but Meyer gave a scathing review of the position group prior to spring practice the following year.
"That position was obviously inadequate a year ago,'' he said.
The Gators did something about it on the recruiting trail, adding a pair of future (and troubled) stars in cornerback Janoris Jenkins and safety Will Hill. Both players immediately stepped into the lineup and earned All-SEC Freshman Team honors.
Jenkins started 12 games as true freshman and finished with 39 tackles and three interceptions. Meanwhile, Hill recorded 48 tackles and two interceptions. The duo's emergence provided depth to a position in need and allowed Haden, Black and Wright to blossom as a weakness turned into a strength for the '08 Gators.
