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SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 30, 2009

Tim Tebow

THE MODERATOR: Tim, if you could start us off by giving us your thoughts about being back in the championship game against Alabama this season.
TIM TEBOW: We're very excited about it. It's an honor to be in an SEC Championship. It means a lot to us to be here, to win out in the East and have an opportunity to play a great team in Alabama, a very well-coached team, a very athletic team, a team who is one of the best teams in the country, we feel. Very exciting for us. And it will be a very exciting game and one of the best games hopefully in SEC history.
THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Could you just talk about the fourth quarter of last year's game, just how y'all dug down and came through, and also the effect that had on your BCS Championship game?
TIM TEBOW: Well, I think that was because all year long we had been working on finishing. We had been striving for a finish. And that's something that Coach Mickey Marotti preached in the weight room to, on the practice field, to our coaching staff, we have to finish. We have to be a tough team in the fourth quarter and we have to have that heart. We have to learn how to finish.
I think that's something we really tried to implement. Our finish, how are we going to finish, what's our character like? Are we going to have the character to be able to finish and fight through the tough times?
In that fourth quarter, I think we really rallied together and really came up with a lot of heart, found ways to finish. And just kept finding ways to get first down, put it in the end zone against a great team, a great defense in Alabama and finding ways to be able to finish that game.
I'm really proud of my teammates for that. It was just kind of a togetherness that we had that we were going to go in there and get this done because we care about each other, because we care about that this means so much to each of us and we cannot not finish this game. It means too much for us. And that's our approach and making sure we did everything we could. We weren't going to leave anything on that field. That's what I'm most proud about.

Q. Looking at Alabama's defense, how do they compare to the Alabama defense you played against last year, and also are there any similarities with Florida's defense?
TIM TEBOW: I think they're very similar to last year's defense. I think there is a few differences. Obviously a little different in personnel. It looks like more of what they did last year, 49. Their safety kind of ran things this year. It's more like 25 run things, and they're both extremely intelligent players. So they kind of can put their defense in good situations.
And similarities, they make a lot of checks. When we check, they check, sort of thing, and they get in a lot of different blitzes. And they scheme up a lot of teams to put pressure on the quarterback, to put pressure on the run game, to kind of make you think and dunk and rally up and make big plays and cause a lot of turnovers.
There's a lot of similarities. Both great defenses. There are similarities with our defense. A lot of team speed. They run for the ball, make big plays.
They put the pressure on the quarterback. And so I think there's a lot of similarities between their defense the last year and this defense I think -- this defense and our defense. I think there's a lot of similarities.

Q. I wanted to ask you about Riley Cooper. Just the decision he made to come back after signing the baseball contract and then to have such a big season. What can you tell me about Riley?
TIM TEBOW: Well, Riley's a great kid. We obviously have a close relationship being roommates and everything. He loves baseball but he also loves football a whole lot. When he signed that baseball contract, but he loves playing football. He is great at it.
He decided to come back because he wanted to finish out his career here and finish on a good note. He's come back. He's worked extremely hard. He's done well. He's one of our most consistent players. Every week he comes out with an attitude of wanting to work and goes out and makes big plays every week for us.
I can't say how proud I am of him and how far he's come as a player, as a person, as a receiver here. And he's just doing a great job.
And when we need a big play, he just comes up and steps up and makes that big play for us, time and time again.

Q. When you look at Alabama's defense, what kind of impression does Javier Arenas make? Are you always conscious of where he is?
TIM TEBOW: I think he's a great player. I think he does a lot for their team on defense, special teams, all the stuff that he does. So I think you have to be aware of him.
I think you have to, you know, obviously know that he's a great player. But you can't just focus on him because they've got a lot of great players. It's not like we're going to be throwing towards one guy, away from the other guy, because they've got a lot of great playmakers. You have to realize that overall in the secondary they have a lot of great playmakers and he's one of them.

Q. I know that you followed Florida football in the '90s. And then Florida and Alabama kind of distanced themselves from the rest of the league. Do you see that happening now. You're 31-1 in the last two years between the two of you in the regular season. Do you think that separation is happening again right now?
TIM TEBOW: I don't know if -- I think the last three years, I think we both had really good teams. I don't know if there's that much separation, because I think there's a lot of teams that are really close, the Tennessees, the LSUs and Arkansas, those teams are close to being up there.
I don't know if there's a lot of separation. I just think in the key games us and Alabama have found ways to win. And that's just made the difference. I don't think there's extremely as much separation as there was in the '90s, though.

Q. Just wondering what it's like for you to look across the line and see a 6-5, 350-plus-pound nose guard in Terrence Cody?
TIM TEBOW: Well, you know, he is a big guy. He's someone who disrupts a lot of what offenses try to do. He's just big. You can't move him. He's a pretty stout guy. What you try to do is you just try to tire him out and you just try to make him miss as many times as you can. And get as many people on him and just get around him.
And obviously you don't like seeing people like that, but you just try to do your best and look past him and getting past him. He's a great player, and he causes a lot of trouble. And he's someone that we have a lot of respect for as a player because he goes hard and he's a big guy and he creates a lot of trouble.

Q. You also mentioned No. 25. In what ways do you see him kind of taking control, getting guys in the right spot this year?
TIM TEBOW: I think he's one of the smarter players on the team. He makes a lot of checks for them. I think he's someone who gets people in the right position. Because they're a defense that does a lot, that checks a lot.
When people motion, they check. They change their defenses. They change their blitzes. So when you do that you have to be extremely intelligent. Not a lot of defenses do that. Not a lot of defenses are that sophisticated.
You have to have smart people to run it. Like I said, last year it looked like 49, their safety, did it a lot. And this year it's really him. I think he's really taken on that responsibility since 49 graduated. And he's really that smart guy on their team that can really get them in the right situation, the right place.
And he's also not only is he extremely smart getting people in the right place but he's a great player, stout linebacker and athletic guy who makes a lot of plays.

Q. Coach Meyer talked about how this is your third time in this position, the SEC title, national title. But he talked about how this season has been different because of the level of expectations placed on you guys since day one. Could you talk about what the season has been like for you?
TIM TEBOW: I think every season is different. This obviously being the next chapter and being a new season, a new opportunity. And it has been a little bit different. There's been a lot of expectations, a lot of pressure, not only by outside forces but also by ourselves, by just our expectations of our team and some of them are pretty high. And we haven't hit all of them.
What I'm extremely proud about is that in all the situations, tough situations, opportunities where it looked like we could have folded, we could have lost, we could have not pulled it out, we really rallied together and made great things happen.
And the thing about our team is we're not as flashy as we've been around, probably potent offensively as we have been in scoring points in some games. But what we do have is we have the character when we need to, when our backs are against the wall, to really find ways to get things done.
And I think that's the character of this team, when we have to get things done, we get it done. I think that also hasn't helped as far as the media putting up as many points. We haven't looked as flashy, I've been noticing.
That hasn't helped with the criticism and everything. But that's kind of what we try to just keep out, all the outside forces, and focus on the next day, the next play, and just stay focused.
And I think that's something that we've really done and just kind of trying to get better. And it's been a long season as far as that. But it's been extremely fun because there has been a lot of ups and downs with us because people are expecting more on some games. So you've got to score more, got to be more flashy and more big plays.
Sometimes it's not just who we are. We've got to be who we are and you've got to accept your role. And I think our role is to be an offense that controls the ball, that puts points on the board when we need to, but also puts our defense in good situations.
And so that's been a little bit different compared to the last few years for us.

Q. Are you surprised there's been that type of criticism for a team that just keeps winning?
TIM TEBOW: Well, I think they would expect us to be more flashy and put up more points. That just hasn't been us. We've found ways to win. I think there was a lot of expectations out of us. And so I don't think we lived up to all of them from the outside forces.
But we did internally because we're 12-0 and that's all that matters.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Tim.

End of FastScripts

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