Ole Miss upsets #4 Florida via blocked PAT

The University of Mississippi upset #4 in “The Swamp” on Saturday due to an uncharacteristically bad game by defending Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow and a timely blocked PAT. The Gators appeared to be on the verge of tying the game near the end of the 4th quarter before Ole Miss defensive lineman Kentrell Lockett blocked the PAT preserving the 31-30 victory. A final drive by Florida fell short, and the Rebels secured the upset and spoiled Florida’s hopes for an undefeated season in the process.

Gator QB Tim Tebow didn’t have a bad game statistically, passing for 319 yards with a TD pass but made several uncharacteristic mistakes including turning the ball over on a fumble, getting sacked three times due to hesitation in getting rid of the ball, and overthrowing his receivers on a number of occasions. Always the team leader, he took the blame for the loss and from the tone of his post game comments really meant it:

"I'm sorry. I'm extremely sorry. We were hoping for an undefeated season. That was my goal, something Florida's never done here. But I promise you one thing: a lot of good will come out of this.
You have never seen any player in the entire country play as hard as I will play the rest of this season and you'll never see someone push the rest of the team as hard as I will push everybody the rest of this season, and you'll never see a team play harder than we will the rest of this season."

Despite the assumption of blame, it certainly wasn’t all Tebow’s fault. The Gator defense gave up several big plays, including an 86 yard TD pass play that proved to be the final margin of victory. The offense also lost two fumbles, and sputtered severely during long stretches of the game.

Ole Miss had lost 15 straight SEC road games heading into Saturday’s encounter, as well as 9 straight SEC games overall. Despite these recent struggles, they’ve been a thorn in the side for the Gators during the past decade: three of the last six times Florida has lost to an unranked team it’s been against Ole Miss, most recently in 2003.

Florida will play Arkansas on the road next weekend before returning home for one of their biggest games of the season on 10/11, against #5 LSU. Ole Miss will host South Carolina next weekend before traveling to Tuscaloosa for a game against Alabama.