MIAMI — The two high-powered offenses fizzled and the two Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks combined to throw four interceptions.
The track meet that was anticipated and all but promised was halted by punts, penalties, injuries, sometimes clueless officiating and the usual buzz killer -- television timeouts.
Fifty years after the Baltimore Colts versus the New York Giants, this was hardly the greatest game ever played.
When it counted Thursday night, though, a safety ripped an interception out of a receiver's hands, quarterback Tim Tebow threw an old-fashioned jump pass and Florida defeated Oklahoma, 24-14, to win the Bowl Championship Series title in front of 78,468 at Dolphin Stadium.
Tebow recovered from two first-half interceptions -- he threw only two all season entering the game -- to take over the second half and secure Florida's second title in three years and offensive player-of-the-game honors.
Florida's BCS title win was the third straight for the Southeastern Conference and fourth since the 2003 season.
Gators fans chanted "One more year!" as Tebow, a junior, took his postgame bows. As a freshman in 2006, Tebow was a part-time, bull-in-a-china-shop weapon as a backup during Florida's national-title run, but this championship was all his to savor.
After a 31-30 loss to Mississippi at home in September, Tebow vowed after the game that no player in the country would play harder than he would the rest of the season.
Florida then ripped off one win after another through Thursday night's title victory.
"I promised the guys that I would go out and play with all my heart," Tebow said. "I was so motivated tonight. . . . I can't put it into words -- it was just an incredible night."
Tebow was the man.
With the score tied at 7-all in the third quarter, he made runs of 12, 15 and 12 yards on a 75-yard scoring drive that ended with a two-yard run by Percy Harvin to put Florida up, 14-7.
He later led Florida to a field goal that put the Gators ahead, 17-14, in the fourth.
That was followed, on Oklahoma's next drive, by the turning point in the game, when Gators safety Ahmad Black stole what looked like a completion out of the hands of Sooners receiver Juaquin Iglesias.
"The play of the game was Ahmad Black snatching the ball away from the receiver," Florida Coach Urban Meyer said.
