Florida’s Tim Tebow and Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford will be forever linked thanks to this frenetic college football season.
They sat together at the Heisman Trophy ceremony last month in New York, where Bradford joined Tebow as the only sophomores to win the most prestigious award in college sports.
More important, they will be across the field from each other in the BCS title game Thursday night as maestros of two of the nation’s best offenses.
Tebow is the fiery leader whose indelible image from this season comes with his face stained with the blood-colored paint of Florida State’s end zone. Bradford is more a low-key perfectionist, an only child who is more comfortable in the pocket than in front of the news media.
Off-season changes at Oklahoma and Florida led to high-scoring seasons. At Oklahoma, coach Bob Stoops switched to a no-huddle spread offense. Bradford flourished, picking apart defenses as the Sooners set a modern record with 702 points. They scored more than 60 points in each of their last five games.
Bradford threw 48 touchdown passes and just 6 interceptions. He threw 442 passes and was sacked just 11 times.
“Every time that I see him, his jersey is clean,” Florida safety Ahmad Black said.
But with the arrival on campus of ultra-quick tailback Jeffrey Demps and the emergence of redshirt freshman Chris Rainey, Tebow’s role evolved this season from lead playmaker to lead distributor. His numbers dipped, throwing 28 TD passes and running for 12.
