The Florida Gators have been having an incredibly difficult season, and even Tim Tebow can't stay on the bandwagon anymore this year.
He was in Jacksonville for ESPN's coverage of the "World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party," and faced a tough decision when asked to pick a winner for this afternoon's game.
Florida-Georgia is one of the best and most tradition rich rivalries in college football, but even rivalry fueled passion and some key injuries might not be enough for the Gators to persevere in this matchup. They entered as 14-point underdogs to Georgia according to most sportsbooks going in, and their 2007 Heisman trophy winning quarterback seemed to be on Vegas's side. Tebow may have thrown for over nine thousand yards and 88 touchdowns in his Florida career, but all those accolades couldn't blind him from reality. He picked Georgia to win, to the dismay of any Gator fans in the area.
.@TimTebow is picking Georgia over Florida and it broke his heart ?? pic.twitter.com/VS7JuSk7O7
— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) October 28, 2023
Tebow did preface his pick with comments to the Florida fans in attendance. "You guys know if you cut me, I'd bleed orange and blue...," Tebow said, "(my heart) is tearing apart because I'm picking Georgia." The Georgia fans present in Jacksonville went wild, and the Gators diehards groaned in shock. Their football messiah had forsaken them. What else can go wrong for Florida football?
The pick did look to be legitimately hard for Tebow to make, as he seemed to become emotional on the air, before running off frame and hiding from the camera.
This can't be a good sign for the Gator's who were hoping to take advantage of a couple injured Bulldogs including star Bulldog's tight end Brock Bowers who continues to miss time after an ankle surgery. Georgia carries their 23 game SEC winning streak into Everbank Stadium, and it will be tough for Florida to snap it. This has been a pretty wild college football season so far though so who knows, maybe Florida's favorite son picking against his alma mater bodes well for the Gators.
