VICTORY!

Well, ye socks, yours truly has been battling a nasty cold all week, and was afraid that would prevent him from staying awake long enough to witness the kick-0ff of the Gators' 3rd national championship.

I mean, the game didn't even start until 8:15 PM in this little corner of heaven, and I had been doing some serious Nyquil shots all day.

But, like the Gators, I persevered.

It was not the high-scoring affair many of us expected it to be, with the high-powered offenses on both sides.

Still, the Gators never trailed the Laters . . . er, Sooners.

Once again, the deciding factor proved to be Tim Tebow. He passed for 231 yards, including one of those little jump passes into the endzone that have become one of his many killer trademarks. He also rushed for 109 yards, making critical third down conversion after critical third down conversion.

The current Heisman Trophy winner was also impressive, and got within 6 yards of leading his team to two more touchdowns. Fortunately, the Gator D held. Imagine if they hadn't, Oklahoma would have had 28 points.

On the flip side, the Gators had to settle for a Jonathan Phillips field goal because a fan's whistle faked-out Tebow on third down. If he had punched the ball in for a TD instead, the Gator total would've been 28, too.

Can you imagine if the result had been a 28-28 tie at the end of regulation?!?

No such nailbiter was to be had, though. Nor, did the fans of Fun 'n Gun get to see the scoreboard lit up as had been promised.

Still, "It's great to be a Florida Gator!" And, we have another set of numbers to add to the mantra:

1996 - 52-20
2006 - 41-14
2008 - 24-14

ORANGE AND BLUE!