Tim Tebow is not made of glass. Tim Tebow did not get a career ending injury two weeks ago. Tim Tebow can still get hit without being left a drooling vegetable for the rest of his life. Coach Urban Meyer did the right thing.

I’ve been inundated for over a week now, both before and after the Bayou Brawl on Saturday, with articles and comments about how Coach Meyer rushed Tebow back to play.  Over and over we’ve been getting hit with writers vilifying Meyer who “had the national title on his mind and selfishly insisted that Tebow take a risk” or were picking on Tim for being a “tough guy” rather than listening to common sense.

Really?

Do all you out there in Titletown really believe that nonsense?  Do the writers themselves believe it, or are they just Gator haters looking to stir up a little dirt around one of the best coaches and quarterbacks to ever hit college football?

Urban Meyer in no way put Tebow’s life in danger, NCAA rules and the medical staff prevents that from happening, by being the masters of the player’s fates.  Tim was cleared the Monday before the game, the doctors said he’d be good to go and shouldn’t worry about getting hit any more than he did before.  Yeah, I know that once you get a concussion you become more likely to get a second and third, but does that really make the game any more dangerous than it was for Tebow before?  The man runs head first into piles of three hundred pound linemen looking to tear his head off, cram the ball down his throat, and carry his lifeless corpse down the field for a touchdown, so I think it was only a matter of time before he got his first serious injury.

So what?

Urban Meyer played it brilliantly last week, keeping his comments about Tim vague and holding his cards so close to the chest you’d swear he was Bill Bellichick.

When asked last weekend if Tebow had been medically cleared, Meyer responded that, “Tim’s been cleared to practice.”, which sent the media running to the papers claiming that Tim had been cleared to play, but Meyer hadn’t said anything.  By the time Monday rolled around and Tim was actually cleared, Meyer insisted that Brantley was still getting the majority of the snaps in practice and they would “evaluate” Tebow as the week progressed.

Brilliant.

Granted, Meyer is catching a lot of flack for supposedly rushing Tebow back in to play, but he can’t do that to any player without breaking major NCAA rules regarding player safety.  If Kiffin gets caught for using a fog machine for a potential draft pick nobody, it stands to reason that Coach Meyer would be caught for putting the best player in college football in danger if he wasn’t cleared to play.

Tebow was healthy enough to start without worrying too much about further injury, but Meyer kept the cloak and dagger up until the beginning of Saturday night’s game.  Why?  Because readying for two quarterbacks means you spend half as much time on either of them in practice and are 50% less prepared for whichever player starts.  Sure, I wanted to see Brantley get his feet wet on a big night, in a big environment on national TV, against a big SEC rival, but it was better just watching LSU play the guessing game all week trying to prepare.

Will it be Brantley?  Or Tebow?  Or Brantley to start with Tebow coming in the same way he did in the old Leek offense?

Got to love that Meyer.  As I said, he played it smart, even knowing he’d have to weather this bullstorm of media attention on him for “(encouraging) Tebow to put his career and life on the line”.  What makes it worse, though, is that Gators seemed to be doubting him, which I’m sure wasn’t the intention here.  It was the LSU nation that was supposed to doubt him, not us.  We were supposed to know what he was doing.

Meyer has been legendary this year, again taking a page from the Bellichick manual of how to coach and altering the team to fit their strengths.  As we saw Saturday, Meyer knew that Tim, even cleared as he was, wouldn’t be rust free come game night, so we saw something we haven’t seen in Gainesville since before Spurrier, something that has been more prevalent all of the 2009 season.

The Gators have fit themselves into the SEC mold of pound the rock and solid defense. 

Let me repeat, the Gators now have the typical SEC mindset for how a team should play, but it’s not because of pressure to conform, but because of Meyer’s intelligence.  Now is the time to run the ball and play shut down defense because we don’t have the weapons for the spread ridiculousness of last year.  We spent all preseason wondering who would be Harvin or Murphy this year and the answer has been a resounding, “No one”. 

Our leading receiver is a tight end (Hernandez, averaging 12.8 yards a reception with 2 touchdowns) and we actually have a runner who has outgained Tebow in yardage thus far (Demps with 390 yards), but our explosiveness has been muted.  We went from nukes to grenades, we can still hurt you, but the lights and giant mushroom clouds have been replaced by quick, violent explosions that slowly tear away at you until you just lie down and say, “Uncle”. Then the defense struts on the field, fresh as daisies owing to their depth, and stomp you six feet under.

Did you know that we’ve only given up 300+ yards once this year?  To  Charleston Southern?

The only other team to break off more than 200 yards against us this year is the 210 we allowed Tennessee to have.  Our defense hasn’t allowed a team into their end zone since said Tennessee game either.  11th in rushing defense, 1st in passing defense, 1st in total defense; are we starting to realize how strong our defense has become and how much was really expected out of Tim Saturday night?

Listen, as soon as Tebow was cleared to play, no one had to push him, he was ready to go.  He’s the leader of that team, the coach on the field, and his blood runs more orange and blue than any other player I’ve seen stride on to our field.  He is a winner and a fighter and a true champion, you don’t have to convince those people to play, you usually have to keep them from hurting themselves.  As soon as Tim heard them say go he was ready, and probably had to avoid the media all week to keep from spilling the beans.  Even from far off during practice this week, you knew he was ready to go.

Coach Meyer, I just really wanted to take this time to apologize to you for all those sports writers and doubters and haters around the NCAA (and here at home) who seem to have forgotten that you know what you’re doing.  Meyer is no heartless coach willing to risk his star player for his addiction to glory, any one who has seen the fatherly way he speaks of Tebow will know that Coach values his QB more than championships any day of the week.  Meyer is also no dummy; he knew what he was doing last week (hell, all year) and his coaching, to me, was never once questionable.  He was molded the Gators into an SEC team this year because the team’s strength lay in their run and defensive depth this year.  Meyer has shown that he can coach the Gators regardless of personnel or talent, can still find ways to win, and is still the coach of the #1 team in the country.

As for Tebow, he did exactly what he had to do to win Saturday and win he did, but for all of you who thought he wasn’t fully healed…

Well, if he can win at whatever percent he was at against LSU, I can’t wait to see him healthy again.

Josh Bauer is a Columnist for GatorTailgating.com