Coach Larsen
"GATORS HAVE PLENTY OF FOURTH-QUARTER CONFIDENCE"
By Robbie Andreu
Staff writer
Published: Tuesday, December 1, 2009 at 7:00 p.m.
Ask the Florida Gators to explain their amazing fourth quarter in last year's SEC Championship Game and the response is immediate, and always the same.
Mickey Marotti.
The players credit their strength and conditioning coordinator for that 14-0 fourth-quarter dominance that propelled Florida to a 31-20 victory over No. 1 Alabama and into last season's BCS Championship Game.
"Absolutely, a lot of (the credit) goes to Coach Mick," quarterback Tim Tebow said. "He brings a lot to our program, just the toughness, the character aspect of it. What he brings to the table is huge.
"Very little of our offseason program is getting physically strong. It's getting mentally stronger. When your back is against the wall, what are you going to do? The flight or fight syndrome. That is so much what our team is about."
The Gators found themselves in a flight or fight situation heading into the fourth quarter of last year's game.
Alabama had just physically dominated the third quarter, outscoring the Gators 10-0 to take a 20-17 lead. Alabama's touchdown drive covered 91 yards in 15 plays, consuming almost half the quarter. The other scoring drive covered 65 yards in 10 plays.
Entering the fourth quarter, the Tide seemed in control.
Somehow, the Gators turned the game back in their favor.
Tebow engineered two touchdown drives and the Florida defense held Alabama to 1 yard in the quarter.
How did that happen?
"Mickey Marotti," strong safety Ahmad Black said. "He does things in the weight room that keep us physically prepared, keep us mentally prepared. And we were able to stop them in the fourth quarter."
Coaches always stress that big games are won and lost in the fourth quarter, that the fourth quarter is the ultimate test of mental and physical toughness, of manhood.
The Gators passed the test in a big way in what will go down as one of the greatest fourth quarters in school history.
"It was because all year long we had been working on finishing. We had been striving to finish," Tebow said. "That's something that Coach Mick preached in the weight room, on the practice field, to our coaching staff. We have to finish. We have to be a tough team in the fourth quarter and we have to have heart.
"In that fourth quarter, we really rallied together and really came up with a lot of heart, found ways to finish. We just kept finding ways to get a first down, put it in the end zone against a great team. We weren't going to leave anything on the field. That's what I'm most proud of."
After getting punched in the mouth and knocked down in the third quarter, the Gators got up and delivered the knockout blow in the fourth quarter.
"To be honest with you, I don't even remember the fourth quarter," Alabama cornerback Javier Arenas said. "All I remember is we didn't finish strong.
"We didn't finish strong and that's something we've worked on all season. It's something that we tried to improve in, and I think we're better at it. So, I mean, we'll basically see."
We'll see early Saturday evening, because this SEC title game likely will come down to the fourth quarter, too.
"We always pride ourselves on dominating the fourth quarter," Alabama middle linebacker Rolando McClain said. "We didn't dominate the fourth quarter last year. Consequently, Florida won the game.
"This whole season, we pride ourselves on the fourth quarter."
So do Mickey Marotti's Gators.
"We feel we've won these games because of what we did in January, February, March, April and May," Tebow said. "The work that we put in then, that's why we feel we're 12-0 right now. The work we put in with him. He does such a great job."
Throughout the offseason conditioning program, the focus is on winning the fourth quarter, on finishing.
"Coach Marotti builds our bodies and minds to last the whole four quarters," offensive guard Mike Pouncey said. "We play our best in the fourth quarter."
