A tale of the tape

Before crowning Tebow as touchdown king, look at all of the numbers

The Southeastern conference record book may no longer say it, but Herschel Walker will always be the rushing touchdown king.

On Saturday, Florida quarterback Tim Tebow tied Walker’s 27-year-old touchdown record in a game against Mississippi State, giving himself the chance to break Walker’s record this weekend against Georgia.

In the words of ESPN analyst Lee Corso, “not so fast my friend.”

It took Tebow four years – and 48 games – to reach 49 touchdowns. Herschel accomplished it in 33 games. He also scored five touchdowns in bowl games, which did not count as official statistics when Walker played.

Herschel still owns the SEC record for most rushing yards in a season (1,891), most yards in a three-year career (5,259 – an NCAA record), yards per game in a season (171.9 in 1981 in 11 games), yards per game in a career (159.4), most rushes in game, season and career, amongst others.

Before the media – namely ESPN – crowns Tebow the SEC-rushing king, let’s not forget how many of those touchdowns came from inside of the 20-yard line.

Tebow is a great athlete, don’t get us wrong. But he is not now, and never will be, the greatest rusher in the SEC.

Let the Gators claim otherwise, if it makes them happy.

Tebow will eventually break Herschel’s record and more than likely it will remain nearly unbreakable.

But like in major league baseball, the home-run king isn’t necessarily the person with the most home runs.

- Michael Fitzpatrick for the editorial board