If ever there was a Thanksgiving feast, college football may have well delivered its greatest weekend ever to the football fanatics such as myself over the past three days. We saw arguably the greatest college player of all time cap his senior season undefeated while seven – that’s right, seven – nationally-ranked teams were beaten. I can’t remember a weekend when it’s ever been as much fun.

As I listened to some complain they were on “overload” after hearing so much about Florida’s magnificent Timmy Tebow, I relished the fact this child of missionaries ended up scoring 140 touchdowns in his career. Saturday he passed for three and ran for two more in the 37-10 rout over Florida State, giving him totals of 84 in the air and 56 on the ground. Who can match that?

The lone blemish came from another “good guy,” another role model for our young. The normally-raucous sports bar where I watch games was suddenly brought to a funeral-parlor quiet on Friday when, in the midst of the Alabama-Auburn game’s fury, it was announced that Tiger Woods, golfdom’s king, was in serious condition after an early-morning car crash.

Soon we learned he was okay and some guy immediately quipped, “Oh, he was just trying to make the ‘Black Friday’ sales at Wal-Mart.” While mystery still shrouds the incident, it was the lone negative of the entire weekend that kept us delightfully in a twist until both Tennessee and LSU would win in overtime.

Colt McCoy, a great “role model” out of Texas, got the weekend feast to a great start Thursday when he made a clear Heisman statement in the 49-39 thriller over a spunky Texas A&M. Colt passed for four and ran for another but after the game it was McCoy, ever the sportsman, who raced to midfield to embrace Aggie Jerrod Johnson, who had just thrown 4 TD passes himself.

The upset wheel started rolling on Friday when West Virginia, playing at home in the one they call “The Backyard Brawl,” stuck it to No. 8 Pitt, 19-16, but who would have thought No. 23 North Carolina, No. 18 Clemson, No. 20 Ole Miss, No. 11 Oklahoma State, and No. 7 Georgia Tech would also fall hard by late Saturday night?

On Friday Auburn played well enough to upset No. 2 Alabama, but the Crimson Tide’s final drive was absolutely masterful. Roy Upchurch, a senior who had never scored a touchdown, caught the winning pass with just 1:24 left to salvage Alabama’s undefeated season, 26-21. And I love what ‘Bama coach Nick Saban said afterwards, “The strong do survive but the strong do get their (butts) kicked! That was my message to the team.''

By early Saturday afternoon both North Carolina and Clemson had been beaten. Add Georgia Tech’s loss last night and, my goodness, there won’t be many postcards sent home from this week’s ACC championship game in Tampa between the Tigers and Yellow Jackets.

Actually, Florida’s total dominance over FSU was tame. A shaken Bobby Bowden now hedging whether he’ll return after this 6-6 season, said afterwards, ``I want to coach next year, but let me say I want to go home and do some soul-searching.'' Now in his 80s, Bobby has 388 career victories, second most in major college football, but yesterday he was morose. ``I've got to run this thing through my mind a few times.''

As is the way with any great feast, the best was saved until last. Georgia’s 30-24 win over Tech, capped at the end when defensive end Kade Weston planted a huge Georgia flag in the very middle of Grant Field, salvaged the Bulldogs’ season while Tech, still with its best team in 20 years, moves on to Tampa this Saturday.

LSU, with its coach Les Miles berated all week following the Ole Miss loss, looked like the Tigers had just graduated manga cum laude in time management late in the game against a splendid Arkansas. With Tiger Stadium going nuts, LSU was so calm and methodical with less than two minutes remaining, moving the ball down field for Josh Jasper’s 41-yard field goal with 0:04 left on the clock. His first kick tied the game and his 36-yarder in OT iced it, 33-30.

While all of that was going on, Tennessee was fighting in one of the best games it has played all year to nip Kentucky for the 25th straight time. UT runner Montario Hardesy ran for a career-high 179 yards, scoring three TDs. It was his third one that counted the most, a 20-yarder that decided the overtime victory. Give Kentucky credit; Lones Seiber kicked a 33-yard field goal to force OT and had not Seiber missed a 49-yard attempt before Montario scored, the Wildcats would have won.

Get this, the way everything shook out on the final day places UT second behind Florida in the SEC East. Who would have ever guessed Lane Kiffin would have a 7-5 record in his first year?

The biggest loser of the day, of course, was Notre Dame. The 45-38 loss to Stanford late last night virtually guarantees embattled Irish coach Charlie Weis is out the door after this, a horrid 6-6 season. Weis wouldn’t comment on his status nor attend a post-game press conference but did say, ``There's a bunch of 22, 23-year-old young men right there finishing out their career by losing the last four games. They feel miserable and I feel miserable for them.''

The bowl-game selections will now quickly fall into place but with each of the top four teams winning this weekend, there will not be anything dramatic until this weekend’s conference championships are played. But never before has the SEC title game been more enticing, and the early whisper is Florida is favored by seven in the first game both teams have been unbeaten. No bowl game can match it.

The Gators, now within two games of a third national championship in three years, obviously owe much of it to Tebow. When the game was over, he raced to shake the hand of FSU’s retiring defensive coordinator Mickey Andrew, then coach Bowden, then the other FSU opponents.

He sang with his teammates but best of all was his victory lap, running right in front of the 90,000-plus fans who have watched him play and, yes, “minister” to the Gator Nation. ``I just wanted to say thank you to all the fans and not get too emotional about it,'' he explained.

``My relationship with the fans is great. One reason is 'cause I'm such a passionate Gator fan. I care so much about this university and this team because I'm such a big fan. They know I appreciate them.''

During that jog, he comforted one grief-filled girl, the tears streaming down her face with the words, “It’s okay …. I’ll still be around.”

Glory, what a weekend!

royexum@aol.com