Here’s a Nice Guy Who Finishes First

NEW ORLEANS — There was 8:52 left in Danny Wuerffel’s revival meeting Thursday when, for the only time during a sweaty four hours, the Florida quarterback did something nobody noticed.

As Terry Jackson was dancing in the end zone after running for the Gators’ 44th point, as his teammates were bouncing around the sidelines like bit players in an MTV video, Wuerffel was elsewhere.

Alone at midfield.

His eyes were pointed to the sky.

His hands were clasped in prayer.

Turn away now, all those who are sick of blond-haired, Bible-quoting, do-gooding quarterbacks.

One just mauled his way to a national title.

How best to describe the man who endured a constant beating to throw for 306 yards and three touchdowns in Florida’s 52-20 victory over Florida State in the Sugar Bowl?

When the game ended, the entire Florida team rushed the field, knocking over officials and innocents in a frenzied celebration.

Wuerffel is the only one who apologized for it.

“I apologize if I ran over any reporters out there,” Wuerffel said afterward. “I was looking for a teammate to hug. . . . Hugging one of them after a battle is far better than winning any individual achievement.”

Oh yeah. The Heisman Trophy.

As if winning the award last month isn’t enough of a jinx on a player, Wuerffel raised eyebrows when he accepted it by saying he shared it with his offensive line buddies back home.

This is a guy who doesn’t watch ESPN, sometimes because he’s leading Bible study groups. This is a guy who refused to accept an athlete-scholar honor because it was awarded by what he considers a girlie magazine.

This is . . . the anti-Spurrier.

“He’s just too nice a guy, just way too nice,” Gator Coach Steve Spurrier said.

Which didn’t make him look too good earlier this year in the Gators’ first loss to Florida State. Wuerffel was sacked six times, knocked down more than a dozen other times, and walked away looking scared.

It was the same look he had after last season’s national championship loss to Nebraska, a 62-24 Fiesta Bowl embarrassment in which the Cornhuskers won by intimidating him.

Before Thursday night, in fact, the bowl quarterback that had everyone’s attention was a guy with far less natural ability but--everyone thought--twice as much heart.

Well, two days after the Rose Bowl, and it has become obvious what Arizona State quarterback Jake Plummer has that Wuerffel doesn’t.

Only a nickname.

“As I told the guys out there, I think [Wuerffel] is the best quarterback who ever played college football,” said Spurrier, a Heisman Trophy winner himself.

Spurrier described Wuerffel’s Sugar Bowl performance another way.

“He didn’t see many completions tonight,” he said.

He was flat on his back after so many throws, in fact, that about the only touchdown he saw up close was the one where he scored after running 16 yards late in the third quarter.

Running and diving--not sliding--across the end zone.

“Wuerffel is the guy,” Florida State Coach Bobby Bowden said. “Wuerffel is something.”

What about some of those plays did Wuerffel want to talk about? Off-season workouts.

“It all starts when you are working out in the summer, lifting weights, no reporters around, doing things where nobody sees you,” he said. “Sometimes during a journey, the funnest parts are what happens along the way.”

The fun for Wuerffel--if you could call it that--started on the Gators’ first drive when he was knocked backward by Reinard Wilson yet still found Ike Hilliard on a nine-yard touchdown pass.

Hilliard caught all three of Wuerffel’s touchdown passes, but, typically, Wuerffel thanked others afterward.

“I’m so proud of the way everyone played,” he said. “I’m really happy for Bart and Robby and . . . “

Bart and Robby?

Wuerffel’s next shining moment came when he set up Fred Taylor’s two-yard touchdown run in the second quarter by running right, avoiding two rushers, and throwing an 11-yard pass across the field to Taylor to put the ball on the goal line.

“If any NFL people want to win a Super Bowl, Danny Wuerffel is the man you want to see,” Spurrier said.

Spurrier said this intentionally.

Wuerffel is not considered a top NFL prospect because of a relatively weak arm and, well, questionable toughness.

In the eyes of hardened NFL personnel men, his outspoken Christian beliefs do not help that image.

“Im not going to worry about that,” Wuerffel said of his NFL career. “It’s either meant to be or not meant to be. I do the best I can, but I’m not worried about it.”

Then came the biggest play of the game for Wuerffel, late in the second quarter.

It was a third-down pass from his 29-yard line, where he was hit by both Wilson and Peter Boulware--another Seminole defender who chased him all night.

Yet an instant before the hit, he completed a 40-yard pass to Jacquez Green.

On the next play, he found Hilliard again on another slant pass--this one for 31 yards--and Hilliard turned it into another touchdown to give the Gators a 24-10 lead.

“You take for granted that they are in the right spot,” Wuerffel said of his receivers. “Lots of times you get knocked down. You can just listen.”

Wuerffel was so good, by the time Thursday night was becoming Friday morning, even Steve Spurrier was looking skyward.

“I want to say what Danny always says,” Spurrier said. “God has smiled on the Gators.”