On the other sideline, Meyer couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Just how frustrating was it?

“Very frustrating. Very frustrating,” he said.

Finally, Miles’ players cut him some slack. On third-and-goal from just outside the 2, Hester took another handoff on virtually the same play that had worked twice before, falling into the end zone with his 23rd carry of the night.

Flynn leaped into the air and pumped his right fist. Touchdown, LSU.

Hester, who finished with 106 bruising yards, trotted off the field to another rousing ovation at Tiger Stadium, there the home team is 30-2 over the last five years.

Tebow got the ball across midfield on the final possession. But his final, desperate heave was batted down in the back of the end zone.

Facing a defense that had two shutouts and was allowing less than 175 yards per game, Tebow passed for 158 yards and rushed for 75. But the Gators let the momentum slip away with two turnovers.

“It is something that just cannot happen,” Tebow said. “We have got to straighten it out.”

The burly quarterback threw a 2-yard touchdown pass to Kestahn Moore early in the second quarter to make it 10-0, and scored on a 9-yard scramble late in the half to send the Gators to the locker room up 17-7.

Special feature Pac-10 not as good as its bowl showing

LSU got a huge emotional boost on its first possession of the second half. At about the time Williams was scampering into the end zone to make it 17-14, Stanford was closing out its shocking upset of USC, which was still No. 1 in the coaches’ poll.

When the score was announced, the crowd went nuts. But Tebow quickly silenced them with a 37-yard touchdown pass to Cornelius Ingram.