Friday, October 16, 2009, 8:34 pm

Neaux class

BATON ROUGE, La. — Heading into Tiger Stadium on Saturday evening, we had to walk through a gauntlet of liquored- and revved-up LSU fans who, naturally and understandably, took their share of potshots. Most of the taunting involved Florida’s quarterback and Second Coming of Wuerffel, Spurrier and Jesus Christ combined, Tim Tebow.

The most creative jab came in the form of a mannequin, creepily stripped bare save for a sign on its chest: “Tebow circumcised me.” Perfectly acceptable.

But the not-so-good-natured-yet-strangely-endearing roasting turned nasty minutes before the game. No, not when a group of Florida players jumped on the eye of the tiger at midfield. I was getting a hot dog and didn’t witness that. This had nothing to do with fans, players or coaches but with whatever staff member puts together the Tigers’ pre-game video montage (which, I must say, was about as lame as most universities’ TV spots that almost without fail will show a. the pastoral campus, b. the multicultural group lounging at the student union and c. a professor and student intently staring into a beaker).

First of all, I’m not sure why said staffer felt it necessary to include clips of the Gators. I’m assuming it’s a weekly thing, showing footage of the Tigers’ opponent. Personally, I found it sophomoric, even for the 128th-ranked university in the country. Lame strike No. 2. But when the clip reel included the vicious hit Tebow suffered at Kentucky I lost my shit. Here, in the week leading up the game, you had LSU coach Les Miles and his players saying all the right things about wanting Tebow to bounce back, to be OK, to be on the field. Then to show that “highlight”? That was about as classy as the LSU offense was prolific.

In the end, though, Tebow lined up in victory formation, took the snap and took a knee, and I could look up at the video board and smile: UF 13, LSU 3. See if they show that shit in two years.

Tags: Gators