"He's a great player, but I think we'll be able to handle him," defensive tackle Gerald McCoy said.

HEISMAN JINX?: Florida has experienced both sides of the so-called "Heisman Jinx" the last two seasons. The Gators would like to see it happen one more time.

Ohio State's Troy Smith struggled mightily against Florida in the 2007 BCS title game, completing four of 14 passes for 35 yards, throwing an interception and getting sacked five times in a 41-14 rout.

Florida's Tim Tebow had better numbers against Michigan in the 2008 Capital One Bowl -- he threw for 154 yards and three touchdowns and had 19 yards rushing and a score -- but still ended up on the losing end.

The 41-35 loss dropped former Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks to 5-8 in bowl games since 1980.

Could Oklahoma's Sam Bradford be next?

"It's really hard for me to talk about previous winners and the difficulties they've had in their bowl games because I wasn't there when they were on their trip, so I don't know what they got caught up doing and how they prepared for the game," Bradford said. "I know as soon as I got back from New York I forgot about that experience, got back to business, getting ready to prepare for this game and help my team win."

Doug Flutie (Boston College, 1984), Charlie Ward (Florida State, 1993), Danny Wuerffel (Florida, 1996), Carson Palmer (USC, 2002) and Matt Leinart (USC, 2004) are Heisman quarterbacks who won bowl games.

Vinny Testaverde (Miami, 1986), Ty Detmer (BYU, 1990), Gino Torretta (Miami, 1992), Chris Weinke (Florida State, 2000), Eric Crouch (Nebraska, 2001), Jason White (Oklahoma, 2003), Smith and Tebow helped foster the notion of the Heisman jinx.