Miami, FL (My Sportsbook) - Tim Tebow's resiliency paid off and the Florida Gators became national champions for the second time in three years by beating Oklahoma, 24-14, in the BCS title game.

Tebow, the 2007 Heisman Trophy winner, threw a pair of touchdown passes, including the sealing four-yard strike to David Nelson with 3:07 remaining in the game, as the top-ranked Gators turned away No. 2 Oklahoma in a contest that was short on offense until the second half.

In a game that figured to be an offensive showcase with the teams combining for nearly 100 points a contest, Florida's defense came up huge when it counted the most.

The Gators (13-1) stopped reigning Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford and the Sooners twice inside the five-yard line in the opening half, and Florida blocked a field goal try late in the third to earn its third national championship.

Exactly two years ago, the Gators waffled Ohio State, 41-14, but the game against the Sooners was much closer, thanks in part to a pair of interceptions from Tebow, who equaled his total from the entire season.

Those were in the first half, though. In the final 30 minutes, the junior from Jacksonville took over, sacrificing his body with bruising runs.

It was after Florida's lone loss this season, September 27, to Ole Miss, when Tebow declared he'd go all out to drive his team to a championship.

"I promise you one thing: a lot of good will come out of this," Tebow said at the time. "You have never seen any player in the entire country play as hard as I will play the rest of this season and you'll never see someone push the rest of the team as hard as I will push everybody the rest of this season, and you'll never see a team play harder than we will the rest of this season."

The Gators won their final 10 games.

Bradford threw a pair of touchdown passes to tight end Jermaine Gresham for the Sooners (12-2), who won the BCS national title game following the 2000 season at the Orange Bowl. Same city, different result, as the Sooners were beaten in the BCS championship contest for a third straight time, also faltering after the 2003 and '04 campaigns, to LSU and USC, respectively.

Oklahoma lost for the fifth time in its last six bowl games, falling to 4-6 under head coach Bob Stoops in postseason play.