Tigers Finish 3rd

For unbeaten Boise State, No. 5 will have to do.The Gators finished atop The Associated Press Top 25 after upsetting Ohio State 41-14 in the BCS national championship game Monday night, a matchup Florida lobbied hard for late in the regular season when it looked as if the Gators would be left out.The Buckeyes had been No. 1 since August and were looking to become the third team to hold the top spot in the media poll from preseason through the bowls. Florida State was the first in 1999 and Southern California did it in 2004.Instead, Ohio State finished No. 2. LSU was third, and Southern California and Boise State rounded out the top five.Florida received all but one of the 65 first-place votes. Boise State, 13-0, got the other from Greg Archuleta of the Albuquerque Journal in New Mexico."This is the greatest feeling in the world," Florida senior quarterback Chris Leak said. "All the hard work and sacrifice that we have gone through the last two years to get where we are today makes this unbelievable."The Gators were stuck behind Michigan and USC in the polls in late November, and it looked as if no matter what they did the BCS championship game would be out of their reach. Urban Meyer and the Gators made it known, loud and clear, that they believed they deserved a shot at the national title.The first weekend of December, the Gators got their wish with the help of a major upset. UCLA knocked off USC and Florida jumped Michigan, a loser to Ohio State, in the polls and the BCS standings.