Separation causes anxiety

After a month and a half of posturing, polling, and ultimately, playing, the elite teams of college football gave this message to the contenders and pretenders: Show us what you’ve got.

In a day in which even those with postgraduate skills with the television remote would have been challenged, the following was revealed:

■Florida is a very good team - with or without Tim Tebow as the main act.

Oh, the drama of the day in Baton Rouge and throughout the Southeastern Conference focused on whether the Gators quarterback and former Heisman Trophy winner, who suffered a concussion against Kentucky two weeks ago, would be cleared to play against Louisiana State at Tiger Stadium Saturday night. (And even if he was, was it wise to play him?)

Tebow was cleared around noon after much agonizing by Urban Meyer. But the coach also edited the Gators’ playbook - less Tebow diving into the line on third down and more diversity - and put more of the onus on the defense, which prides itself on being the best in the country.

Thankfully for the Gators and their fans, most of it worked. No. 1 Florida won, 13-3, Tebow did just enough, the defense did more than enough, and we can move on to the next controversy.

Meyer, who spent a tough week deciding whether to play his QB, said he finally made up his mind when the doctors told him “the risk factor wasn’t there.’’

Tebow, not surprisingly, lobbied hard to play. “He was nuts,’’ said Meyer. “I mean it was nonstop. Let me play. Let me play. Let me play.’’

■Alabama, the Gators’ main rival in the SEC, is pretty good, too, maybe great. The Tide took care of its challenge by going into Oxford, Miss., and ending any delusions that Ole Miss was Top 5 worthy.

’Bama won, 22-3, continuing its march toward a meeting with Florida in the SEC title game in Atlanta in December. The winner is very likely to get one of the spots in the BCS title game. Alabama jumped Texas into second place in the AP Top 25.

■Completing the SEC roundup, Auburn was exposed as being a good but hardly great team. Arkansas gave the Tigers their first loss of the season, a 44-23 spanking.

■No. 4 Virginia Tech very well could be BCS title game-worthy as well. The Hokies ripped Boston College, 48-14, and it probably could have been 70-14 if coach Frank Beamer was mean-spirited.

It was 34-0 at halftime as Tech, whose only loss was to Alabama in the season opener and which has a dominant win over Miami, flexed its muscles for the rest of the Atlantic Coast Conference and the country to observe.

■Wisconsin, which had been a very quiet 5-0, dropped a 31-13 decision to Ohio State and the Badgers are trying to figure out how it happened.

They controlled the ball for 42:03 and outgained the Buckeyes, 368 yards to 184, but lost by three touchdowns, or more specifically two interception returns for TDs and a kick return for a score by Ohio State.

Which leaves the Big Ten with Ohio State, unbeaten Iowa (which outlasted Michigan, 30-28), and once-beaten Penn State (its only loss to Iowa) as the contenders for the Rose Bowl bid but probably nothing more.

■Stanford, which had been the surprise leader of the Pac-10 approaching the midway point of the season, had a reality check with a 38-28 loss to Oregon State. The next time we hear from Stanford will be at the end of the season when it hosts Notre Dame, which hopes it will be on the verge of its own BCS bid.

■Texas looked beatable in the first half against Colorado and then looked like Texas in the second half as QB Colt McCoy and friends rolled to a 38-14 win. Next up for the Longhorns is Oklahoma in the Red River rivalry shootout.

■And the No. 20 Sooners also looked liked the Sooners as QB (and most-recent Heisman Trophy winner) Sam Bradford returned after sitting out the last month with a shoulder injury.

Bradford threw for 389 yards and a touchdown in Oklahoma’s 33-7 win over Baylor. A Sooners win over Texas next week could salvage what has been a disappointing season (narrow losses to Brigham Young and Miami).

Bowden had been the center of attention all week as the head of the school’s Board of Trustees said it was time for the 79-year-old coach to make his retirement official sooner rather than later. That got the attention of lot of people, including Florida governor Charlie Crist, who offered support.

The bottom line is that Florida State is now 2-4 and flirting with its first losing season since 1976.

Mark Blaudschun can be reached at blaudschun@globe.com.