Tebow leaves blowout after taking hit to head

. -- With one scary hit on Tim Tebow, another Florida laugher turned into the Gators’ worst fear.

Tebow was knocked out of Florida’s 41-7 victory against Kentucky after taking a hard shot to the head in the third quarter.

The Gators were leading 31-7 and driving deep in Kentucky territory when Tebow was sacked by Kentucky defensive end Taylor Wyndham. As he fell back with Wyndham on top of him, Tebow’s head struck teammate Marcus Gilbert’s leg, violently bending his neck forward.

Tebow lay motionless for several minutes while Commonwealth Stadium fell silent. He sat up with some help, then slowly made his way off the field to a loud ovation. He was eventually carted off the field with concussion-like symptoms, vomiting several times as he was taken to an ambulance to a local hospital for tests.

“I don’t know, I think it’s a concussion,” said Florida Coach Urban Meyer. “I think he’ll be all right. He took a pretty good shot.”

Florida is off next week, then plays at Louisiana State on Oct. 10.

Kentucky Coach Rich Brooks lamented the hit on the superstar.

“It was a clean hit,” Brooks said. “It looked like it knocked him out.”

The win extended Florida’s winning streak to 14 games, tops in the nation as the Gators (4-0, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) continued their mastery of the Wildcats (2-1, 0-1).

Florida has won 23 straight in the series, the second longest active winning streak by one team over another in the country.

Tebow was one of several Gators who took a separate plane north because of respiratory issues, leading to speculation that he wouldn’t play.