MIAMI — If Florida quarterback Tim Tebow was offended by comments made by two Oklahoma defensive backs, he proved to be a pretty good poker player, too, Monday.

Tebow chuckled when asked about OU cornerback Dominique Franks’ and safety Nic Harris’ assertions that he wouldn’t rank among the elite quarterbacks in the Big 12 Conference.

A day earlier Franks, who has four interceptions this season, said the Florida quarterback and 2007 Heisman Trophy winner would rank behind OU quarterback Sam Bradford, Texas’ Colt McCoy and Texas Tech’s Graham Harrell in the Big 12 Conference pecking order.

Franks made his comments in front of television cameras, so it received an incredible amount of attention. Harris, who said Tebow would be the seventh best quarterback in the Big 12 by his judgment, only said it to a couple of print reporters.

“That might have been a compliment,” Tebow said Monday during Florida’s media day at Dolphins Stadium.

Franks didn’t take questions Monday during OU’s portion of media day.

Harris had more to say.

“I’m not a critic nor am I a newspaper writer. I can’t put rankings out there,” Harris said. “He (Tebow) is a great guy, but we’ll determine the rest on Jan. 8.”

There’s no doubt OU’s defensive players are carrying a major chip their shoulders in the days leading up to the BCS national championship game. They’ve been barraged with questions about whether they’re actually a national championship caliber defense since they arrived in Florida.

Every day since Friday, they’ve been asked about Tebow and Florida’s speed, whether the talent of the Big 12 matches that in the SEC.

“We wouldn’t be here if we couldn’t play defense,” defensive tackle Gerald McCoy said.

More trash talk

OU’s players kept civil tongues Monday. There were no disparaging remarks made about Florida at media day. At least one Gator, however, threw gasoline on the fire at Dolphin Stadium.

Florida linebacker Brandon Spikes gave his assessment of Big 12 defenses.

“If they can stop our offense, hey, my hat goes off to them. But I really don’t think they can,” Spikes said. “As long as we play well on defense, give the ball back to Tim and the rest of those guys, we should roll … I really feel like they haven’t faced a defense like ours, and Big 12 defenses are a joke.”