Tide, Gators set for SEC battle Winner gets trip to BCS title game

Oh, were you expecting someone else?

Florida and Alabama will meet this Saturday at the Southeastern Conference championship game in Atlanta, which easily could be renamed the Foregone Conclusion Bowl. The No. 1 Gators won the SEC East by a record four games over Tennessee and Georgia, while the No. 2 Crimson Tide captured the West by three games over LSU.

"Back in September, if I remember right, both teams were picked to make it to the championship game," Florida coach Urban Meyer said Sunday. "I can't think of a bigger football game that I've been a part of."

Saturday's winner will advance to the BCS title game, with the loser headed for the Sugar Bowl.

Meyer has won two SEC titles and two national championships since 2006, and he believes the atmosphere at the Georgia Dome is every bit as impressive as the BCS title game. His Gators were ranked No. 2 last December when they defeated No. 1 Alabama 31-20 for the league title, which was the first time the SEC had the nation's top two teams going head-to-head.

It took the SEC 76 years for that type of matchup and 12 months for the sequel, but not before each program navigated through gargantuan expectations.

"Last year's team from the outset wanted to prove something," Alabama coach Nick Saban said, "so they had a built-in motivation to prove something, so it was a little easier maybe to motivate them on a consistent basis. This year's team, and I'm sure Florida's team feels the same way, had to be good and had to be at your best because you could be and you wanted to be and it was important for you to be that.

"There wasn't that external factor of wanting to prove something to somebody, and I think that's more challenging."

Alabama concluded a second consecutive 12-0 regular season Friday with a 26-21 victory at Auburn. Florida wrapped up its 12-0 regular season Saturday with a 37-10 win over Florida State, its sixth consecutive win over the Seminoles.

Saban said sophomore tailback Mark Ingram (hip) should be fine for Saturday, while Meyer said sophomore cornerback Janoris Jenkins is fine (hip), junior tailback Emmanuel Moody (ankle) is probable and junior linebacker A.J. Jones (knee) is out.

Florida and Alabama met in four of the first five SEC title games, but their dominance over the rest of the league has never been so evident. LSU was the only other team to post a winning league mark this season, but the SEC's two most successful coaches denied having a stranglehold on the other programs.

"I'm not sure about all that," Saban said. "Florida has certainly dominated with two out of the last three national championships and have great football players and a great football team. We're trying to build a program here and feel very fortunate that we've been able to accomplish the last two years what we've been able to accomplish."

Said Meyer: "I can see where people think that, but I think we've got more balance than that. I just know what shows up every day on the doorstep when you go and play in this conference."

SEC title notes

Alabama is the designated home team for the game, which will have a 4:10 kickoff on CBS. ... Florida has the nation's No. 1 scoring defense (allowing 9.83 points per game), while Alabama is No. 2 (10.83). ... The SEC went 42-6 this season in nonconference games, with the 42 wins representing a new record.