Florida head coach Jim McElwain calls out instructions during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Florida State in Gainesville, Fla., Saturday, Nov. 28, 2015. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)The 24th Southeastern Conference football championship pits a surprise winner from the Eastern Division and a Western champ wanting so much more.
Saturday's showdown between Florida and Alabama was not expected at the dawn of the season, with the Gators picked to finish fifth in the East behind Georgia, Tennessee, Missouri and South Carolina. Florida needed a 63-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-14 to topple Tennessee 28-27 in September and needed Austin Hardin's 43-yard field goal to escape Vanderbilt 9-7 earlier this month, but games outside the conference the past two weeks did not turn out well.
Florida subdued Florida Atlantic in overtime on Nov. 14 and lost 27-2 this past weekend at home to Florida State, helping explain why the No. 18 Gators (10-2) are 17-point underdogs in the Georgia Dome.
"It's a huge challenge," Florida first-year coach Jim McElwain said Sunday afternoon. "We're playing the best team in college football. We're a program on the rise, and we're a program that's going to continue to get better. This is just another opportunity for us to get out there and match ourselves against the best.
"As you go through life, having opportunities to test yourself against the best is something that's invaluable, and we sure look forward to the challenge."
Facing Alabama these days certainly qualifies as a challenge.
The No. 2 Crimson Tide (11-1) officially clinched the West title with Saturday's 29-13 win at rival Auburn, which capped a November in which they won every game by at least 14 points. The last Alabama bunch with such an emphatic November was the 1978 national title team.
"Their legacy as a team is going to be in how we finish," Tide coach Nick Saban said, "and I think they understand that."
Saturday's game, which kicks off just after 4 p.m., will be televised by CBS.
An Alabama win would not only secure a spot in college football's second four-team playoff, it would give the Tide consecutive SEC titles. The last team to do that was Tennessee in 1997 and '98.
"This team is focused on what they can accomplish as a group," Saban said. "They've worked hard all year long, and I don't think they're thinking about who has won back-to-back championships. Winning last year's championship doesn't have anything to do with winning this year's championship game.
"This is a game they've worked to try and get into, and they want to be successful because of that."
Tennessee's two-year title run under Phillip Fulmer followed four straight championships by Steve Spurrier's Gators from 1993 to '96. Florida beat Alabama on three of those occasions after the Crimson Tide topped the Gators in the inaugural SEC championship game at Birmingham's Legion Field.
Alabama and Florida met again in 1999, 2008 and '09, with this eighth SEC championship meeting between the two programs easily marking the most frequent pairing among league teams. There have been three LSU-Georgia matchups and two each for Auburn-Tennessee, LSU-Tennessee and Florida-Arkansas.
Tide tidbits
Alabama junior tailback Derrick Henry leads the nation with 1,797 rushing yards, leaving him 95 yards away from breaking Herschel Walker's single-season mark of 1,891 set in 1981. On Sunday, Henry was named the Walter Camp Foundation's offensive player of the week. Redshirt junior kicker Adam Griffith, who played at Calhoun High School, on the Georgia Dome: "This will be like my ninth or 10th time playing in there, so I'm ready for it."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.