The Southeastern Conference championship game can be the greatest event in college football.
It also can be quite so-so.
When two evenly matched teams collide in the Georgia Dome with national implications at stake, this 24-year-old event is hard to beat. Florida first-year coach Jim McElwain was Alabama’s offensive coordinator during the 2008 and ’09 seasons, when the Alabama-Florida winner in Atlanta went on to capture the national championship.
McElwain remembers the undefeated Crimson Tide’s 32-13 victory over the undefeated and No. 1 Gators in 2009 having much more atmospheric “juice” than the 37-24 win over Texas out in the Rose Bowl that followed. In the frenzied 2008 SEC title game, Florida scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns to rally for a 31-20 triumph.
“It was amazing in both years we were in it,” McElwain said this week. “You’ve got two fan bases that split the stadium, and there is so much energy in there because they’re all true fans. Sometimes the other games may have corporate tickets, but you’ve got students and true fans in this one, and it’s a place that’s located where everyone can get to it.