No. 18 Florida reinstates Robinson before SEC title game

For one, assuming the rest of the season played out the same way, Ole Miss and not Alabama would be playing in the SEC championship game this weekend.

Alabama head coach Nick Saban, left, stands with then-offensive coordinator Jim McElwain in January 2012. Alabama won three of four from 2009-12.

According to oddsmakers at BetDSI, Florida comes into Saturday’s SEC Championship as a clear underdog, as the Gators are getting odds of -17.5 points against Alabama.

It happens more often than not in the football coaching profession.

Florida co-defensive coordinators Geoff Collins and ex-Miami coach Randy Shannon both drew interest for the now-filled UCF head job. He calls former colleagues or bosses, ones he can trust, and sounds them out. He’s got a really good mind. The Tide took down Texas in that game to earn Nick Saban his first national title at Alabama. You see so many teams in the West having to go out and hire and pay top dollar for exceptional head coaches because that’s just the competitive balance at this point. That he was personable and hard-working.

And that’s where Alabama is – one win from being the champs of the SEC and into the CFP.

“Different in their approach to handling players, but I really enjoyed them both”. Yeah, he could. But I think he would also have moments when he would have to take his lumps.

“You need to look a little bit at me and what I’m asking him to do”, McElwain said.

Florida’s defense will keep the Gators in the game early on, but Alabama will pull away in the second half. It’s all an opportunity to learn and he gave me that opportunity.

The problem for McElwain is his quarterback, Treon Harris.

Done and done at Alabama.

The 5-foot-11 Harris isn’t exactly the flawless fit for McElwain’s pro-style scheme.

McElwain shook up the Tide offense without departing from the tried-and-true principles of strong tailbacks running behind stronger lines. Or three, as in the case of LSU this season.

Without a conference title, as good as Alabama has been, the Crimson Tide could have been squeezed – all because of one bounce. The offense turned the ball over only 57 times.

“These guys, what Coach Saban and Coach Kirby do on that side of the ball, it is rocket science”, McElwain said.

“This is top to bottom”, Saban said, “one of the top defenses in the country”. He also pointed out that staying focused on the job a coach already has can only bolster his prospects in the future. McElwain took his 2013 Colorado State team to Tuscaloosa and was soundly thumped by Saban and the Tide. Win or lose, McElwain hopes he and the Gators gain Saban’s respect. “I love this team and we still got a lot of things ahead of us”.

Urban Meyer and Florida started the SEC’s seven-year reign over college football with a national championship in 2006, adding another two years later. “I’ve never viewed him as a Day 1 type of kid”.

At stake: For Alabama, and the SEC, a College Football Playoff bid is just waiting to be grabbed. Everybody has to… have one common goal and no independent contractors. It turned out to be a great move by Saban, and a great move for McElwain. The guy is really good now. He does things the right way and he’s got a good personality and he’s a great competitor. “I think that’s a testament for how he trains and how he teaches the season”.

The Gators are the only thing that stand in the way of the Crimson Tide making the College Football Playoff for the second straight season. McElwain admits to some conflicted feelings.

None of this means Coker is a first-round draft pick, but it does mean Coker is more than simply a game manager.

“Well, I just want our guys to go out and play well”. “You know what, I want to make him proud too. But they didn’t gash them for running plays”, Danielson told me on the SEC on CBS Podcast this week.