Alabama to second straight SEC title

Florida (10-3) can still look forward to a bowl bid on Sunday, possibly to the Citrus, but McElwain already had his eye on what he said will be a bright future with more chances for the Gators to compete for a SEC championship.

Henry rushed for 189 bruising yards and the second-ranked Crimson Tide wore down No. 18 Florida with a dominating defensive performance, beating the Gators, 29-15, in the Southeastern Conference championship game Saturday in Atlanta.

Read all about it. Alabama wins again. The formula for Alabama’s success is simple: Win by any means necessary, and be as physically imposing as possible.

“We stumbled in a few games”, he said.

There’s just a different style and standard that Alabama operates by and it’s incredibly hard to match.

Those qualities should serve them well against an Alabama team that is favored by nine points, but has rarely been challenged deep into the fourth quarter. We just knew every time we got to him, we had to make him pay.

The University of Alabama faces the Florida Gators Saturday in the SEC Championship Game. “Credit to the offensive line”. While the Gators’ O-line held its own at times in pass protection, it was gobbled up when trying – and failing – to run block.

It was Alabama’s 10 straight victory and coach Nick Saban now has four wins in the SEC title game – one more than former Florida coach Steve Spurrier.

The Georgia Dome wasn’t one of them. Moments later, Alabama responded with a 28-yard field goal by Adam Griffith, narrowing the Gator lead to 7-5.

“I don’t think anybody’s surprised”, cornerback Cyrus Jones said of the defense’s dominance. “We’re going to have to handle that”. He now has 435 punt return yards this season, which is the second-most in a single season in program history behind Brandon James (510 yards in 2008).

Heading into the weekend, Derrick Henry was the favorite of many to take home this year’s Heisman Trophy and certainly did nothing to change that opinion on Saturday. Coker didn’t turn into a passing machine, but he found ways to make big plays. There was the left-hand, out-of-bounds throw to avoid a sack and keep the Tide in field goal range on a drive. Florida defenders swarmed from all angles and forced a fumble on the first play of the second quarter, but Henry came back.

Fittingly, Coker’s first zone-read run of the season resulted in a lovely 17-yard gain in the second quarter. Two other junior teammates with potential National Football League futures – S Keanu Neal and WR Demarcus Robinson – said they hadn’t finalized their decisions.

When Alabama needed plays, it got them.

Oh, Florida gave everyone’s heart a flutter when Antonio Callaway left a contrail across the field like he did at LSU, returning a punt 85 yards for a 7-2 first-quarter Florida lead. On Florida’s next drive, D.J. Tide quarterback Jake Coker completed 18 of 26 passes for 204 yards and two touchdowns without throwing an interception.

“We wanted to start fast and finish fast”, Henry said. I guess we’re robots, aren’t we? Clemson turned away a late 2-point conversion that could have cost the Tigers their ideal record. Because as you go through life, you’ve got ups, you’ve got downs.

To fix its Ole Miss problem, Alabama got some help from Arkansas, which need a stunning bounce-pass lateral play to beat the Rebels in overtime and clear a path for the Tide to win the SEC. Florida left with nothing but a memory the entire team would just as soon blot out.