Tide Tidbits - December 1, 2008

Following Iron Bowl, Tide quickly focuses on Florida
The fight song was still ringing in their ears, a trip back onto the field for appreciative fans still fresh in their memories as Alabama's players turned their attention to Saturday's game with second-ranked Florida in the Southeast­ern Conference Championship Game. There will be no 24-hour rule this week to celebrate Satur­day's 36-0 romp over arch rival Auburn. There's too much at stake in this week's game. "This is kind of hard to say that it's a bigger game, but it is," said Alabama center Antoine Caldwell. "Florida's pretty much got everything going in their favor for them right now, so it's going to be a tough game for us but we're going to be ready to play."

ESPN: Crimson Tide have the ingredients to beat the Gators
Florida might be the fastest team in the history of college football. With receiver Percy Harvin and tailbacks Jeffery Demps and Chris Rainey, the Gators might have more speed than the Jamaican sprint team that ran away with the Beijing Olympics. Florida also has quarterback Tim Tebow, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner, and one of the country's most improved defenses. But the Gators won't beat Alabama in Saturday's SEC championship game in Atlanta's Georgia Dome.

Tide vs. Gators: A dream matchup for SEC
This is what the Southeastern Conference had in mind when it started college football's first league championship game back in 1992. No. 1 vs. No. 2. The Crimson Tide vs. the Gator Chomp. Nick Saban carrying on the tradition of the Bear vs. Urban Meyer and his new-age spread offense.

Alabama also has had many happy returns
It's been a slow and steady process, but Alabama's special teams unit is becoming more of an asset. "Our special teams have improved all year long," Alabama coach Nick Saban said. "We play a lot of young guys on special teams. We wish we had enough depth on our team that we didn't have to play starters on special teams, but we try to limit it to one team if we can. And I think that the guys who do play it, do a fantastic job."

Nick Saban running up the score(?), Upchurch's health ... and other stuff!
One interesting topic that came up was that last touchdown. Plenty of Auburn fans besieged our paper's email inbox with complaints and accusations about Saban running up the score with that late TD pass. So today, on an SEC title game teleconference, I wanted to get Saban's side of it. Alabama coach Nick Saban insists he was "not really trying to score" late in the fourth quarter of Saturday's 36-0 Iron Bowl win over Auburn. On 3rd-and-6 from the 34-yard line with fewer than three minutes go, reserve quarterback Greg McElroy hit Marquis Maze for a touchdown.

One more step
At stake, the Southeastern Conference championship and a likely berth in the national title game. The University of Alabama and the Florida Gators will play for the league trophy in what amounts to a national championship elimination game Saturday in the SEC Championship Game at Atlanta’s Georgia Dome, but both head coaches are telling their players to ignore all the hype and concentrate on what they have to do to win the game.

Roll Tide!