SEC CHAMPIONSHIP: NO. 4 FLORIDA 31, NO. 1 ALABAMA 20: ‘Play of the day, drive of the year’

They’ve won another championship, and they’ll surely win another on Jan. 8. That’s not particularly great news across our envious state, but the Florida Gators are only reaping what they deserve. Their basketball team of 2006 and 2007 was an aggregation for the ages, and this football team likewise has a majesty about it.

We saw as much Saturday. No other team in the country would have beaten Alabama —- indeed, until Saturday, no other team had —- but Florida did it in a way that left no doubt. Down by three points in the fourth quarter, the Gators willed themselves to this latest title, and for a bunch so adept at front-running, this closing burst served as a final argument.

Not since September had Florida trailed in a game, but against Alabama, the Gators fell behind in each half. “We played hard and with a lot of toughness and tenacity,” Nick Saban would say of his Tide team. But guess which side had more?

Those of us of a certain age remember Florida when it was forever losing championships, when it had all the talent but none of the grit greatness requires. Down 20-17 against the nation’s No. 1 team, the Gators drove to the go-ahead touchdown. Then they forced Alabama to go three-and-out. Then they drove to the clincher. Said Urban Meyer: “A lot was made of this game being the old versus the new, and yes, we’ve got speed, but from Day 1 our program has been based on toughness.”

Florida outgained Alabama 133-1 in total yards that fourth quarter, underscoring what Tim Tebow called “a relentlessness” about his team. It starts with Meyer, yes, but it lives most notably in Tebow.

Said Saban: “He has been taking his team on his shoulders a lot. They have a lot of confidence in him.”

Meyer: “There’s something special inside of him.”

If you’re wondering why it was Florida representing the SEC East and not, say, that team from Athens, here you saw the difference. Matthew Stafford is a fine player who hasn’t yet found a way to be inspirational. (Stafford is every bit as low-key as his famously placid coach.) Tebow is the best player in the country because he makes so many plays himself that the other Gators dare not let him down.

Florida beat the nation’s No. 1 team on the day the Gators worked without their second-best player. Think about that. Think also about this: Through three quarters, the Tide had been the stronger team. And then the fourth quarter arrived and what had been a riveting contest became no contest at all.

Meyer: “It was a dogfight. It was check your will … I felt like we took some body blows —- [Alabama] stuck it right down our throat in the third quarter —- but we came back with the play of the day, the drive of the year.”

We’d grown used to seeing Florida win with speed, but there was no flash to this fourth quarter. The longest gain on the go-ahead possession was 13 yards. It was Alabama that had more yards passing on the day, Alabama that managed the game’s longest run. But it was Florida that slugged harder when it mattered.

“We didn’t finish,” Saban said. “They did. And he [meaning guess who] made a lot of those plays.”

If you’re counting, this makes five championships won by Florida in this city since 2005 —- two SEC basketball tournaments, two SEC football titles and the 2007 NCAA championship. We can say this run of excellence is getting a bit old, but that would be petty and also dead wrong. Greatness in any form is a treat to watch. It’s time again to grit our teeth and admit that greatness resides in Gainesville, Fla.

mbradley@ajc.com

On ajc.com/sports: Go online for a photo gallery from the SEC championship game.