Alabama roughs up Gators for SEC title

By Steve Hummer

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

On the Thursdays of game week, Alabama players indulge in a little visualization exercise.

What will the headlines say on the Sunday after Saturday's big game?

"They always start with me first," said senior tight end Colin Peek.

"This week, I thought about it and decided the headline would be: ‘Tradition Restored.'"

Let it be written.

One of the many eras of Alabama football -- call it the Decade of Dreck -- is done.

That died definitively Saturday night on the floor of the Georgia Dome, in the most satisfying kind of way for those who longed for an old king's comeback.

‘Bama supplanted the young, new-age ruler, Florida 32-13 in a SEC Championship game that went from epic showdown to tiresome rout in about 40 minutes of football.

Or Alabama just plain planted the Gators, more like it. Dismantling the nation's leading scoring defense, Alabama scored on six of its first seven possessions. It had eclipsed by halftime the Gators per-game average of points and yards allowed -- and then piled on from there.

Florida's 22-game winning streak and its No. 1-ranking was buried somewhere beneath the substantial pile of 490 yards of Alabama offense.

In the final moments, the two quarterbacks told the story. Alabama's Greg McElroy, between taking a knee to run out the clock, danced and urged every Crimson-shirted spectator to get up and roar. Meanwhile, Florida's Tim Tebow suffered the indignity of having his tear-stained face flashed large on the Dome's giant scoreboard.

"There are a lot of goals we won't be able to accomplish now," said Tebow, who will have to remain satisfied with his collection of two national championships and one Heisman Trophy.

While Tebow has built a legacy at Florida that will outlive even the most persistent jean-shorts joke, this day belonged to a quarterback who wears no message under his eyes, nor has been yet granted sainthood by the college-football establishment.

It was the junior McElroy who out-Tebowed Tebow, earning the game's MVP award for being much more than just a caretaker of a run-oriented offense. While his star running back, Mark Ingram, accounted for 113 rushing and 76 receiving yards, McElroy was the story with his poise and his efficiency.

He completed 12 of 18 passes for 239 yards and a touchdown and earned this compliment from Ingram: "He just played a great ballgame."

When McElroy found Peek in the end zone for a 17-yard touchdown on ‘Bama's first possession of the third quarter, Alabama's 26-13 lead took on the look of being insurmountable. It had been just so easy -- 74 yards travelled in but five plays.

"Very uncharacteristic of good defenses to give up big plays," mused Urban Meyer, whose Gators gave up a season's worth Saturday.

With a smashing victory, Crimson Tide is back in the SEC title business after previously winning one in 1999.

In those intervening 10 years, the proud program had gotten stuck in the mire of NCAA probation and a bizarre cycle of coaching change.

But Saturday was the time to put to bed the Albert Means recruiting scandal and those long-gone coaches who preferred Texas A&M (Dennis Francione) or a wild night out (Mike Price) to the sober business of restoring Alabama football.

This day, under the coach it had stolen away from the NFL three seasons ago for just this moment, Nick Saban, Alabama looked as powerful as ever. There's a high Tide flowing in Tuscaloosa again.

On this night, Alabama trotted out more horses than that Cavalia show just up the steet.

"To talk about any individual player on our offense would be a little unfair to not talk about every player on offense," Saban said.

"Our offensive line did a fantastic job. Greg did a fantastic job. Our receivers did a very good job. Our running backs did a fantastic job."

Meanwhile, Tebow had little help. His receivers made key drops. His running backs totaled only 25 yards on the ground (to his 63).

But believe that beating Florida is no small feat -- the Gators had last lost Sept. 27, 2008, to Ole Miss.

"We're kind of in a territory we haven't been in a while -- we've got to regroup from a loss," Meyer said.

On the other extreme, there is one more step before ‘Bama is all the way back to being ‘Bama again.

That is a month from now, in Pasadena, where the Tide will try to win a national title, their first since 1992 and 13th in a history that seems more approachable after Saturday.