The SEC Championship game marked its silver anniversary Saturday with a celebration of the event’s history and a coronation of Alabama as the league’s dominant team this season.
The No. 1-ranked Crimson Tide built a 33-9 second-quarter lead and routed No. 15 Florida 54-16 in the 25th SEC title game, the 23rd — and last — to be played at the Georgia Dome.
The win was Alabama’s eighth in a row in Atlanta and boosted its record at the Dome to 9-1 under coach Nick Saban, including 5-1 in SEC Championship games and 4-0 in Chick-fil-A Kickoff games.
The victory also maps out the immediate future for Alabama: a No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff selection committee’s final rankings, which will be unveiled Sunday, and a return to the Georgia Dome to face the No. 4 seed in a national semifinal in the Peach Bowl on Dec. 31.
Even though it turned out to be the predicted mismatch, Alabama-vs.- Florida was an appropriate matchup for Saturday’s milestone game: The same teams met in the SEC’s first championship game at Birmingham’s Legion Field in 1992 and in the first played at the Georgia Dome in 1994.
To commemorate the silver anniversary, Steve Spurrier and Gene Stallings — coaches of Florida and Alabama, respectively, when the teams met in the league’s first three championship games — were at midfield for the pregame coin toss.
Flipping the coin: former SEC commissioner Roy Kramer, who created the conference championship game and two years later moved it to Atlanta.
“I had attended the Super Bowl here (in January 1994), the first time I had ever been in the Dome, and I’ll never forget walking out of the Dome with my wife that day and saying, ‘Sara Jo, this is where we’re going to play the game,’” Kramer recalled Saturday. “It was such a natural location for our conference. … It was a tremendous site.
“It’s hard for me to believe that you’re tearing this stadium down,” Kramer added. “Somebody asked me this morning did I ever think the Georgia Dome would go down before Legion Field fell down? And I said, no, I guess I didn’t.”
The SEC Championship game will move next year to the $1.5 billion Mercedes-Benz Stadium under construction immediately south of the Dome.
Saturday’s victory gave Alabama (13-0) its third consecutive SEC championship.
“You don’t always get what you want in life, but you mostly get what you deserve,” Saban said. “And these guys have done a fantastic job all season long in winning 13 games and deserve to win the SEC.
“I think to do that three years in a row is a really significant accomplishment.”
Alabama linebacker Reuben Foster, who made 11 tackles, was named the game’s Most Valuable Player.
The Crimson Tide’s 33 first-half points — the most in SEC Championship game history — were accumulated mostly because of three interceptions of Austin Appleby passes and a blocked punt.
“There were some crazy things that happened in the game,” Saban said.
The first interception, by Shaun Hamilton, was returned 40 yards to the Florida 12, setting up a field goal that trimmed the Gators’ early 7-0 lead. The second interception was returned 44 yards by Minkah Fitzpatrick for a touchdown and a 10-7 Alabama lead. The blocked punt was returned 27 yards by Josh Jacobs for a touchdown.
All of that was in the first quarter, which ended with Alabama having no first downs, minus-7 yards offense, 84 interception-return yards and a 16-9 lead.
Alabama’s third interception, by Tony Brown, started a 62-yard touchdown drive that stretched its lead to 33-9 with just under four minutes left in the half.
Against an Alabama defense that had not allowed a touchdown in its previous four games, Florida drove 92 yards in 10 plays near the end of the half to cut the Crimson Tide’s lead to 33-16. The Gators were on the verge of another touchdown midway through the third quarter with a first-and-goal at the Alabama 2-yard line, but they were stopped on four consecutive plays.
From there, Alabama’s offense drove 98 yards in eight plays for a 40-16 lead.
Ultimately, the Crimson Tide’s 54 points were the most allowed by Florida since Nebraska’s 62 in the Fiesta Bowl at the end of the 1995 season.
Alabama’s 38-point margin of victory is the second largest in the SEC title game.
“Obviously, you’re not going to win if you give the ball to anybody four times,” Florida coach Jim McElwain said, referring to the three interceptions and the blocked punt, “especially against a team like the one (Saban) has put together, which in my opinion is the best team he’s had since he’s been there.”
By the time the SEC Championship game returns to Atlanta next season, the Georgia Dome will have been imploded, if all goes as planned.
“It seems hard to believe it won’t be here for us next year,” SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said. “It’s a wonderful home.”
But he added, “We’re looking forward to next year when we move just down the street.”
The SEC signed a 10-year contract to play the game in Mercedes-Benz Stadium from the 2017 through 2026 seasons.
Sankey called it “an interesting twist on history” that the two teams that played in the first SEC title game also met in the 25th.
“But you know what the good news is?” he asked. “There will be a 26th as well. So we’ll look to see who might be here next year in the new stadium.”
HOME AWAY FROM HOME
How Alabama has fared in its 10 football games in the Georgia Dome since 2008:
SEC Championship games
2008: lost to Florida 31-20
2009: defeated Florida 32-13
2012: defeated Georgia 32-28
2014: defeated Missouri 42-13
2015: defeated Florida 29-15
2016: defeated Florida 54-16
Chick-fil-A Kickoff games
2008: defeated Clemson 34-10
2009: defeated Virginia Tech 34-24
2013: defeated Virginia Tech 35-10
2014: defeated West Virginia 33-23
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