Tide Rolls Gators in Historic Fashion for Third Straight SEC Title

Saturday, December 3

Atlanta, GA

4 pm

Florida Gators

8-4 , 6-2

Alabama

13-0 , 8-0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Alabama

Florida

Florida quarterback Austin Appleby had a nice start and a couple nice drives, but he was under siege most of the game and his three interceptions were all costly against the No. 1 team (and defense) in the nation. (Photo: Courtney Culbreath/For UAA Communications)

Tide Rolls Gators in Historic Fashion for Third Straight SEC Title

Saturday, December 3, 2016 | Football

Box Score Photo Gallery by Tim Casey, Courtney Culbreath, Paige Santiago, Jay Metz, and Miguel Rivera

Alabama became the first team to win three straight SEC championships since Florida claimed four straight in the 1990s.

By: UAA Communications

ATLANTA — The 25th Southeastern Conference Championship Game was the rout everyone predicted it would be.

Top-ranked Alabama scored five touchdowns and kicked two field goals on offense, scored a touchdown on defense and another on special teams to hand No. 15 Florida a 54-16 defeat at the Georgia Dome that not only gave the reigning national champion Crimson Tide their 25th straight victory, but also a third straight league title and spot in the four-team College Football Playoff.

For the Gators (8-4), the loss was their most lopsided since being bludgeoned 62-24 in the Fiesta Bowl national-championship game on Jan. 2, 1996. UF will learn Sunday night of its bowl game destination, with the most likely scenarios putting them in either the Outback in Tampa or TaxSlayer Gator Bowl in Jacksonville.

Alabama quarterback Jalen Hurts threw for 138 yards and a touchdown, while tailback Bo Scarbrough accounted for 91 of the Tide's 261 rushing yards and two scores. Florida, meanwhile, got 261 yards passing and two touchdowns from Austin Appleby, but the fifth-year grad transfer from Purdue also threw three first-half interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown. UF failed to score in the second half and finished with zero rushing yards on 30 attempts against the No. 1 run defense in the nation.

"First of all, I'm proud of this football team. I'm proud of our guys, what they've gone through this year, this season. You know what, they came and laid it on the line today," said UF coach Jim McElwain, once the offensive coordinator for two of Coach Nick Saban's four national championship teams. "Obviously, you're not going to beat anybody giving them the ball four times, especially a team like Nick has put together, which in my opinion, is the best team top to bottom that he's had since he's been there.

"That's a credit to him, his coaching staff, their commitment, their commitment to him, and what he's able to do."

Alabama (13-0), a 24-point favorite going in, became the first program to win three straight SEC titles since Florida won four in a row under Steve Spurrier from 1993-96. The Tide also became just the fifth UF opponent since 1918 to score at least 50 points, and the first league foe to do so since Auburn beat the Gators 63-14 in 1970.

35552 — Gators head coach Jim McElwain looks on as quarterback Austin Appleby takes a shotgun snap in Saturday's loss to Alabama. (Photo: Tim Casey/UAA Communications)

Florida took the game's opening possession and scored on a 10-play, 64-yard march against the nation's top-ranked defense. Appleby converted a trio of third-and-longs along the way, then fired a 5-yard touchdown pass to Antonio Callaway. Appleby was 6-for-7 for 67 yards on the march. Callaway beat linebacker Minkah Fitzpatrick on the scoring play, shaking him at the line of scrimmage and ducking inside to snag Appleby's high throw with his fingertips for the touchdown at the 9:51 mark.

The played marked the first touchdown given up by the Crimson Tide since the second quarter of their game against Texas A&M on Oct. 22. Alabama had allowed just six field goals in the previous four games.

The UF defense fed off the score by making Bama punt on its first possession. The Gators took over, but Appleby, under pressure, tried to force a pass down the middle of the field. The ball was intercepted by linebacker Shaun Dion Hamilton, who returned the play 40 yards to the Florida 12. The UF defense stepped up again, though, and made the Tide settle for a 31-yard field goal from Adam Griffith. UF still led 7-3.

On the very next series, after a holding penalty, Appleby faced a first-and-20 and dropped to fire downfield. Callaway was on his way to working open toward the middle of the field -- wide open, in fact -- but the ball was well behind the receiver and into the chest of Fitzpatrick, who sped left, to the outside, and scored untouched for Alabama's 10th defensive touchdown of the season and 10-7 lead.

And on the next series, a three-and-out, UF punter Johnny Townsend's kick was blocked by hard-charging Derrick Gore. The ball popped in the air and was caught by Bama's Josh Jacobs, who went 27 yards to easily score at the 1:42 mark. Griffith's point-after, in turn, was blocked by Jabari Zuniga and returned the length of the field for a two-point conversion by linebacker David Reese, a bizarre turn of events that kept the Bama lead at 16-9.

While Alabama finished with minus-7 total yards in the first quarter (compared to 92 for the Gators), the Tide still had a seven-point lead.

"This group, we've scored more non-offensive touchdowns this year, I think, than any team I've ever been associated with," said Saban, who improved to 7-1 in the SEC title game (5-1 at Bama, 2-0 at LSU). "I think it speaks to the play-maker-type guys that we have, the good job the coaches do putting them in position. When you block a punt, it's always a schematic thing based on their protection, and the guys did a good job of executing it. Gore did a great job of hitting it. And Josh, the ball went right to him, and he ran it for a touchdown."

The Tide went to work to increase it early in the second quarter. Hurts completed a 52-yard throw-back screen to Calvin Ridley that went down to the UF 23. Hurts finished the drive with a 6-yard touchdown pass to Gehrig Dieter.

The Tide had another chance to pile on the lead when UF tried to fake a punt that ended with Townsend being tackled for an 11-yard loss. The UF defense forced a field-goal attempt that Griffith missed to keep the score at 23-9 midway through the second. Griffith, though, didn't miss the next one. He was good on a 25-yarder after the Tide got a 47-yard punt return from Trevon Diggs to the UF 43.

Appleby's third interception of the night set in motion Alabama's next touchdown; a five-play, 62-yard drive capped when Jacobs, who returned the blocked punt earlier, scored on a 6-yard TD run and 33-9 lead.

But the Gators responded by moving 92 yards in 10 plays, with Appleby hitting Goolsby for a 25-yard TD. Goolsby snuck out behind linebacker Rashaan Evans on the play, to close the gap to 33-16 just before intermission and let UF take some modicum of momentum into the locker room.

The margin was still the largest halftime lead in SEC title game history, just as Bama's 33 points were the most ever scored by a team in the game's first two periods.

UF went 64 yards on 12 plays on its first possession of the third period and had a first-and-goal at the Alabama 2 after Appleby threw a misdirection screen pass to true freshman Lamical Perine that was good for 32 yards. The Gators, though, netted just one yard the next three plays and on fourth-and-goal Appleby's under-pressure, rolling-right pass for Goolsby was out of the end zone and out of reach. Hurts then took the Tide 98 yards, the killer play a 31-yard completion from Hurts to Ardarius Stewart on third-and-19. On the next play, Scarborough went around left end for 32 yards, then finished the drive one play later from the 2.

Just like that, what could have been a 10-point deficit a few minutes earlier was quickly 24.

And about to increase.

Penalties helped the Tide to a touchdown that took them to 47 points. Defensive tackle Taven Bryan was called for personal foul and ejected from the game, setting up a first-and-goal at the 2. Scarbrough scored untouched, up the gut of the UF defense the next play. The 47 points were the most scored against the Gators since the 2000 season.

Then it got worse.

The last Bama touchdown of the day came after another dismal UF offensive possession, with back-to-back sacks of Appleby. Eventually, the Tide got a touchdown from Gore, the fifth-team tailback, who ran in from six yards out behind the second-team offensive line with 3:48 to go to push Bama over the 50-point threshold.

"I don't see a lot of weaknesses, even in the depth piece, you know.,'' McElwain said of Alabama. "And the thing I see is they're built a little different. I think overall, just the overall team speed is different. There aren't a lot of teams that can run even with us. We've got fast guys. And they've really accumulated a lot of speed at some spots where they were always big."