Welcome to the title chase SEC-style, Florida

AUBURN, Ala. - Congratulations Florida Gators, you&#39;ve just beaten one of the nation&#39;s top teams and jumped right into the heart of the national championship race.<br> <br> Your reward, besides that snazzy No. 2 ranking? Playing No. 11 Auburn, a team that knows firsthand how hard it is to stay on top in the Southeastern Conference.<br> <br> Ah, life in the SEC. Comfy, it isn&#39;t.<br> <br> No. 2 teams new and old meet Saturday night for the right to be a de facto No. 1 in the league for at least a week or two. The Gators (6-0, 4-0) just want to keep doing what they&#39;ve been doing.<br> <br> ``All season we&#39;ve been looking at the opponent we play that week and concentrating on just them,&#39;&#39; linebacker Brandon Siler said. ``That is what has got us here and we aren&#39;t changing that and thinking ahead now.&#39;&#39;<br> <br> The Tigers (5-1, 3-1) are more likely to be caught looking back. They spent three weeks at No. 2 before getting bullied 27-10 by then-unranked Arkansas last week.<br> <br> The good news for the Tigers is they get an immediate chance to prove they weren&#39;t so badly overrated with the surging Gators visiting.<br> <br> And the bad news? Well, the surging Gators are visiting.<br> <br> ``We don&#39;t have any time to sit on our butts and feel sorry for ourselves,&#39;&#39; Auburn linebacker Will Herring said. ``We&#39;ve got probably one of the hottest teams in the nation coming in here. I&#39;m excited about having a big-shot team coming in here, that we can hopefully gain back some of the respect that we lost.&#39;&#39;<br> <br> Florida coach Urban Meyer is wary of the Tigers&#39; bad mood.<br> <br> ``They want to show the world,&#39;&#39; he said.<br> <br> The Tigers do have a nice recent track record in these type games. They have won seven of their last eight meetings with top-10 teams, including five in a row at home.<br> <br> ``Our guys usually thrive on that,&#39;&#39; coach Tommy Tuberville said.<br> <br> Florida has an impressive string going, too. The Gators&#39; five consecutive wins against ranked opponents is one shy of the school record, dating back 21 years.<br> <br> The Gators extended that streak last week with an impressive 23-10 victory over No. 14 LSU. Auburn managed just a touchdown in its 7-3 win over LSU last month.<br> <br> Meyer&#39;s approach to handling questions about this lofty status seems to be along the lines of, BCS? What&#39;s that stand for?<br> <br> ``We&#39;re just too busy to worry about that,&#39;&#39; Meyer said. ``I really have no comment because I have not and will not give it any thought&#39;&#39;<br> <br> As for his players: ``They&#39;ve answered every challenge so far.&#39;&#39;<br> <br> That includes an unorthodox two-quarterback system that has been giving opponents fits. There&#39;s the runner, freshman Tim Tebow, who threw his first TD passes last week. And Chris Leak, the starter and leader of the offense.<br> <br> Auburn defensive end Quentin Groves just marvels at the thought of a quarterback who is ``a power runner,&#39;&#39; the first time he has heard of such a thing. But Herring said the key to defending Tebow is sticking to assignments, instead of trying to guess what he&#39;s about to do.<br> <br> ``We&#39;re not going to have all 11 focusing on Tebow, just because he&#39;s in to run with the ball,&#39;&#39; Herring said. ``We&#39;re going to have somebody matched up with the tight end and the backs out of the backfield and the receivers.&#39;&#39;<br> <br> Besides, even in Meyer&#39;s creative offense, Auburn linebacker Karibi Dede figures there&#39;s only so much a college team can run.<br> <br> ``You can only teach a college kid so many plays,&#39;&#39; Dede said. ``It&#39;s not the pros. They haven&#39;t got a 6,000-play playbook.&#39;&#39;<br> <br> Auburn would settle for a playbook that works, no matter how skimpy. The Tigers have been outgained by their last three SEC opponents despite having tailback Kenny Irons, who Meyer calls the league&#39;s best.<br> <br> Their defense has looked decidedly vulnerable the past two weeks as well. Auburn does get back hard-hitting linebacker Tray Blackmon from a six-game suspension.<br> <br> Even though the teams have seemed headed in different directions, Auburn actually opened the week as a slight favorite.<br> <br> The Tigers are hoping to duplicate what happened the last time Florida visited in 2001, when they upset the top-ranked Gators.<br> <br> ``They&#39;re pretty ticked,&#39;&#39; Gators defensive tackle Ray McDonald said. ``They&#39;re going to come out fired up this Saturday. I wish they would have won. They&#39;re probably mad and going to come out firing.&#39;&#39;