Welcome to the title chase SEC-style, Florida

Posted 5:52PM on Friday 13th October 2006 ( 18 years ago )

AUBURN, Ala. - Congratulations Florida Gators, you've just beaten one of the nation's top teams and jumped right into the heart of the national championship race. 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. Ah, life in the SEC. Comfy, it isn't. 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've been doing. ``All season we've been looking at the opponent we play that week and concentrating on just them,'' linebacker Brandon Siler said. ``That is what has got us here and we aren't changing that and thinking ahead now.'' 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. The good news for the Tigers is they get an immediate chance to prove they weren't so badly overrated with the surging Gators visiting. And the bad news? Well, the surging Gators are visiting. ``We don't have any time to sit on our butts and feel sorry for ourselves,'' Auburn linebacker Will Herring said. ``We've got probably one of the hottest teams in the nation coming in here. I'm excited about having a big-shot team coming in here, that we can hopefully gain back some of the respect that we lost.'' Florida coach Urban Meyer is wary of the Tigers' bad mood. ``They want to show the world,'' he said. 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. ``Our guys usually thrive on that,'' coach Tommy Tuberville said. Florida has an impressive string going, too. The Gators' five consecutive wins against ranked opponents is one shy of the school record, dating back 21 years. 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. Meyer's approach to handling questions about this lofty status seems to be along the lines of, BCS? What's that stand for? ``We're just too busy to worry about that,'' Meyer said. ``I really have no comment because I have not and will not give it any thought'' As for his players: ``They've answered every challenge so far.'' That includes an unorthodox two-quarterback system that has been giving opponents fits. There's the runner, freshman Tim Tebow, who threw his first TD passes last week. And Chris Leak, the starter and leader of the offense. Auburn defensive end Quentin Groves just marvels at the thought of a quarterback who is ``a power runner,'' 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's about to do. ``We're not going to have all 11 focusing on Tebow, just because he's in to run with the ball,'' Herring said. ``We're going to have somebody matched up with the tight end and the backs out of the backfield and the receivers.'' Besides, even in Meyer's creative offense, Auburn linebacker Karibi Dede figures there's only so much a college team can run. ``You can only teach a college kid so many plays,'' Dede said. ``It's not the pros. They haven't got a 6,000-play playbook.'' 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's best. 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. Even though the teams have seemed headed in different directions, Auburn actually opened the week as a slight favorite. The Tigers are hoping to duplicate what happened the last time Florida visited in 2001, when they upset the top-ranked Gators. ``They're pretty ticked,'' Gators defensive tackle Ray McDonald said. ``They're going to come out fired up this Saturday. I wish they would have won. They're probably mad and going to come out firing.''

http://accesswdun.com/article/2006/10/102355