Colleges

East title brings joy and relief to Gators

By ANTONYA ENGLISH
Published November 6, 2006

GAINESVILLE - There was "pandemonium" on the charter jet and a sense of relief among the players Saturday night.

Two coaches and several down years after Steve Spurrier last led the Gators to Atlanta, Florida feels like a weight has been lifted after clinching its first SEC East championship since 2000.

"I hate to say this, it doesn't sound real professional, but it was almost a relief because we wanted that so bad," coach Urban Meyer said Sunday.

"The seniors . . . when you come to Florida, and I've had many individual meetings with the young players and the seniors, you come to Florida to do that. You don't come to Florida for the palm trees. You come to Florida to get a great education and go play in Atlanta site of the SEC championship game. It was like a monkey off our back, a relief, whatever you want to call it. That's the first thing that came to mind."

The worry now: complacency.

Florida (8-1, 7-1 SEC) hosts South Carolina (5-4, 3-4) Saturday at 3:30 on Ch. 10, in Spurrier's first game back as an opposing coach. The Gators are No. 4 in the BCS standings, and have an outside shot of playing for the national title if they win out. Meyer's biggest task is, once again, keeping his players focused.

Senior quarterback Chris Leak said UF is eager to get better down the final stretch.

"We're never satisfied," he said. "We're never going to be satisfied with anything. We think we still have yet to play our best game. We're going to keep trying to improve and shoot for that best game, our best performance."

INJURY UPDATE: Call it the M*A*S*H unit. At least five offensive players are nursing injuries.

"We're going to have eight or nine guys in boots this week," Meyer said.

Among them: LG Jim Tartt, RG Drew Miller, kick returner Brandon James and receivers Andre Caldwell and Percy Harvin have ankle injuries. Center Steve Rissler injured his left knee. All will miss some practice time, but are expected to play.

HARVEY'S NEW ROLE: Sophomore Derrick Harvey leads the SEC in sacks with eight, although he has started just twice this season.

With the dismissal of senior defensive tackle Marcus Thomas, Harvey will see more playing time. On Saturday, junior defensive end Ray McDonald moved to tackle and Harvey started at end.

"It'll be Ray, Joe (Cohen, DT), Steve (Harris, DT), Derrick and Moss (Jarvis, DE)," co-defensive coordinator Charlie Strong said. "We still have enough guys. We'll be fine."

HE SAID IT: "Congratulations to the Gators on their first division title since 2000." - Spurrier on his Sunday teleconference

Antonya English can be reached at (813) 226-3389 or english@sptimes.com.

[Last modified November 6, 2006, 02:35:04]