TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - All Alabama.
The top-ranked Crimson Tide turned the latest edition of the Southeastern Conference's super heavyweight rivalry into an overwhelming display of power.
Mark Ingram scored two touchdowns, C.J. Mosley returned an interception 35 yards for a touchdown and the top-ranked Crimson Tide overwhelmed No. 7 Florida 31-6 on Saturday night.
Round 2 this season between the last two national champions could come in Atlanta at the SEC title game. Alabama (5-0, 2-0) certainly looked like a team on its way to another championship season.
In front of 101,821 at a blaring Bryant-Denny Stadium, coach Nick Saban's Tide rolled to a 24-0 lead in the second quarter, behind Ingram's two short TD runs and a defense that was buzzing around the ball.
After the Gators (4-1, 2-1) chipped it down to 24-6, Mosley picked off a short pass in the middle of the field by a hurried John Brantley, racing to the end zone for a score that all but wrapped up Alabama's 19th straight victory with 6:10 left in the third quarter.
"I was very, very pleased with the way we played in the first half," Saban said. "I thought we played physical, played with toughness, played strong. I was really encouraged."
Ingram ran for 47 yards on 10 carries, Greg McElroy threw for 84 yards and receiver Marquis Maze threw a touchdown pass to Michael Williams out of the wildcat.
A rematch of the last two SEC title games, the first regular-season meeting between the Crimson Tide and Florida since 2006 had all the trimmings of a huge game, with a primetime national television audience and a rockin' crowd loud enough at times to match the jet fly over before kickoff.
The stakes, however, were far from do or die. As good as Alabama looked, and the defending national champions looked every bit like the No. 1 team in the country, there's a long way to go and plenty of SEC games to play.
As for the Gators, well, they can hope for another shot at 'Bama in December, but right now the gap between the SEC's top two programs looks wide enough to park a couple of doublewide trailers.
Remember, the last time the Tide and Gators got together, Alabama rolled to a 32-13 victory in an SEC championship game that left Tim Tebow in tears.
This time Alabama's defense knocked around Brantley and stymied a Florida offense that looked as if it had found some answers last week in a 48-14 victory against Kentucky.
Against Dont'a Hightower, Courtney Upshaw and the Tide, and with leading rusher Jeff Demps playing with a sore foot, the Gators couldn't get into the end zone and committed four turnovers.
Brantley passed for 202 yards with two interceptions, and while he was only sacked once, he took several hard shots.
Freshman Trey Burton, the Gators' new short-yardage specialist who scored a record six touchdowns last week, was bottled up in his few opportunities and showed he's no Tebow when he tried to run one of the Heisman winner's trademark plays.
Alabama drove to a field goal on its opening drive and Florida came right back to march inside the Tide 10.
On fourth-and-goal from the 2, Burton tried a jump pass over the line but Alabama sniffed it out and Nico Johnson picked it off in the end zone.
Right before the play, Tide defensive coordinator was on the sideline yelling and waving to his players, apparently warning of the Tebow special.
The decision to pass on the short field goal try looked even worse when Alabama came flying down the field again.
Mixing McElroy's sharp passes and the running of Ingram and Trent Richardson, 'Bama went 80 yards on nine plays. Ingram capped it with a 6-yard touchdown run around right end and it was 10-0 Tide less than a minute into the second quarter.
Julio Jones got into the act next for Alabama with a 40-yard punt return, setting the Tide up in Gators territory. After Richardson ran over both Florida safeties, first Will Hill, then Ahmad Black, on the same play to get inside the 5, Ingram dove in from the 1 to make it 17-0.
Florida couldn't stop the flood. Alabama's defense was swarming. Moments later, Dre Fitzpatrick picked off Brantley's pass in Gator territory. The crowd boomed and Tide players bounced after the field.
Two plays after that, Maze took the shotgun snap, faked a handoff, and lofted a pass to wide-open tight end Williams for a 19-yard score.
Alabama 24, Florida 0. With 6:09 left in the first half, Gators fans had to be wondering if they really wanted a rematch at the Georgia Dome in December.
The last time the Gators didn't score a touchdown? In 2005, Urban Meyer's first season as coach in Gainesville, the Gators lost 31-3 in the exact same place to Mike Shula's Tide.
Florida has come a long way since then, winning two national titles.
Of course, the Tide has too - passing the Gators in the process.
