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2006 SEC Championship Game - Florida 38, Arkansas 28
ATLANTA (AP) -- Halfway through the Southeastern Conference title game, Florida knew it had a shot at playing for an even bigger championship.
The Gators may just get it, thanks to freshman Percy Harvin and an opportunistic special teams.
Harvin scored two touchdowns and No. 4 Florida put up two more scores off a blocked punt and a botched return, leading the Gators to a wild 38-28 victory over eighth-ranked Arkansas for their first SEC crown since 2000 on Saturday night.
Now, Florida has its eye on another prize. No. 2 Southern California, which had the inside track to face top-ranked Ohio State in the BCS championship game, blew its chance with a 13-9 loss to UCLA.
The Gators (12-1) are hoping their win over Arkansas was impressive enough to vault them past third-ranked Michigan in the BCS standings. The media, coaches and computers will answer that question Sunday.
For those who complained that Florida didn't play an exciting brand of football, relying a little too heavily on its defense, there was a little something for everyone in this one - starting with big plays galore and plenty of razzle-dazzle.
Harvin, who was chosen MVP, caught a 37-yard touchdown pass and broke off a 67-yard run to the end zone. Florida scored its first touchdown after Jarred Fayson broke up the middle to block a punt, then went ahead for good when Wondy Pierre-Louis fell on a fumbled punt in the end zone late in the third quarter.
Three touchdown passes were thrown by someone other than a quarterback.
Florida receiver Andre Caldwell hooked up with Tate Casey on a 5-yard score. Arkansas' star running back, Darren McFadden, threw a 2-yard TD to fellow runner Felix Jones, who also hauled in a 29-yard scoring pass from receiver Cedric Washington.
Arkansas (10-3) certainly didn't make it easy on the Gators, rallying from a 17-0 deficit after being held without a touchdown in their first two appearances in the SEC title game.
The Razorbacks got on the board just before halftime when Casey Dick threw a 48-yard TD pass to Marcus Monk. In the third period, they came up with two interceptions against Florida's senior quarterback, Chris Leak - the first setting up a TD, the second returned 40 yards for a score by 255-pound defensive end Antwain Robinson.
But in the end, Florida made a few more plays than the Razorbacks, who will have to settle for a spot in either the Capital One, Outback or Cotton Bowl.
``BCS, give us a shot!'' one Florida fan pleaded toward the press box, aware that some voters who will have a hand in that decision were covering the game.
USC held a 9-7 halftime lead over its crosstown rival when the Gators kicked off to Arkansas.
Early in the second quarter, there was a smattering of applause among the Florida contingent when they got word that UCLA had gone ahead. At halftime, the Georgia Dome erupted - at least the sections where fans were wearing blue and orange - when the Bruins preserved their stunning upset with a late interception.
After Arkansas stormed ahead 21-17, Florida reclaimed the momentum when Reggie Fish made a ghastly error on a punt return.
Filling in for the Razorbacks' regular returner, who didn't make the trip because of an injury, Fish inexplicably tried to field a punt near his own goal line with an over-the-shoulder catch. He couldn't hang on, the ball squirted into the end zone and Pierre-Louis fell on it to put the Gators back ahead.
Harvin extended the lead with his second TD. The receiver took a handoff from Leak on what appeared to be an end around, only to stop suddenly and head back in the other direction. He found a huge hole and didn't stop running until 67 yards later.
Harvin finished with six carries for 105 yards and had five catches for another 62 yards.
Florida shut down Arkansas' powerful run game, limiting Heisman Trophy-contender McFadden to 73 yards on 21 carries - 50 yards below his season average.
The Gators, playing in their first SEC title game since they won the last of six conference titles under Steve Spurrier in 2000, got off to a start that was reminiscent of their ``Fun 'n' Gun'' days.
Embattled kicker Chris Hetland punched through a 33-yard field goal - his longest of the season - and Leak scored on a 9-yard run after Fayson's block. The Gators were really cruising when Harvin, working from the slot, beat Darius Bennett off the line to made his touchdown catch.
Leak also went by 1996 Heisman Trophy winner Danny Wuerffel as the leading passer in Florida history with the 37-yard throw.
Instead of folding, Arkansas made a rousing comeback. Monk scored on the long pass from Dick, even though cornerback Reggie Lewis was called for interference as he was falling down.
The Arkansas defense stepped up in the second half, taking advantage of two big mistakes by Leak.
First, the quarterback never took his eyes on the intended receiver and was picked off by linebacker Weston Dacus lurking in the middle of the field. Arkansas quickly drove for a TD, scoring off its ``Wildcat'' package that had McFadden taking a direct snap at the Florida 2.
Instead of running as everyone expected, McFadden flipped a quick pass to Jones for a TD that pulled the Razorbacks to 17-14. It shouldn't have been surprising - McFadden is now 6-for-6 passing with three touchdowns this season.
Leak messed up again two possessions later, attempting a lateral-type pass out of the shotgun but not anticipating that Robinson would step in front of Harvin to grab the ball. The defensive end rumbled 40 yards the other way for a touchdown that gave Arkansas its first lead.
But Florida wasn't going to let this chance get away.
When Ryan Smith made an interception in the end zone with about 3 minutes left, the Gators began celebrating. Coach Urban Meyer, who rebuilt a program that struggled under Spurrier successor Ron Zook, was doused with Gatorade - that's appropriate - while the fans chanted ``BCS! BCS! BCS!''
They'll get an answer Sunday.
ARKANSAS POSTGAME QUOTES
CLAUDE FELTON: We've got Jamaal Anderson, Darren McFadden and Marcus Monk. I think we'll start and let's ask each one of the athletes just a couple of general thoughts on the game, and then we'll take your questions. Jamaal, would you like to go first, just general comments on the game?
JAMAAL ANDERSON: It was a well fought game. We came in and started out kind of slow, but the second half we came out there, we produced, we got up, had the momentum. Just one play right there changed the momentum around and got to them, and it was hard for us to get it back. Just a couple mistakes here and there would have changed the outcome of the game.
MARCUS MONK: We played a good team, a great team, and like Jamaal said, we had a few too many mistakes. We knew coming in, the game wasn't going to be given to us. I felt we came in the second half, played hard, and I felt we played hard the whole game. I mean, someone has to lose, someone has to win, but unfortunately we lost this one. We've just got to stay focused right now and just bounce back because the season is not over yet.
DARREN McFADDEN: Like they said, we had too many mistakes. We had a slow start in the first half, came in third quarter, playing good. We knew coming into the game that they were a good team, so we knew whoever had the fewest mistakes was going to win the ballgame.
Q. Darren or Marcus or any of you guys, did you feel like you had the momentum? The game was in your hands right when they were punting, and then the muffed punt, that took the game away.
DARREN McFADDEN: Right there at that point in the game, I felt like we had the momentum and we had the muffed punt. So it was just a real change in momentum real quick.
MARCUS MONK: You know, there was a certain change in the game. I mean, we had other opportunities, though. You just can't put it out on their plate. But it changed the momentum some.
Q. For any of the players, what turned on the switch at halftime? What happened? It was like the third quarter you came out a different team.
MARCUS MONK: I mean, we compete; we're not going to give up. I felt we fought to the end tonight, too. We went in at halftime and we understood that we gave away points, we just had to come out and play hard until the game was over with, and I felt we did that.
DARREN McFADDEN: Like he said, we had a slow start in the first half, but we knew going into the half that we had to make some adjustments and come out and play our best ball.
JAMAAL ANDERSON: We also had a spark right at the end of the first half with Marcus Monk's touchdown, and I think that gave us a lot of momentum going into the half. We knew that we weren't that far away, and it just sparked the plug in us. We knew that half was over and we had another 30 minutes to play, and we came out there on fire in the beginning.
Q. Darren, why do you think you guys had a tough time getting a consistent running game going and how would you rate Florida's defense this year?
DARREN McFADDEN: Well, they're one of the toughest defenses in the country this year. We came out there and ran the ball, we just didn't get the big runs we wanted.
Q. Kind of talk about what kind of emotions were you guys going through. Obviously you talked about the momentum shift. Talk about being down 17 and then up and then back down 10. What kind of emotions were you going through?
MARCUS MONK: It's been like that all season in a lot of our games. The coaches, they tell us to keep fighting, don't ever give up. We wasn't just going to quit just because we was down at halftime. We kept fighting, just a few mishaps and no telling who would have won.
Q. Darren, on your touchdown pass to Felix Jones, is that a read because it was so far off of him, or was that the play?
DARREN McFADDEN: It was originally a run play for me to run it, and then when he was out there and no one was on him, I threw the ball to him.
Q. Darren, after that touchdown, you looked like you were hobbling a little bit, was your foot bothering you at all tonight?
DARREN McFADDEN: My ankle was just a little sore. It got rolled up on one play and it was just a little sore on me.
Q. Did any of y'all anticipate a game like this where it looked like plays were being drawn up on dirt, all kinds of tricks? Did you feel like everybody would empty the playbook for this game?
MARCUS MONK: I felt like both teams wanted to win, and we knew we weren't going to hold anything back. It's too late in the season and there ain't any sense in it. I knew coming in, it would be a hard fought game.
Q. Darren, when did you hurt your ankle?
DARREN McFADDEN: It was on a play like I ran, like, a little hitch route on the sideline and it got twisted up.
Q. What quarter was that?
DARREN McFADDEN: It was early in the second quarter, late in the first.
CLAUDE FELTON: We'll continue on with Coach Nutt and we'll ask him to give us just some general comments on the game and then we'll take questions.
HOUSTON NUTT: I'm just really proud of this football team. I really love them. I just love their heart, their determination. They've never given up. They've never let go of the rope. It could have been there was two, three, four plays where I really thought we had the momentum there, especially that third quarter, really had the momentum on our side until that fumbled punt. That really hurt.
But I thought we played hard. We played hard, and that's the reason we're in Atlanta. These guys earned it.
It's not easy to get here, guys, as y'all know. It's not easy to get here. I'm just really proud of the way they played and competed.
Q. Houston, obviously tomorrow there's going to be some debate about whether or not Florida is going to be able to move up. USC lost. What's your take on Florida as far as playing for the National Championship? Do you think they deserve to get there?
HOUSTON NUTT: Well, I'm always for our conference. You know, this is the toughest conference in America. If we were sitting on the other sideline we'd be saying absolutely. I wish them all the best and hope they have an opportunity to go.
Q. Houston, they called you on a four yard carry, what was the key to that for Florida?
HOUSTON NUTT: You've got to give them credit. They did a great job of really getting off blocks. It wasn't any one thing, one particular defense. They crowded the line of scrimmage but everybody has crowded us all year long. They have tremendous athleticism, tremendous position. They did that all year. Their ends and linebackers are very, very quick, and they just did a good job.
Again, we were still able to keep them off balance and score some points on them. We had our opportunity there in the third quarter.
Q. Not just the muffed punt but some other special teams mistakes, how bad does that really hurt y'all chances tonight?
HOUSTON NUTT: It always hurts in a big game. Any time you're in a championship game and you get a punt blocked and then well, you drop one for them for an easy score you can't give away points. We all know that. That really hurt.
Q. How much did Darren's injury in the first half hurt you guys in the first half?
HOUSTON NUTT: I wasn't going to use it as an excuse on the previous man's question, but y'all know Darren McFadden wasn't the same from the first quarter on. He got hurt we threw the ball out there to him on the quick uncovered, he got his ankle rolled up and he wasn't full speed and wasn't himself, so that had a lot to do with it.
Q. Yesterday you were saying that your kind of game is a 20 point, 30, kind of game. Were you surprised that it kind of became like this?
HOUSTON NUTT: A little bit, but the blocked punt I'm surprised about more. I'm surprised more about the muffed punt. That's what I'm surprised more about.
You know, we had our opportunities, and we were toe to toe with them, especially in that third quarter. We had a lead, momentum, we had everything in our favor.
You just can't make mistakes like that in this type of game, in a heavyweight type of game. And you can't give away seven points for sure.
Q. Did you have a game plan for Percy Harvin, and how much of a back breaker was that run in the fourth quarter?
HOUSTON NUTT: We definitely game planned for him. He is very, very difficult to stop because he can catch the football. They run screens with him and they move him back as a running back, a lot like we do with Darren McFadden. It's hard to cover your bases with all the speed on the field, and you've got to do a great job. But I thought in the third quarter our defense really came on like they've done all year long. They continued to fight, they played hard, and they don't give up. So I was proud of that point.
There's two to three mistakes that you take away seven points that you give them, it's a different game. It's a three point game now, it's a different game. There's a lot of ways you can analyze it and we'll be thinking about it a lot.
Here's the thing to me that's really the key: The first time we came here we felt like we were just glad to be here. Guys, we came to win the trophy. Our guys came to win a trophy. It wasn't 30 to 3 like in years past. Last time Arkansas played here it wasn't a real ballgame. This was a real ballgame tonight.
Q. How important was Payton's absence in terms of blocking and not being able to return punts?
HOUSTON NUTT: The last three or four games you can see that you miss him, but you only can go there with the guys that are there full of speed fighting their guts out, Mitch Petrus, Farod Jackson were playing their guts out because they were playing as hard as they can.
Q. On the missed punt, was that where he was on the field?
HOUSTON NUTT: Absolutely, yeah.
Q. And how much did that take away from the team's enthusiasm after all those big defensive plays?
HOUSTON NUTT: It was a momentum swing. Naturally when you're ahead and things are in your favor, you're going to get good field position. They ran the reverse on us there, the fake punt, and that hurt. But then the defense still stops them, and then you fumble that ball on the three yard line, you just lost track of where he was, you can't do that, and then that's seven points given gift wrapped. That just hurts.
Q. Third quarter Weston Dacus gets the interception, then it gets returned for a touchdown. Talk about the defense, and what did Coach Herring say at halftime, if you can say, to get these guys going?
HOUSTON NUTT: He didn't say much. The one thing that this guy has done, if you've watched this team all year long, they've always fought for four quarters. They played hard. They knew they were in a championship game. They wanted to win the trophy, like I mentioned earlier. All they did was compete and they competed hard for 60 minutes. There's a lot of heart in that dressing room.
The meaning I want to get across is they just didn't show up. They just didn't say, I'm glad to be here. They were a true champion that came through the front door on the western side of the division and could have easily been winners tonight, but you can't make mistakes at crucial times.
Q. Do you have any idea what your Bowl situation is and do you have any preference?
HOUSTON NUTT: No, I just think this team deserves the best, the best available because they deserve it, January 1st. A January 1st Bowl, they deserve it.
Q. Would that be the Capital One Bowl?
HOUSTON NUTT: I don't know that.
Q. Do you think most of the people or all the people that vote in these polls, do you think they understand how difficult it is to go 12 and 1, as Florida did playing in this league?
HOUSTON NUTT: No. I really wish everybody had the opportunity to go to Auburn, to go to Florida, to go to Arkansas, to go to LSU or let us come to their place, and you do that, and we got the lead eight times, and play that schedule. It's a hard schedule, really hard. It's hard to get to this game. Not one of y'all picked us to be in this game, not one, and it's hard.
So to answer your question, I just feel like it's absolutely one of the most difficult things to do, to have one loss in this league.
Q. Obviously you guys game planned for Florida, but do you think you were caught off guard a little bit when they took that 17 0 lead?
HOUSTON NUTT: No, no. The only thing that hurt us a little bit was Darren wasn't 100 percent. That hurt us a little bit. That caught us off guard. But we knew they were athletic, they knew they were explosive. They're a big play team. That's how they make their points. They have tremendous athletes at each position and they make big plays. You just keep fighting, keep competing, and that's what this group did.
Q. After winning ten straight games and then losing these last two heart breaking losses, how does that affect your team's psyche?
HOUSTON NUTT: Well, the good thing about it is we've got some time now, some time to get a week away and be a student, maybe gets some bumps and bruises healed. I just got through telling them that I'm very, very proud of them and we're going to a great Bowl, and we're going to get excited about it when that time comes. Nobody likes to lose. These guys won ten straight, hadn't lost in three months. We really had intentions of bringing home that trophy. I really wanted to hand that trophy to Coach Broyles tonight, and I didn't get to do that.
FLORIDA POSTGAME QUOTES
CLAUDE FELTON: We have Coach Meyer along with Percy Harvin, who's the MVP, Chris Leak, and Jemalle Cornelius. Mike mentioned Percy Harvin is the first freshman MVP since Justin Vincent of LSU in 2003.
We'll ask Coach Meyer for some opening thoughts, comments on the game and then we'll take questions just for the student athletes and then let them return to the locker room.
URBAN MEYER: I'd like to congratulate the University of Arkansas. That has to be one of the greatest college football games as far as momentum shifts and terrific football players. Their two tailbacks are as fine as they come, Marcus Monk. Some of the play calling on the trick plays, that was a great football game.
I also like to thank our senior class. At some point, I'm not sure when, maybe it's 20 years from now, but we're going to write a book and let everyone know what this senior class has gone through. They've earned my admiration, the coaches' admiration, Gator Nation's admiration for some of the obstacles that they've overcome.
Q. Percy, would you talk about the long touchdown there, how the play developed and what you saw?
PERCY HARVIN: Coming into this game we were challenged to beat man to man coverage. I did the easy part. It was good blocking because the five up front, so we knew once I made my man there, wasn't nobody back in the secondary.
Q. This is for both, I guess, Chris and Jemalle, can you describe the feeling of winning an SEC Championship after all you guys have been there?
CHRIS LEAK: It was a great feeling. The senior class, what this team has put in since August, all through the years. Me and Jemalle over our careers here, it just makes you real proud of the guys in the locker room and that all the hard work is paying off and we were able to cap our senior season off with an SEC title.
JEMALLE CORNELIUS: It feels real good to finally get an SEC Championship. That's why you come to the University of Florida. We had a rough couple of years, but Coach Meyer and his staff came in, picked us up and showed us what it meant to win and how to go about winning.
It's the greatest day of my life. I've never won a championship, and it definitely feels real good right now.
Q. Percy, talk about your advantage of being in different spots on the field and moving around as an offensive player.
PERCY HARVIN: It just comes with the offense, just getting the playmakers and getting us the ball, me, Jemalle, Dallas, just getting us around on the field.
Q. Jemalle and Chris, would you guys talk about how nervous you're going to be tomorrow and your feelings about whether you deserve to play for the National Championship.
JEMALLE CORNELIUS: You know, we're going to enjoy this win and we'll think about that stuff in the morning. You know, we definitely want a chance to go out and play. We played a tough schedule. We found ways to win games this year. We definitely feel like we deserve to get a chance to play in the big show.
CHRIS LEAK: Yeah, just knowing how hard these guys have worked through the offseason and just through training and how hard our coaches have worked to get us where we are today, we know if we get the opportunity to play for the title, we know it'll be well deserved. We fought through a lot of adversity this season and hung tough, and we know it'll be a great deal for us to be able to play for a title.
Q. Chris, if you could just tell us, what feedback did you get on the sidelines after the two turnovers and how were you able to focus and not get down on yourself after that swing in momentum?
CHRIS LEAK: All credit on Arkansas. They played excellent defense. They capitalized on our mistakes. Through those things as a quarterback you just have to have a short memory because there's going to be adversity in the game, there's going to be momentum shifts. The main thing is I looked at my teammates and guys kept encouraging me and I kept focusing on the right things, on my reads, and just tried to make plays when I could.
Q. Jemalle, would you talk about getting a championship. You came so close, you were like at three state championship games in high school, never came away with a big one and now you played in a championship game and won one finally.
JEMALLE CORNELIUS: We came close three times in a row at Fort Meade High School, never won, always got close, ended up being a touchdown or a field goal away, and finally getting it my senior year, couldn't have done any better. It was definitely worth the wait. It's feels good to walk around and put your finger up as No. 1. It feels good to do that.
Q. For Chris and Jemalle, at what point did you find out USC had lost and how did you find out? Was there an announcement or did word just kind of leak through the locker room?
CHRIS LEAK: I think you just told us really. I think guys were saying it on the field after the game. It just made us, I guess, even happier that we have a better opportunity to play for the title.
Q. So you didn't know during the game?
CHRIS LEAK: No, sir.
JEMALLE CORNELIUS: We didn't know until after the game. The celebration started, people started talking about it, and we were just kind of like, "what's going on?"
Everybody started talking about it, so that's how we found out.
CLAUDE FELTON: We're going to excuse you fellows and you can return to the locker room. Thank you.
Q. Talk about your decision at that time to go for it on 4th down down there. You knew the momentum shift, everything had been going wrong. What in the world made you to decide to go for it on 4th down?
URBAN MEYER: The fake punt? I think if we're not going to be successful, we're going to shoot everything we got, and I think you saw us shoot everything to take through Bubba to Casey. Take a guy like Cornelius Ingram, we were looking for match ups. We were looking for every opportunity. I've always been a coach who had a hard time facing a team if I didn't believe we shot everything we could to beat that team.
That play has been practiced a couple thousand times in the last two years. The same one we ran against Alabama last year. I had great confidence in the guys executing. A senior punter flipping it to a senior receiving. I was pretty confident.
Q. Right after that on that series you had another 4th down there, called your last time out. Did you tell the punter to punt it 54 yards and recover a fumble?
URBAN MEYER: And he did exactly what I told him to do (laughter).
No, I have smarter coaches I was going to go for it there, and the comment over the headset, Greg Mattison is actually the one, I flipped over on defense and he kept saying, "It's early, a lot of football left. Let's pin them in there and play some great defense," which most of the time we have. Obviously I listened to my assistant coach and we punted down there, and a good thing happened. Great punt.
Q. To all the folks who would say there hasn't been a lot of style, what would you say after this ballgame?
URBAN MEYER: I don't really listen to that. I've heard it a couple times, and I am beat to death right now. I can't move, and I can imagine what our players what a tremendous football game that was.
See, I kind of like special teams. I kind of like field position, and I think that's what kind of team we are, so I'm not sure style points, with the schedule we play, we just have to find a way to win a game. I'm not too concerned about style points. I'm concerned about 21 seniors playing their hearts out and find a way to win 12 games in the No. 1 most difficult schedule in America.
Q. Did you say anything to Chris specifically after the two turnovers? Could you just talk about how he was able to regain his focus after that.
URBAN MEYER: We just coached. Chris is a senior quarterback, and the one thing when you run a shovel, the first thing you need is speed to get around that defensive end. He kind of actually shoveled to the guy that intercepted and then the interception is the one that's the movement key. We weren't cheering for each other, I was just patting them on the back. That's the key, let's go back and get organized and get going. Chris has been through the ringer and we had great confidence. Obviously some of the play calls we did after that to get him the ball and let him go again.
We just coached it. There was no group hug or anything like that. We just tried to coach him through two bad series.
Q. I know the players said they didn't know that USC had lost. I guess did you know at any time during the game?
URBAN MEYER: It was firing through the locker room pretty quick. I heard it and I was kind of like, let's worry about what we have to worry about. Obviously I looked up and I saw it on the video wall third quarter.
Q. Make your case for Glendale. Do you feel like you belong?
URBAN MEYER: We certainly do. Florida belongs. The other team had a shot. We went 12 and 1, and I think the country wants to see the Southeast Conference champion against a Big Ten champion. I think that's what this is all about.
Q. How did you keep your team focused this whole week through all the talk about BCS and style points and one loss teams? How did you keep the Gators focused on the Razorbacks?
URBAN MEYER: I want to give credit to the senior class. Monday we addressed it, we discussed it, and a year ago or a lot of times I would have a problem with that. This team is a focus team. That's the way they play. That's not by accident. When guys block punts and guys make plays and you hold the best tailback in America, Heisman candidate, to 73 yards, that's not by accident, that's excellent football players, some great kids, and guys that are buying into everything we're telling them.
Q. It appears it's going to come down to the voters' decision. How much faith do you have in the voters looking at, crunching the numbers between you and Michigan? If you do that, you guys are probably in better shape. Do you have faith in voters doing that?
URBAN MEYER: I hope. And I saw ESPN doing a lot of that. ESPN is a powerful, powerful organization, and I hope they list all the statistics, and I think this is put it all out on the table, here's what it is. The offense, where we're ranked and just exactly. I think that's important. If there's a lot of people making a lot of decisions out there, this is a big one. We're going to tell a group of young men that just went 12 and 1 in a most difficult schedule against six ranked opponents that they don't have a chance to go play for a National Championship? I'm going to need help with that one.
I have great respect for college football. I'm a fan of college football. I think the country is a fan of college football and I'm glad they got to watch a great football game tonight. I have great confidence that the University of Florida is going to get that opportunity, I really do.