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Wild SEC East Race Could Get Even Wilder

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By ANDY STAPLES, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 14, 2007

GAINESVILLE - Proponents of a Division I-A playoff will get their wish the next six weeks - at least in one corner of the college football universe.

Five teams have a legitimate shot at the Southeastern Conference Eastern Division title, and those teams will meet one another head-to-head six times between Saturday and Nov. 24. And even when they play East cellar-dweller Vanderbilt or an SEC West opponent, the results will affect what could be the wildest East race since the conference split into divisions in 1992.

'Every game is going to matter,' Florida coach Urban Meyer said last week. 'It's single elimination.'

The Gators (2-2 SEC) probably will have to win their next four games - all against East rivals - to repeat as division champs. For Florida, the 'playoff' begins Saturday at Kentucky (2-1 SEC). But the Wildcats have their own designs on the title, as do Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee.

The SEC West has gone up for grabs multiple times, but the East typically has been a two-team race. UF and Tennessee slugged it out through the turn of the century, combining to claim each of the first 10 East titles. Georgia won three of the next four titles, staving off challenges from either the Gators or Volunteers each year. Only once, in 2003, did three teams (Florida, Georgia, Tennessee) enter November with realistic title aspirations.

'I don't remember it being this balanced,' Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer said in a teleconference this week.

In the 2007 race, South Carolina (3-1 SEC) and Tennessee (2-1) control their destiny, while Florida, Kentucky and Georgia (3-2) need at least one of the one-loss teams to lose again. The Gators still face Kentucky and South Carolina, but they need Tennessee to lose.

Kentucky and South Carolina have entered uncharted territory this season. Still, South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier - who won seven East titles (including the first five) at Florida - said his team needs to prove it belongs in contention.

'We've got a lot of improving to do,' Spurrier said, 'if we're going to really be a serious competitor for the East crown.'

Given the stakes, Spurrier and his fellow coaches should have little trouble motivating their players. Florida senior safety Tony Joiner, whose team blew a chance at a division title by losing at South Carolina in its SEC finale in 2005, said the Gators would have no excuse for a similar dud in their next four games.

'It's extremely easy to take it one game at a time,' Joiner said. 'We've lost two games. To look past one game now would be kind of funny.'

With Florida playing Kentucky and Georgia in consecutive weeks and Tennessee playing South Carolina on Oct. 27, the picture could clear up quickly. Or it could get even muddier.

'We've got to play it out,' Spurrier said, 'to see who ends up first, second, third.'

And fourth and fifth.

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