GAINESVILLE, Fla. --- Florida offensive coordinator Dan Mullen turned his head, stared at the photograph of the Gators posing with the 1996 national title trophy in the Superdome, and then summed up Steve Spurrier's legacy with one sentence.

"He's always looking over your shoulder around here," Mullen said.

Maybe so, but the shadow cast by Spurrier doesn't loom nearly as large as it did two years ago and doesn't even compare to the one left behind when he jumped to the NFL after the 2001 season. And when he returns to Florida Field today for the second time to face his alma mater the biggest story line of this series in recent years will be a mere subplot.

"I don't think it'll be a big deal," Spurrier said.

The game will be, though. The third-ranked Gators (8-1, 6-1), having already clinched a spot in the Southeastern Conference title game, will try to extend their winning streak to six games and stay in the hunt for the national championship against No. 24 South Carolina (7-3, 4-3). The Gamecocks will try to knock the Gators out of title contention and avenge last year's embarrassing home loss to Tim Tebow & Co.

The Heisman Trophy winner set a school record with five rushing touchdowns in Columbia last season. He finished with 120 yards rushing, 304 yards passing and seven total touchdowns in the 51-31 victory.

"You want to come and make a statement after what happened last year," said South Carolina linebacker Jasper Brinkley, a Thomson alum who missed last year's game with an injury. "I had the opportunity to stand on the sideline and watch (Tebow) just rip us to pieces. You want to go back out this year and prove a point that we are capable of playing with these guys."

The Gamecocks lead the SEC in total defense, allowing only 256.5 yards a game, and rank third in scoring defense (15.6 points a game) and second against the run (101.4 yards a game). They haven't allowed more than 24 points in any game, and all three of the team's losses were by seven points.

But the Gators have hit their stride, outscoring opponents 243-57 during their five-game winning streak while averaging nearly 450 yards of offense.

"We're pretty huge underdogs, which is OK," Spurrier said of his 22 1/2-point underdogs. "But we're going to go down there ... and see how our defense, our No. 1 defense, ranks against the No. 1 offense."