JACKSONVILLE, Fla. --- Different look, same result for the Georgia Bulldogs.
Coach Mark Richt surprised his players with black pants and helmets 15 minutes before Saturday's kickoff against top-ranked Florida. The Bulldogs still ended up leaving Jacksonville Municipal Stadium the same way they had 16 previous times in the past two decades: feeling blue.
Quarterback Tim Tebow accounted for four touchdowns and Florida got four interceptions from the linebackers and beat Georgia 41-17. With South Carolina's loss to Tennessee on Saturday night, the Gators clinched the Southeastern Conference Eastern Division title.
The victory was Florida's 18th in a row and the 17th in the past 20 meetings with Georgia.
"New helmets and black pants ain't going to make you win the game," Florida linebacker Ryan Stamper said. "You've still got to go out there and execute."
Florida (8-0, 6-0 SEC) had little trouble with that. The Gators took a 14-0 first-quarter lead on a pair of Tebow-to-Riley Cooper touchdown passes. Florida ran for 210 yards and sacked quarterback Joe Cox three times.
"One of the best team wins we've had at Florida," said Florida coach Urban Meyer, who improved to 4-1 against Georgia and 13-1 against the Gators' three main rivals (Georgia, Tennessee and Florida State).
It was certainly Tebow's best game of the season. The senior completed 15 of 21 passes for 164 yards.
He also ran for 85 yards and two scores. The first, with 1:32 remaining in the first half, was a 23-yard touchdown that gave him sole possession of the SEC's career rushing touchdown record. He entered the game tied with former Georgia standout Herschel Walker with 49.
Tebow added a 5-yard touchdown run in the third quarter -- his 51st -- to put the Gators ahead 31-10. That came just three plays after linebacker A.J. Jones tipped a Cox pass and made a diving interception at the Georgia 19-yard line on the first offensive play of the second half.
The Gators got two fourth-quarter interceptions from the linebackers.
"I thought there was some good fight, but you can't turn it over like we did in the second half and mount a comeback," Richt said. "We got down 14 early on, but we battled back into it. Then we're down 10 in the second half knowing we can do it again, but the first shot out of the cannon was batted and picked and all of a sudden we're down again."
Richt's motivational ploy backfired in part because Florida had suffered through a trying week of criticism and was fired up.
"It just seems to me that Georgia is just trying to pull out all the stops and it seems like they're trying to do whatever they can to get the team motivated," Florida receiver David Nelson said.
TURNING POINT
Georgia still had faint hopes of a win when it trailed 24-10 at halftime, but Florida's A.J. Jones wasted no time erasing those hopes. On the first play of the third quarter, Jones deflected a Joe Cox pass and then dove to intercept it at the Georgia 19-yard line. Three plays later, Tim Tebow ran for a 5-yard touchdown, putting the Gators up by three touchdowns.
PLAY OF THE GAME
Florida receiver Riley Cooper made one of the best catches you'll ever see when he reeled in a 29-yard touchdown pass from Tebow with one hand and cradled it to his body before Georgia's Brandon Boykin knocked him out of the end zone. The touchdown -- Cooper's second of the game -- put the Gators up 14-0 in the first quarter.
The Augusta Chronicle ©2010 Morris Communications, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Back 
Step outside and you'll smell the stench of the Georgia team flying back from Jacksonville! And if you listen closely, you'll soon be able to hear the U-Haul trucks driving up some of the coaches driveways! Not trying to take anything away from Florida, but the Dawgs did as much to beat themselves as Florida did! Hey, there's always next year, right? Maybe Coach Richt will try some other stupid wardrobe ensemble change....geesh!
Oh, but just so ya'll don't think that all of the Gators are like their beloved Saint Tebow, check this video out of what Brandon Spikes did to Washaun Ealey.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDOy-RMIpF0 Nice stuff, huh? He really should be suspended for that.
Anybody with common sense can see he was just clawing at the ball. I can tell "just my opinion" never played football or that person would know when diving in to a pile to recover a football that the need to push, claw, shove and anything else it takes to come up with that football. The better team won here because they play like a team.
Congralutions goes out to Florida. I hope Florida can continue winning and bring home another national championship. I rather see Florida win the national championship than some team from one of those other "chump" conferences.
I love my DAWGS. About 6 pm yesterday my DAWGS proved that a great defense is necessary to win championships. A great defense keeps you in the game when your offense is sputtering. A great defense keeps you from getting so far behind that you make yourself more vulnerable by having to throw on every down. A great defense keeps your offense from becoming so predictable that the opposing defensive line isn't just racing to your quarterback. Mark Richt's biggest fault and what may one day cost him his job....loyalty to friends no matter how poorly they do their jobs. The mighty GATORS didn't just defeat us. They proved to the world that Willie Martinez is out of his element at this level of competition. Free Willie now!. I congratulate Coach Meyers and the Gators on their victory, their season, their resolve to win and wish that we had Charlie Strong on our side of the field. GO DAWGS!!
Manson- Don't you wish UGA could play Cinci or Texas or TCU so you could crush a "chump" team. Your rival just spanked you and now you are pulling for them. Are you sure you are a UGA fan and not a gamecock? SEC SEC SEC is the gamecock battle cry after they go through their annual tent-folding ritual.
On behalf of the UF "Gator Nation" Alumni card in my wallet, I thank you gentlemen for your sportsmanship and kind words. I am curious as to what happened to yesterday's poster/prognasticator "get.the.beam.out" though.......and no WN - you can't have Charlie.
Until they get another quarterback, they will not win another game this year.
Let's see... black uni's against Alabama last year - blowout, embarassed on national TV. New black helmets and pants against Florida yesterday - blowout and embarassed on national TV, again. OK, the "black" experiment is a bust, what other gimmick do you have up your sleeve? Playing with heart, tenacity and pride are too much to ask for I guess. Overheard from the Dawgs locker room after the game: Richt asks his team in his normal voice (was kinda quiet in there), "OK team, who's your daddy?". In unison, the team enthusiastically hollers back, "FLORIDA!". This exchange is repeated several times.
The Dawgs played an excellent game, except for the defense, the offensive line and a lack of cohesiveness. They displayed a few flashes of sputtering competence, but no consistency. Wait 'til next year.
WP - Spoken like a true Gamecock fan, brother! ;-)
nofrills, are you a complete imbecile? Look at it again...well, maybe it'll take you a couple of times to watch it. No way was he going after the ball! The ball was obviously about a foot lower and NOT IN HIS HELMET! Spikes was looking dead at what he was doing. Are you saying that Spikes mistook Ealeys brown face for a brown football??? Oh, wait...I get it! You must be an SEC official, right?!? You only see what you want to see? Anyway, again, congrats to the Gators...ya'll certainly deserved this win and really deserved a better game than the Dawgs gave you.
Remember the old days? When we used to win almost every game? Apparently, the powers to be at UGA don't. Defense wins games. Period. We very obviously have no defense. NONE! If Richt doesn't immediately terminate Martinez, then Richt and his entire staff should be fired. Now. This is one turnover the team needs.
Oooo, good play on words, gcap! I'm going to have to "borrow" that one.
JMO - Enough! Would you like some cheese with that? Brandon Spikes is a 1st team All-American linebacker and co-captain who probably could have gone in the 1st round NFL draft last year. Most importantly, there was no flag on that play. Put a sock in it whiny boy.....it's over. Good luck making the Outback Bowl.
Second picture above (of Rantavious and Janoris). What can I say?
If Spikes stays out of jail, that will be a miracle.
Hey Manson, why put your team through more humiliation by having it spanked by another conference.. I'm sure Texas, USC or Oregon would eat them alive..
SayNoMore...okay then, YOU answer the question: Is he gouging the eyes or not? Or is that okay with you? Because he's an AA, that makes it okay? Also doesn't have squat to do with a flag being thrown, because we ALL know that flags aren't always thrown, especially on the Gators! And don't tell me "Enough", punk! My comments have NOTHING to do with the Gators winning the game, and you know it. Why am I wasting my time trying to explain anything to somebody like you? You know I'm right.
I don't know why you are wasting your time simply to entertain me. You were doing fine until the "flags aren't always thrown, especially on the Gators!". At that point you sound just like a whiny disgruntled fan of a lower tier team. Like I said earlier, it's over with. All this teeth knashing and crying and shouting "mommy mommy he did it" isn't going to change anything....thus my Enough! comment. Continue on if you'd like though, it is amusing....
Nope, I'm done. I've said my side and you've said yours. We both need to agree to disagree, and we'll just leave it at that.
JMO - Hey, man, I'm not sure we disagree on anything. The point I was trying to make is that the game is over, and just like the Bush presidency, no amount of whining will change anything. With Brandon's athletic prowess, if he'd really wanted to tear his eyeballs out, the other guy would be out shopping for a red tipped cane. You wouldn't happen to have any tickets for the 5 Dec game in Atlanta that you won't be needing, do ya? (yes, I'm smiling as I send this)
Hey Georgia fans, look at the positives here. You got to win TWICE vs. Florida this decade. That's double the success you had in the 1990's. Maybe you can build on this and, dare I say, win three in the 2010's. Hey, at least you can dream.
Say no more is just whining because his Gators lose about twice every 10 years. lol