Florida, Alabama Tune Up For Finishing Stretch

Sports News - November 19th, 2009 - Written by John

With just three weeks until the most anticipated conference championship game of the year, heavyweights Florida and Alabama look to stuff the stat sheets this week. Both are giant favorites this Saturday with games against Florida International and Chattanooga, respectively.

The College Football Betting Lines have Florida surrendering 45 points to the Golden Panthers, according to BetUS with a total of 54, while lines on the Crimson Tide have not yet been posted.

With the top-two teams in the country locked in to play the SEC Championship game on Dec. 5, it will be key for both teams to keep focused on this week.

"Our focus for this game is to continue to improve as a team," Alabama head coach Nick Saban said. "I think our best game is somewhere out there, still and we need to keep working toward that. Every game has significance. There won't be one thing that anybody ever remembers about this season if we didn't have success against a team like this."

Alabama has won every meeting with Chattanooga, outscoring the Moccasins 369-88. .

Running back Mark Ingram is the current favorite for the Heisman Trophy, and could bolster his resume with another monster game against the nation's 118th-ranked defense. For the year, he's got 1,297 yards and 10 touchdowns.

The Tide are also unbeaten in the conference and will try to reach the national title game for the first time since 1992. But Saban's team will have a monster game looming next week when they visit Auburn. The Tigers, with little else to play for, would love nothing more than to knock hated Alabama out of title picture.

Similarly, Florida will have another distraction on it's plate the following week. It will host the annual rivalry game against Florida State, and while it seemed like a gimme putt a few weeks ago, the Seminoles can roll into Gainesville with late momentum if they handle Maryland this week. After starting quarterback Christian Ponder fell to a shoulder injury against Clemson, redshirt freshman E.J. Manuel stepped in and led Florida State to a 41-28 over Wake Forest, winning ACC Rookie of The Week honors in the process.

But for now, it's FIU, a 3-7 team that has surrendered 334 points this season (contrasted by Florida's 105), and hasn't had a winning season since joining the FBS in 2002. The Panthers did manage a win last week against North Texas and have won two of their last three.

That the Gators haven't been remarkable in any of their big games this season has given pause, but the fact still remains that a they finished unbeaten in what many consider to be the top conference for the fifth time in school history last week, and Tim Tebow has been breaking records almost every play. He can break Kevin Faulk's all-time SEC touchdown record with another score this week.

FIU and Florida have never met, although the Panthers have been beaten by a combined 212-36 in five games against top-25 teams, including a 40-14 drubbing by Alabama earlier in the year.

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