SEC East: It's big, but not the biggest

Nobody expected South Carolina, even with Steve Spurrier in his first year as Gamecocks' coach, to win seven games and beat Tennessee and Florida. That's why Spurrier has to teach his players to keep victories in perspective. After Saturday's 30-22 victory over No. 12 Florida in Columbia, Spurrier's players doused him in Gatorade and started to carrying him to midfield for the postgame handshake with Florida coach Urban Meyer. He nixed the ride and wasn't thrilled about the Gatorade shower. "Those guys hit me with that bucket,'' Spurrier said with a laugh. "They don't know you don't do that except when you win a championship game. I have to coach 'em up a little on that.'' Spurrier gave a game ball to USC president Andrew Sorensen, who was at Florida for seven years while Spurrier was there. And Spurrier got a game ball from his team, presented by offensive tackle Na'Shan Goddard. "I told him, 'This is for you. It's your first time beating them,'" Goddard said. "He turned red, completely red. He was smiling so hard, so I know he appreciated it.". . .Meanwhile, Meyer was left trying to pick up his team off the floor. Florida can still finish the season with nine wins, but it will have to beat Florida State on Nov. 26 and win a bowl game, something the Gators haven't done since the Spurrier-coached Gators beat Maryland in the Orange Bowl to cap the 2001 season. "It's a program that in my mind is a young program, a program going through a lot of changes, a lot of growth, and there's a few speed bumps along the way," Meyer said. "You didn't accomplish your goal. We've got a rival game coming up in two weeks, and we'll play in a bowl game, so we've got a lot to play for."

Georgia coach Mark Richt said in hindsight it would have been better to allow Auburn to score when it had first down at the 3-yard line with 1:52 to play after the 62-yard gain by Devin Aromashodu. That would have given Georgia more time to mount a comeback drive. Auburn placekicker John Vaughn's game-winning 20-yard field goal in a 31-30 decision came with six seconds remaining. "You hardly ever think about 'Boy we've got to get in a situation where we're going to let them score to give us more clock,' " Richt said. "In reality, and in hindsight, that probably would have been the best thing to do."... Kentucky has won two of its past three games, because it has scored 75 points in the last two games, just three fewer points than the 'Cats scored in their five previous games.