ATLANTA - No matter who wins tonight's SEC championship game, cliches will take a beating.

You might have heard: "You can't be one dimensional."

You couldn't prove it by SEC West champion Arkansas, which ranks 102nd nationally in passing offense, thanks to the combined work of three different starting quarterbacks, including current starter Casey Dick.

Based on Dick's performance last week against LSU, he's about one bad pass from losing his job to Mitch Mustain, who lost the job to Dick on his first pass against South Carolina.

You also might have heard: "You have to establish the run."

You couldn't prove it by SEC East champion Florida, whose best runner is backup quarterback Tim Tebow, and whose next best rusher, DeShawn Wynn, can't seem to play back-to-back games without hurting something.

But the Gators run better than they kick, which brings us to another cliche: "You have to be solid in the kicking game."

Florida placekicker Chris Hetland is 3-for-9 on field goals. Tennessee's James Wilhoit could do better against moving goal posts.

Hetland has been so ineffective, Arkansas placekicker Jeremy Davis seems reliable by comparison. He's 6-for-11.

With such apparent shortcomings, you might wonder how the Gators and Razorbacks have advanced this far. That's easy. Arkansas has outrun its deficiencies (see Darren McFadden and Felix Jones for details), and Florida's defense has ranged from good to dominant.

Florida 27, Arkansas 24: The Gators will convert just enough big plays against the Razorbacks' gambling defense to overcome McFadden and Jones.

Wake Forest 24, Georgia Tech 20: Remember when Boston College, Virginia Tech and Miami joined the ACC and created a "super conference?" I don't think this was the championship playoff the league had in mind.

Wake Forest beat Duke 14-13, and beat Florida State 30-0 in Tallahassee. That's the kind of year it was in the ACC.

The season makes as much sense as the divisional names. Atlantic and Coastal? Only one team in the Coastal Division is actually on the coast. Miami, which is in the Coastal Division, is the closest team in the ACC to the Atlantic Ocean.

Nebraska 27, Oklahoma 24: This used to be the best game of the college football season. It's still the reddest.

I just wonder if the media is still as red.

While covering an Oklahoma-Nebraska game in Norman in 1985, I encountered a media-type who allegedly was writing for a Nebraska weekly paper. He was wearing a red cowboy hat, a red shirt and red pants. And here's the kicker: a pair of holstered toy guns.

Post 9/11, I'm not sure you could get toy guns into a press box.

West Virginia 30, Rutgers 27: At the end of October when either West Virginia or Louisville looked like a possibility for the national championship game, Big East bashing was at an all-time high. The popular theme: It would be unfair for an unbeaten team from the Big East to play for the title because the league was so weak overall.

It wasn't as weak as many people thought.

Unbeaten West Virginia lost to Louisville, unbeaten Louisville lost to Rutgers, unbeaten Rutgers lost to Cincinnati by 19 points, and West Virginia lost to South Florida.

Southern Cal 34, UCLA 17: Aside from a loss to Oregon State, the Trojans have done everything necessary to qualify for the national championship game. They have won the Pac-10, beaten three nationally ranked teams in non-conference games, and they're 8-1 against teams with six or more victories.

All that's left is to prove is that they're the best team in Los Angeles. That will be easy.

Other Top 25 picks: Louisville 45, Connecticut 23; Cal 38, Stanford 7; Oregon State 41, Hawaii 37.

Record: 229-38 (.858) overall, 122-125 (.494) against the spread.

Sports editor John Adams may be reached at 865-342-6284 or adamsj@knews.com.