Florida answers all of Georgia's inspiration

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Florida receiver David Nelson stared across the field, saw all the Georgia players jumping up and down, hooting and hollering after a touchdown and thought, "Here we go again."

"Seeing them do that kind of brought back the memory, just hit us hard," Nelson said.

The top-ranked Gators responded pretty much the same way they did last season - by pounding the Bulldogs.

Tim Tebow accounted for four touchdowns, A.J. Jones had two huge interceptions and Florida beat the Bulldogs 41-17 Saturday for its 17th win in the last 20 meetings between the SEC rivals.

The Gators (8-0, 6-0 SEC) played their best game in weeks, extending the nation's longest winning streak to 18 games and clinching the SEC East title thanks to Tennessee's win over South Carolina.

The Bulldogs (4-4, 3-3) lost for the third time in four games.

This one hurt more than the others. Georgia spent the last 12 months stewing about last year's 49-10 loss, a game in which Florida coach Urban Meyer called two timeouts in the final 44 seconds to prolong their misery.

The Dawgs placed pictures of Meyer signaling timeout all around their facility for motivation. Players seemed to get a little extra oomph early Saturday when coach Mark Richt surprised them in the locker room with black pants and black helmets, a different look for a team that usually wears white jerseys, silver pants and red helmets on the road. The Bulldogs had never worn black helmets.

"New helmets and black pants ain't going to make you win the game," said linebacker Ryan Stamper, who had one of Florida's four interceptions.

Stamper and his teammates were even less impressed by Georgia's team-wide celebration following Joe Cox's 26-yard TD pass to Aron White that cut Florida's lead to 14-10 in the second quarter. In 2007, the Bulldogs used a similar celebration - an end-zone stomp that drew flags and Florida's ire - to propel them to a rare victory in the series.

Tebow broke Herschel Walker's SEC record for rushing touchdowns late in the first half with the 50th of his career.

Tebow broke the mark in his hometown against Walker's Bulldogs.

"Breaking Herschel's record means a lot," Tebow said. "Just to be mentioned in the same breath as Herschel Walker, it's extremely humbling and a little bit breathtaking because it's Herschel Walker."