TALLAHASSEE - It seemed appropriate that the final step to Atlanta would resemble a swamp.
With rain hailing from the heavens, the No. 2 Gators avoided a slip-up and continued their dominating ways Saturday, blowing out the Seminoles 45-15 in front of 83,237 poncho-donning fans.
UF's offensive output set a team record for points at the 58-year-old Doak S. Campbell Stadium, but the biggest question stemmed from a second-quarter fall.
How is Percy Harvin?
The junior playmaker drew a gasp from the UF faithful when he took a direct snap, ran left but could not get back to his feet.
After a lengthy look from trainers on the field, he did his best to try and walk off, but the hobble could not be missed.
Coach Urban Meyer called it an ankle sprain after the game Saturday and did not reveal much more Sunday evening, classifying Harvin as questionable for this week. The junior will not practice the next few days.
"He's here today, and he's moving around a little bit," Meyer said Sunday evening.
With or without Harvin, UF can finally turn its attention to a game that has gathered hype for weeks.
No. 1 Alabama (12-0, 8-0 Southeastern Conference) will face No. 2 UF (11-1, 7-1 SEC) on Saturday in the first-ever meeting between top-two teams in the SEC Championship. This game has also essentially become a play-in for a spot in the BCS title game.
Much of the hysteria surrounds the Gators, who have scored 42 or more points in seven straight games and have surpassed 500 yards of total offense the past three weeks.
A line installed Sunday from one Las Vegas sports book set UF as a 7.5-point favorite for the Georgia Dome showdown.
This against a Crimson Tide team that steamrolled Auburn 36-0 at home on Saturday to finish a perfect regular season.
Alabama coach Nick Saban played sly when asked if he would use his team's "underdog" status as fuel this week.
"(Florida) certainly deserves all the accolades that their team gets," Saban said. "We have enough motivation in terms of the opportunity that we have and what's out there for our team."
But Saturday was one final test for UF against yet another overmatched opponent.
Quarterback Tim Tebow threw for 185 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 80 yards and another score in one of his last performances to be seen by Heisman voters. The junior's demeanor changed when FSU fans cheered after Harvin's injury.
"That was one of the first times I've seen practically the whole stadium cheer when Percy got hurt," said Tebow, who ran it in from 4 yards out two plays later. "I didn't think that showed very good sportsmanship. So that kind of irritated me. And I really told coach to just give me the ball, because I really wanted to hit somebody extremely hard on the next play."
The pregame downpour led Meyer to think about changing the offensive game plan. He joked that he "probably would've run (Tebow) 50 times." Offensive coordinator Dan Mullen disagreed after watching his players deal with the weather in warm-ups.
"Let's just roll with the plan," Mullen said.
It worked.
Jeff Demps carried nine times for 89 yards and a score, his best showing in six games. Chris Rainey picked up where he left off against The Citadel, going for 97 yards on eight carries, including a 62-yard scamper. Tight end Aaron Hernandez had one of his biggest games of the season, catching four passes for a season-high 61 yards and two scores.
And this was a game that was a little extra special to the UF family. Players and coaches wore sweatbands inscribed with the initials "R.W." to honor Rob Webster, stepfather of twins Mike and Maurkice Pouncey.
Webster had to have his right leg amputated after a work-related accident in Lakeland, the twins' hometown. They rushed home Monday after learning of the incident before returning to practice on Wednesday at Webster's request.
"It was sad," Mike Pouncey said. "I didn't get to talk to him the first day because they had him knocked out on pain medicine. The next day, he woke up, and he said he wanted us to live the dream that he always wanted to have. So we're going out and playing our best so we can make it for him."
Pouncey said Webster plans to do whatever necessary to make it to Atlanta for next week's collision of No. 1 and No. 2.
After all, this week is the chance to realize an off-season's worth of goals, and Meyer knows it.
"That's why we get up," Meyer said. "That's why we shave. That's why we brush our teeth. That's why we hug our kids - to go to that dome."
