ATLANTA — Austin Appleby knelt on the field and gripped the helmet in his right hand.
Peering through a sea of falling confetti, he watched a nightmare unfold.
No. 15 Florida (8-4, 6-3 Southeastern Conference) and No. 1 Alabama (13-0, 9-0 SEC) played four quarters of football on Saturday, but it only felt as though the Gators had any shot at winning through the first one.
There were sacks — four of them.
There were interceptions — three, all in the first half.
And there was never much hope, even after Florida’s opening drive, when the Gators took their only lead of the game — a 7-0 score that lasted for four minutes and 45 seconds.
From there, in front of a crowd of 74,362, the Tide rolled. They defeated Florida 54-16. They won their second straight SEC Championship. They stomped on UF’s throats each time there was enough room for a gasping breath.
And afterwards, as confetti fell from the ceiling and the trophy was wheeled out, Appleby watched, and Alabama celebrated. Their players ran on the field. They jumped and hugged and smiled as Appleby robotically returned handshakes from passersby, a shocked expression riddled across his face.
“We got our ass whooped,” UF defensive lineman Caleb Brantley said. “Simple.”
It began with the first interception.
Appleby threw an ill-advised pass late in the first quarter, and Alabama’s Minkah Fitzpatrick easily returned it 44 yards for a touchdown.
It was a neatly-wrapped present to the nation’s No. 1-ranked team, a team that can beat most programs in America by two touchdowns without the help of a quarterback's interception.
“Best team we’ve played this year,” Tabor said. “It hurts. It just hurts.”
After the play, senior linebacker Jarrad Davis, who returned from an ankle injury to play his final SEC title game, took his helmet and threw it against a dry-erase board leaning against the Gators’ sideline bench. The board, with the words “Get the Ball” scribbled across the top, is usually reserved to reward UF players who cause turnovers, not hand them to the opposing team.
“We didn’t show up this game,” Davis said. “And it showed on the scoreboard.”
But through the first five minutes, there was hope.
There was Appleby throwing off his back foot to Brandon Powell, who caught a first down on the opening drive. Then the quarterback skipped slightly to his left and lofted the ball to Antonio Callaway, who caught it for a 24-yard gain.
Two plays later, UF scored a touchdown.
“That was a good first drive they put together. We had a little momentum,” cornerback Jalen Tabor said. “But we killed ourselves.”
Florida’s first touchdown was followed by a series of crushing blows from Alabama: a field goal, a blocked punt returned for a touchdown, an interception returned for a touchdown.
The scoring was broken up by Florida freshman linebacker David Reese, who scooped up a blocked point-after attempt and returned it 98 yards for two points.
Florida trailed 16-9.
But Alabama soon widened the gap again, embarking on a 7-play, 88-yard drive ending in a touchdown on its next possession.
From there, Florida never got within 14 points.
“We can do a lot better. It’s on us at this point,” Davis said. “Certain things happened in the game that just knocked us down.”
Davis had four tackles in his return from injury, but couldn’t do much to patch up a defense that was missing four starters. Alabama’s 54 points were the third-most ever scored in the 24-year history of the SEC Championship Game.
“They were at full strength, we weren’t,” Brantley said. “I felt like if we were at full strength it would have been a different story.”
Florida finished with 0 rushing yards, its lowest total since Oct. 29, 2011, when the Gators had minus-19 rushing yards in a loss to Georgia.
“I didn't come here to be close. We came here to be champions of the SEC. That's what you do when you're at the University of Florida,” UF coach Jim McElwain said. “That's the expectation, and I understand that.”
Contact Ian Cohen at icohen@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @icohenb.
Austin Appleby kneels on the field after Florida's 54-16 loss to Alabama on Dec. 3, 2016, in the SEC Championship Game.
