South Carolina, Florida playing for SEC East crown

No. 22 South Carolina and 24th-ranked Florida will decide the Southeastern Conference’s Eastern Division in the Swamp on Saturday night, a winner-take-all game between teams that stumbled during the season but still managed a meaningful game in November. The winner earns a spot in Atlanta for the league title game next month and gets a chance to make the Bowl Championship Series. The loser falls to a less-than-desirable bowl and has to wait another year, maybe longer, for another shot. "We’re looking forward to it," said South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier, whose latest return to his alma mater and his former coaching stop is merely a subplot. "Like I told our guys, ‘We’re going on the big stage, fellas. If you’re a little nervous about it and scared, then we’re all in trouble." The Gators (6-3, 4-3 SEC) have been here before. They pretty much own East. They have a 16-game winning streak against division opponents and have won the East three times in the last four years. The Gamecocks (6-3, 4-3) are taking a similar approach even though they haven’t had been in this position—a one-game showdown for the division title, since 2000. They realize they haven’t played well since knocking off then-No. 1 Alabama in early October. They lost at Kentucky, sputtered at Vanderbilt, overcame several defensive lapses to beat Tennessee and then got blown out by Arkansas. Now, South Carolina is too busying trying to get back on track to be overconfident or looking ahead. "We want to approach this game and just play football. It’s another football game. It’s going to be a tough game, but we need to just play football.'

Better football.