TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Maybe Alabama's Nick Saban and Florida's Urban Meyer will meet again this season, but for now there is no question who the King of the Southeastern Conference is.
This game was all Alabama.
Mark Ingram scored two touchdowns, C.J. Mosley returned an interception 35 yards for a touchdown and the top-ranked Crimson Tide dominated the seventh-ranked Gators 31-6 on Saturday night, handing the Gators the second-most lopsided loss of Meyer's six seasons with Florida.
Round 2 between the last two national champions could come in Atlanta at the SEC title game. Alabama (5-0, 2-0) certainly looked like a title-bound team on this clear and cool night in the Deep South.
In front of 101,821 at a blaring Bryant-Denny Stadium, the Tide rolled to a 24-0 lead in the second quarter, behind Ingram's two short TD runs and a defense that was buzzing around the ball.
After the Gators (4-1, 2-1) chipped it down to 24-6, Mosley picked off a short pass in the middle of the field from a hurried John Brantley, racing to the end zone for a score that all but wrapped up Alabama's 19th straight victory with 6:10 left in the third quarter.
"I was very, very pleased with the way we played in the first half," Saban said. "I thought we played physical, played with toughness, played strong. I was really encouraged."
Ingram ran for 47 yards on 12 carries, Greg McElroy threw for 84 yards and receiver Marquis Maze threw a touchdown pass to Michael Williams out of the wildcat.
A rematch of the last two SEC title games, the first regular-season meeting between the Crimson Tide and Florida since 2006 had all the trimmings of a huge game, with a primetime national television audience and a rockin' crowd loud enough at times to match the jet fly over before kickoff.
The stakes, however, were far from do or die. As well as Alabama played, and the defending national champions looked every bit like the No. 1 team in the country, there's plenty of SEC games left.
As for the Gators, well, they can hope for another shot at 'Bama in December, but right now the gap between the SEC's top two programs looks wide enough to park a couple of doublewide trailers.
Against Dont'a Hightower, Courtney Upshaw and the Tide, and with leading rusher Jeff Demps playing on a sore foot, the Gators couldn't get into the end zone and committed four turnovers.
Brantley passed for 202 yards with two interceptions.
No. 2 Ohio State 24, Illinois 13
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Terrelle Pryor returned after an injury briefly knocked him from the game, then led Ohio State on a clinching touchdown drive in the closing minutes against Illinois.
Pryor ran for 104 yards and was 9 of 16 for 76 yards and two touchdowns through the air, but he gave Ohio State fans a scare when he needed help off the field early in the third quarter. The star quarterback spent a couple minutes in the locker room before returning to the game.
Illinois (2-2, 0-1 Big Ten) put a scare of its own into the Buckeyes (5-0, 1-0) with under 5 minutes to go when it marched down field, but coach Ron Zook elected to kick a field goal on fourth down that made it 17-13, rather than go for the tying touchdown.
No. 3 Boise State 59,
New Mexico 0
LAS CRUCES, N.M. - Kellen Moore was 13 of 18 for 196 yards and three touchdowns, including two to Kyle Efaw, and Boise State shut out lowly New Mexico State.
Doug Martin ran for a 1-yard touchdown and caught a 28-yard TD pass from Moore, as the Broncos (4-0, 1-0 Western Athletic Conference) extended their winning streak to 18 games.
Boise State, guarding against a letdown after victories over Virginia Tech and Oregon State, was the highest ranked team to visit Las Cruces and sure looked the part.
The Aggies (0-4, 0-1) never had a chance. Boise State got 21 points off three New Mexico State turnovers and led 38-0 at the break.
NO. 4 OREGON 52,
NO. 9 STANFORD 31
EUGENE, Ore. - Darron Thomas threw for 238 yards and three scores and then ran for 117 yrads and another score in teh Ducks' win over Stanford.
The Ducks (5-0, 2-0 Pac-10) fell behind 21-3 in the first quarter of the frenzied game, but forced two crucial turnovers and held the Cardinal scoreless in the second half. LaMichael James ran for a career-high 257 yards and three touchdowns.
It was Oregon's 13th straight win at Autzen Stadium and 10th consecutive Pac-10 victory.
Stanford's Andrew Luck was 29 of 46 for 241 yards and two scores. He was also intercepted twice.
No. 5 TCU 27, Colorado State 0
FORT COLLINS, Colo. - Ed Wesley scored twice, TCU's swarming defense forced two fumbles and the Horned Frogs overcame a lethargic start to beat Colorado State.
The Frogs (5-0, 1-0 Mountain West) were making their first trip out of the state of Texas this season and struggled early, leading just 6-0 at halftime.
Wesley's two touchdowns in the third quarter helped TCU pull away from the Rams (1-4, 0-1), who came in as heavy underdogs.
The Frogs rotated in a steady stream of fresh tailbacks all game long as they gained a season-high 346 yards on the ground. Matthew Tucker led the way with 87 yards, while Wesley added 78.
Andy Dalton finished with 67 yards rushing and threw for another 109, including a 39-yard touchdown pass to Jimmy Young early in the fourth quarter.
NO. 8 OKLAHOMA 28,
NO. 21 TEXAS 20
DALLAS - Landry Jones threw for 236 yards and two touchdowns, while DeMarco Murray ran for two scores on hurry-up plays for Oklahoma (5-0, 1-0 Big 12).
The Sooners (5-0, 1-0 Big 12) jumped out to a two-touchdown lead in the first quarter, then got bailed out by a muffed punt late for a second straight week. The Longhorns had scored 10 straight points and were set to get the ball back in the final 62 seconds when Aaron Williams dropped a punt and James Winchester recovered it to let Oklahoma run out the clock.
Two plays earlier, Jared Norton had a chance to give Texas (3-2, 1-1) the ball inside the Oklahoma 10 but instead knocked Jones' fumble out of bounds.
NO. 10 AUBURN 52,
LA. MONROE 3
AUBURN, Ala. - Cam Newton connected with Emory Blake on a school-record 94-yard touchdown pass on his first throw and Auburn went on to rout Louisiana-Monroe.
Newton completed 14 of 19 passes for 245 yards with three touchdowns before sitting out most of the second half for the Tigers (5-0), who finally got a stress-free win after three straight close ones. The Southeastern Conference's top rusher, Newton didn't have a carry other than a sack, minimizing punishment in the mismatch.
NO. 12 LSU 16
TENNESSEE 14
BATON ROUGE, LA. - LSU squandered what looked like its last chance to pull out a victory, but a Tennessee mistake on the same frantic sequence gave the Tigers one more shot.
LSU (5-0, 3-0 SEC) was confused on third-and-goal from the 1 and allowed the clock to run nearly to zero before a mishandled snap seemingly ended the game and sent Tennessee players streaming onto the field in jubilation.
The celebration was cut short when officials ruled the Volunteers (2-3, 0-2) had 13 defensive players on the field when the ball was snapped. Stevan Ridley then bulled into the end zone from a yard out for the wild win.
No. 16 Miami 30, Clemson 21
CLEMSON, S.C. - Jacory Harris tied a career best with four touchdown passes ‚ - three to Leonard Hankerson ‚ - and Miami opened Atlantic Coast Conference play with a victory.
Harris had all four of his scoring throws in the opening half as the Hurricanes (3-1, 1-0 ACC) led 27-14. Then they called on their top-rated ACC defense to hang on.
Ahead 27-21, cornerback Brandon Harris stopped Andre Ellington on fourth-and-1 from Miami's 20 with 8:20 to go that ended the Tigers comeback.
Jacory Harris followed by leading a mistake-free, 62-yard drive that ended with Matt Bosher's clinching 29-yard field goal.
No. 17 Iowa 24, Penn State 3
IOWA CITY, Iowa - Ricky Stanzi threw for 227 yards and a touchdown and ran for a score, and Iowa overwhelmed Penn State for its third straight win over the Nittany Lions.
Adam Robinson added 95 yards rushing for the Hawkeyes (4-1, 1-0 Big Ten), who recorded their biggest win ever over Penn State.
Iowa raced out to a 17-0 lead late in the first half on Stanzi's 9-yard TD pass to Derrell Johnson-Koulianos and his 1-yard plunge. The Hawkeyes stopped Rob Bolden on fourth-and-goal from the 1 in the third quarter, and Shaun Prater returned an interception 33 yards for a TD with 1:27 left.
Bolden had 212 yards passing for Penn State (3-2, 0-1), which has scored just six points in a pair of road losses to Alabama and the Hawkeyes.
Washington 32, No. 18 USC 31
LOS ANGELES - Jake Locker engineered a long drive to set up Erik Folk's 32-yard field goal as time expired, and Washington beat USC for the second straight season.
Locker passed for 310 yards and rushed for 111 more as the Huskies (2-2, 1-0 Pac-10) racked up 537 yards of offense in their second straight win over the Trojans (4-1, 1-1).
After USC's Joe Houston clanged a 40-yard field goal attempt off the upright with 2:34 left, the Huskies impressively moved downfield in the final minutes of the first meeting between USC coach Lane Kiffin and Washington's Steve Sarkisian, who ran the Trojans' offense together as assistant coaches.
Locker converted a fourth-and-11 from the Washington 24 with 2 minutes left, and Chris Polk rumbled 26 yards to the USC 33 on the next play. Folk's kick set off a celebration of the Huskies' first win at the Coliseum since 1996.
No. 19 Michigan 42, Indiana 35
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Denard Robinson ran 4 yards for a TD with 17 seconds left to give a 42-35 victory at Indiana and complete another spectacular performance by the Wolverines' star quarterback.
Robinson ran 19 times for 217 yards and two scores, completed 10-of-16 passes for 277 yards and three scores and the game-winning drive was almost all about him.
Ben Chappell went 45 of 64 for 480 yards, all school records, and three TDs. Tandon Doss had 15 receptions for 221 yards for Indiana (3-1, 0-1).
The Hoosiers tied the score at 35 when Chappell hooked up with Darius Willis on a 19-yard TD pass with 1:15 to go.
But Robinson answered immediately. With a pass rusher in his face, he found a leaping Junior Hemingway for a 42-yard completion with 21 seconds to go. Robinson ran it in on the next play for the Wolverines (5-0, 1-0 Big Ten).
Virginia Tech 41,
No. 23 N.C. State 30
RALEIGH, N.C. - Tyrod Taylor threw a 39-yard touchdown pass to Jarrett Boykin with 1:27 left, and Virginia Tech rallied for a victory.
Taylor finished 12 of 24 for 123 yards with three touchdown passes and rushed for 121 yards to lead the Hokies (3-2, 2-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) back from a 17-0 deficit.
Darren Evans rushed for 160 yards and two TDs, David Wilson returned a kickoff 92 yards for a touchdown and Jayron Hosley had three interceptions.
No 24 Michigan State 34,
No. 11 Wisconsin 24
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Kirk Cousins lofted a 1-yard touchdown pass to B.J. Cunningham on fourth down with 2:43 remaining, helping Michigan State seal its second straight victory without coach Mark Dantonio.
Dantonio, who had a mild heart attack Sept. 19, planned to return for this game, but the Spartans (5-0, 1-0 Big Ten) announced hours before kickoff that he had been hospitalized again Thursday because of a blood clot in his leg. He is expected to recover.
Michigan State overcame three first-half turnovers to remain unbeaten heading into next week's showdown at Michigan.