ATLANTA -- You can't spell failure without a "U" and an "F." And now it can be said -- 1999 was a failure for the University of Florida.

	Disappointment is evident on Steve Spurrier's face as Florida falls.

The Southeastern Conference title game was supposed to be Steve Spurrier's salvation, a chance to win a ring and say he squeezed everything he could out of a team with less-than-superior talent.

It didn't happen.

Alabama (No. 8 ESPN/USA Today, No. 7 AP) dominated the No. 5 Gators 34-7 Saturday night, beating Florida for the second time this season.

"This isn't a real lively bunch," Spurrier said. "We don't have much fire in us. It's a different group. It started going downhill around midseason."

To be more specific, it started going downhill Oct. 2, the day the Crimson Tide beat the Gators 40-39 at The Swamp.

Florida's players spent the rest of the season convinced that loss was a fluke and that they really had more talent.

In the rematch, the Gators (9-3) found out the hard way that it was no fluke and they are no longer the most talented team in the SEC.

"I don't have an answer for it," Spurrier said. "Maybe Alabama is just better than us. They ran it down our throats. We couldn't run it. They threw it here and there. We couldn't stop Freddie Milons. They're just better than us, let's put it like that."

How right he was.

Milons, the Alabama receiver, lined up all over the field and finished with 116 yards rushing, including a 77-yard reverse-field run that put the game out of reach. Much like the last game, the Tide controlled the ball for 40 minutes. In another haunting similarity, Alabama converted six of 15 third downs.

Late in the second period, Alabama's Andrew Zow hit Jason McAddley for a 27-yard touchdown on third-and-16. Then, in the third quarter, the Tide used up more than seven minutes on a drive that resulted in a field goal and a 15-7 lead.

In the old days, it was the kind of deficit the offense would have eaten up with one flick of Danny Wuerffel's wrist.

Instead, things just got worse. The Gators finished with only 114 yards and six first downs, both the worst in Spurrier's 10 seasons at Florida.

Jesse Palmer started at quarterback for Florida and went 7-for-20 for 80 yards with three interceptions.

The second interception caused Spurrier, who wasn't wearing a visor indoors, to peel off his headset and flip it in the air. It was his way of conceding that, indeed, his quarterbacks haven't learned a thing from him this season.

In the third quarter, he threw a pick that Reggie Grimes returned 38 yards for a 28-7 lead, maybe the defining moment for a season gone wrong.

"The guys on the sideline, I don't think they believed what was going on," Palmer said. "The whole thing was very disappointing. I don't know what else to say."

Palmer wasn't the only quarterback to fail. One-time starter Doug Johnson also got his chance. He came in for one drive to start the third quarter and short-armed a pair of passes. Later, sophomore Kevin McKinnon got his chance. The result: an interception on his first throw.

Actually, running back Earnest Graham was the most effective passer for the Gators. He took a pitch and flipped a 3-yard touchdown to Erron Kinney to give Florida a 7-0 lead less than two minutes into the game.

For that brief moment, it seemed the good times were back for Florida.

They weren't.

It means the Tide will likely roll straight to the Orange Bowl, while the Gators will probably find themselves back at the Citrus Bowl for the second time in three years.

It's a destination Spurrier used to make fun of, back when Florida used to win the SEC and Tennessee headed to Orlando all the time. Now, it's Florida's home away from home, a place where good teams -- not great ones -- find themselves on New Year's Day.

It should make for a long, awkward three weeks of practice with Spurrier at his most ornery. Of course, the Gators are probably used to playing for an irritated coach by now.

"It was a thorough beating," Spurrier said. "Obviously, we've got to try something different for the bowl games. I just don't know what it is yet."