Alabama vs. Florida 2016 final score: Highlights from Bama’s 54-16 domination

For the second year in a row, the SEC Championship pitted Alabama (No. 1, 13-0) against Florida (No. 15, 8-4) with New Year’s stakes. For the second year in a row, the Tide pulled away. This year, they just kept pulling, to a 54-16 final.

The scores and stuff, with quicker updates below

Alabama 54, Florida 16 (final). Florida rushed for zero yards. Bama rushed for 234. Bama’s non-offense had as many touchdowns as Florida’s offense. Three interceptions by Bama’s defense. Humiliation. Now we’ll see who’s next.

Alabama 54, Florida 16 (4:36, 4Q). Bama’s fifth-string RB, Derrick Gore, just ran for a 10-yard TD behind the backup offensive line and with the second-string QB under center. This is now the third-most points any team has scored in any SEC Championship.

Alabama 47, Florida 16 (9:15, 4Q). A 14-play (13 of them runs), 91-yard drive that ended with a one-yard, untouched waltz into the end zone by Bo Scarbrough. If Bama could enter the Playoff as anything better than No. 1, that would happen. Bama’s now outgained Florida, 350 to 251, after trailing for much of the game, not that anyone cares.

Alabama 40, Florida 16 (3:32, 3Q). That thing about Florida outgaining Bama on the day? That’s probably done. The Tide unspooled an eight-play, 97-yard drive that included four Damien Harris runs, two Bo Scarbrough runs (including the TD), and a 31-yarder on third-and-19 from Jalen Hurts to ArDarius Stewart. Playoff.

Alabama 33, Florida 16 (6:48, 3Q). Florida managed a 12-play, 64-yard drive ... that ended in a third-down stuff by Bama’s defensive line and a hot pass rush that forced a scrambling Austin Appleby to overthrow DeAndre Goolsby on fourth down. Florida has 254 yards to Alabama’s 172, but points are not made of yards.

The stuff:

Alabama 33, Florida 16 (:19, 2Q). The Gators put together their second nice drive and would be right in this thing, if not for the three turnovers and the blocked punt and the failed fake punt and all that. Austin Appleby ran a solid hustle drive, with six completions to three different receivers, capped by a 25-yarder to DeAndre Goolsby.

Alabama 33, Florida 9 (3:47, 2Q). Another pick? Yeah. Joshua Jacobs ran in a six-yarder after a Tony Brown INT, Austin Appleby’s third giveaway of the day. Bama has 33 points on all of 164 yards. The sole remaining highlight: the Dr. Pepper football toss for scholarship money at halftime. Expect Bama back in the Georgia Dome in four weeks.

Alabama 26, Florida 9 (6:27, 2Q). Bama’s now two-of-three on field goals, with kicker Adam Griffith changing shoes three times already per CBS and taking an awkward fall during the blocked XP runback earlier. The highlight of this seven-play scoring drive was this stiffarm by Bo Scarbrough:

Alabama 23, Florida 9 (2Q). Just when you thought this game had completed special teams BINGO, Florida botched a fake punt attempt. It looks like the snap sailed too high for a direct snap to No. 93. (Bama missed a field goal after this.)

Alabama 23, Florida 9 (11:55, 2Q). The Tide scored an actual offensive touchdown for a change, with Gehrig Dieter catching a six-yard score from Jalen Hurts on a drive that was made by a 52-yard Calvin Ridley catch-and-run and a Florida facemask penalty.

Alabama 16, Florida 9 (1:42, 1Q). Bama still has minus-7 offensive yards, but Josh Jacobs ran back a blocked punt for the Tide’s 14th non-offensive TD of the year and second of the day, and then Florida’s David Reese ran back the blocked extra point for a two-pointer. This game has already had so many different kinds of scores.

Alabama 10, Florida 7 (5:06, 1Q). Minkah Fitzpatrick ran back a 44-yard pick six, Alabama’s 10th defensive touchdown and 13th non-offensive touchdown of the year. As of right now, Bama has 10 points and minus-7 yards. That’s his fourth career pick six, a new school record.

Florida 7, Alabama 3 (6:58, 1Q). The Tide couldn’t turn a Shaun Dion Hamilton interception and 40-yard runback into much.

Florida 7, Alabama 0 (9:51, 1Q). The Gators went three-of-three on third downs and QB Austin Appleby completed six of seven. That was the Bama defense’s first touchdown allowed since October, and it came in one drive against Florida. A Gainesville bar is now pouring free shots.

Constant updates

Here’s a steady flow of notes, photos, videos, scores, and more from the Georgia Dome, all game long and afterward as well:

The stakes

A Bama win means the Tide are the No. 1 seed and in the Playoff’s Peach Bowl; it also likely means Auburn in the Sugar. A Florida win means the Gators get the Sugar, but Bama’s probably still in the Playoff.

For Alabama, yet another SEC Championship (this would be a fourth conference title in five years) could feel like a formality along the way to yet another Playoff (the Tide are already the only team to make both tournaments), but Nick Saban swears it doesn’t.

Bama’s defense is as brutal as ever and perhaps the best in the country again, and its remodeled offense is now fully modernized, thanks to freshman dual-threat QB Jalen Hurts and offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin, who could be leaving for Houston or LSU soon.

A win would move Alabama two victories away from becoming only the third team to ever go wire-to-wire as No. 1 for an entire season (1999 Florida State and 2004 USC) and remove any remaining question about the greatest dynasty in college football’s history.

The Gators enter Saturday with a top-10 defense, led by a strong secondary, but that’s about it. An upset would likely require several Bama giveaways, a huge day of defense, and a surprise big play, like the 98-yard touchdown Florida broke in a 270-yard slog of a win over LSU.