ATLANTA -- The post-game news conference was a few minutes old, and Alabama coach Gene Stallings already was testy about the questions.
Why didn't he go for two points? Why did he run the ball so much on Alabama's last possession? Why didn't he blitz more at the beginning of Florida's last drive?
Why? Why? Why?
"I make a lot of decisions and not a lot of them are right, but there's never any doubt," Stallings said as he ended the news conference in which he also second-guessed himself.
There also were some doubters among the crowd of 74,751 that crammed into the Georgia Dome to watch No. 6 Florida defeat No. 3 Alabama, 24-23, yesterday for its second consecutive Southeastern Conference championship.
Florida ended Alabama's national championship aspirations when wide receiver Chris Doering caught a 2-yard touchdown pass with 5:29 remaining, and safety Eddie Lake intercepted a fourth-down Alabama pass with less than a minute left.
The win gave Florida (10-1-1 overall, 8-1 SEC) a berth in the more prestigious Sugar Bowl for a rematch against No. 7 Florida State, and sent Alabama (11-1, 8-1) to the Citrus Bowl to play No. 13 Ohio State.
"Great players make great plays in great games, and this week we made the plays," said Florida cornerback Larry Kennedy. "Last week after the Florida State comeback [in which the
Seminoles scored 28 fourth-quarter points for a 31-31 tie], we had a lot of questions to answer."
This time, it was Stallings' turn.
Alabama cornerback Cedric Samuel had tipped a pass intended for wide receiver Aubrey Hill nearly midway through the fourth quarter, and as it trickled down his helmet, the ball rolled into the arms of linebacker Dwayne Rudd, who returned it 23 yards for a touchdown that put Alabama ahead 22-17 with 8:56 left in the game.
Instead of going for two, Stallings kicked the extra point, which gave the Crimson Tide a six-point lead.
"We thought about going for two," said Stallings. "If you go for two and make it, they would have had to score and make two to win. If you go for two and don't make it, two field goals win for them.
"There's no doubt in my mind it was the right decision at the time."
That gamble didn't work.
Neither did the next one.
Florida took possession at it own 20 to start the game-winning drive. The Gators ran three straight plays with no one in the backfield and had receptions of 5, 8 and 25 yards.
Most teams blitz in that situation, yet Alabama sent only three rushers. "Yeah, we probably could have used more heat," said Stallings.
Four plays later, the Gators were down to the Alabama 31 with 6:42 left, and it was time for a trick play from Florida coach Steve Spurrier. He grouped three receivers wide left and three wide right, and had quarterback Danny Wuerffel throw a quick screen to receiver Reidel Anthony on the left for 9 yards.
Then the Gators ran a hitch play. Wuerffel threw to Doering behind the line of scrimmage. Hill faked a screen block, then went downfield, where Doering threw him a a 20-yard pass to the 2. On the next play, Wuerffel threw to Doering on a slant-in for the winning points.
"Coach Spurrier that he keeps you guessing," said Wuerffel. "He'll always come with the unexpected. Alabama just comes straight at you and dares you to stop it."
Alabama started its next possession at its own 22 with 5:23 left and threw only one pass on its first eight plays, but still reached the 50-yard line. Even with 1:30 remaining and one timeout left, Alabama was running. Then on fourth-and-13 from their own 44, Jay Barker's final pass was intercepted with 54 seconds left.
"We were trying to work plays we thought would give us good field position," said Stallings. "After the fact, I probably would have thrown more."
Barker said: "I thought we'd pull it out again like we've done before. You just can't blame one person or one decision. There were other things that contributed to the loss."
There was Alabama's inability to stop defensive linemen Kevin Carter (seven tackles, one assist, one sack) and Ellis Johnson (five tackles, one sack). And the Tide's failure to solve Florida's strategy of crowding the line with eight players on first down.
And how about the seven receptions over the middle to Gators running back Fred Taylor? Taylor had catches of 11 and 13 yards in the drive that set up Wuerffel's 1-yard sneak for a touchdown with 1:15 left in the second quarter, which gave Florida a 17-10 halftime lead.
"We played hard, but we didn't play well," said Barker. "And we didn't get the real big breaks."
Maybe the biggest break occurred in the first quarter, when cornerback Tommy Johnson jarred a pass loose from Florida tight end Shawn Nunn, with safety Sam Shade recovering at the Alabama 30.
But an official ruled that Nunn was down became the ball came out. Two plays later, Wuerffel completed a 26-yard touchdown pass to Anthony on a fade pattern in the right corner of the end zone that tied the game 7-7 with 4:07 left.
"You figure that one out," said Stallings, still upset by the call. "Did it turn the game around? Big time."
Alabama, though, scored on third-quarter field goals of 47 and 48 yards by Michael Proctor and trailed 17-16 at the end of the quarter.
And when Rudd scored on the interception, Alabama thought it had managed its seventh second-half comeback of the year,.
"I felt we had the momentum, and even if they scored, Michael Proctor was going to win it for us with a last-second field goal. It was our destiny," said Alabama fullback Tarrant Lynch. "It just didn't happen."
That's because the Gators had fourth-quarter comebacks on their minds, too. A key question coming into the game was whether Florida had sufficient time to recover after last week's collapse.
"When we trailed going into the final quarter today, we got together and said it wasn't going to happen this time," said Johnson. "Now we got Florida State again, and this time we're going to finish that job, too."