Saturday is the second meeting of the season after Florida coasted to a 38-7 win on October 14. Grossman threw five touchdown passes, all in the first half, and afterwards joked that, "I think the scout team team would have stopped us one out of five times."

A copy of the quote remains on the bulletin board in the Auburn locker room, and serves as a motivating factor for the 17th-ranked Tigers (9-2, 6-2 SEC West), who lost to Tennessee in its only other trip to the SEC title game in 1997.

But it will take more than emotion for the Tigers to defeat the ninth-ranked Gators (9-2, 7-1 East), who were humbled with a 30-7 loss to Florida State two weeks ago that ended any hopes of a national title.

Grossman started against the Seminoles, but was quickly replaced by Jesse Palmer, who threw for 180 yards and two interceptions. Spurrier plans to return to Grossman for the bulk of the playing time this week.

The SEC title game has been a frequent stop for the Gators, who will appear in the contest for the seventh time in the nine-year history of the event. The Gators are seeking their sixth SEC title since 1991.

Freshman Jabar Gaffney caught three TD passes against Auburn and finished the regular season with 13.

The Gators will make their seventh trip to the Sugar Bowl with a victory. Their last visit there was in the 1996 season, when it defeated Florida State, 52-20, and won the national title. Florida will play Ohio State in the Outback Bowl if it loses Saturday.

Auburn has won four straight games since the loss to Florida and will go to the Sugar Bowl for the first time since the 1988 season with a win. The Tigers have agreed to play Michigan in the Citrus Bowl if it loses this week.

Auburn relies primarily on Rudi Johnson, who ranks sixth nationally in rushing with 138.1 yards per game. In the first meeting, Johnson had 133 yards on 22 carries.

Johnson will try to exploit a Florida defense that ranks 40th nationally against the run.

Florida has won the last six meetings with the Tigers and leads the all-time series, 39-36-2. Auburn's last game in Atlanta was a 21-17 Peach Bowl win over Clemson in 1997.