Florida Gators - Murschel Florida Alabama Rivalry - Sec Championship Key To Alabama - Florida Rivalry

Six seconds.

That's how long it took for Antonio Langham to change the face of the Alabama -Florida rivalry.

Clinton-Dix returns to Florida

Pictures: College football's wildest uniforms

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Alabama Crimson Tide

Florida Gators

Six seconds and 21-yards set those wheels in motion between two of the top programs in the Southeastern Conference .

The Crimson Tide defender intercepted Shane Matthews ' pass and side-stepped Gator defenders into the end zone for the go-ahead touchdown to lead No. 2 Alabama past No. 12 Florida, 28-21, in the inaugural SEC Championship Game in 1992.

"Antonio Langham picking off that pass from Shane and going to the house all of a sudden, Florida hated Alabama," said Chris Doering , who was a redshirt freshman wide receiver on that Gators team.

Florida and Alabama met Saturday in Gainesville for what was the 36th meeting between the SEC cornerstone programs. Although, before the conference expanded to 12 teams in 1991, the meetings were not as frequent.

"It's kind of funny, really there wasn't a rivalry at all between Florida and Alabama prior to the splitting of the divisions," Doering added. "When the SEC came up with the SEC Championship Game, all of a sudden, it became an instant rivalry."

Alabama may have went on to win the national championship that season, but a rivalry was born that day. The programs met six more times in the SEC Championship Game with each team winning three.

If that weren't enough, both programs have produced their fair share of NFL talent.

Since 1992, Florida has had 21 players selected in the first-round of the NFL Draft , compared to 15 by Alabama. Maybe that explains why since that fateful day in 1992 the Gators have won seven more SEC titles, while Alabama has won three.

"You talk about showcasing the SEC. It couldn't have been any better than having Alabama and Florida in the majority of those first few SEC games and I think ultimately, that why it became such a successful event," Doering said.

Adding extra fuel for the fire to the rivalry was the fact that when these two teams meet, there's a whole lot more riding on the game than bragging rights. In those seven meeting in the SEC Championship, four times the winner went on to win the national championship.

Then you have to figure in the fans. Both have rabid fan-bases, something Doering remembers from the 1994 SEC Championship Game in which the then-No. 6 Gators knocked off No. 3 Alabama, 24-23. It was extra special for Doering, who caught the game-winning touchdown pass.

He remembers how the atmosphere of that game, which had moved to the Georgia Dome in Atlanta that season, was electric.

"I mean that took it to another level," Doering said. "That was like a . I can just remember how loud the Alabama fans were when they did something good and how loud our fans where when we did something good."

For Gene Stallings, who coached Alabama from 1990 to 1996, the matchups against Florida's Steve Spurrier were something he remembers well.

"I just remember when Spurrier was there, it was always a game that I personally looked forward to because I knew that they were going to be well prepared and they were going to play extremely well."

" continued that tradition and now Muschamp has done that same thing."

This may be the first Alabama-Florida game for the first-year Gators coach but Muschamp knows what's behind these two programs.

"The tradition speaks for itself as far as championships and the tradition and history of the two programs. I'm looking forward to playing in the Florida-Alabama game Saturday night," Muschamp said.

mmurschel@tribune.com