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Kirby Smart saw it coming. No. 1 Alabama's defensive coordinator jumped up and down making a throwing motion with his right arm, warning his players to watch for a jump pass.
Sure enough, that's what Florida tried on a fourth-down goal line play last weekend, and Crimson Tide linebacker Nico Johnson intercepted it in the end zone. Threat averted.
Smart's Alabama defense isn't dominating stat sheets like last year's group, but it is awfully formidable when opponents get deep into the red zone.
''Alabama's been pretty good about the other team getting down on about the three- or four-inch line and not scoring,'' South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier said.
Then again, the 19th-ranked Gamecocks have been hard to stop after penetrating the 20-yard line. That could make for some interesting red zone collisions in Saturday's game at South Carolina's Williams-Brice Stadium, a boiled-down version of the SEC's best against the best.
No conference team has been better at cashing in on red zone trips than South Carolina; Spurrier's offense has scored on all but one of 16 trips, including 13 touchdowns.
A powerful runner like Marcus Lattimore and big receivers like Alshon Jeffery and Tori Gurley certainly don't hurt. Neither does the mobility of quarterback Stephen Garcia.
Getting to the red zone against Alabama's defense hasn't been a huge problem.
The end zone? That's much harder to reach.
The Tide has allowed only eight scores and two touchdowns on 14 tries. Perhaps the most impressive number: five forced turnovers in that condensed area of the field, including a fumble recovery against the Gators and that play when Trey Burton pulled up at the line to throw.
Schemes, preparation and coaches adept at sniffing out potential trickery all help, of course. Safety Robert Lester thinks attitude is important, too.
''It's the mentality,'' said Lester, who had an end zone interception against Arkansas. ''The defense never wants an opponent to score. Keep them off the board as much as possible. If the offense doesn't score a point and the defense doesn't allow a point, it's a tie game. No one can win. That's the mentality we're going in with.''
Florida drove past the Tide's 20 four times and came away with one field goal in the 31-6 Alabama win. ''And they were inside the 1 twice,'' noted Spurrier.
In fact, he sees some advantages in having a little extra space in front of the goal line.
''Sometimes, against teams like this, you don't want to get to the 1-yard-line,'' Spurrier said. ''You'd rather get to the 7 or 8 or something like that. Sometimes it's actually easier to score from that distance.''
Either way, South Carolina has the 6-foot-4, 233-pound Jeffery or the 6-5, 230-pound Gurley for jump balls. Then there's the 218-pound Lattimore, who has six touchdown runs, the longest 7 yards.
Alabama's success as the opposing offense nears the goal line is a big reason why the Tide leads the nation in scoring defense. Coach Nick Saban stresses stopping teams in the red zone, run defense and not giving up big plays as some of the key elements to strong defense.
Linebacker Dont'a Hightower simply calls it ''want-to.''
''Our guys have competed very well down there,'' Saban said. ''You have to give them credit for the tenacity that they have.''
He said the most important thing is to force a team to pass in that situation.
''Most really good teams in the red zone run the ball effectively,'' Saban said. ''If you can force them to throw, it is a little more difficult to throw it down there. They have more people in a lot less space and we've done a pretty good job of executing what we do. We practiced a lot and our players have responded well to it.''
It's hardly a coincidence that Alabama's improved play against the red zone has coincided with the team's rise. The Tide went from 11th in the SEC two years ago to first in last year's national championship season.
That's where Alabama has stayed so far in 2010.
Spurrier even noted the Tide's goal line stand on Texas' opening drive of the national title game. The Longhorns had first-and-goal from the 1, and had to settle for a field goal after two rushes and an incomplete pass on their opening series.
''So just cause you're down there close doesn't mean you're going to get a touchdown against Alabama,'' Spurrier said. ''Those guys, they're not going to concede anything to you. To be in the game, we've got to score TDs if we can instead of kicking field goals from short range.''
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AP Sports Writer Pete Iacobelli in Columbia, S.C., contributed to this report.
