By LARRY VETTEL
FightinGators.com
Anyone hoping Steve Spurrier would salvage some Eastern Division pride in the SEC championship game had to be terribly disappointed by the way things played out in Atlanta on Saturday. Auburn pulverized the Gamecocks 56-17 to put an exclamation point on a tremendous season for the Tigers and a year of total domination by the SEC West.
There are 18 inter-divisional football games in the SEC each year and traditionally the games have split pretty much evenly. The West entered this season having a slight advantage in 18 years of divisional play, but the East offset that with wins in 11 of 18 SEC championship games.
Well, that all changed in 2010. The West had the best year either division has ever had, posting a remarkable 15-3 record in head-to-head competition. That dominance was reinforced Saturday when the best from the West obliterated the Eastern Division. One team, Ole Miss lost two games to teams from the East, while Alabama was upset by South Carolina. The other four teams in the West, Auburn, LSU, Arkansas and Mississippi State, swept all three of their East/West contests.
The Auburn win added insult to injury for the Gators for obvious reasons. The Tigers were led by former Gator Cam Newton, who has gone from the junior-college ranks to Heisman Trophy favorite in less than a year. While the Gators struggled to develop an offense with three quarterbacks, Newton became a star. Florida quarterbacks passed for 12 touchdowns this season, Newton for 28. In fact, Newton
