FAYETTEVILLE — As Florida players ran onto the field Saturday, Arkansas' student section welcomed them with a giant banner - known as a tifo - that read, "Welcome to the SEC West: The Best Division in College Football."
It may have been as much a taunt as a warning to the No. 11 Gators, which had won six of seven by beating up on teams from its own division and group-of-five conferences. Arkansas was Florida's first test from the West because a hurricane postponed an earlier game between the Gators and LSU.
Like its SEC Championship Game performance against Alabama last December, Florida failed its test against college football's best division, and it did so badly.