ESPN College Football

Posted by ESPN.com's Chris Low

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- As Shelley Meyer made her way to the interview room to hear her husband break down Florida's 49-10 massacre of Georgia, she might as well have been speaking for the entire Gator Nation.

"What comes around goes around," she said to a couple of giddy Florida officials.

Florida didn't have to worry about any end zone celebrations Saturday. That's because Georgia only found the end zone once, and that came when the only drama remaining in Jacksonville Municipal Stadium was whether or not the Gators would score 50.

It was that kind of day for the No. 8 Gators, who served notice that they're not going away in the national championship race and they have the kind of defense that any championship team would love to have.

Georgia tailback Knowshon Moreno found out the hard way on the second play of the game when he was blasted by Florida middle linebacker Brandon Spikes for a 3-yard loss.

"It was on then," Florida cornerback Joe Haden said. "Spikes had been talking all week about getting that first hit on Moreno. When he blew him up like that, the whole team went wild. We just fed off that the rest of the game."

Everybody knows that Florida's pretty flashy on offense. Tim Tebow's the reigning Heisman Trophy winner. Percy Harvin, Jeff Demps and Chris Rainey are blurs in the open field, and the Gators' prowess on special teams is renowned.

But any doubts about whether or not these guys can play defense went out the window about as quickly as the Georgia fans found the exits in the third quarter Saturday.

Florida intercepted Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford three times and also recovered a Moreno fumble. The Gators turned three of those turnovers into 21 points.

And Moreno?

He was held to 65 yards rushing on 17 carries after torching the Gators for 188 yards and three touchdowns a year ago. The Bulldogs were 11-0 entering the game when he got at least 18 carries. But Florida took him out of the game early.

Not that the Florida defenders would have forgotten how badly Moreno made them look a year ago, but they did 188 push-ups during the offseason just to be sure.

"This had been on our minds for a whole year," Spikes said. "They disrespected us last year with that (end zone celebration) and then they went out and beat us. We couldn't have been more ready to play this game."

Spikes also had a little message for Moreno after that first hit.

"I told him, 'I'm going to be here all game. You better get ready,' " Spikes said.

Florida coach Urban Meyer said last season's 42-30 loss to Georgia was probably as bad as he'd ever felt after a game during his coaching career. He called his team "soft" on defense a year ago and repeated that claim several times this week.

But not on Saturday night. And, really, not all season. The Gators have given up just 42 points in their last four games.

"With great defense, you're going to win a bunch of football games, and they played great defense tonight," Meyer said.