ATLANTA -- Wackos who want style points, the Southeastern Conference championship game was not your cup of tea.

Now, if you like entertaining back and forth with big plays, gaffes, gadgets and gifts, this was a dilly. There were so many twists and turns, notes and the play-by-play were the reference for a refresher on some sequences.

When it was over, both teams had made a joke of momentum.

The first two times that Arkansas was involved in the SEC title game, the bright lights of the Georgia Dome exposed every weakness. Saturday night, it was clear that the Razorbacks belonged and Arkansas fans will wonder if the outcome would have been different if Darren McFadden had not been hurt in the first quarter.

He played on, but shadowed all night by linebacker Brandon Siler, McFadden's green numbers on the black monitor inches from my right hand rose slowly. He wound up with 73 yards on 21 carries and now we know why the Gators were No. 1 in the country against rushing -- they can really run.

"When you hold the best tailback in America to 73 yards, that's not by accident," said Florida coach Urban Meyer.

Florida and Arkansas went at it like two teams with high stakes on the line and that does not necessarily equate to great football. Florida led by 17, Arkansas scored 21 straight, Florida went back in front by 10 and Arkansas closed to within a field goal before the 38-28 was final.

At 31-28, Florida ran a tunnel screen, the option, a Tim Tebow single-wing special, a pass up the sideline, and a slant to get to the Arkansas 5. Back again, Tebow, who looks bigger than 6-3, 229, clapped for the ball and pitched to wide receiver Andre Caldwell steaming right with the ball tucked under his right arm. When he spotted the white shirts on defense, he threw to tight end Tate Casey for 38-28.

It was, the press box P.A. man reminded us, the third touchdown pass of the game by a nonquarterback. It was so wild that the winning team made 17 on fourth-and-10 from its 15 and the play turned out to be inconsequential other than it led to a punt on which Reggie Fish violated the oldest return rule on the books and retreated inside his 10.

Fish's gift should have been the killing blow, but Florida lost track of Felix Jones on an obvious throwback pass from Cedric Washington for 31-28.

Arkansas will cite two gift-wrapped touchdowns -- the fumble by Fish and a blocked punt. Florida can counter with the ill-advised shovel pass that Antwain Robinson returned for a score.

Trying to get a handle on such crazy swings is a challenge.

The final, combined with UCLA's 13-9 victory over USC, raises questions about the bowl destination of the Gators and the Razorbacks. In the stands a man held up, "Hey USC at least Gators lost to a ranked team." For the record, it was Auburn 27-17.

Florida, which has beaten nine bowl teams, will be close to Michigan for the No. 2 spot in the BCS standings and a spot opposite Ohio State in Arizona on Jan. 8. If that happens, LSU will be out of the Rose Bowl and the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans is not likely to let the twice-beaten Tigers get away. Either way, Arkansas will play Jan. 1 in Florida or in Dallas.

Arkansas' 10-1 start has lost some luster and the bowl game will be doubly important.

The Gators claimed they didn't know about the USC final until after the game, but Meyer saw the scoreboard and his Gators sure played much of the third quarter like a team dreaming about Arizona. Fullback Billy Latsko ran onto the field while Chris Leak was barking signals and one 12-yard pass was wiped out by a penalty for an illegal shift. On the next play, Leak forced one over the middle and Weston Dacus intercepted.

From the 2, McFadden was supposed to run, but he realized Jones was open in the slot and pitched it to his running mate for the TD.

After the kickoff, Leak fumbled and exited for a play. Moments later, he had to call timeout because his teammates were confused.

Early on, Arkansas showed off a playbook of gadgets. When former quarterback Robert Johnson took the deep snap to initiate the Razorbacks' second offensive series, he was quarterback No. 4 of the evening.

Harry King is sports columnist for Stephens Media's Arkansas News Bureau. His e-mail address is hking@arkansasnews.com.