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JACKSONVILLE, Florida (Ticker) -- Florida's hopes for a national championship were jolted in a last-second loss at Auburn two weeks ago. Now the sixth-ranked Gators hope to avoid consecutive Southeastern Conference defeats for the first time in nine years Saturday when they face No. 16 Georgia in a critical East Division contest. Florida has suffered consecutive SEC defeats just once under coach Steve Spurrier, losing to Tennessee and Mississippi State in 1992. After playing near flawlessly in Florida's first five games, Florida's Rex Grossman was mistake-prone against Auburn. He passed for 364 yards -- his sixth straight game over 300 yards -- but the sophomore also threw four interceptions. For the season, Grossman has completed 134-of-205 passes for 2,229 yards with 22 touchdowns and seven interceptions. In addition to the turnovers, Florida's running game was non-existent against Auburn as the Gators rushed for minus-36 yards, the second-lowest total in school history. Generating an effective running game has been a concern for Spurrier all season. Earnest Graham, Florida's leading rusher with 350 yards and six touchdowns, could be back this weekend after missing two games with an ankle injury. Despite the struggles, Florida (5-1, 3-1) had a chance to win until David Duval kicked a 44-yard field goal with 10 seconds remaining to give the Tigers a 23-20 win. The setback left four teams -- South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Tennessee -- with one defeat in the East. "We just got to go play and hopefully play like we did earlier in the season and not how we played last week," Spurrier said. Georgia (5-1, 4-1) trails South Carolina by one-half game, while Florida and Tennessee are tied for third. However, this week will produce some separation as Tennessee is hosting South Carolina in another important contest. Mark Richt has Georgia in contention in his first year as coach, but is facing his toughest test to date. The Bulldogs could again be without leading runner Musa Smith, who missed last week's 43-29 win over Kentucky with a hip flexor. Even without Smith, the Bulldogs had plenty of offense against the porous Wildcats as David Greene passes for 364 yards and three scores and fellow freshman Fred Gibson set a school record with 201 receiving yards. Things will not be as easy against Florida, which has won 10 of the last 11 meetings in the "World's Largest Cocktail Party" to cut Georgia's lead in the all-time series to 44-32-2. Spurrier is 10-1 against the Bulldogs. Jabar Gaffney recorded his fourth straight 100-yard receiving game in Florida's 34-23 victory over Georgia last year.
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