ATLANTA — Florida’s coaches challenged their receivers to beat Arkansas’ man-to-man coverage.

Percy Harvin took it a step farther — actually, 67 steps farther.

Harvin, a true freshman receiver, took a handoff and blew by two Arkansas defenders and then dashed 67 yards untouched for the deciding touchdown in Florida’s 38-28 SEC Championship Game victory over Arkansas on Saturday night. The play punctuated his MVP performance.

The touchdown put the Gators ahead 31-21 with 14: 22 to play.

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“I did the easy part,” Harvin said. “It was good blocking by the five up front. We knew once I made one man miss there was nobody back in the secondary.”

Arkansas had most of its defenders strung across the line.

“That run broke our back,” defensive coordinator Reggie Herring said. “We knew he was a tremendous threat. He’s the one that changed the momentum of the game in the fourth quarter.

“ We had everything under control, but he broke one. We had two guys in position and they just whiffed. When you do that with a guy like that, you see what happens.”

Harvin has been a multipurpose threat all season, catching 10 passes for 130 yards and rushing 20 times for 154 yards entering the game. He finished Saturday with a game-high 105 yards rushing and 5 catches for 62 yards.

Florida lines him up at different places on the field, including in the Shotgun, to try to take advantage of defensive matchups.

“We definitely game-planned for him,” Arkansas Coach Houston Nutt said. “He is very, very difficult to stop because he can catch the football. They run screens with him, and they move him back as a running back a lot like we do with Darren McFadden.

“ It’s hard to cover your bases with all the speed on the field.”