NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Florida will get its shot at BCS No. 1 Alabama. The Gators made sure of that with plenty of time to look ahead to the SEC Championship Game on Dec. 6 in Atlanta. Tim Tebow threw for three touchdowns and ran for two more, and the No. 5 Gators routed Vanderbilt 42-14 Saturday night in clinching the SEC Eastern Division title for the second time in three years. The Gators (8-1, 6-1 ) answered the question of whether they would have a letdown coming off their emotional 49-10 victory over Georgia by scoring on each of their first four possessions, Ahmad Black intercepted a pass and Carlos Dunlap got his hand on two punts in building a 28-0 lead.

And that was just within the first 18 minutes.

These teams played at night for the first time since 1982 largely because Vanderbilt had a chance to force a tie atop the SEC East by beating the Gators. But the Commodores (5-4, 3-3 ) instead lost their fourth consecutive in their bid to become bowl eligible for the first time since, yes, 1982. They now have lost 18 consecutive in this series.

The Commodores had been winning with an opportunistic defense and hadn’t allowed an opponent to score more than 24 points in a game this season. That was lost in the opening minutes of the second quarter, and they gave up 330 yards in the first half alone.