"Timeout, Florida."
With those two words from the public address system inside Jacksonville Municipal Stadium, Urban Meyer made sure the 2008 edition of a 93-year-old rivalry would be remembered.
The first one came with 44 ticks left on the clock. Confusion was the first reaction, as players and fans alike wondered if they had heard that correctly.
The mood quickly changed on the sidelines and in the stands when the reason became clear: Meyer was finally sporting some swagger.
Then there was another Emmanuel Moody rush, and this time all eyes were trained on the referee.
Would Meyer do it again? Yes, he would.
With 30 seconds left, the Gators called their final timeout (their first was burned in the third quarter on a failed coach's challenge).
"I was looking at the clock and I was like, 'What's going on?'" UF right tackle Jason Watkins said. "I had no clue."
His coach knew what was happening.
If the first clock stoppage was misunderstood or considered a simple period completing UF's win, then the second one was a bold, 96-point-font exclamation point.
For 59 minutes Saturday, Meyer had his team answer the best way it could after 2007's embarrassing 42-30 loss when Georgia players rushed into the end zone after their first touchdown. UF responded with its play in a 49-10 demolition that sprung the Gators back into national title contention.
In the last 60 seconds, he gave fans and his team a chance to gloat.
In two plays, Meyer got his revenge.
And now until the 2009 edition, discussion of this rivalry has shifted from the Gator Stomp to the Gator Stop.
Sure, Meyer gave his rhetoric after the game about wanting to get Moody more carries. He even did it with a straight face.
"No," he said when asked if he was rubbing it in. "I was trying to win a game. That's all we're trying to do is win a game."
Tim Tebow had a slightly different take on the timeouts.
"We were enjoying the moment, enjoying the game," he said. "We didn't do anything wrong. We were just playing the game."
Percy Harvin added: "We looked at the sideline and saw that all their fans had gone and we saw our fans still there. We just wanted to rub it in a little bit, not too much, but it was great for us."
The Georgia contingent got the point.
"Well…the rules say you can have three timeouts per half, right?" Bulldogs coach Mark Richt said. "He used them. Perfectly legal."
But Meyer would not have used such a tactic if he didn't believe his team could handle the ramifications. Because this was more than sending a message to Georgia - this was sending a message to Alabama, Penn State, Texas Tech and all the voters and computers.
UF has won its last four games by a combined score of 201-43, and now the national title talk has returned to Gainesville.
Perhaps it hasn't gone unnoticed by the representatives of fate.
Previously unbeaten and then-No. 1 Texas lost on a last-second touchdown pass later Saturday night.
And when asked after the game about what the win over Georgia meant, Meyer began to respond before being silenced by the lights cutting out due to electrical problems in the press conference room. Twice.
He didn't have to answer. His timeouts already had.
