Throwback Thursday: The 1999 SEC Championship Game, Alabama vs. Florida
The 1999 Alabama football team was mostly known for All-American tackle Chris Samuels and running back Shaun Alexander, but it was Freddie Milons who ran away with the spotlight at the SEC Championship Game in Atlanta.
He ran for 116 yards, including a game-breaking 77-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter to give the Crimson Tide an easy 34-7 win against Florida and the school's first SEC title since 1992.
Milons lined up at wide receiver, quarterback and kickoff returner, and while he only had one reception for minus-1 yard, finished with six carries for 116 rushing yards.
"He is deadly," Crimson Tide Andrew Zow said after the game. "He makes things happen."
The game started on a very different note, though. Earlier in the season, Alabama snapped Florida's 31-game home winning streak with a 40-39 overtime win in The Swap on Oct. 1, 1999.
The Gators initially had the upper hand in the rematch, when Steve Spurrier's team scored on its fourth play from scrimmage, a halfback-option pass from Earnest Graham to Erron Kinney for a 3-yard touchdown.
But that would be it for the Gators, who managed just 59 total offensive yards the rest of the game and no third-down conversions.
Keyed by four interceptions, the Alabama defense held Florida to its lowest total offense, passing yards, completions and first down totals in Spurrier era.
Two Ryan Pflugner field goals (29 and 48 yards) cut the margin to 7-6 with just 2:03 left in the first half. A pick by Marcus Spencer led to a a 27-yard touchdown pass from Zow to Jason McAddley for the 12-7 halftime lead.
Alabama broke the game open in the fourth quarter on the Milons touchdown, followed by a pick-six touchdown by Reggie Grimes just 18 seconds later, on his 38-yard return of a Jesse Palmer interception.
Alexander capped the scoring with a 7-yard run with 3:58 left in the game.
"He's the one guy that no matter what happens in a game, I think he'll have the same attitude that I do, that every play, he is a threat," Alexander said about Milons, who was named the game MVP.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW: Freddie Milons
"You get the ball in his hands, he's going to make something happen," Alabama wide receiver Antonio Carter said. "It was a great run. He made a great play on it. (Quarterback) Tyler Watts made a great block for him so that he could take it to the house."
"That was just an outstanding play by an outstanding athlete on Freddie's part. How he did that, I have no idea," Watts added. "I just fortunately got in the way of somebody. It was a broken play and he made something out of it."
