The SEC will once again have a seat at the College Football Playoff table, as Alabama defeated Florida quite handily in the conference title game Saturday and secured the No. 2 seed in the four-team format.

While the Crimson Tide didn’t cover the gaudy 17.5-point spread, their 29-15 victory over the Gators was more dominating than the final score suggests — UF’s two touchdowns came on a punt return in the first half and a long pass in garbage time. ‘Bama was the superior squad offensively, defensively and on special teams from start to finish.

With the Tide slated to take on No. 3 Michigan State on New Year’s Eve in the Cotton Bowl, here is what I liked and didn’t like from the best conference in America.

What I liked

1. Getting offense from your defense

The Florida defense was up to the challenge early, just like it was a week prior in what turned into a 27-2 loss to Florida State.

Alabama running back Derrick Henry — presumably the Heisman Trophy winner — gained only 14 yards on 4 carries on his team’s opening drive, which eventually resulted in a third-and-5 from the Crimson Tide 47-yard line. That’s when Gators defensive end Bryan Cox Jr. sacked ‘Bama quarterback Jake Coker, stripped the ball loose and presented a potential scoop-and-score situation.

Somehow, Coker made the recovery in a sea of orange-and-blue defenders, turning what could have been an early 7-0 deficit into a harmless punting situation.

2. No wasted motion

Wide receiver Antonio Callaway gave UF its first and only lead in the second quarter, fielding a punt and returning it 85 yards for a touchdown.

What made the true freshman’s return so effective was the fact that he was predominantly running north and south as he weaved his way through Tide tacklers. Way too many punt returners — particularly those fresh out of high school, as they’re used to being on another level athletically from everybody else on the field — waste precious real estate meandering east and west.

Once Callaway built up a little momentum, he was able to blast past the ‘Bama coverage unit like it was a series of traffic cones.

3. Open wide

After kicker Austin Hardin had a 40-yard field goal blocked in the second quarter, Florida coach Jim McElwain had walk-on Neil MacInnes boot the extra point following Callaway’s punt-return touchdown.

MacInnes is the dental student who won the job when McElwain held an open tryout Oct. 21 on campus for a backup kicker — 77 students, including two women, reportedly were given a chance — after a season-ending injury to Jorge Powell.

While MacInnes missed his first try Nov. 7 at home vs. Vanderbilt, this time he converted and now has a story to tell every future patient who needs to have a cavity filled.

4. A freshman no more

Wide receiver Calvin Ridley has been the big-play artist of the Alabama passing game all year, despite the fact that he’s just a true freshman following in the footsteps of Tuscaloosa legend Amari Cooper.

On first-and-10 from the Crimson Tide 42-yard line, Ridley got behind the Florida secondary on a post pattern for what should have been a walk-in touchdown. But Coker was late with his delivery and underthrew the ball, which gave two Gators defenders — including shutdown cornerback Vernon Hargreaves III — a chance to break up the pass.

Not a tall target at 6-foot-1 and 188 pounds, Ridley still high-pointed the football beautifully, secured the catch and came crashing to the Georgia Dome turf at the UF 3. Two plays later, Henry bowled his way into the end zone and gave the Tide their first lead — a lead they would never relinquish.

Ridley has 75 receptions, which is a crimson-and-white record for freshmen.

5. This is supposed to be fun

Even for a card-carrying Florida State alumnus like me, coach Jim McElwain has been a breath of fresh air for the Florida program.

Coming out of the locker room for the start of the second half, he did his contractually obligated on-camera interview with CBS sideline reporter Allie LaForce. After a little coachspeak about needing to be better offensively on first down — no kidding, Coach — McElwain wrapped up the exchange with this pleasant comment: “This is a heckuva ballgame.”

Following the failed Will Muschamp regime, which featured many more blown gaskets than warm smiles, McElwain is a very likeable figurehead for Gator Nation.

6. Duck hunting

The game was essentially over once a one-score Alabama advantage became two scores, which happened at the 2:49 mark of the third quarter.

Coker got credit for a 32-yard touchdown pass to ArDarius Stewart, but it was all about the receiver making an acrobatic play on a throw that really shouldn’t have been made.

Overshadowed by Ridley most of the season, Stewart has made his fair share of incredible catches himself, this one on a ball lofted into double coverage — it was a wounded duck, too — near the front-right pylon.

Despite Coker being woefully inaccurate and a bit loose with the football from time to time, he continues to be bailed out by a punishing ground game and two brilliant wideouts.

7. Give ’em the heater

Two drives later, Coker put the final nail in the coffin with a 9-yard scoring strike to No. 3 receiver Richard Mullaney.

An argument can be made that this pass shouldn’t have been thrown either, as Coker was looking Mullaney’s direction from the moment he took the snap. With his pass catcher cutting to the inside on the angle route but only getting the slightest amount of separation from the cornerback — plus the safety reacted to the route from the middle of the field — Coker still reached back and fired his best fastball.

The pigskin made it through the tiny window and into Mullaney’s breadbasket nonetheless, putting six more points on the board for ‘Bama.

Two points were proven on the play: First, Coker hasn’t mastered the art of manipulating coverage with his eyes in order to make his throwing windows a little wider. Second: The 6-foot-5, 232-pounder has a cannon attached to his right shoulder — even at Florida State it was said he had a stronger arm than Jameis Winston — and can make up for his lack of awareness with pure RPMs.

8. Who’s that guy?

After not seeing the field all game long and failing to record a catch since the 61-13 blowout of New Mexico State in the season opener, Gators receiver C.J. Worton entered the huddle in the fourth quarter.

On what amounted to a prayer thrown quarterback by Treon Harris in the vicinity of multiple defenders at the goal line, Worton leaped over everybody to reel in a 46-yard touchdown that again made it a two-score game at 29-15 — Harris ran in the subsequent two-point conversation.

Perhaps Worton should have been a bigger part of the game plan, as Callaway only caught one pass and fresh-off-suspension Demarcus Robinson was credited with a goose egg.

9. Rewriting the record book

Even if he only averaged 4.3 yards per carry, Henry was the constant for Alabama’s offense and ran for 189 yards and a touchdown on 44 attempts.

The product of Yulee (Fla.) High School is now just under the 2,000-yard mark through 13 games — 1,986 to be exact, a new SEC single-season record — and all but wrapped up the Heisman Trophy. The workhorse for a Crimson Tide rushing attack that’s thin in the backfield, his 339 carries in 2015 are second in conference history to the ridiculous 385 recorded by Georgia’s Herschel Walker in 1981.

Henry is poised to become the second ‘Bama ball carrier to capture the Heisman in the past seven years, joining 2009 winner Mark Ingram.

10. Three yards and a cloud of dust

While the college game has resembled flag football in recent years with all the spread-option teams throwing it 60 times per game, the Alabama-Michigan State matchup in the national semifinal is as old school as it gets. Expect this game to be about blocking and tackling, not the Wildcat and bubble screens.

A word of warning to ‘Bama fans: It was Ohio State — also from the supposedly inferior Big Ten — that rained on your New Year’s parade last year, and now here comes Sparty.

What I didn’t like

1. Don’t forget the third phase

Facing a third-and-13 from its own 10-yard line, Florida wasn’t going to take any chances and handed the ball off to running back Jordan Scarlett for a 3-yard gain. Punting and playing the field-position game is never a bad decision for this Gators team, as the defense has been just as good as the offense has been bad since quarterback Will Grier’s suspension.

But UF’s conservative approach on offense didn’t carry over to special teams, as Alabama blocked the punt out of the end zone — linebacker Keith Holcombe got credit for the block, although fellow linebacker Christian Miller was also in on the play — for a safety.

Florida punter Johnny Townsend never had a chance, as there was a complete breakdown of blocking assignments that allowed Holcombe and Miller a straight shot to the pigskin. The Gators were actually lucky that Crimson Tide running back Bo Scarbrough couldn’t come up with a diving recovery attempt for what would have been a touchdown.

2. My kingdom for a kicker

On third-and-10 from the Alabama 27-yard line, Harris was forced to throw short of the first-down marker for a 4-yard completion to wide receiver Valdez Showers.

The Gators have had kicking woes all year long, and Hardin responded in kind by having his ensuing 40-yard attempt blocked by Crimson Tide defensive end D.J. Pettway. Hardin is now 5-of-14 on field-goal tries and hasn’t split the uprights once since Nov. 14 at South Carolina — he’s 0-for-5 in his past three games.

But this one may not have been entirely his fault since the call on third down was a designed rollout to the right, meaning there was a very good chance it would result in a field goal being attempted from the right hash mark.

Because he’s right-footed, everybody knows kicking from the right hash mark — especially in the college game, as the hashes are much wider than they are in the NFL — makes it even more difficult for the struggling Hardin. UF offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier should have been thinking one play ahead and perhaps called for a pass over the middle or toward the left sideline.

3. Not exactly must-see TV

CBS announcers Verne Lundquist and Gary Danielson take a lot of heat from viewers week after week, and while I tend to give them a pass since their voices are synonymous with the SEC, Danielson was especially bad during this broadcast.

After a series of gaffes earlier in the game, Danielson referred to Alabama defensive tackle A’Shawn Robinson — a possible first-round pick in the draft, by the way — as Alshon Jeffery. Currently a wide receiver for the Chicago Bears in the NFL, he hasn’t suited up for a game Danielson called since Jeffery left South Carolina in 2011.

The phrase Danielson used the most in the first half was “excuse me,” as he made mistake after mistake trying to provide color for the biggest game of the year in the conference.

4. Not against this D

McElwain said repeatedly during the week that his offense had to win first down, but that simply didn’t happen.

Past the midway mark of the fourth quarter, Florida gained a grand total of 14 yards on 14 first-down plays. With the running game totally ineffective — the trio of Scarlett, Kelvin Taylor and Jordan Cronkrite totaled 19 yards on 10 carries — the Alabama front seven repeatedly got after Harris in obvious passing situations.

The Gators finished the season ranked 12th in the conference in total offense, ahead of only 4-8 Vanderbilt and 5-7 Missouri, so getting stuck behind the chains drive after drive was a death sentence.

5. Step into my office

Perhaps no other play encapsulated just how unequipped Harris is to play the game’s most important position at a premier program like Florida.

Right after Alabama had taken a 12-7 lead on Henry’s touchdown run, the Gators began the next drive first-and-10 at their own 25-yard line with 2:26 remaining in the first half.

Dropping back to throw, Harris had his pass deflected by the Crimson Tide defensive front – the ball bounced right back into his own hands.

A smart quarterback knocks the ball to the ground immediately, which results in an incompletion and saves any potential lost yardage. Some quarterbacks will catch the ball and instinctually try to run with it — usually an unwise choice, but at least it’s not an interception and there’s a remote chance for a positive play.

Harris, employing a curious third option, caught the ball, scrambled left and unfathomably attempted another pass, this one falling incomplete nowhere near a UF receiver.

Again, a smart quarterback knows he can’t attempt two forward passes on the same play because it’s a penalty, but apparently Harris wasn’t aware of the rule and put his team in an impossible second-and-23.

If I’m McElwain, I give Harris two choices prior to spring practice: Give up playing QB and become a Swiss Army knife offensive weapon like UF used to have with Trey Burton, or transfer immediately.

6. My bad

Faced with a third-and-10 at his own 39-yard line in what was still a 12-7 game at the time, Coker threw incomplete under heavy pressure and seemingly ended the drive.

However, Florida linebacker Jarrad Davis couldn’t help himself and lowered his shoulder into Coker’s jaw a step or two after the quarterback had released the ball. The 15-yard penalty for roughing the passer — Davis didn’t argue the flag, as he knew he had made a mistake — kept the possession alive and eventually resulted in an Alabama field goal for a 15-7 edge.

The Gators started to unravel shortly thereafter, as Davis and Co. were fragile mentally and couldn’t surrender any more points knowing how impotent their offense was.

7. Can’t make it any easier than that

The mental error Harris made earlier with two passes on one play showed he doesn’t have it between the ears to be a big-time college quarterback. But the throwing error he made at the 8:00 mark of the third quarter showed that he doesn’t have the physical tools either.

Again, at 15-7, at was still a one-score game. Florida’s defense was playing tough. The Gators were still in the game and thinking upset — they just needed to find some offense.

On first-and-10 at the UF 25-yard line, Harris rolled to his right off play-action and had tight end DeAndre Goolsby wide open on a flag route toward the boundary. All Harris had to do was loft the ball in the air and let Goolsby run underneath it, as there was no defender in sight and lots of room to run.

A poor pass fell incomplete. What should have been a fresh set of downs — probably deep in enemy territory — became second-and-10. The rest of the possession was fairly predictable: incomplete, false start, incomplete, punt.

8. Keep your cool

Alabama defensive back and return man Cyrus Jones is a senior. He knows better than to get into a fight with Robinson in the closing minutes of a game that is all but over. The Baltimore native is lucky he only got an offsetting penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Had Jones done something really stupid, he could have been ejected and forced to sit out the first half of the national semifinal against Michigan State. While he’s not a key contributor on defense, remember he has three touchdowns this season returning punts.

Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban gave quite Jones an earful, and it’s probably a good thing — both for Saban and Jones — that no CBS microphone was in the vicinity.

9. Running on empty

I hinted last week that it was self-serving for Saban to give Henry 46 carries in the Iron Bowl win over Auburn, as that’s double what’s considered a full workload for a running back.

Now Henry has run the rock 90 times in the span of eight days after 44 more in the SEC title game, with all other Tide tailbacks totaling five attempts in those two contests.

The NFL’s leading rusher, Adrian Peterson of the Minnesota Vikings, didn’t receive his 90th carry this season until Game 5 — he hasn’t gone over 29 in any one outing, either.

Soon Henry will be off to the pros, where he will be an instant sensation like Eddie Lacy, a total bust like Trent Richardson or something in between like the aforementioned Ingram, and then another blue-chipper will take his place.

Henry is a short-term investment for Saban, the latest in a recruiting stock market providing lucrative returns with almost no risk, and we’re naïve as football fans to think otherwise.

10. One glaring weakness

Even if the Crimson Tide appear to be set at 21 of the 22 positions on either side of the ball, I’m of the opinion that Coker is holding them back from ultimately taking the title.

His accuracy is a problem. He makes too many negative plays in the face of pressure. His decision-making is questionable at best. He subjects himself to too much punishment. His inadequacies would be more evident were he not surrounded by a road-grading offensive line, a freight-train running back and two receivers that could perform for Cirque du Soleil — not to mention a brick-wall defense.

It’s plausible that one of Alabama’s playoff opponents slows down Henry and also puts some serious points on the board, and if that does indeed happen, I don’t think Coker is capable of making up the difference with his arm.