If you want to win the SEC East, you’re going to have to deal with the Florida Gators.

That’s essentially what Gators head coach Jim McElwain said at his weekly radio show on Thursday evening.

“We’re defending SEC East Champs,” he said. “It goes through here … it goes through Gainesville. We’ve been waiting for this for a long time. I know our guys are excited to get back in The Swamp and have an opportunity to play, and more than that, be able to play an SEC, conference game.”

Of course, Florida has won not just one, but back-to-back SEC East titles. The Gators are 11-1 against the division in the past two seasons. That lone loss came to Tennessee last year in Knoxville.

The Gators will host the Volunteers on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET on CBS. It’s kind of a big game, as McElwain also noted during his radio show.

“We’ve got to go out and win our one-on-ones to give us an opportunity,” McElwain said. “They will test that young secondary, and that young secondary is going to be ready to go. They’ll definitely do that. We’ve got to protect against especially play-action and double moves and not allow them to get by us on some of that.

“So that discipline in which our guys play back there, and ultimately, accepting the challenge to win your one-on-one.”