GAINESVILLE -- University of Florida football coach Urban Meyer announced a half-game suspension for Gators linebacker Brandon Spikes for the All-American's apparent attempt to gouge the eyes of Georgia running back Washaun Ealey during UF's 41-17 victory against the Bulldogs on Saturday.

``I don't condone that,'' Meyer said Monday morning during his weekly news conference. ``I understand what goes on in football, but there is no place for that. We're going to suspend Brandon for the first half of the Vanderbilt game.''

Top-ranked Florida (8-0, 6-0 SEC) hosts Vanderbilt (2-7, 0-5 SEC) at 7:15 p.m. Saturday at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, and Spikes will watch the first half from the sidelines as punishment for his unsportsmanlike behavior against Georgia. The CBS broadcast of the Florida-Georgia game showed Spikes reaching into Ealey's face mask during a tackle in an apparent attempt to poke Ealey in the eyes. Spikes finished the game with 10 tackles and returned a fourth-quarter interception by UGA back-up quarterback Logan Gray five yards for a touchdown.

Meyer said Monday that he spoke with Southeastern Conference commissioner Mike Slive about Florida's decision to suspend Spikes on Saturday. On Monday afternoon, the SEC released a statement concerning Spikes' half-game suspension: ``The Southeastern Conference has reviewed and accepted the disciplinary actions taken by the University of Florida regarding football student-athlete Brandon Spikes.''

``I just spoke with [Spikes] not too long ago,'' Meyer said. ``We all understand the game of football, those of us who have played it -- very emotional. Things happened in that game in particular on either side but the bottom line is we're Florida and he's Brandon Spikes and we expect certain things. He understands that.''

Asked if Spikes' incident was retaliation for something that happened earlier in the game, Meyer said, ``Yeah, it was. We're living in a world of YouTube and all that other stuff. Our job is just to do what we have to do. I saw it. My wife said something to me last night and then Coach Strong said something to me today. I said, `I don't care.' And then I saw it and it's not right.''

Meyer said he loves the emotion that Spikes displays on the football field, but UF's coach made it clear that unsportsmanlike behavior is not the correct way to display that emotion.

``There are fish and there are nonfish,'' Meyer said. ``Fish, you catch them and throw them on the dock and they lay there. No, [Spikes is] not like that at all, but he's not a bad guy. Great guy. I want to coach passionate guys. We teach passion, but we don't want to have those things that stand out because that's not what this place is all about, but we have to live within the rules and do it the right way.

Florida quarterback Tim Tebow offered his support for Spikes on Monday and said, ``We didn't do anything that [Georgia] didn't do. If you go back and look at it and study it, you know, you can see it on the film, too. It was an intense game. Both teams were very passionate about it.''

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