BATON ROUGE, La. -- Week 6 of the college football season is gone, and so, too, is much of this season's suspense for the Florida Gators. Tim Tebow is back, and the rest of the Southeastern Conference Eastern Division is gone.

After defeating then-No. 4 Louisiana State 13-3 on Saturday night at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, La., top-ranked Florida (5-0, 3-0 Southeastern Conference) sits alone atop the SEC East, and -- after just three weeks of the conference schedule -- only one division opponent remains within striking distance of the Gators.

What does that mean? For starters, the second half of the Gators' season could become fairly boring.

After surviving Kentucky on Saturday, former UF coach Steve Spurrier and No. 22 South Carolina (5-1, 2-1 SEC) seems to be the only team left with a chance to keep Florida from reaching Atlanta for the SEC championship game. After being upset by Tennessee (3-3, 1-2) on Saturday, Georgia (3-3, 2-2) fell two games behind UF.

Florida plays at South Carolina on Nov. 14. The combined record of UF's four opponents -- Arkansas, Mississippi State, Georgia and Vanderbilt -- between now and then is 10-13 overall and 4-9 in league play.

The SEC is quickly turning into a two-team conference. Florida and Alabama (6-0, 3-0) are the league's only undefeated teams. The Crimson Tide is ranked No. 2 nationally this week by The Associated Press.

Florida's defense turned in a legendary performance Saturday in Death Valley by silencing a partisan crowd of more than 92,000 and holding LSU's offense to three points and 162 total yards. At some point during coach Urban Meyer's tenure at UF, the Gators were misidentified as a team of finesse players.

Not any longer.

SECOND TO NONE

UF's jailbreak defense, which returned every starter and virtually every backup from last season's national championship team, is now the best in the country. The Gators are ranked No. 1 nationally in four major defensive categories: scoring (6.4 points per game), total defense (202.60 yards per game), passing defense (115.2 ypg) and pass-efficiency defense (78.32 opponents' quarterback rating).

Florida is ranked 11th nationally in rushing defense (87.4 ypg) and second in first-downs allowed (12.4 per game).

On Sunday, Meyer said UF's impressive defense is dictating the Gators' identity.

``That's what we are right now,'' Meyer said. ``I'm an offensive coach. This is not the first rodeo -- this is not the first year that defense keeps you in games. Really, it's the name of the game.

``All the great teams that I've ever been associated with, we've had fantastic defense. We've had some really high-scoring teams -- we scored a lot of points -- but you don't win that way. You get statistics, but you don't win.''

Florida's top-rated passing defense will be put to the test Saturday when it hosts possibly the best quarterback on UF's schedule. Arkansas passer Ryan Mallet led the Razorbacks to a 44-23 upset of previously undefeated Auburn on Saturday. Mallet completed 24 of 37 pass attempts, with two touchdowns and one interception.

Tebow, UF's All-American quarterback, felt sick to his stomach Friday on the plane ride to Baton Rouge, but the senior quarterback said his nausea had nothing to do with lingering symptoms of the concussion he sustained Sept 26 against Kentucky.

A ROUGH RIDE

According to Tebow, he has always suffered from motion sickness, and Friday's turbulent ride from Gainesville to Louisiana tested his stomach.

After Saturday's victory, Tebow had a Dramamine patch behind his ear, presumably a preparation for the flight home.

``I didn't get sick, which was a great test for the doctors,'' Tebow said. ``Honestly, I think God just kept me healthy on that. Most of the time I would have probably gotten sick on that plane ride -- and it would have looked bad, as far as me playing, with the doctors.''