Gainesville, FL (Sports Network) - With the SEC Eastern Division title already securely in tow, the top-ranked Florida Gators welcome the Vanderbilt Commodores to Gainesville this week for a conference showdown at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.

The defending national champions earned the divisional crown with last week's 41-17 rout of Georgia in Jacksonville. The win kept the Gators undefeated on the year and extended the nation's longest win streak to an impressive 18 games, the longest in school history.

Urban Meyer knows the pressure that Florida is under to repeat and he wouldn't have it any other way.

"You can coach somewhere else if you want to go chill. As a player, there are plenty of places you can go where win, lose or draw you can chill in front of a half-empty stadium. At Florida you have to play at a very high level, and that started back in the '90s. That stadium out there is a pretty imposing place. To walk in here at Florida, you have to be good and be on edge. I think Billy Donovan said it best when he said, 'You are not a good team, you are not a good athlete the minute you lose your edge.' So we are all on edge. The real ones love that."

Bobby Johnson's Commodores are at the opposite end of the SEC spectrum. At 2-7 overall, Vanderbilt has dropped five straight games and is still searching for that elusive first conference win on the year (0-5). The offense got going a bit last weekend, but wasn't enough in a 56-31 whipping at the hands of nationally-ranked Georgia Tech.

Florida has won the last 18 meetings with Vanderbilt to take a 30-9-2 all-time advantage. The Commodores haven't beaten the Gators since 1988.

Putting up 31 points on the Yellow Jackets last week was a bit out of character for Vandy, as the team is generating a meager 18.2 ppg thus far. The ground game has been a strength at 179.6 ypg (4.5 ypc), but the passing attack has been lacking at a mere 151.7 ypg.

A season-ending hamstring injury to QB Larry Smith, has opened the door for redshirt senior Mackenzi Adams to get the nod under center this week. In his first significant action last week, Adams threw for 152 yards in the loss to Georgia Tech.

That experience is something that Johnson thinks will help Adams the rest of the way.

"Mackenzi (Adams) has a lot of experience here, but still, you have to get in there and experience it again. I think that was great preparation for him. I think he did extremely well for not getting a lot of reps in practice and then having hardly any reps in games this year. He went in and did some very good things. We expect him to meet the challenge and play well this week."

Vanderbilt's best offensive weapon is tailback Warren Norman, who is netting 5.7 yards per carry. The freshman has amassed 593 yards on the season, with three touchdowns and is also lethal as a returner.

The Vanderbilt defense is yielding just 22.0 ppg this season and that is after the 56-point debacle against the Yellow Jackets, so this unit hasn't been that bad in 2009. The rush defense is giving up a concerning 190.8 ypg, but again, last week's 404 yards by Tech have inflated that number somewhat. The pass defense (160.0 ypg) has been much better. The unit has recorded 16 takeaways and the same number of sacks.

Sophomore middle linebacker Chris Marve has been the most productive defender, leading the way with 90 total tackles, with 5.0 TFLs and three forced fumbles. Fellow LB Patrick Benoist is a distant second, but has still recorded an impressive 71 stops, with two fumble recoveries. Cornerbacks Casey Hayward (48 tackles, team-high 8.5 TFLs, two INTs) and Myron Lewis (36 tackles, three INTs) have paced the secondary.

When Tim Tebow gets fired up, good things happen for Florida. That was the case last week, as Tebow's displeasure with the offense lit a fire under the Gators, who rolled up 41 points on the Bulldogs. Tebow, who rushed for a pair of touchdowns, giving him 50 in his career, surpassing Herschel Walker as the SEC's all-time leader in rushing scores.

Tebow hasn't put up Heisman-worthy numbers this season, but the senior signal- caller is certainly the straw that stirs the drink in Gainesville, leading an offense that is averaging 36.0 ppg and 446.6 yards, including 252.2 yards per game on the ground. Tebow has his hands in everything, completing 64.7 percent of his passes, for 1,323 yards and 10 TDs, all while pacing the team in the rushing department with 551 yards and eight scores.

There is plenty of talent around him as well. Help in the backfield comes in the form of tailbacks Jeff Demps (7.7 ypc), Chris Rainey (6.7 ypc) and Emmanuel Moody (7.6 ypc). The receiving corps has a pair of reliable targets in tight end Aaron Hernandez (36 receptions, for 421 yards, two TDs) and WR Riley Cooper (31 catches, for 474 yards, five TDs).

There aren't many defenses in the nation with the overall team-speed that Florida possesses. Overwhelming opponents is the way things are done in Gainesville on the defensive side of things and a unit chock-full of All- Americans is usually more than foes can handle. The team is ranked second in the nation in scoring defense (11.0 ppg), pass defense (138.8 ypg) and total defense (236.6 ypg).

Up front, the team relies heavily on the upfield play of rush ends Carlos Dunlap (7.0 TFLs, 6.0 sacks) and Jermaine Cunningham (9.5 TFLs, 5.0 sacks). The linebacking corps features standouts Ryan Stamper (48 tackles, 4.0 TFLs, one sack, one forced fumble) and Brandon Spikes (42 tackles, three sacks, one INT).

Spikes however, will not play in the first half of this game, as an ugly eye- gouging incident against Georgia has earned him a suspension from Urban Meyer.

The Florida secondary is as good as it gets, highlighted by DBs Ahmad Black (45 tackles, one INT) and Joe Haden (43 tackles, two INTs).