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Jonathan Bullard sat in the afterglow of an SEC Championship berth Saturday afternoon, surrounded at least for a moment by a slew of cameras and microphones.

As usual, the veteran leader found a way to put a perplexing game into perspective.

"We knew that this is a team that's going to linger around," Bullard said. "This is a big game for them to try and knock us off."

As it should be.

The No. 10 Gators are now 8-1 (6-1 SEC). With losses by No. 8 TCU and No. 7 Michigan State on Saturday, it's very possible that the Gators move up in the next College Football Playoff rankings despite the fretfully close win.

They are legitimate contenders and no amount of style points or lack thereof will hold Florida back from the final four so long as they win out.

What more could a team ask for than to control their destiny?

Bullard knows about controlling his own destiny.

The senior defensive lineman put together another impressive highlight reel for the professional level, which he spurned after his 2014 campaign for one final season at UF.

Against Vanderbilt, he shared a sack with Alex McCalister , bumping his season total to 5, and also recorded 2.5 tackles for a loss. He has 13 TFL for the year.

Linebacker Jarrad Davis had high praise for him after the game.

"He's doing things you just don't see with anyone else in the nation," Davis said. "He can shoot gaps. He can use his quickness. He has great power to drive offensive linemen back."

"Definitely," he said. "If not better right now, honestly."

For Bullard, it was a matter of time and perseverance.

"I think with another year under my belt - sometimes that's what it takes for something to click," Bullard said. "I came in and played right away [as a freshman]. My work-ethic changed this year. I wanted to go out and prove I'm not just a good player, I'm a great player."

And while he continues to elevate his NFL Draft stock, Saturday he hinted it was about something more.

"Something that I wanted to do when I came here was get to Atlanta," he said. "This is my first shot so this is special for me."

Bullard has endured some of the most tumultuous years in Florida history. He was there for the Sugar Bowl run of 2012 when Florida came painfully close to a perfect regular season.

He was there in the darkest moments of 2013, being one of the few starters that escaped that horrific 4-8 season without serious injury.

He was there through the ups and downs of Will Muschamp 's final season.

Here, now, Bullard refuses to break from the moment at hand. There is no time for contextualizing the significance of this game beyond it clinching the SEC East.

"That was the goal," he said. "We got it. But we still have games to finish. We want to be in the conversation for the other big stuff."

If Florida does make its presence felt on the national landscape in the coming weeks, if it does punch a ticket to the College Football Playoff, it will likely be on back of its defense led by Bullard.