College Football Nation: Bobby Petrino
Bret Bielema guided Wisconsin to Big Ten championships and Rose Bowl appearances each of his last three seasons in Madison.
But when Arkansas called, he was immediately interested and admits that there was a burning desire to see how he would fare in college football’s toughest conference.
Bielema takes over an Arkansas program that fell flat on its face in 2012 following the Bobby Petrino scandal last spring and Petrino’s subsequent firing. The Hogs dipped to 4-8 last season under interim coach John L. Smith after winning 10 or more games each of the previous two seasons under Petrino and playing in the Sugar Bowl following the 2010 season.
The Hogs are still searching for their first SEC championship, and Bielema said that’s the goal.
Here’s Part II of our Q&A with Bielema:
Was it even more crucial, moving over to the SEC, to make sure you brought in proven recruiters?
Bret Bielema: It was extremely important to hire a group of coaches who were relentless recruiters. I think this is the first time I can say that all nine of my assistants are detail guys and they love to recruit. That’s going to pay dividends, and they all have a vast amount of experience. We’ve got NFL. We’ve got SEC. We’ve got every type of conference known to man. It’s going to be fun to watch this group grow. If you talked to every one of my assistants, no one is enjoying this more than we are. I’ve got a group that’s engaged with a lot of different chemistry and a lot of different personalities coming through, and they’ve all been great.
You went down to South Florida and got a couple of coveted prospects in your first signing class (running back Alex Collins and offensive tackle Denver Kirkland). What recruiting territories will be critical for you at Arkansas?
BB: With Randy (Shannon) and Charlie (Partridge) and my success in South Florida, we expected to have success there and thankfully had it. A big push for us is that we’re putting six recruiters in the state of Texas. We have to be more than competitive in North Texas and East Texas for us to have a chance here at Arkansas. We play Texas A&M for the next 10 years in Dallas. That has to be a big, big area of emphasis for us.
What will be your biggest adjustment as a head coach in the SEC?
BB: Without a doubt, the recruiting landscape. It’s not an adjustment, just different from what I’ve done. Great recruiters can recruit anywhere. That’s the philosophy I took into this year, and we’ll carry it forward.
What about the league? How long will it take you to get up to speed on the league?
BB: My summer project is to watch seven to 10 complete games of everybody on our schedule. I’ll watch the TV copy and football copy and get a feel for what’s happening during the course of the game. It will be great teaching. I also have to get to know the personality of my team, if I can go for it on fourth-and-2 or do I kick a field goal. Those are all things in progress for me.
Have you gotten a feel for the leadership on this team yet?
BB: The most pleasant surprise when I came here was the group of 22 seniors who walked into my office who have tremendous respect for Arkansas and what it can be. They’re extremely eager to jump in and change gears. The last 18 months haven't been something that was very special to them. There’s been a lot of disappointment and a lot of heartache, and they’re hungry. I really don’t care how many of those guys are going to be All-Americans or NFL draft picks. But it’s been very apparent to me that it’s very important to them to be at Arkansas and to be a Hog.
Even with all your success at Wisconsin, did you find yourself wondering about the SEC and whether or not you could win big in this league?
BB: As the SEC began to build its superiority in college football, that naturally appealed to any competitor. As we had success at Wisconsin, I had more and more opportunities. I’m not one of those coaches that likes to have my name out there. Other coaches throughout the world of college football love to see their name being mentioned for different jobs. I’m just not one of those guys. That’s why we took the world by storm when I came here. Nobody really knew about it. I made sure it was done that way.
What about the Arkansas job appealed to you?
BB: A lot of it was finding the right fit in the SEC. I’m not saying Arkansas and Wisconsin are identical twins, but I think they’re from the same family. They’re proud states, have great fan support and have a handful of good players every year. You’re going to have to go out of state every year to complement your whole team to win a championship, and that’s some of the challenges we have here at Arkansas.
Does your philosophy change any now that you’re in the SEC?
BB: In today’s world of up-tempo offenses and all the things that go into it, you need to have depth in the defensive line. And offensively, you’ve got to be able to knock somebody off the line of scrimmage. You can’t rely on tricking somebody. If your offensive game plan is built around tricking someone, you don’t have a chance. You’ve got to be able to put a hat on a hat and play big-boy football and be able to play in a world where you’re tougher than the guy in front of you.
But when Arkansas called, he was immediately interested and admits that there was a burning desire to see how he would fare in college football’s toughest conference.
Bielema takes over an Arkansas program that fell flat on its face in 2012 following the Bobby Petrino scandal last spring and Petrino’s subsequent firing. The Hogs dipped to 4-8 last season under interim coach John L. Smith after winning 10 or more games each of the previous two seasons under Petrino and playing in the Sugar Bowl following the 2010 season.
The Hogs are still searching for their first SEC championship, and Bielema said that’s the goal.
Here’s Part II of our Q&A with Bielema:
Was it even more crucial, moving over to the SEC, to make sure you brought in proven recruiters?
Bret Bielema: It was extremely important to hire a group of coaches who were relentless recruiters. I think this is the first time I can say that all nine of my assistants are detail guys and they love to recruit. That’s going to pay dividends, and they all have a vast amount of experience. We’ve got NFL. We’ve got SEC. We’ve got every type of conference known to man. It’s going to be fun to watch this group grow. If you talked to every one of my assistants, no one is enjoying this more than we are. I’ve got a group that’s engaged with a lot of different chemistry and a lot of different personalities coming through, and they’ve all been great.
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Steve Mitchell/USA TODAY SportsArkansas assistant Randy Shannon, the former Miami head coach, should provide a lift to the Hogs' recruiting efforts in Florida.
Steve Mitchell/USA TODAY SportsArkansas assistant Randy Shannon, the former Miami head coach, should provide a lift to the Hogs' recruiting efforts in Florida.BB: With Randy (Shannon) and Charlie (Partridge) and my success in South Florida, we expected to have success there and thankfully had it. A big push for us is that we’re putting six recruiters in the state of Texas. We have to be more than competitive in North Texas and East Texas for us to have a chance here at Arkansas. We play Texas A&M for the next 10 years in Dallas. That has to be a big, big area of emphasis for us.
What will be your biggest adjustment as a head coach in the SEC?
BB: Without a doubt, the recruiting landscape. It’s not an adjustment, just different from what I’ve done. Great recruiters can recruit anywhere. That’s the philosophy I took into this year, and we’ll carry it forward.
What about the league? How long will it take you to get up to speed on the league?
BB: My summer project is to watch seven to 10 complete games of everybody on our schedule. I’ll watch the TV copy and football copy and get a feel for what’s happening during the course of the game. It will be great teaching. I also have to get to know the personality of my team, if I can go for it on fourth-and-2 or do I kick a field goal. Those are all things in progress for me.
Have you gotten a feel for the leadership on this team yet?
BB: The most pleasant surprise when I came here was the group of 22 seniors who walked into my office who have tremendous respect for Arkansas and what it can be. They’re extremely eager to jump in and change gears. The last 18 months haven't been something that was very special to them. There’s been a lot of disappointment and a lot of heartache, and they’re hungry. I really don’t care how many of those guys are going to be All-Americans or NFL draft picks. But it’s been very apparent to me that it’s very important to them to be at Arkansas and to be a Hog.
Even with all your success at Wisconsin, did you find yourself wondering about the SEC and whether or not you could win big in this league?
BB: As the SEC began to build its superiority in college football, that naturally appealed to any competitor. As we had success at Wisconsin, I had more and more opportunities. I’m not one of those coaches that likes to have my name out there. Other coaches throughout the world of college football love to see their name being mentioned for different jobs. I’m just not one of those guys. That’s why we took the world by storm when I came here. Nobody really knew about it. I made sure it was done that way.
What about the Arkansas job appealed to you?
BB: A lot of it was finding the right fit in the SEC. I’m not saying Arkansas and Wisconsin are identical twins, but I think they’re from the same family. They’re proud states, have great fan support and have a handful of good players every year. You’re going to have to go out of state every year to complement your whole team to win a championship, and that’s some of the challenges we have here at Arkansas.
Does your philosophy change any now that you’re in the SEC?
BB: In today’s world of up-tempo offenses and all the things that go into it, you need to have depth in the defensive line. And offensively, you’ve got to be able to knock somebody off the line of scrimmage. You can’t rely on tricking somebody. If your offensive game plan is built around tricking someone, you don’t have a chance. You’ve got to be able to put a hat on a hat and play big-boy football and be able to play in a world where you’re tougher than the guy in front of you.
Who in the SEC is raking in top prospects?
February, 4, 2013
Feb 4
2:35
PM ET
By
Chris Low | ESPN.com
Is there a direct correlation to highly ranked signees and wins in the SEC?
Well, you be the judge.
Over the past four years (2009-12), Alabama and Florida have tied for the most ESPN 150 prospects signed with 41 apiece. During that span, the Crimson Tide have won an SEC-high 49 games and three national championships.
The Gators, meanwhile, have won 10 fewer games (39) than the Crimson Tide and haven’t won any SEC or national titles during that span. In fact, they’ve been shut out of the SEC championship game the last three years.
The most ESPN 150 prospects any SEC school has signed in one year going back to 2009 was Florida in 2010 when the Gators signed 17 ESPN 150 prospects.
For perspective, that’s more than eight SEC schools -- Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Missouri, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Texas A&M and Vanderbilt -- have managed to ink in each of their last four signing classes.
Every SEC school has signed at least one ESPN 150 prospect over the past four years, although Kentucky and Vanderbilt have both been limited to one each. The Wildcats’ only ESPN 150 signee during that period was quarterback Morgan Newton in 2009, while the Commodores signed running back Brian Kimbrow last year.
The school doing the least with the most over the last four years has been Tennessee. The Vols have signed 20 ESPN 150 prospects since 2009, which is tied for the fifth most in the SEC. However, the Vols are just 23-27 during that stretch (9-23 in the SEC) and have suffered through three straight losing seasons.
Tennessee signed six ESPN 150 prospects in 2009, Lane Kiffin’s only signing class in Knoxville. But four of those players (Jerod Askew, Janzen Jackson, Darren Myles, Jr., and Nu’Keese Richardson) were kicked off the team, and the other two (Bryce Brown and David Oku) wound up transferring out of the program.
The school doing the most with the least has been South Carolina. The Gamecocks have signed 13 ESPN 150 prospects since 2009, which is seventh in the league. But the Gamecocks have the third-best record over the last four years (38-15) behind only Alabama and LSU. They’re also one of two teams in the league (along with Alabama) to have won 11 or more games each of the last two seasons.
As the Head Ball Coach himself would say, somebody’s coaching ‘em up in Columbia.
Arkansas, prior to its collapse this past season, had managed a nice run despite not reeling in very many highly ranked signees under former coach Bobby Petrino. The Hogs won 11 games in 2011 and 10 games in 2010, including a trip to the Sugar Bowl, and signed just five ESPN 150 prospects between 2009-12.
Below is a breakdown of how many ESPN 150 signees each SEC school has signed over the past four years along with each school’s overall and SEC record during that span. We’ve also included Missouri and Texas A&M even though they’ve just played one season in the SEC.
Of the Aggies’ nine ESPN 150 prospects signed over the past four years, five came last year in Kevin Sumlin’s first signing class.
One other interesting nugget is South Carolina is the only team to have played in the SEC championship game over the past four years that hasn't signed at least 20 ESPN 150 prospects during that span.
Here’s a closer look:
Well, you be the judge.
Over the past four years (2009-12), Alabama and Florida have tied for the most ESPN 150 prospects signed with 41 apiece. During that span, the Crimson Tide have won an SEC-high 49 games and three national championships.
The Gators, meanwhile, have won 10 fewer games (39) than the Crimson Tide and haven’t won any SEC or national titles during that span. In fact, they’ve been shut out of the SEC championship game the last three years.
The most ESPN 150 prospects any SEC school has signed in one year going back to 2009 was Florida in 2010 when the Gators signed 17 ESPN 150 prospects.
For perspective, that’s more than eight SEC schools -- Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Missouri, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Texas A&M and Vanderbilt -- have managed to ink in each of their last four signing classes.
Every SEC school has signed at least one ESPN 150 prospect over the past four years, although Kentucky and Vanderbilt have both been limited to one each. The Wildcats’ only ESPN 150 signee during that period was quarterback Morgan Newton in 2009, while the Commodores signed running back Brian Kimbrow last year.
The school doing the least with the most over the last four years has been Tennessee. The Vols have signed 20 ESPN 150 prospects since 2009, which is tied for the fifth most in the SEC. However, the Vols are just 23-27 during that stretch (9-23 in the SEC) and have suffered through three straight losing seasons.
Tennessee signed six ESPN 150 prospects in 2009, Lane Kiffin’s only signing class in Knoxville. But four of those players (Jerod Askew, Janzen Jackson, Darren Myles, Jr., and Nu’Keese Richardson) were kicked off the team, and the other two (Bryce Brown and David Oku) wound up transferring out of the program.
The school doing the most with the least has been South Carolina. The Gamecocks have signed 13 ESPN 150 prospects since 2009, which is seventh in the league. But the Gamecocks have the third-best record over the last four years (38-15) behind only Alabama and LSU. They’re also one of two teams in the league (along with Alabama) to have won 11 or more games each of the last two seasons.
As the Head Ball Coach himself would say, somebody’s coaching ‘em up in Columbia.
Arkansas, prior to its collapse this past season, had managed a nice run despite not reeling in very many highly ranked signees under former coach Bobby Petrino. The Hogs won 11 games in 2011 and 10 games in 2010, including a trip to the Sugar Bowl, and signed just five ESPN 150 prospects between 2009-12.
Below is a breakdown of how many ESPN 150 signees each SEC school has signed over the past four years along with each school’s overall and SEC record during that span. We’ve also included Missouri and Texas A&M even though they’ve just played one season in the SEC.
Of the Aggies’ nine ESPN 150 prospects signed over the past four years, five came last year in Kevin Sumlin’s first signing class.
One other interesting nugget is South Carolina is the only team to have played in the SEC championship game over the past four years that hasn't signed at least 20 ESPN 150 prospects during that span.
Here’s a closer look:
- Alabama: 41 ESPN 150 signees, 49-5 (.907), 27-5 SEC
- Florida: 41 ESPN 150 signees, 39-14 (.736), 22-10 SEC
- LSU: 28 ESPN 150 signees, 43-10 (.811), 25-7 SEC
- Georgia: 26 ESPN 150 signees, 36-18 (.667), 21-11 SEC
- Auburn: 20 ESPN 150 signees, 33-19 (.635), 15-17 SEC
- Tennessee: 20 ESPN 150 signees, 23-27 (.460), 9-23 SEC
- South Carolina: 13 ESPN 150 signees, 38-15 (.717), 20-12 SEC
- Texas A&M: 9 ESPN 150 signees, 33-19 (.635)
- Ole Miss: 6 ESPN 150 signees, 22-28 (.440), 8-24 SEC
- Arkansas: 5 ESPN 150 signees, 33-18 (.647), 17-13 SEC
- Mississippi State: 4 ESPN 150 signees, 29-22 (.569), 13-17 SEC
- Missouri: 3 ESPN 150 signees, 31-20 (.608)
- Kentucky: 1 ESPN 150 signee, 20-30 (.400), 7-25 SEC
- Vanderbilt: 1 ESPN 150 signee, 19-31 (.380), 8-24 SEC
We've reached the end to another college football season, and yet again Alabama is on top. Nick Saban is the king of college football, and his Crimson Tide are looking down at the rest of the sport.
So how does the rest of the SEC stack up? Well, we have our final power rankings of the year right here:
1. Alabama (13-1, 7-1 SEC): Total domination in the championship game and three titles in four years? A load of NFL talent on both sides of the ball? Alabama had it all (again), and even with a team that didn't exactly have the same sort of defensive talent as it did a year ago, the Crimson Tide still made it to the BCS title game and came away with a commanding 42-14 victory over Notre Dame in a game that was over when the Tide arrived on South Beach. With the talent Alabama has coming back, the Tide could once again be in the national championship picture.
2. Texas A&M (11-2, 6-2 SEC): Thanks to Johnny Football, the Aggies ended the season as one of the nation's hottest teams. There are some out there who think A&M might be the best team in the country, despite its two losses. Johnny Manziel was the nation's best player and even without Kliff Kingsbury helping him on the sideline against Oklahoma, he ran all over the Sooners for a bowl-record 516 total yards in a total rout. Imagine if both of those Aggies tackles return in 2013.
3. Georgia (12-2, 7-1 SEC): The Bulldogs capped off the 2012 season with a 45-31 win over Nebraska in the Capital One Bowl. It wasn't exactly the bowl the Bulldogs wanted to be in, after coming up just yards short of making it to the BCS title game in Alabama's place, but you have to admire how this team came out and won like it did. Back-to-back SEC title game appearances is nothing for this team to be ashamed of.
4. South Carolina (11-2, 6-2 SEC): The Gamecocks had a legitimate shot at our No. 3 spot, but at the end of the day, Georgia's appearance in Atlanta, coupled with its 14-point bowl win, kept South Carolina behind the Bulldogs. Still, what a year for the Gamecocks. Behind the coaching of Steve Spurrier, South Carolina won 11 games in consecutive seasons for the first time in school history. The Gamecocks also beat back-to-back ranked opponents to close out the season.
5. Florida (11-2, 7-1 SEC): After entering the postseason with arguably the country's best résumé, the Gators fell flat on their faces against Louisville in the Allstate Sugar Bowl. Their 10-point loss didn't show just how bad the game was for Florida. The Gators might not have wanted to be there and Florida clearly didn't show up for its first BCS bowl since 2009. But you can't discount what Florida did during the regular season. It didn't have a pretty offense, but it defeated four top-10 teams, including ACC champ Florida State in Tallahassee in a year in which the Gators weren't expected to win nine games.
6. LSU (10-3, 6-2 SEC): The Tigers had a very up-and-down year, and it ended on a very down note with that last-second loss to Clemson in the Chick-fil-A Bowl. LSU was totally off its offensive game in the second half, turning to the pass more than the run. With that offense struggling in the fourth quarter, LSU's defense was left huffing and puffing as Tajh Boyd & Co. gutted it for three straight scoring drives. But LSU did win double-digit games for the third straight year, and it took Alabama down to the wire and beat Johnny Football.
7. Vanderbilt (9-4, 5-3 SEC): The Commodores ended the season in historic fashion, with a seven-game winning streak (the longest since 1948), and won five conference games for the first time since 1935 and nine total games for the first time since 1915. That ninth win came in dominating fashion with a 38-24 win over NC State in the Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl. The Commodores turned into the team that no one wanted to play at the end of the season, and they carry a ton of momentum into 2013.
8. Ole Miss (7-6, 3-5 SEC): The Rebels had quite the first year under new coach Hugh Freeze. For a program that won just six games in the two previous seasons, Ole Miss grabbed seven, including its first bowl win since 2009, this year. The depth was lacking all year, but the heart wasn't, as the Rebels were much more competitive and won three SEC games after entering the season on a 14-game conference losing streak. Freeze did a tremendous job of changing the culture in Oxford, but the players did a great job of responding to adversity all season.
9. Mississippi State (8-5, 4-4 SEC): A year that started with such promise after a 7-0 start imploded and led to a lot of criticism about the talent on both sides of the ball. The second half of the season proved the first seven games were a farce. A lot of the defensive deficiencies were masked until the month of November, as the Bulldogs went 1-5 to end the year, including a blowout loss to Ole Miss in the Egg Bowl and a 34-20 loss to Northwestern in the TaxSlayer.com Gator Bowl.
10. Missouri (5-7, 2-6 SEC): The Tigers would love to forget their first season in the SEC. This was supposed to be the Big 12 team that succeeded in its first year out of its comfort zone. This team returned too much not to win a few games in the SEC East. But injuries, most notably to quarterback James Franklin and that offensive line, and an offense that was constantly going in reverse made for a rough start in Missouri's new home. Offensive coordinator David Yost resigned at the end of the year, and this team has to find some sort of rhythm/chemistry on offense in 2013.
11. Tennessee (5-7, 1-7 SEC): The Derek Dooley era ended with quite a whimper. For the second straight season, Tennessee missed out on the postseason because of a loss to one of its rivals. Last year, Kentucky ended the Vols' bowl hopes. This time around, Vandy's blowout win on Nov. 17 bounced Tennessee from a postseason appearance. For as much fun as the offense was to watch, the defense was awful for the majority of the season, finishing dead last in the SEC in total defense. New coach Butch Jones has some solid talent to work with, but a ton of questions surround this program.
12. Arkansas (4-8, 2-6 SEC): Many thought the Razorbacks' dreams of a championship season probably ended when Bobby Petrino took that infamous motorcycle ride in April. Boy, were they right. John L. Smith tried to bring some energy to the program, but he and his players fell flat in a 4-8 season that saw the Hogs give up 30 or more points in seven games. The offense lacked its usual explosion and the Hogs began the year 1-4, with a shocking loss to Louisiana-Monroe in Little Rock, Ark.
13. Auburn (3-9, 0-8 SEC): On paper, the Tigers had a host of young talent, but on the field, they were outmanned just about every single weekend. Auburn roamed around the bottom of most offensive and defensive categories in the SEC all season long. Coach Gene Chizik was fired only two years removed from winning a national title after going winless in conference play and being outscored 129-21 in his final three SEC games, including a 38-0 loss to Georgia and a 49-0 loss to Alabama in the season finale.
14. Kentucky (2-10, 0-8 SEC): Outside of blowing out a Kent State team that was a win away from making a BCS bowl, nothing went right for the Wildcats this year. Injuries ravaged this team, as it had to turn to two true freshman quarterbacks and never found a consistent playmaker to help out on offense. The offense hovered around the bottom of the SEC all year and the defense surrendered 31 points per game, and coach Joker Phillips was fired before the season even ended.
So how does the rest of the SEC stack up? Well, we have our final power rankings of the year right here:
1. Alabama (13-1, 7-1 SEC): Total domination in the championship game and three titles in four years? A load of NFL talent on both sides of the ball? Alabama had it all (again), and even with a team that didn't exactly have the same sort of defensive talent as it did a year ago, the Crimson Tide still made it to the BCS title game and came away with a commanding 42-14 victory over Notre Dame in a game that was over when the Tide arrived on South Beach. With the talent Alabama has coming back, the Tide could once again be in the national championship picture.
2. Texas A&M (11-2, 6-2 SEC): Thanks to Johnny Football, the Aggies ended the season as one of the nation's hottest teams. There are some out there who think A&M might be the best team in the country, despite its two losses. Johnny Manziel was the nation's best player and even without Kliff Kingsbury helping him on the sideline against Oklahoma, he ran all over the Sooners for a bowl-record 516 total yards in a total rout. Imagine if both of those Aggies tackles return in 2013.
3. Georgia (12-2, 7-1 SEC): The Bulldogs capped off the 2012 season with a 45-31 win over Nebraska in the Capital One Bowl. It wasn't exactly the bowl the Bulldogs wanted to be in, after coming up just yards short of making it to the BCS title game in Alabama's place, but you have to admire how this team came out and won like it did. Back-to-back SEC title game appearances is nothing for this team to be ashamed of.
4. South Carolina (11-2, 6-2 SEC): The Gamecocks had a legitimate shot at our No. 3 spot, but at the end of the day, Georgia's appearance in Atlanta, coupled with its 14-point bowl win, kept South Carolina behind the Bulldogs. Still, what a year for the Gamecocks. Behind the coaching of Steve Spurrier, South Carolina won 11 games in consecutive seasons for the first time in school history. The Gamecocks also beat back-to-back ranked opponents to close out the season.
5. Florida (11-2, 7-1 SEC): After entering the postseason with arguably the country's best résumé, the Gators fell flat on their faces against Louisville in the Allstate Sugar Bowl. Their 10-point loss didn't show just how bad the game was for Florida. The Gators might not have wanted to be there and Florida clearly didn't show up for its first BCS bowl since 2009. But you can't discount what Florida did during the regular season. It didn't have a pretty offense, but it defeated four top-10 teams, including ACC champ Florida State in Tallahassee in a year in which the Gators weren't expected to win nine games.
6. LSU (10-3, 6-2 SEC): The Tigers had a very up-and-down year, and it ended on a very down note with that last-second loss to Clemson in the Chick-fil-A Bowl. LSU was totally off its offensive game in the second half, turning to the pass more than the run. With that offense struggling in the fourth quarter, LSU's defense was left huffing and puffing as Tajh Boyd & Co. gutted it for three straight scoring drives. But LSU did win double-digit games for the third straight year, and it took Alabama down to the wire and beat Johnny Football.
7. Vanderbilt (9-4, 5-3 SEC): The Commodores ended the season in historic fashion, with a seven-game winning streak (the longest since 1948), and won five conference games for the first time since 1935 and nine total games for the first time since 1915. That ninth win came in dominating fashion with a 38-24 win over NC State in the Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl. The Commodores turned into the team that no one wanted to play at the end of the season, and they carry a ton of momentum into 2013.
8. Ole Miss (7-6, 3-5 SEC): The Rebels had quite the first year under new coach Hugh Freeze. For a program that won just six games in the two previous seasons, Ole Miss grabbed seven, including its first bowl win since 2009, this year. The depth was lacking all year, but the heart wasn't, as the Rebels were much more competitive and won three SEC games after entering the season on a 14-game conference losing streak. Freeze did a tremendous job of changing the culture in Oxford, but the players did a great job of responding to adversity all season.
9. Mississippi State (8-5, 4-4 SEC): A year that started with such promise after a 7-0 start imploded and led to a lot of criticism about the talent on both sides of the ball. The second half of the season proved the first seven games were a farce. A lot of the defensive deficiencies were masked until the month of November, as the Bulldogs went 1-5 to end the year, including a blowout loss to Ole Miss in the Egg Bowl and a 34-20 loss to Northwestern in the TaxSlayer.com Gator Bowl.
10. Missouri (5-7, 2-6 SEC): The Tigers would love to forget their first season in the SEC. This was supposed to be the Big 12 team that succeeded in its first year out of its comfort zone. This team returned too much not to win a few games in the SEC East. But injuries, most notably to quarterback James Franklin and that offensive line, and an offense that was constantly going in reverse made for a rough start in Missouri's new home. Offensive coordinator David Yost resigned at the end of the year, and this team has to find some sort of rhythm/chemistry on offense in 2013.
11. Tennessee (5-7, 1-7 SEC): The Derek Dooley era ended with quite a whimper. For the second straight season, Tennessee missed out on the postseason because of a loss to one of its rivals. Last year, Kentucky ended the Vols' bowl hopes. This time around, Vandy's blowout win on Nov. 17 bounced Tennessee from a postseason appearance. For as much fun as the offense was to watch, the defense was awful for the majority of the season, finishing dead last in the SEC in total defense. New coach Butch Jones has some solid talent to work with, but a ton of questions surround this program.
12. Arkansas (4-8, 2-6 SEC): Many thought the Razorbacks' dreams of a championship season probably ended when Bobby Petrino took that infamous motorcycle ride in April. Boy, were they right. John L. Smith tried to bring some energy to the program, but he and his players fell flat in a 4-8 season that saw the Hogs give up 30 or more points in seven games. The offense lacked its usual explosion and the Hogs began the year 1-4, with a shocking loss to Louisiana-Monroe in Little Rock, Ark.
13. Auburn (3-9, 0-8 SEC): On paper, the Tigers had a host of young talent, but on the field, they were outmanned just about every single weekend. Auburn roamed around the bottom of most offensive and defensive categories in the SEC all season long. Coach Gene Chizik was fired only two years removed from winning a national title after going winless in conference play and being outscored 129-21 in his final three SEC games, including a 38-0 loss to Georgia and a 49-0 loss to Alabama in the season finale.
14. Kentucky (2-10, 0-8 SEC): Outside of blowing out a Kent State team that was a win away from making a BCS bowl, nothing went right for the Wildcats this year. Injuries ravaged this team, as it had to turn to two true freshman quarterbacks and never found a consistent playmaker to help out on offense. The offense hovered around the bottom of the SEC all year and the defense surrendered 31 points per game, and coach Joker Phillips was fired before the season even ended.
Western Kentucky (7-5, 4-4 Sun Belt) vs. Central Michigan (6-6, 4-4 MAC)
WHO TO WATCH: Western Kentucky running back Antonio Andrews. The 6-foot, 211-pound junior leads the country with 2,977 all-purpose yards and is the only FBS player with more than 1,500 yards rushing and 400 yards receiving. He’s averaging 248.1 all-purpose yards per game and needs 274 yards in the bowl game to break Barry Sanders’ NCAA record for all-purpose yards in a season. Sanders amassed 3,250 yards in 1988 on his way to a Hall of Fame career. Andrews, who was a quarterback in high school, is one of four finalists for the Paul Hornung Award, which is given annually to the nation’s most versatile player.
WHAT TO WATCH: Central Michigan has given up points in bunches, and Western Kentucky has given up the football in bunches. Which of those troubling trends will continue? The Chippewas are allowing 33.3 points per game and were riddled for 40 or more points in five of their six losses. The Hilltoppers, on the other hand, are minus-1 in turnover margin. They’ve fumbled the ball 21 times this season and lost 12. They’ve also thrown 12 interceptions.
WHY TO WATCH: Even though he won’t be coaching, newly hired Western Kentucky coach Bobby Petrino will still be a hot topic. He takes over a Western Kentucky program that has progressed miles under Willie Taggart, who left to take the South Florida head-coaching job. Defensive coordinator Lance Guidry is serving as the Hilltoppers’ interim head coach for this game, a role that’s familiar to him. He stepped in as the interim head coach for Miami (Ohio) at the end of the 2010 season (after Mike Haywood left for the Pittsburgh head-coaching job) and led the RedHawks to a 35-21 victory over Middle Tennessee in the GoDaddy.com Bowl.
PREDICTION: Western Kentucky 31, Central Michigan 17. It wasn’t too long ago that Western Kentucky was playing its first official season in the FBS ranks. The Hilltoppers finished 0-12 in 2009, but here they are, in their first bowl game. Central Michigan is the hot team coming in. The Chippewas had to win three in a row to close the season just to become bowl eligible. The Hilltoppers snapped a three-game losing streak with a 25-24 win over North Texas in their regular-season finale. Western Kentucky’s ability to run the ball and eat up the clock will be the difference in this one, keeping Guidry’s perfect record as an interim head coach intact.
WHO TO WATCH: Western Kentucky running back Antonio Andrews. The 6-foot, 211-pound junior leads the country with 2,977 all-purpose yards and is the only FBS player with more than 1,500 yards rushing and 400 yards receiving. He’s averaging 248.1 all-purpose yards per game and needs 274 yards in the bowl game to break Barry Sanders’ NCAA record for all-purpose yards in a season. Sanders amassed 3,250 yards in 1988 on his way to a Hall of Fame career. Andrews, who was a quarterback in high school, is one of four finalists for the Paul Hornung Award, which is given annually to the nation’s most versatile player.
WHAT TO WATCH: Central Michigan has given up points in bunches, and Western Kentucky has given up the football in bunches. Which of those troubling trends will continue? The Chippewas are allowing 33.3 points per game and were riddled for 40 or more points in five of their six losses. The Hilltoppers, on the other hand, are minus-1 in turnover margin. They’ve fumbled the ball 21 times this season and lost 12. They’ve also thrown 12 interceptions.
WHY TO WATCH: Even though he won’t be coaching, newly hired Western Kentucky coach Bobby Petrino will still be a hot topic. He takes over a Western Kentucky program that has progressed miles under Willie Taggart, who left to take the South Florida head-coaching job. Defensive coordinator Lance Guidry is serving as the Hilltoppers’ interim head coach for this game, a role that’s familiar to him. He stepped in as the interim head coach for Miami (Ohio) at the end of the 2010 season (after Mike Haywood left for the Pittsburgh head-coaching job) and led the RedHawks to a 35-21 victory over Middle Tennessee in the GoDaddy.com Bowl.
PREDICTION: Western Kentucky 31, Central Michigan 17. It wasn’t too long ago that Western Kentucky was playing its first official season in the FBS ranks. The Hilltoppers finished 0-12 in 2009, but here they are, in their first bowl game. Central Michigan is the hot team coming in. The Chippewas had to win three in a row to close the season just to become bowl eligible. The Hilltoppers snapped a three-game losing streak with a 25-24 win over North Texas in their regular-season finale. Western Kentucky’s ability to run the ball and eat up the clock will be the difference in this one, keeping Guidry’s perfect record as an interim head coach intact.
A closer look at the best and worst moments for Arkansas in 2012:
BEST
After four straight losses and the season unraveling, Arkansas managed to stop the bleeding -- at least temporarily -- with a 24-7 win at Auburn. It was easily Arkansas' most impressive performance of the season defensively. The Hogs collected eight sacks, forced five turnovers and held Auburn to 40 rushing yards. That's after giving up a total of 145 points in their previous three games. Trey Flowers had 3.5 sacks for the Hogs, who followed up the win at Auburn with a 49-7 rout of Kentucky the next week. But those would end up being the only two wins of the season in SEC play, as Arkansas finished 4-8 overall.
WORST
Take your pick. A season of hope went down the drain really about the time former coach Bobby Petrino skidded off the road on his motorcycle last spring with his mistress on the back. About 10 days later, he was out as the Hogs' coach, and they were never the same. The second game of the season was an indicator of how bad it would get. Arkansas, ranked No. 8 at the time, blew a 21-point lead in the second half and lost 34-31 in overtime to Louisiana-Monroe in Little Rock. Quarterback Tyler Wilson was knocked out of that game with a concussion and was unable to play the next week against No. 1 Alabama. That 52-0 drubbing at the hands of the Crimson Tide was the low point for the Hogs, who suffered their first shutout at Razorback Stadium in more than 40 years. Afterward, Wilson asked to speak to the media even though he didn't play and referenced some of his teammates giving up in the game. The next week, Arkansas responded by losing at home to Rutgers.
BEST
After four straight losses and the season unraveling, Arkansas managed to stop the bleeding -- at least temporarily -- with a 24-7 win at Auburn. It was easily Arkansas' most impressive performance of the season defensively. The Hogs collected eight sacks, forced five turnovers and held Auburn to 40 rushing yards. That's after giving up a total of 145 points in their previous three games. Trey Flowers had 3.5 sacks for the Hogs, who followed up the win at Auburn with a 49-7 rout of Kentucky the next week. But those would end up being the only two wins of the season in SEC play, as Arkansas finished 4-8 overall.
WORST
Take your pick. A season of hope went down the drain really about the time former coach Bobby Petrino skidded off the road on his motorcycle last spring with his mistress on the back. About 10 days later, he was out as the Hogs' coach, and they were never the same. The second game of the season was an indicator of how bad it would get. Arkansas, ranked No. 8 at the time, blew a 21-point lead in the second half and lost 34-31 in overtime to Louisiana-Monroe in Little Rock. Quarterback Tyler Wilson was knocked out of that game with a concussion and was unable to play the next week against No. 1 Alabama. That 52-0 drubbing at the hands of the Crimson Tide was the low point for the Hogs, who suffered their first shutout at Razorback Stadium in more than 40 years. Afterward, Wilson asked to speak to the media even though he didn't play and referenced some of his teammates giving up in the game. The next week, Arkansas responded by losing at home to Rutgers.
You knew Bobby Petrino would get another chance somewhere.
He's too good of a football coach and too proven a football coach for somebody not to bite the bullet and bring him aboard -- baggage and all.
That somebody was Western Kentucky, which moved quickly after Willie Taggart left for South Florida and has hired Petrino.
It's not the SEC, Big 12 or even the ACC. It's the Sun Belt Conference, but that's exactly the kind of gig I felt all along that Petrino would have to take if he was going to try and revive his coaching career.
Nobody in the SEC was going to touch him, and there were three openings this year (not counting the Arkansas job). School presidents in this league wanted no part of the public relations bloodbath that would have occurred by bringing Petrino back into the SEC.
That said, the guy hasn't forgotten how to coach.
Taggart had already done an excellent job with the Western Kentucky program, so I have no doubt that Petrino will come in there and continue to have success. He won at Louisville. He won at Arkansas, and he'll win at Western Kentucky.
He has nothing left to prove on the field. It's off the field that he'll have to redeem himself, and specifically, with regard to telling the truth.
At Arkansas, the affair isn't so much what got him. It was the combination of hiring his mistress in the Hogs' football office and then not being truthful with his boss.
When you add in Petrino's clandestine meeting with Auburn officials while Tommy Tuberville was still the coach back in 2003 and his leaving the Atlanta Falcons high and dry when the season was still going on in 2007, that's three major strikes against him.
Good thing for him he's not playing baseball.
Here we are again talking about another potential national championship for the SEC.
Weren’t we having this same conversation last year, the year before that and the year before that?
In fact, does anybody really remember the last time we weren’t having this conversation?
The BCS Championship Game festivities will again include an SEC team this season, and once again, it’s Alabama carrying the banner for the league.
If you think everybody else in college football is tired of seeing the SEC win all the time, try taking the temperature of fans in Baton Rouge, La., or Athens, Ga., or Auburn, Ala., over how tired they are of seeing Alabama win all the time.
The Crimson Tide will be chasing history Jan. 7 in the Discover BCS National Championship game against Notre Dame when they go after their third national title in the past four years. The last team to win three outright national titles in a four-year span was Notre Dame in 1946, 1947 and 1949.
An Alabama victory in Miami would mark the seventh consecutive national championship for the SEC, which might have been as balanced and strong across the board this season as any of the seasons during its national championship run.
The final BCS standings looked more like the SEC standings. Six of the top 10 teams were from the SEC, and all six won at least 10 games.
And talk about beating up on each other.
Texas A&M, in its first season in the SEC, waltzed into Bryant-Denny Stadium and upset Alabama 29-24 with two weeks remaining in the regular season.
Georgia lost by four touchdowns to South Carolina back in October, but rebounded to make its second consecutive appearance in the SEC championship game. It wasn’t until the final play that Alabama’s 32-28 win over Georgia was decided last weekend in Atlanta.
Florida is headed back to a BCS bowl for the first time since 2009 thanks to a transformation in Will Muschamp’s second season that saw the Gators go from being soft at times in 2011 to one of the most physical teams in the league this season. Florida will meet Louisville in the Allstate Sugar Bowl after collecting four victories over teams that finished in the top 12 of the final BCS standings.
Steve Spurrier has South Carolina poised to win 11 games for the second straight season. It wasn’t until a year ago that the Gamecocks had ever won 11 games in a season.
The Aggies, who lost close games to Florida and LSU during the first part of the season, showed no signs of stage fright during their first season in the SEC.
So much for Kevin Sumlin’s up-tempo, spread offense not being able to cut it in the SEC. The Aggies led the conference in just about every offensive category and scored 29 or more points in six of their eight league games.
It wasn’t just the old guard that made waves this season.
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Kim Klement/USA TODAYAs a sophomore, South Carolina defensive end Jadeveon Clowney led the SEC with 13.5 sacks.
Kim Klement/USA TODAYAs a sophomore, South Carolina defensive end Jadeveon Clowney led the SEC with 13.5 sacks.Ole Miss began the season shouldering a 14-game SEC losing streak, but first-year coach Hugh Freeze guided the Rebels to a bowl game, and probably more importantly, pinned a 41-24 whipping on rival Mississippi State in the regular-season finale.
The SEC has historically chewed up and spit out coaches, and this season was no exception.
Arkansas’ John L. Smith, Auburn’s Gene Chizik, Kentucky’s Joker Phillips and Tennessee’s Derek Dooley were all sent packing. In Chizik’s case, his ouster came just two years removed from winning a national championship, but the Tigers crashed this season with their first 0-8 SEC finish in school history.
It was also another gut-wrenching season for South Carolina star running back Marcus Lattimore, who suffered a gruesome-looking knee injury in the Tennessee game and was lost for the season. He was already coming off a torn ACL in his other knee the season before.
On a more positive note, Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel will be in New York this weekend and has a great chance to become the first freshman in history to win the Heisman Trophy.
Johnny Football may well become Johnny Heisman.
Offensive MVP: Manziel. While Manziel is admittedly a big video-game buff, his numbers this season weren’t from a video game. They just looked that way. He broke Cam Newton’s SEC record for total offense in a season and cranked out 4,600 yards while accounting for 43 touchdowns. He also saved his best game for the biggest stage by rolling up 345 yards in total offense against No. 1 Alabama in the Aggies’ 29-24 win.
Defensive MVP: South Carolina defensive end Jadeveon Clowney. This was an extremely tough call, and in any other year, Georgia’s Jarvis Jones and Texas A&M’s Damontre Moore would be runaway winners. But Clowney was the most explosive game-changer in the league this season defensively. He leads the SEC with 13 sacks and is second with 21.5 tackles for loss. Easily one of the best pass-rushers in college football, Clowney became a much more complete player this season as a sophomore.
Newcomer of the Year: Manziel. He was a redshirt freshman by classification, but played liked a seasoned veteran. One of the most impressive things about Manziel is that he learned from earlier losses against Florida and LSU, when he didn’t play as well, then proceeded to carve everybody apart down the stretch. He’s the first freshman in FBS history to pass for 3,000 yards and rush for 1,000 yards in the same season. The award for the top true freshman goes to Georgia running back Todd Gurley, who leads the SEC with 1,260 rushing yards.
Biggest surprise: Ole Miss. Florida certainly deserves mention here. Not many people had the Gators winning 11 games and going to a BCS bowl back in August, which is a tribute to Muschamp and his staff. But nobody had the Rebels getting to a bowl game in Freeze’s first season. They’d lost 14 straight SEC games when he arrived. Not only that, but they were way down in scholarship numbers and forced to play a ton of first-year players. They scrapped their way to six wins, and it could have easily been eight or nine wins if they could have held on to a few fourth-quarter leads.
Biggest disappointment: Arkansas. The Hogs went from No. 8 in the country and talking about a national championship in the preseason to sitting at home for the postseason. It was a disaster from the outset, and the team simply didn’t respond to Smith, who stepped in during the spring as interim coach after Bobby Petrino was fired. The Hogs finished 4-8 (2-6 in the SEC). They lost to Louisiana-Monroe in Little Rock the second week of the season, and it was all downhill from there.
Best game: Alabama 32, Georgia 28, Dec. 1, SEC championship game. The previous few SEC championship games had been blowouts, but this one went down to the final play when the clock ran out on the Bulldogs after Aaron Murray’s tipped pass was caught by Chris Conley at the Alabama 5. Georgia, which led 21-10 midway through the third quarter, drove from its own 15 with 68 seconds to play and no timeouts. But when Conley gathered in the deflected pass and was tackled inbounds, the Bulldogs had no way to stop the clock. Alabama rushed for an SEC championship game-record 350 yards, as the Crimson Tide’s offensive line took matters into its own hands in the second half.
Anytime a head-coaching job opens in the SEC, the athletic director at that school stands at the podium and promises his fans with conviction that he’s going to go out and hire a proven winner.
Sometimes that’s a difficult promise to keep, especially when three other schools in your league are coach-shopping at the same time.
But say this for Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long: He delivered on bringing a guy to the Ozarks whose record needs no deciphering.
Bret Bielema was 68-24 (.739) in seven seasons as Wisconsin’s head coach, the ninth-highest winning percentage among active coaches in the NCAA with at least five years of experience. He guided the Badgers to their third consecutive Big Ten championship this season, and they became the first team to represent the Big Ten in three straight Rose Bowls since Michigan in 1976-78.
Over the past four years, Wisconsin has won 40 games, which is tied for the most of any four-year stretch in school history.
Long wanted a proven winner, and he got one.
But winning in the Big Ten and winning in the SEC are two different worlds. That’s not a slight against Bielema. It’s just the way it is.
The fact that Bielema would leave Wisconsin was stunning to a lot of people there. Clearly, though, he’s not afraid of a challenge.
He’ll get a daunting one at Arkansas, which plays in the toughest division (SEC West) in all of college football and doesn’t have the luxury of producing the kind of homegrown talent most of the SEC states do.
Moreover, going into the state of Texas and getting players will be harder than ever with Texas A&M making the kind of splash it did in its first season in the SEC.
The biggest question Bielema will have to answer is whether or not he can recruit at a high level in the SEC. He’s smart enough that he’ll hire guys who know the Hogs' key recruiting territories, but the head coach has to be a good closer in this league.
As successful as Bielema has been at Wisconsin, the proof will be in the pudding as to whether he can score big on the recruiting trail.
But when it comes to coaching and developing hard-nosed football teams committed to running the ball and playing sound defense, Bielema has cornered the market on that brand of football in the Big Ten.
It just so happens to be the same brand that wins championships in the SEC.
Bobby Petrino got the Hogs within striking distance of a championship and took them to a BCS bowl before it all came crashing down with that ill-fated motorcycle ride last April.
Bielema will take his shot at finishing what Petrino started.
Sometimes that’s a difficult promise to keep, especially when three other schools in your league are coach-shopping at the same time.
But say this for Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long: He delivered on bringing a guy to the Ozarks whose record needs no deciphering.
Bret Bielema was 68-24 (.739) in seven seasons as Wisconsin’s head coach, the ninth-highest winning percentage among active coaches in the NCAA with at least five years of experience. He guided the Badgers to their third consecutive Big Ten championship this season, and they became the first team to represent the Big Ten in three straight Rose Bowls since Michigan in 1976-78.
Over the past four years, Wisconsin has won 40 games, which is tied for the most of any four-year stretch in school history.
Long wanted a proven winner, and he got one.
But winning in the Big Ten and winning in the SEC are two different worlds. That’s not a slight against Bielema. It’s just the way it is.
The fact that Bielema would leave Wisconsin was stunning to a lot of people there. Clearly, though, he’s not afraid of a challenge.
He’ll get a daunting one at Arkansas, which plays in the toughest division (SEC West) in all of college football and doesn’t have the luxury of producing the kind of homegrown talent most of the SEC states do.
Moreover, going into the state of Texas and getting players will be harder than ever with Texas A&M making the kind of splash it did in its first season in the SEC.
The biggest question Bielema will have to answer is whether or not he can recruit at a high level in the SEC. He’s smart enough that he’ll hire guys who know the Hogs' key recruiting territories, but the head coach has to be a good closer in this league.
As successful as Bielema has been at Wisconsin, the proof will be in the pudding as to whether he can score big on the recruiting trail.
But when it comes to coaching and developing hard-nosed football teams committed to running the ball and playing sound defense, Bielema has cornered the market on that brand of football in the Big Ten.
It just so happens to be the same brand that wins championships in the SEC.
Bobby Petrino got the Hogs within striking distance of a championship and took them to a BCS bowl before it all came crashing down with that ill-fated motorcycle ride last April.
Bielema will take his shot at finishing what Petrino started.
Sources: Arkansas to hire Bret Bielema
December, 4, 2012
12/04/12
3:36
PM ET
By
Edward Aschoff | ESPN.com
In a shocking development when it comes to SEC coaching searches, Arkansas is expected to hire Wisconsin's Bret Bielema to be its new head coach, a source told ESPN.
Yahoo! Sports originally reported that Bielema, who has spent seven years at Wisconsin and compiled a 68-24 record during his time there, is expected to be announced as Arkansas' new coach Tuesday.
Arkansas was looking to replace interim head coach John L. Smith, who was not retained after the Razorbacks went 4-8 this fall. Smith filled in for former head coach Bobby Petrino, who was fired in April for lying about an affair he had with a staff member that he hired.
Wisconsin (8-5) will play No. 6 Stanford in the Rose Bowl Game Presented by Vizio on Jan. 1. It's the third straight Rose Bowl appearance for the Badgers.
Check out the SEC blog later for more on Arkansas' hiring of Bielema.
Yahoo! Sports originally reported that Bielema, who has spent seven years at Wisconsin and compiled a 68-24 record during his time there, is expected to be announced as Arkansas' new coach Tuesday.
Arkansas was looking to replace interim head coach John L. Smith, who was not retained after the Razorbacks went 4-8 this fall. Smith filled in for former head coach Bobby Petrino, who was fired in April for lying about an affair he had with a staff member that he hired.
Wisconsin (8-5) will play No. 6 Stanford in the Rose Bowl Game Presented by Vizio on Jan. 1. It's the third straight Rose Bowl appearance for the Badgers.
Check out the SEC blog later for more on Arkansas' hiring of Bielema.
Familiar names popping up in SEC searches
December, 4, 2012
12/04/12
9:50
AM ET
By
Chris Low | ESPN.com
As one athletic director noted weeks ago, the three SEC schools still in the market for a head coach are swimming in a lot of the same waters as they try to put a wrap on their searches.
Arkansas, Auburn and Tennessee could all have their new head coaches named by the end of this week. Already, Kentucky has named former Florida defensive coordinator Mark Stoops to replace Joker Phillips.
It should get interesting over the next few days because guys like Oklahoma State's Mike Gundy and Louisville's Charlie Strong are prime targets at a couple of different schools.
At Tennessee, it appears that Gundy and Strong are at the top of the list, as Jimbo Fisher has decided to stay put at Florida State. Tennessee officials are also expected to talk with North Carolina's Larry Fedora on Tuesday in New York.
At Auburn, the name that's created the biggest buzz in that state is Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart, who according to Al.com, interviewed with the Tigers on Monday. The other names prominent in that search are Arkansas State coach Gus Malzahn and Strong. Malzahn was the offensive coordinator at Auburn for three years before taking the Arkansas State head job this season.
With Alabama heading to play in the Discover BCS National Championship Game in January, the timing would be anything but ideal for the Crimson Tide if Smart gets the job, especially if he hires away some of the Alabama assistants to go with him. Either way, Smart is easily the hottest commodity out there among assistant coaches in college football and has been selective the past few years. The Auburn gig may be too attractive to turn down if he gets an offer.
There have been reports that former Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino is on Auburn's list, but multiple sources have told ESPN.com that Petrino is not a serious candidate. Auburn's president, Jay Gogue, simply isn't going to sign off on Petrino, and at this point, Petrino is going to have a hard time breaking back into the SEC.
At Arkansas, two of the top targets are former North Carolina coach Butch Davis and Gundy. Davis, an Arkansas alumnus, has a lot of support among several in the Hog Nation. He was fired at North Carolina following an NCAA investigation of the program that landed the Tar Heels on probation, although he was not mentioned in the 111-page report by the NCAA.
Arkansas, Auburn and Tennessee could all have their new head coaches named by the end of this week. Already, Kentucky has named former Florida defensive coordinator Mark Stoops to replace Joker Phillips.
It should get interesting over the next few days because guys like Oklahoma State's Mike Gundy and Louisville's Charlie Strong are prime targets at a couple of different schools.
At Tennessee, it appears that Gundy and Strong are at the top of the list, as Jimbo Fisher has decided to stay put at Florida State. Tennessee officials are also expected to talk with North Carolina's Larry Fedora on Tuesday in New York.
At Auburn, the name that's created the biggest buzz in that state is Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart, who according to Al.com, interviewed with the Tigers on Monday. The other names prominent in that search are Arkansas State coach Gus Malzahn and Strong. Malzahn was the offensive coordinator at Auburn for three years before taking the Arkansas State head job this season.
With Alabama heading to play in the Discover BCS National Championship Game in January, the timing would be anything but ideal for the Crimson Tide if Smart gets the job, especially if he hires away some of the Alabama assistants to go with him. Either way, Smart is easily the hottest commodity out there among assistant coaches in college football and has been selective the past few years. The Auburn gig may be too attractive to turn down if he gets an offer.
There have been reports that former Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino is on Auburn's list, but multiple sources have told ESPN.com that Petrino is not a serious candidate. Auburn's president, Jay Gogue, simply isn't going to sign off on Petrino, and at this point, Petrino is going to have a hard time breaking back into the SEC.
At Arkansas, two of the top targets are former North Carolina coach Butch Davis and Gundy. Davis, an Arkansas alumnus, has a lot of support among several in the Hog Nation. He was fired at North Carolina following an NCAA investigation of the program that landed the Tar Heels on probation, although he was not mentioned in the 111-page report by the NCAA.
Les Miles gets seven-year extension at LSU
November, 28, 2012
11/28/12
5:00
PM ET
By
Edward Aschoff | ESPN.com
As expected, Les Miles isn't leaving LSU for Arkansas. In fact, Miles appears to be in it for the long haul in Baton Rouge.
A day after reports surfaced that Miles was offered a hefty contract to become the next head coach at Arkansas, he received a seven-year contract extension and a raise from LSU.
During his news conference Wednesday, Miles declined to say who initiated contact concerning the Arkansas opening. The Razorbacks are looking to replace interim coach John L. Smith, who was not retained after the Hogs went 4-8 this fall. He replaced Bobby Petrino, was was fired this spring.
This is Miles' eighth year with the Tigers, and with 10 wins in 2012, he has now won at least 10 games as LSU's coach five times. Miles enters the postseason with an 85-20 record at LSU.
A day after reports surfaced that Miles was offered a hefty contract to become the next head coach at Arkansas, he received a seven-year contract extension and a raise from LSU.
During his news conference Wednesday, Miles declined to say who initiated contact concerning the Arkansas opening. The Razorbacks are looking to replace interim coach John L. Smith, who was not retained after the Hogs went 4-8 this fall. He replaced Bobby Petrino, was was fired this spring.
This is Miles' eighth year with the Tigers, and with 10 wins in 2012, he has now won at least 10 games as LSU's coach five times. Miles enters the postseason with an 85-20 record at LSU.
The regular season in the SEC has come and gone, but our hot/not meter is still working overtime:
GLOWING EMBERS
SEC championship game stakes: It’s a lot like it was back in 2008 and 2009 when Alabama and Florida met in the league championship game for the right to play in the BCS National Championship Game. The only difference is that Alabama is No. 2 and Georgia No. 3 this year in the BCS standings. In 2008, Alabama was No. 1 and Florida No. 4 heading into the SEC championship game. And in 2009, Florida was No. 1 and Alabama No. 2. This will be the first time that Alabama and Georgia have met in the SEC championship game. In fact, they’ve only met a total of six times since the league expanded in 1992 and split into two divisions.
HOT
Vanderbilt running back Zac Stacy: His 180-yard rushing performance in the 55-21 win over Wake Forest pushed him over the 1,000-yard mark for the second consecutive season. Stacy has 1,034 rushing yards and is averaging 5.7 yards per carry. He’s one of only nine players in the SEC over the past decade to rush for 1,000 yards in back-to-back seasons, joining the likes of Carnell Williams, Darren McFadden, Felix Jones and Knowshon Moreno.
NOT
Bobby Petrino’s SEC chances: There are some rumblings at Auburn that Petrino could be a candidate to replace Gene Chizik, who was fired Sunday. But that’s more talk than it is anything. Petrino’s not going to find many, if any, open doors to return to the SEC as a head coach, and at this point, isn’t a serious candidate at any of the four schools looking for a head coach. The school presidents and chancellors simply aren't going to let it happen.
HOT
Jarvis Landry’s catch: The LSU receivers took their share of grief during the first part of the season for not getting open and not making enough big plays. But Landry’s twisting, one-handed stab in the back of the end zone in the 20-13 win over Arkansas might have been the catch of the year in college football. Good luck in finding a better one.
NOT
ACC power: Yes, this is an SEC blog, but how much has the SEC owned the ACC this season? The SEC was 4-0 against the ACC last weekend with Florida beating Florida State on the road and South Carolina taking down Clemson on the road in games where the Gators and Gamecocks were both underdogs. Go back to the start of the season, too. Tennessee, which suffered through its third straight losing season, beat North Carolina State by two touchdowns in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game, and one of the worst Auburn teams in history played Clemson to the wire the next night in Atlanta.
HOT
South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier: The Head Ball Coach joined Bear Bryant this past weekend in becoming the only two coaches in SEC history to top the wins list at two league schools. Spurrier won his 65th game at South Carolina, and it couldn’t have been sweeter for the Gamecocks. They defeated bitter rival Clemson 27-17 to end the Tigers’ 13-game home winning streak and give South Carolina four straight wins in the series for the first time since 1951-54. The Gamecocks have now won at least 10 games in each of the past two seasons. Prior to the 2011 season, they’d won 10 games in a season only one other time in school history (1984). Spurrier is also the all-time winningest coach at Florida with 122 wins. Bryant won 232 games at Alabama and 60 at Kentucky.
NOT
Florida’s respect: It’s hard to argue with Will Muschamp’s assessment following Florida’s win over Florida State. The Gators, based on what they’ve accomplished this season, are as deserving as anyone to be playing for the national championship. Their résumé is better than anybody else’s in college football with wins over No. 7 LSU, No. 9 Texas A&M, No. 10 South Carolina and No. 13 Florida State. Their only loss was a close one (17-9) to No. 3 Georgia. The Gators have made a living of winning ugly in some games, but their body of work speaks for itself.
FREEZER BURN
The school down south: Give Dan Mullen his due. He’s as responsible as anyone for spicing up the Mississippi State-Ole Miss rivalry with the way he’s gone after Ole Miss and referred to the Rebels as the “school up north.” For three years in a row, Mullen and the Bulldogs beat up on the Rebels and then rubbed the Egg Bowl trophy in their faces, at least figuratively speaking. Now, it’s Ole Miss’ turn to do some crowing after blasting the “school down south” 41-24 last Saturday in a game the Rebels dominated in the second half. It was a huge win for Hugh Freeze in his first season as Ole Miss coach and says volumes about the direction in which the Rebels are headed. They could easily be 9-3 right now instead of 6-6 if they had finished the Texas A&M, Vanderbilt and LSU games the way they finished the Bulldogs. Mississippi State’s disappointing finish to the season will put a damper on the Bulldogs’ 8-4 record. They wound up losing four of their last five games, and all four losses were by at least 17 points. Their only win over an FBS team that finished the regular season with a winning record came over Middle Tennessee.
GLOWING EMBERS
SEC championship game stakes: It’s a lot like it was back in 2008 and 2009 when Alabama and Florida met in the league championship game for the right to play in the BCS National Championship Game. The only difference is that Alabama is No. 2 and Georgia No. 3 this year in the BCS standings. In 2008, Alabama was No. 1 and Florida No. 4 heading into the SEC championship game. And in 2009, Florida was No. 1 and Alabama No. 2. This will be the first time that Alabama and Georgia have met in the SEC championship game. In fact, they’ve only met a total of six times since the league expanded in 1992 and split into two divisions.
HOT
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Brian A. Westerholt/Getty ImagesZac Stacy has rushed for 1,000 yards in back-to-back seasons.
Brian A. Westerholt/Getty ImagesZac Stacy has rushed for 1,000 yards in back-to-back seasons.NOT
Bobby Petrino’s SEC chances: There are some rumblings at Auburn that Petrino could be a candidate to replace Gene Chizik, who was fired Sunday. But that’s more talk than it is anything. Petrino’s not going to find many, if any, open doors to return to the SEC as a head coach, and at this point, isn’t a serious candidate at any of the four schools looking for a head coach. The school presidents and chancellors simply aren't going to let it happen.
HOT
Jarvis Landry’s catch: The LSU receivers took their share of grief during the first part of the season for not getting open and not making enough big plays. But Landry’s twisting, one-handed stab in the back of the end zone in the 20-13 win over Arkansas might have been the catch of the year in college football. Good luck in finding a better one.
NOT
ACC power: Yes, this is an SEC blog, but how much has the SEC owned the ACC this season? The SEC was 4-0 against the ACC last weekend with Florida beating Florida State on the road and South Carolina taking down Clemson on the road in games where the Gators and Gamecocks were both underdogs. Go back to the start of the season, too. Tennessee, which suffered through its third straight losing season, beat North Carolina State by two touchdowns in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game, and one of the worst Auburn teams in history played Clemson to the wire the next night in Atlanta.
HOT
South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier: The Head Ball Coach joined Bear Bryant this past weekend in becoming the only two coaches in SEC history to top the wins list at two league schools. Spurrier won his 65th game at South Carolina, and it couldn’t have been sweeter for the Gamecocks. They defeated bitter rival Clemson 27-17 to end the Tigers’ 13-game home winning streak and give South Carolina four straight wins in the series for the first time since 1951-54. The Gamecocks have now won at least 10 games in each of the past two seasons. Prior to the 2011 season, they’d won 10 games in a season only one other time in school history (1984). Spurrier is also the all-time winningest coach at Florida with 122 wins. Bryant won 232 games at Alabama and 60 at Kentucky.
NOT
Florida’s respect: It’s hard to argue with Will Muschamp’s assessment following Florida’s win over Florida State. The Gators, based on what they’ve accomplished this season, are as deserving as anyone to be playing for the national championship. Their résumé is better than anybody else’s in college football with wins over No. 7 LSU, No. 9 Texas A&M, No. 10 South Carolina and No. 13 Florida State. Their only loss was a close one (17-9) to No. 3 Georgia. The Gators have made a living of winning ugly in some games, but their body of work speaks for itself.
FREEZER BURN
The school down south: Give Dan Mullen his due. He’s as responsible as anyone for spicing up the Mississippi State-Ole Miss rivalry with the way he’s gone after Ole Miss and referred to the Rebels as the “school up north.” For three years in a row, Mullen and the Bulldogs beat up on the Rebels and then rubbed the Egg Bowl trophy in their faces, at least figuratively speaking. Now, it’s Ole Miss’ turn to do some crowing after blasting the “school down south” 41-24 last Saturday in a game the Rebels dominated in the second half. It was a huge win for Hugh Freeze in his first season as Ole Miss coach and says volumes about the direction in which the Rebels are headed. They could easily be 9-3 right now instead of 6-6 if they had finished the Texas A&M, Vanderbilt and LSU games the way they finished the Bulldogs. Mississippi State’s disappointing finish to the season will put a damper on the Bulldogs’ 8-4 record. They wound up losing four of their last five games, and all four losses were by at least 17 points. Their only win over an FBS team that finished the regular season with a winning record came over Middle Tennessee.
What to watch in the SEC: Week 13
November, 21, 2012
11/21/12
10:32
AM ET
By
Edward Aschoff | ESPN.com
It's a big final week in the SEC, so here's what to watch out for:
1. SEC championship matchup: We already know that Georgia is locked into its spot in the SEC championship game, but its opponent hasn't been determined yet. Obviously, the overwhelming favorite is Alabama, which takes on hapless Auburn, but LSU and Texas A&M are still in the mix. Alabama goes to Atlanta with a win or if LSU, which plays Arkansas, and A&M, which plays Missouri, lose. LSU has to win and hope that at least Alabama loses because it owns the tiebreaker with the Aggies. The Aggies needed Alabama and LSU to lose.
2. BCS bound? The BCS is SEC heavy at the top and six teams could all still make a BCS bowl game. Wins by Alabama and Georgia pretty much guarantee that the winner in Atlanta is headed to Miami for the Discover BCS National Championship Game. But the most interesting BCS scenario revolves around Florida. The Gators are fourth in the BCS standings, and with a win over Florida State on Saturday, they probably are headed to a BCS bowl game at 11-1. If Notre Dame loses and Florida wins, the Gators could back right into the national championship. LSU and A&M are still alive as well for a BCS bowl, but both need to win and need Florida to lose. South Carolina is 12th in the BCS, so the Gamecocks have to beat Clemson and need Florida, LSU and A&M to lose in order to get that second BCS slot for the SEC.
3. Making the bowl cut: Two SEC teams are still looking for bowl berths. The SEC won't fill all of its bowl slots, but it's also in real danger of sending only eight teams unless Ole Miss and Missouri win this weekend. The Rebels host archrival Mississippi State at home in an Egg Bowl that has real significance this year. The Tigers have an even tougher task, as they head to College Station to take on red-hot Texas A&M. Ole Miss wasn't even supposed to be in this situation, but now that it is, a loss would be a big disappointment for players. Missouri was expected to compete in the SEC, so not making a bowl would be a major disappointment for a program that had so much confidence coming into its new league.
4. One last Heisman push: Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel is at the top of the Heisman list, and he'll have one last chance to impress voters around the country against Missouri's defense. The Tigers have been decent on defense and get their best player, defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson, back from suspension. But only two defenses have been able to stop Johnny Football this season, and they currently rank fourth and fifth nationally in total defense. Missouri comes in at 40th nationally in total defense, giving up 367.4 yards per game. Manziel is averaging 378.3 yards of total offense in games this season.
5. A very strong SEC finish: People keep crowing that the SEC is overrated, but the BCS standings beg to differ. Six teams are ranked in the top 12 of the standings and there's a chance that the conference could end the weekend with three one-loss teams and three two-loss teams. A win by Mississippi State, and the Bulldogs wouldn't just have nine wins but could be back in the Top 25 of the BCS standings as well, giving the conference seven in the Top 25. A Vanderbilt win also could propel the Commodores into the Top 25 with their eight wins. Wins by Florida and South Carolina over top-11 BCS teams will be icing on the cake for the conference.
6. Playing for four quarters: Ole Miss has had to swallow three tough losses in a row because of second-half letdowns. The Rebels were down four to Georgia at halftime a few weeks ago, but were outscored 23-0 in the second half. They were then outscored 45-24 in their losses to Vanderbilt and LSU. If Ole Miss is going to stop its three-game losing streak to Mississippi State, it has to play an entire game Saturday. There can't be a second-half lull like the past three weeks. The Bulldogs don't have the depth issues that Ole Miss has, so they can go deeper into games with more options on the field. The Rebels will have a ton of emotion going into this game, but Hugh Freeze needs his team to finally get back to playing four-quarter football or its shot at a bowl will be lost.
7. Crazy 8s: If Vanderbilt can get past Wake Forest on the road, they'll reach eight wins for the first time since 1982. Talk about a total turnaround by Vanderbilt under the watch of James Franklin. He has made this program really relevant in the SEC and the Commodores are no longer a pushover. They are riding a five-game winning streak and are already bowl eligible. The Commodores are headed to back-to-back bowl games for the first time in school history. Vandy's offense is hot right now, and Wake Forest is giving up 433 yards a game and 30 points a contest.
8. Coaching finales: The SEC will officially say goodbye to two head coaches Saturday. Kentucky's Joker Phillips will coach his final game for the Wildcats when they take on Tennessee in Knoxville. Arkansas' John L. Smith also will coach his final game with the Hogs against LSU on Friday. Smith held interim status all year after the dismissal of Bobby Petrino and while he has publicly said he's confident about his coaching future, it won't be as Arkansas head coach after Saturday. Kentucky made the announcement about Phillips weeks ago, but he decided to coach through the last two weeks of the season. Tennessee also cut ties with Derek Dooley; offensive coordinator Jim Chaney will coach the Vols Saturday. Things are at a boiling point in Auburn, so this could be Gene Chizik's final game as the Tigers' coach when they take on No. 2 Alabama in Tuscaloosa.
9. Jeff Driskel's health & Florida's offense: Florida's 10 wins haven't all been pretty, and Saturday doesn't figure to be very pretty for the Gators' offense with the nation's No. 1 defense lining up opposite them. With Driskel hobbled by a bad ankle, no one knows how durable or how effective he'll be this Saturday. He will play, but for how long has yet to be determined. Will Muschamp and offensive coordinator Brent Pease are surely working this week to put him and the offense in the best positions to make plays, considering Driskel won't be 100 percent. Expect a lot more Mike Gillislee and some more Wildcat with Trey Burton. Maybe Jacoby Brissett will take some snaps. The bottom line is that the Gators can't trot out the same offense that has taken the field in recent weeks, or they won't stand a chance Saturday.
10. Stopping Clemson's offense: The Gamecocks are quietly ranked 13th nationally in total defense (310 yards per game) and scoring defense (17.5). What might be the most impressive stat is how this once-young and relatively inexperienced secondary is allowing under 200 yards passing a game. But South Carolina's defense will face its toughest test of the season Saturday when it travels to Clemson. The Tigers are averaging 535 yards a game and scoring 44 points a contest. Clemson can do it through the air with Tajh Boyd and his talented duo of DeAndre Hopkins and Sammy Watkins (121 combined catches for 1,842 and 18 TDs), and on the ground with Andre Ellington (959 rushing yards). In order for the Gamecocks to get their fourth straight win over Clemson, the defense has to play its best game of the season.
1. SEC championship matchup: We already know that Georgia is locked into its spot in the SEC championship game, but its opponent hasn't been determined yet. Obviously, the overwhelming favorite is Alabama, which takes on hapless Auburn, but LSU and Texas A&M are still in the mix. Alabama goes to Atlanta with a win or if LSU, which plays Arkansas, and A&M, which plays Missouri, lose. LSU has to win and hope that at least Alabama loses because it owns the tiebreaker with the Aggies. The Aggies needed Alabama and LSU to lose.
2. BCS bound? The BCS is SEC heavy at the top and six teams could all still make a BCS bowl game. Wins by Alabama and Georgia pretty much guarantee that the winner in Atlanta is headed to Miami for the Discover BCS National Championship Game. But the most interesting BCS scenario revolves around Florida. The Gators are fourth in the BCS standings, and with a win over Florida State on Saturday, they probably are headed to a BCS bowl game at 11-1. If Notre Dame loses and Florida wins, the Gators could back right into the national championship. LSU and A&M are still alive as well for a BCS bowl, but both need to win and need Florida to lose. South Carolina is 12th in the BCS, so the Gamecocks have to beat Clemson and need Florida, LSU and A&M to lose in order to get that second BCS slot for the SEC.
3. Making the bowl cut: Two SEC teams are still looking for bowl berths. The SEC won't fill all of its bowl slots, but it's also in real danger of sending only eight teams unless Ole Miss and Missouri win this weekend. The Rebels host archrival Mississippi State at home in an Egg Bowl that has real significance this year. The Tigers have an even tougher task, as they head to College Station to take on red-hot Texas A&M. Ole Miss wasn't even supposed to be in this situation, but now that it is, a loss would be a big disappointment for players. Missouri was expected to compete in the SEC, so not making a bowl would be a major disappointment for a program that had so much confidence coming into its new league.
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AP Photo/Dave EinselTexas A&M QB Johnny Manziel has one more chance to impress Heisman voters Saturday against Mizzou.
AP Photo/Dave EinselTexas A&M QB Johnny Manziel has one more chance to impress Heisman voters Saturday against Mizzou.5. A very strong SEC finish: People keep crowing that the SEC is overrated, but the BCS standings beg to differ. Six teams are ranked in the top 12 of the standings and there's a chance that the conference could end the weekend with three one-loss teams and three two-loss teams. A win by Mississippi State, and the Bulldogs wouldn't just have nine wins but could be back in the Top 25 of the BCS standings as well, giving the conference seven in the Top 25. A Vanderbilt win also could propel the Commodores into the Top 25 with their eight wins. Wins by Florida and South Carolina over top-11 BCS teams will be icing on the cake for the conference.
6. Playing for four quarters: Ole Miss has had to swallow three tough losses in a row because of second-half letdowns. The Rebels were down four to Georgia at halftime a few weeks ago, but were outscored 23-0 in the second half. They were then outscored 45-24 in their losses to Vanderbilt and LSU. If Ole Miss is going to stop its three-game losing streak to Mississippi State, it has to play an entire game Saturday. There can't be a second-half lull like the past three weeks. The Bulldogs don't have the depth issues that Ole Miss has, so they can go deeper into games with more options on the field. The Rebels will have a ton of emotion going into this game, but Hugh Freeze needs his team to finally get back to playing four-quarter football or its shot at a bowl will be lost.
7. Crazy 8s: If Vanderbilt can get past Wake Forest on the road, they'll reach eight wins for the first time since 1982. Talk about a total turnaround by Vanderbilt under the watch of James Franklin. He has made this program really relevant in the SEC and the Commodores are no longer a pushover. They are riding a five-game winning streak and are already bowl eligible. The Commodores are headed to back-to-back bowl games for the first time in school history. Vandy's offense is hot right now, and Wake Forest is giving up 433 yards a game and 30 points a contest.
8. Coaching finales: The SEC will officially say goodbye to two head coaches Saturday. Kentucky's Joker Phillips will coach his final game for the Wildcats when they take on Tennessee in Knoxville. Arkansas' John L. Smith also will coach his final game with the Hogs against LSU on Friday. Smith held interim status all year after the dismissal of Bobby Petrino and while he has publicly said he's confident about his coaching future, it won't be as Arkansas head coach after Saturday. Kentucky made the announcement about Phillips weeks ago, but he decided to coach through the last two weeks of the season. Tennessee also cut ties with Derek Dooley; offensive coordinator Jim Chaney will coach the Vols Saturday. Things are at a boiling point in Auburn, so this could be Gene Chizik's final game as the Tigers' coach when they take on No. 2 Alabama in Tuscaloosa.
9. Jeff Driskel's health & Florida's offense: Florida's 10 wins haven't all been pretty, and Saturday doesn't figure to be very pretty for the Gators' offense with the nation's No. 1 defense lining up opposite them. With Driskel hobbled by a bad ankle, no one knows how durable or how effective he'll be this Saturday. He will play, but for how long has yet to be determined. Will Muschamp and offensive coordinator Brent Pease are surely working this week to put him and the offense in the best positions to make plays, considering Driskel won't be 100 percent. Expect a lot more Mike Gillislee and some more Wildcat with Trey Burton. Maybe Jacoby Brissett will take some snaps. The bottom line is that the Gators can't trot out the same offense that has taken the field in recent weeks, or they won't stand a chance Saturday.
10. Stopping Clemson's offense: The Gamecocks are quietly ranked 13th nationally in total defense (310 yards per game) and scoring defense (17.5). What might be the most impressive stat is how this once-young and relatively inexperienced secondary is allowing under 200 yards passing a game. But South Carolina's defense will face its toughest test of the season Saturday when it travels to Clemson. The Tigers are averaging 535 yards a game and scoring 44 points a contest. Clemson can do it through the air with Tajh Boyd and his talented duo of DeAndre Hopkins and Sammy Watkins (121 combined catches for 1,842 and 18 TDs), and on the ground with Andre Ellington (959 rushing yards). In order for the Gamecocks to get their fourth straight win over Clemson, the defense has to play its best game of the season.
Bulldogs' rout ends Arkansas' bowl hopes
November, 17, 2012
11/17/12
5:00
PM ET
By
Edward Aschoff | ESPN.com
After suffering three straight blowouts at the hands of SEC foes, Mississippi State put up a nice route of its own with a 45-14 drubbing of Arkansas.
Behind the arm of quarterback Tyler Russell, the Bulldogs (8-3, 4-3 SEC) rolled up 38 unanswered points after trailing 14-7 early in the second quarter. Twenty-eight of those points came in the second half. Russell deflated Arkansas' already struggling defense with 274 passing yards and four touchdowns. He got plenty of help from his defense, as the Bulldogs forced five turnovers.
Following Arkansas' second scoring drive, the Razorbacks crossed into Mississippi State territory just once on its last 11 drives.
Russell was excellent all day for the Bulldogs. He slipped in some beautiful passes through Arkansas defenders and then floated a couple of perfectly thrown balls over Razorbacks players, including 24-yard third-quarter touchdown pass to running back LaDarius Perkins that put the game out of reach at 31-14.
Russell has been extremely efficient all year and now has 21 touchdown passes to just four interceptions. He got a lot of help on Saturday from wide receiver Chad Bumphis, who caught six passes for 82 yards and two touchdowns.
The win pushes the Bulldogs closer to the 10 wins that many expected from Mississippi State after its 7-0 start. The Bulldogs needed some sort of spark after their three-game slide and got it in a major way by dominating the Razorbacks in every part of the game, rolling up 505 yards of offense and holding the Hogs to just 359.
As for the Razorbacks (4-7, 2-5), this loss ends their chance at a bowl berth. Arkansas' long, unsuccessful season will officially end next weekend when the Hogs take on LSU at home.
The year was supposed to be full of such promise, but everything came crashing down after Bobby Petrino's embarrassing dismissal. It was the start of a very miserable year for the program, but it will be ending soon. It won't be ending the way players and coaches wanted it to, but it's time for this program to get a much-needed fresh start.
Behind the arm of quarterback Tyler Russell, the Bulldogs (8-3, 4-3 SEC) rolled up 38 unanswered points after trailing 14-7 early in the second quarter. Twenty-eight of those points came in the second half. Russell deflated Arkansas' already struggling defense with 274 passing yards and four touchdowns. He got plenty of help from his defense, as the Bulldogs forced five turnovers.
Following Arkansas' second scoring drive, the Razorbacks crossed into Mississippi State territory just once on its last 11 drives.
Russell was excellent all day for the Bulldogs. He slipped in some beautiful passes through Arkansas defenders and then floated a couple of perfectly thrown balls over Razorbacks players, including 24-yard third-quarter touchdown pass to running back LaDarius Perkins that put the game out of reach at 31-14.
Russell has been extremely efficient all year and now has 21 touchdown passes to just four interceptions. He got a lot of help on Saturday from wide receiver Chad Bumphis, who caught six passes for 82 yards and two touchdowns.
The win pushes the Bulldogs closer to the 10 wins that many expected from Mississippi State after its 7-0 start. The Bulldogs needed some sort of spark after their three-game slide and got it in a major way by dominating the Razorbacks in every part of the game, rolling up 505 yards of offense and holding the Hogs to just 359.
As for the Razorbacks (4-7, 2-5), this loss ends their chance at a bowl berth. Arkansas' long, unsuccessful season will officially end next weekend when the Hogs take on LSU at home.
The year was supposed to be full of such promise, but everything came crashing down after Bobby Petrino's embarrassing dismissal. It was the start of a very miserable year for the program, but it will be ending soon. It won't be ending the way players and coaches wanted it to, but it's time for this program to get a much-needed fresh start.
3-point stance: The downside of up-tempo
November, 14, 2012
11/14/12
5:00
AM ET
By
Ivan Maisel | ESPN.com
1. When an offense goes up-tempo, the defense pays the price. Not just the opposing defense, either. The defenses at Arizona and No. 2 Oregon are playing 82 and 76 plays, respectively, per game. The wear-and-tear is exacting a toll in mid-November. The Ducks are playing freshmen on their defensive line, and Arizona is playing four walk-ons and two true freshmen on its defense. They are playing because that’s who’s healthy.
2. The Big East put a good face on its new reality this week. The league no longer will have an automatic bid for its champion in the postseason format that replaces the BCS in 2014. The highest-rated team among five conferences will get that bid. The Big East may have the inside track on that bid, given that Boise State, which has earned two BCS bids, is moving into the Big East, and current powers Rutgers, Cincinnati and Louisville are (so far) remaining in the league.
3. Bobby Petrino may be a hot commodity in the hiring season to come. But if Auburn does decide to force out Gene Chizik, whose Tigers have lost nine consecutive SEC games by an average margin of 23 points, I continue to hear that the school won’t try to hire Petrino. Between the scandal that brought about his departure from Arkansas, and his role in the abortive attempt to overthrow Tigers coach Tommy Tuberville in 2003, Petrino would be a difficult figure for Auburn fans to unite behind.
2. The Big East put a good face on its new reality this week. The league no longer will have an automatic bid for its champion in the postseason format that replaces the BCS in 2014. The highest-rated team among five conferences will get that bid. The Big East may have the inside track on that bid, given that Boise State, which has earned two BCS bids, is moving into the Big East, and current powers Rutgers, Cincinnati and Louisville are (so far) remaining in the league.
3. Bobby Petrino may be a hot commodity in the hiring season to come. But if Auburn does decide to force out Gene Chizik, whose Tigers have lost nine consecutive SEC games by an average margin of 23 points, I continue to hear that the school won’t try to hire Petrino. Between the scandal that brought about his departure from Arkansas, and his role in the abortive attempt to overthrow Tigers coach Tommy Tuberville in 2003, Petrino would be a difficult figure for Auburn fans to unite behind.
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