ESPN College Football

Three of the five finalists for the 2009 Butkus Award are from the SEC - Alabama's Rolando McClain, South Carolina's Eric Norwood and Florida's Brandon Spikes.

The Butkus Award goes annually to the top linebacker in the country.

The other two finalists this year are Texas' Sergia Kindle and Missouri's Sean Weatherspoon.

McClain, Weatherspoon and Spikes were all finalists last year.

A check of what's making headlines in the SEC:

• Georgia junior linebacker Rennie Curran mulls decision on whether to turn pro, writes David Hale of The Macon Telegraph.

• A BCS trip may be lost, but LSU can still land an attractive postseason trip, writes Randy Rosetta of The Baton Rouge Advocate.

• Freshman Bobby Massie is making a move in the Ole Miss offensive line at just the right time.

• South Carolina defensive end Cliff Matthews will be a game-time decision Saturday against Florida. He dislocated his shoulder two weeks ago against Tennessee.

• David Jones of Florida Today thinks the eye-gouging incident may have played a role in Florida linebacker Brandon Spikes not being among the finalists for the Lott Trophy, which recognizes on-field performance and personal character.

• Vanderbilt is performing a delicate dance with the redshirt process, writes Bryan Mullen of The Tennessean.

• Cowbells and penalties for the opponents go hand-in-hand at Mississippi State's Scott Field.

• Alabama's Mark Ingram continues to excel despite a tough time for his family.

• Columnist Kevin Scarbinsky of The Birmingham News writes that Auburn assistants Trooper Taylor and Gus Malzahn should steer clear of the Memphis head coaching job.

Posted by ESPN.com's Chris Low

Making the rounds on a Friday in the SEC:

• This year's Heisman Trophy race is going to go down to the wire, writes Bryan Mullen of The Tennessean.

• Eric Berry's new role on the Tennessee defense has diminished his interception numbers and hurt his chances of breaking the NCAA record for career return yardage.

• Alabama's "Band of Brothers" has turned the Crimson Tide's defense into a fortress this season.

• Florida linebacker A.J. Jones is having a breakthrough season, writes Robbie Andreu of The Gainesville Sun.

• Special teams have been pretty special this season for LSU, writes Gary Laney of The Baton Rouge Advocate.

• Orlando Sentinel columnist Mike Bianchi isn't buying that linebacker Brandon Spikes "volunteered" to sit out the entire game against Vanderbilt and smells a little P.R. spin by the Gators.

• Ellis Johnson, South Carolina's assistant head coach for the defense, doesn't like the way safety Chris Culliver handled things last week, but says it's time for people to get off his back.

• Georgia strength coach Dave Van Halanger takes issue with some of the criticism out there that the Bulldogs are a weak football team.

• Ole Miss' staff is reassessing what the Rebels are doing on offense and may end up simplifying things. They've averaged just 17.2 points in five SEC games this season.

Posted by ESPN.com's Chris Low

It’s a good thing Alabama and LSU tangle this weekend. They meet for only the second time since 1978 as top-10 opponents.

If not for that highly anticipated showdown, the schedule would be top-heavy with a bunch of duds, mostly teams hoping to stretch their legs and their scoreboards against outmanned nonconference foes.

The Arkansas-South Carolina matchup should also be interesting. The loser could be in deep trouble as far as finishing this season strong.

Here’s a look at what to watch in the SEC in Week 10:

1. How the West was won: For Alabama, it’s as simple as winning Saturday against LSU. The Crimson Tide (8-0, 5-0) would clinch the Western Division title and their second straight trip to the SEC championship game with a win. They would own all tiebreakers based on their head-to-head victory over LSU regardless of what they do in their final two SEC games against Mississippi State and Auburn. The Tigers (7-1, 4-1) wouldn’t clinch the West title with a win over the Crimson Tide, but would put themselves in a commanding position. LSU would still need to win over Ole Miss on the road and Arkansas at home to lock up a trip to Atlanta to play in the SEC championship game.

2. Beast of the East: Florida is already taking ticket orders for the SEC championship game. The Gators (8-0, 6-0) clinched their second straight trip to Atlanta last week. Still, they will probably need to stay unbeaten if they want a shot at the BCS national championship. Being upset at this point by anyone left on their regular-season schedule (none of their remaining four opponents are ranked) would drop them low enough in the polls that they would have a difficult time climbing back high enough -- even with a win in the SEC championship game -- to finish in the top two of the final BCS standings. So, in other words, it’s still pretty much sudden death for the Gators if they want to get to Pasadena and play for their second consecutive national title.

3. Miles vs. Saban III: When both coaches go out of their way to talk about how this game isn’t about them and how it’s about the players, that’s a pretty good indication that the two coaches are indeed a huge part of this game. How can they not be? Saban guided LSU to a national championship in 2003 before bolting for the NFL. Miles took over and won LSU’s second national championship four years later in 2007 and did so with a lot of players who were recruited by Saban. It’s one thing to replace a coach the stature of Saban, but it’s quite another to have to face him every year after he shows back up in your same division at one of your chief rivals. Winning Saturday would go a long way toward getting Miles out of Saban’s shadow at LSU once and for all.

4. Tide’s troubles in the red zone: Alabama has struggled mightily this season inside the red zone. The Crimson Tide have just 16 touchdowns in 38 trips inside their opponents’ 20-yard line, and their 42.1 touchdown percentage ranks 111^th nationally. Even more troubling for Saban is his team's inability to throw the ball when trying to score touchdowns. Alabama's 27.3 completion percentage inside the red zone ranks dead last (120^th) among all FBS teams. So if LSU gears up to stop the run, which you know the Tigers will, Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy is going to need to throw the ball better in order to score touchdowns. Getting tight end Colin Peek back would be a huge boost. Peek remains day to day with a knee sprain suffered in warm-ups against Tennessee. He practiced some Wednesday.

5. Peterson’s second chance: LSU sophomore cornerback Patrick Peterson has been replaying the catch over and over in his mind. He was defending Alabama receiver Julio Jones last season when Jones hauled in the 24-yard catch in overtime to set up the Crimson Tide’s game-winning touchdown. Peterson, who’s emerged this season as one of the better cornerbacks in the SEC, hasn’t made it any secret that he’s been counting down the days to getting another shot at Jones. “The coaches know what I want," Peterson said. "They have confidence in me. ... Everything I’ve been doing since [last] season is to prepare for Julio Jones. I really haven’t had a chance to get into the game plan on how coach has us guarding him, but I do know I’m going to lock on Jones.”

6. Practice makes perfect: Figuring out who’s going to be starting for Arkansas on defense this weekend would require getting your hands on the practice tape. For the second week in a row, the Hogs plan on starting the players who grade out the highest in practice. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done earlier in your career or earlier this season. It matters only what you’ve done this week on the practice field. Arkansas had six first-time starters on defense a week ago, and defensive coordinator Willy Robinson thinks the message has come through loud and clear. The Hogs, last in the SEC in total defense and the only team in the league giving up 400 or more yards per game (410.6), needed a jolt on that side of the ball.

7. Breakfast in Fayetteville: Those morning kickoffs this season haven’t been real tasty for the visiting team, which means South Carolina could be in trouble this Saturday. The Arkansas-South Carolina contest is set for an 11:21 a.m. CT start. Three of the last four morning kickoffs have all been won by the home team in convincing fashion. Auburn beat Ole Miss 33-20 last week. Ole Miss beat Arkansas 30-17 the week before, and Arkansas beat Auburn 44-23 back on Oct. 10. Going back to September, visiting LSU also struggled before keeping Mississippi State out of the end zone at the end and escaping 30-26 in Starkville. Whoever loses this latest morning affair is going to have a hard time regrouping for the rest of the season. It's a huge game for both teams.

8. Gators going Spikes-less: Brandon Spikes’ half-game suspension against Vanderbilt has turned into a full game after Spikes went to the Florida coaches and suggested that he should sit out the entire game. Spikes didn’t want to be a distraction to his teammates, who say they’ve got his back regardless of his attempted eye gouge in the Georgia game last week. Ryan Stamper will step in for Spikes at middle linebacker, and the Gators should be fine against a Vanderbilt offense that hasn’t scored more than 10 points all season against an SEC opponent. But the bigger picture is how this whole ordeal will affect Spikes down the road. The Gators will need him at his best, both physically and emotionally, if they’re going to win another national title.

9. Stormin’ Norman: What kind of freshman season has it been for Vanderbilt running back Warren Norman? Well, he charges into Saturday’s game at Florida with three kickoff returns for touchdowns. The only other player in SEC history to have pulled that off was Willie Gault in 1980. Norman also leads the SEC with 1,526 all-purpose yards and has a shot to break Herschel Walker’s SEC freshman record for all-purpose yards in a season (1,805). Norman is averaging 169.6 yards per game, which would place him among the top 10 in the SEC all-time in terms of season average, just ahead of Deuce McAllister’s 169.2 yards per game in 1999 and Bo Jackson’s 169 yards per game in 1985. Talk about some exclusive company.

10. A November to remember: It was about this time a year ago that the Phillip Fulmer era at Tennessee came to an end during an emotional news conference at Neyland Stadium. Sandwiched around that announcement were ugly November losses to South Carolina and Wyoming. The outlook this November is a little brighter for the Vols, who are playing their best football of the season under first-year coach Lane Kiffin and looking to sweep through the month of November unbeaten starting with Memphis on Saturday. Running the table -- which would also mean winning at Ole Miss, beating Vanderbilt at home and then closing the season with a win at Kentucky -- would put the Vols in great shape come bowl selection time. The Capital One, Outback and Cotton bowls would all be interested.

Posted by ESPN.com's Chris Low

The rest of the SEC is going to want a front-row seat to watch this whole Lane Kiffin-Urban Meyer deal play out.

One thing's for sure: Kiffin seems to revel in gigging Meyer any way he can.

After Tennessee's practice Wednesday night, Kiffin was asked about Meyer's comments on the SEC coaches teleconference earlier in the day when Meyer said officials missed a late hit on Tim Tebow.

"Urban Meyer ... criticized the officials?" Kiffin said. "That will be interesting to see."

Translation: Kiffin isn't holding his breath that SEC commissioner Mike Slive will follow through and suspend Meyer.

Pressed further on whether it was his understanding that coaches would be subject to a fine or suspension from here on out if they offered any public criticism of officials, Kiffin again couldn't resist.

"You guys got the same memo that I got," he said.

The memo announcing the SEC's new stricter policy on public criticism of officials was also sent out to the media last week. Kiffin has already been reprimanded twice since taking the Tennessee job, one of those times for wrongly accusing Meyer of cheating back in February and most recently for criticizing the officials following the Vols' 12-10 loss to Alabama.

Kiffin said he'd also seen the replay of Florida linebacker Brandon Spikes attempting to gouge the eyes of Georgia running back Washaun Ealey in a pile.

"Yeah, I saw the rerun. It was pretty bad," Kiffin said. "But we're worried about our team and what we can control. We've got a lot of work to do."

And then this subtle zinger:

"Obviously, [Meyer] will discipline his team, or not, however he feels."

Spikes initially received a half-game suspension from Meyer after the incident was caught on video. But Spikes went to Meyer and suggested that he should have to sit out a full game. So he will now miss the entire Vanderbilt game this Saturday.

Posted by ESPN.com's Chris Low

When's the last time you remember a player suspending himself, or better yet, making his suspension more severe than what was doled out by his coach?

Spikes

Florida linebacker Brandon Spikes, already suspended for the first half of Saturday's game against Vanderbilt, has decided to sit out for the entire game because he doesn't want to be a distraction for the rest of his team.

Spikes made the announcement Wednesday at practice in a brief statement to the media, and Florida coach Urban Meyer said he supports Spikes' decision.

Spikes had caught a lot of grief for his attempted eye gouge of a Georgia player last weekend, and Meyer took his share of heat when he suspended Spikes for only half a game.

Clearly, what Spikes did was inexcusable and reeks of dirty football. But anybody who's ever been around him or watched him play knows how important this team is to him, and it sounds like he's trying to do the right thing by his team.

Posted by ESPN.com's Chris Low

A look at what all is out there in the world of SEC football:

• Auburn safety Zac Etheridge has an emotional reunion with his teammates after tearing ligaments in his neck and cracking the fifth vertebra, writes Andy Bitter of The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer.
• Tony Barnhart of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution takes a look at five questions facing Georgia coach Mark Richt.
• Georgia receiver A.J. Green will miss the Tennessee Tech game this weekend after bruising a lung in the Florida game.
• Keep it under your hat, but Les Miles has passed Nick Saban at LSU, writes Kevin Scarbinsky of The Birmingham News.
• Florida's coaches and players rally around senior linebacker Brandon Spikes, who's suspended for the first half this weekend after trying to gouge the eyes of Georgia running back Washaun Ealey in a pile last week.
• After being burned last week against Auburn, Ole Miss' secondary is looking for redemption.
• South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier and the Gamecocks close ranks on the skeptics saying they're in for another collapse this season.
• The flu bug is now taking its toll on Kentucky, as six players missed practice Tuesday with symptoms.

Posted by ESPN.com's Chris Low

The SEC topped all conferences with six players being named to the list of 16 semifinalists for the Chuck Bednarik Award, which is given annually to the top defensive player in college football.

Making the cut were Alabama linebacker Rolando McClain, Alabama nose guard Terrence Cody, Florida linebacker Brandon Spikes, Tennessee safety Eric Berry, South Carolina outside linebacker Eric Norwood and Georgia linebacker Rennie Curran.

To me, one of the most surprising omissions from this list was Florida cornerback Joe Haden, who's been one of the better cornerbacks in the country.

The last SEC player to win the Bednarik Award was Georgia defensive end David Pollack in 2004.

Here's the entire list of the 16 semifinalists:

• Pat Angerer, University of Iowa, LB, SR
• Eric Berry, University of Tennessee, DB, JR
• Navorro Bowman, Penn State University, LB, JR
• Terrence Cody, University of Alabama, DL, SR
• Rennie Curran, University of Georgia, LB, JR
• Jerry Hughes, Texas Christian University, DL, SR
• Greg Jones, Michigan State University, LB, JR
• Taylor Mays, University of Southern California, DB, SR
• Rolando McClain, University of Alabama, LB, JR
• Gerald McCoy, University of Oklahoma, DL, SR
• Von Miller, Texas A&M, DL, JR
• Eric Norwood, University of South Carolina, LB, SR
• Brian Price, UCLA, DL, JR
• O'Brien Schofield, University of Wisconsin, DL, SR
• Brandon Spikes, University of Florida, LB, SR
• Ndamukong Suh, University of Nebraska, DL, SR

Posted by ESPN.com's Chris Low

The guy who was on the receiving end of Brandon Spikes' attempted eye gouge doesn't seem too upset by the whole thing.

In fact, Georgia running back Washaun Ealey said he doesn't think Spikes should have been suspended.

Forgive and forget, right?

Posted by ESPN.com's Chris Low

Who has the best defense in the SEC?

If ever there was a loaded question, that’s a loaded question.

Depending on what zip code you’re in, what statistical categories you’re looking at and which game tape you watch, you could get an assortment of different answers.

If you haven’t noticed, there are a few good defenses in this league.

But with November upon us, we’ve narrowed it to four. At least the four defenses that are playing the best right now.

Again, these aren’t necessarily the four most talented defenses or the four defenses with the gaudiest numbers. Rather, they’re the four defenses that are having the greatest impact on the game heading into the final month of the season.

In alphabetical order, they are Alabama, Florida, LSU and Tennessee.

We’ll make a case for each being No. 1:

ALABAMA

Numbers: The Crimson Tide are ranked fourth nationally in total defense (240.9 yards per game), fifth in scoring defense (11.4 points per game) and seventh in third-down efficiency defense (29.8 percent).

Players:Rolando McClain might be the best inside linebacker in college football, and Javier Arenas is one of the most versatile cornerbacks in the SEC. Defensive end Marcell Dareus is a budding star. Linebacker Dont’a Hightower was also an All-SEC caliber performer, but was lost for the season in the Arkansas game with a knee injury.

Scheme: Alabama operates out of a 3-4 scheme and loves to move people around, disguise coverages and come with pressure from all sorts of different angles. Nick Saban’s defenses have always feasted on getting teams into third-and-long situations and then lowering the boom. This defense has done that as well as any.

Results:If the Crimson Tide are going to win a national title, it will be with their defense. In a lot of ways, this season bears some similarities to the 1992 national championship season when that Alabama defense gained legendary status. The Tide have given up just one touchdown in their last three games, and coming off the bye week, should be rested for LSU on Saturday.

FLORIDA

Numbers: The Gators are ranked second nationally in total defense (236.6 yards per game), second in scoring defense (11 points per game) and second in third-down efficiency defense (24.6 percent).

Players: There are future NFL players all over the field. Take your pick: middle linebacker Brandon Spikes, defensive end Carlos Dunlap. cornerbacks Janoris Jenkins and Joe Haden and safety Major Wright. The Gators returned all but one player from their two-deep in last year’s BCS National Championship Game.

Scheme: Defensive coordinator Charlie Strong uses a traditional 4-3 set, although the Gators like to move Spikes around on passing downs. Sometimes he will line up outside, but he will also line up over the nose occasionally and blitz up the middle. The key to the Gators’ scheme is being so good in man coverage. Strong isn’t afraid to leave Haden and Jenkins out there alone.

Results: The Gators were dominant defensively in their 13-3 win at LSU several weeks ago. They haven’t been quite as dominant the last few weeks. Arkansas moved the ball some on them, and Georgia had some success in the first half. But the Gators just have that knack for coming up with the big play when they need it and lead the SEC with 14 interceptions. They’re getting healthy, too, which is bad news for the rest of the league.

LSU

Numbers: The Tigers are ranked 15^th nationally in total defense (293 yards per game), seventh in scoring defense (12.1 points per game) and 68^th in third-down efficiency defense (38.7 percent).

Players: Sophomore cornerback Patrick Peterson is one of the best lock-down corners in the SEC. He’s also big enough and physical enough to be a force against the run. Chad Jones has had a big year at free safety, and the Tigers’ defensive front is one of the most underrated in the league.

Scheme: First-year LSU defensive coordinator John Chavis uses a 4-3 base, but often times will go to multiple defensive backs. He moved Harry Coleman from safety to outside linebacker before the season and loves to bring pressure up the middle. He’s also a big believer in his cornerbacks being able to play man coverage.

Results: It’s difficult to find much wrong with anything the Tigers have done defensively the last month. They haven’t given up more than 13 points in their last four games and have played much more instinctively as they’ve gained a better understanding of Chavis’ scheme. It's a defense that's clearly playing its best football heading into the Alabama game on Saturday.

TENNESSEE

Numbers: The Vols are ranked 13^th nationally in total defense (281.6 yards per game), 22^nd in scoring defense (17.7 points per game) and 13^th in third-down efficiency defense (32.2 percent).

Players: Junior Eric Berry is the best safety in college football and likely a top 2 or 3 pick in April’s draft. Tackle Dan Williams has turned his game up and is playing as well as any interior lineman in the league right now. Outside linebacker Rico McCoy is another guy who’s taken his game to another level.

Scheme: Monte Kiffin’s famed “Tampa-2” defense has been plenty effective in the SEC, and Kiffin thinks he’ll be able to do even more once Vols improve their talent and improve their depth in coming years. He’s used Berry a lot more around the line of scrimmage this season. The Vols’ linebackers may blitz on one play and then drop all the way back into coverage on the next.

Results: The Vols have given up just one defensive touchdown in the last three games and allowed just three trips inside their 20-yard line during that span. They don’t give up big plays and are rarely out of position, as evidenced by the fact that they lead the country with fewest plays allowed of longer than 25 yards (5). This is a unit that’s gone from being a good defense to being a great defense.