Heading into this weekend’s Outback Bowl against Florida, rumors have popped up on the internet that Joe Paterno might retire after the game due to his failing health.

Not so, says his wife.

“Who started the crazy rumors?” Sue Paterno asked.  “He’s fine.  No one has to identify who starts it.  We don’t even know where it starts.  It’s just lies.  I mean, he’s (supposedly) in the hospital when he’s sitting at the table for dinner.  He wasn’t even near the hospital.”

His daughter also said that the Outback Bowl is not her father’s planned final game.

If the Paterno family is being truthful, the game will mark just one coach’s retirement — the 46-year-old Urban Meyer’s… not the 84-year-old Paterno’s.

The SEC has handed out its Player of the Week honors and both awards went to guys in the Bluegrass State.

Freshman guard Doron Lamb was named the SEC Player of the Week for his 32-point performance against Winthrop last week.  Lamb was a smokin’ 11 of 12 from the field including seven three-pointers in eight attempts.

Point guard Brandon Knight collected the SEC Freshman of the Week award for his 21-point, five-rebound performance against Winthrop.  Knight has scored 14 or more points in six consecutive games.

1.  Georgia fans can see AJ Green in the silver britches for at least one more game.

2.  This writer believes its time for Caleb King to start showing up.

3.  The Kentucky-Louisville basketball rivalry hasn’t provided beautiful basketball in a while.

4.  It looks like Florida State quarterback Christian Ponder will be healthy enough to play against South Carolina in Friday’s Chick-fil-A Bowl.

5.  USC backup running back isn’t ready to hang up his football helmet yet.

6.  Tennessee safety Janzen Jackson was back at practice yesterday after being away for what Derek Dooley called “very personal reasons.”

7.  The Music City Bowl will show just how much UT improved over the back half of the season.

8.  Bruce Pearl is still toying with his rotation.

Texas Tech defensive coordinator James Willis is out in Lubbock.  And it could be because he’s trying to get in to Gainesville.

According to The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, Willis resigned his position yesterday.  Why?  Because he and head coach Tommy Tuberville had decided it would be best if he left.  Why?  Because Tuberville found out “through third parties” that Willis was talking with Will Muschamp about a job at Florida.

Muschamp and Willis both served on Tuberville’s Auburn staff.  Muschamp was Tuberville’s defensive coordinator in 2006 and 2007.  Willis was the linebackers coach at AU from ’06 through ’08.  (He went on to serve as an assistant on Nick Saban’s national championship-winning staff at Alabama in 2009.)

But Willis didn’t exactly tear things up as the Red Raiders’ D-coordinator.  Tech ranked 116th out of 120 FBS school in total defense.  His unit ranked dead last in terms of pass defense.

In a statement, Tuberville wished “James the best of luck,” but you have to wonder what the coach thinks about his two old assistants chatting about a job… without ever giving him a courtesy call as a heads-up.

The University of Florida confirmed today that four Gator footballers have had surgery this month and will not play against Penn State in Saturday’s Outback Bowl.  Among the injured — cornerback Janoris Jenkins (left).

Jenkins is expected to jump to the NFL in April, so his career in Gainesville is likely over.  According to The Gainesville Sun, there’s a chance he’ll be replaced in the bowl game by true freshman Cody Riggs.

Maurice Hurt (offensive line), Terron Sanders and Lawrence Marsh (both D-tackles) will also miss the game.  All three of those players are seniors.

1.  Alabama linebacker Dont’a Hightower is hitting his stride in return from knee injury.

2.  The Tide opened practice in Orlando in 40-degree weather.

3.  The rumors about Bama’s coaches taking other jobs have died down.

4.  Auburn’s O-line has the edge on Oregon’s D-line.

5.  Arkansas’ offense is preparing to meet Ohio State’s top-flight defense.

6.  As his junior season nears its end, Jordan Jefferson is showing signs of maturity as LSU’s starting quarterback.

7.  Heading toward a Cotton Bowl date with Texas A&M at Cowboys Stadium, Les Miles is saying great things about Jerry Jones and his own time as a Dallas assistant.  (Maybe that’s why those Miles-to-Dallas rumors never seem to end.)

8.  The Tigers’ struggling basketball team will face Southern U. tonight in Baton Rouge.  (In its last outing, LSU was trounced at home by North Texas.)

9.  Mississippi State and Michigan arrived in Jacksonville to 30-degree temperatures yesterday.

10.  State practiced in a hotel ballroom.

11.  Dan Mullen believes MSU can become “a national power.”

A Mele Kalikimaka it was not for Mississippi State. 

Last weekend’s trip to the Diamond Head Classic turned out to be a Christmas trip to forget.  The Bulldogs dropped two out of three games and beat only 1-10 San Diego while playing in paradise.  But that wasn’t the worst of it.

Big men Renardo Sidney and Elgin Bailey got into a fistfight — no, really — in the stands between games last Thursday.  The fight was caught by ESPN cameras and the clip found its way onto all manner of disreputable websites.

Both players were sent home from Honolulu and suspended indefinitely.  Sidney had already been suspended for a game earlier in the week due to a rumble in practice and “insubordination.”

A blog reported Saturday that Bailey was to be dismissed from the team while Sidney would eventually be allowed to return, but MSU officials shot down that report.

Rick Stansbury said Saturday that he would evaluate both players’ situations when the team made it back to campus.  In other words, today’s probably Evaluation Day in Starkville. 

(CORRECTION — As pointed out by one of our readers, the above story clearly states that MSU is playing St. Mary’s in Las Vegas on Wednesday.  I have not tracked down State’s travel plans as of yet, but it makes sense that they would stay west and not return to Starkville until Thursday.  In other words, there might not be any word on Bailey and Sidney until late this week.)

Not a good Christmas for Stansbury and his Bulldogs.  The only thing missing was the unexpected arrival of Cousin Eddie in a beat-up RV.


(Sidenote — You don’t know how tough it is not to type “Elgin Baylor” everytime Elgin Bailey makes news.)

Kentucky has received a commitment from running back Josh Clemons from Fayette (Ga.) Whitewater High School.

Clemons chose the Wildcats over Mississippi State, Cincinnati, Maryland and Northwestern.

Kentucky has commitments from 20 prospects for the 2011 class.

Georgia won’t have second-leading rusher Caleb King or two other Dawgs available for Friday’s Liberty Bowl due to academic issues.  Mark Richt said that King violated UGA’s class attendance and academic appointment policy. 

“Caleb had missed his fifth academic appointment,” Richt said.  “He won’t be at the bowl.  He won’t be here.”

The junior King was suspended earlier this season after he was arrested for failing to take care of a speeding ticket.

Back-ups AJ Harmon (offensive line) and Derek Owens (cornerback) failed to pass the NCAA-mandated six credit hours during the Fall Semester.

The worst day of the year in kid-dom (yes, I too watched “A Christmas Story” this weekend), is always December 26th.  The day after Christmas.  Let down day.  Three-hundred-and-sixty four days until the next Christmas.  Such a rotten day.

But the worst day of the year for workin’ stiffs and grown-ups is the Monday after Christmas.  Sure, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day are just around the corner, but the office always seems a tad colder on that Monday after Christmas.  The fluorescent lights seem just a touch too unnatural.  The coffee is a little more watered down.

And that day is today. 

Welcome back to work.

On such a somber day, what better way to start our SEC coverage than with a look at the league’s basketball successes so far.  Talk about somber. 

Below are the SEC’s current RPI rankings.  The last league game played was on Christmas Day when Mississippi State fell to Hawaii in a holiday tournament.  So the numbers below are fully updated to include all SEC action so far.

Observations

* We’ll start with the obvious — the SEC West is God-awful.  We’re talking bad, folks.  Five of the division’s six teams are right around or below #150 in the national RPI.  There are only 345 schools playing D-I basketball.

* Auburn’s current RPI rank is #331 out of those 345.  And that’s against a schedule that is ranked #303.  The only schools with lower RPI ratings than Auburn are — Georgia Southern, Southern U., Colgate, Maryland-Baltimore County, New Jersey Institute of Technology (really, that’s not a made-up school), Bowling Green, Savannah State, Houston Baptist (which might just be a hospital team), Eastern Michigan, South Carolina State, Sacramento State, Florida A&M, Centenary, and Jacksonville State.  Helluva way to open a new arena on The Plains.  Yeesh.  Enjoy football season while it lasts, Tiger fans.

* The SEC in games against teams currently ranked in the RPI top 20:

Kentucky lost to #7 UConn 84-67
Vanderbilt lost to #5 West Virginia 74-71
Tennessee beat #15 Pittsburgh 83-76
Florida lost to #18 Ohio State 93-75
Florida beat #14 Kansas State 57-44
Georgia lost to #16 Temple 65-58
Ole Miss lost to #20 Miami (FL) 86-73
South Carolina lost to #18 Ohio State 79-57

So the SEC sports a 2-6 record against this year’s elite schools.  Not great.  But at least the above schools will be credited for playing a tough team or two.  Five league teams (Arkansas, LSU, Alabama, Mississippi State and Auburn) haven’t bothered to play anyone ranked in the RPI top 20 at all.

* According to RealTimeRPI.com, the SEC currently ranks as the 6th best conference in the country behind the Big East, Big 12, Big Ten, ACC, and Mountain West.  The Pac-10 ranks behind the SEC at #7.