Arkansas shooting guard Rotnei Clarke has been named the SEC’s Player of the Week for his work last week.  Clarke averaged 21.5 points in the Razorbacks wins over Kentucky and Auburn.  He has now scored more than 1,200 points in his UA career.

Meanwhile, Kentucky point guard Brandon Knight has been named the SEC’s Freshman of the Week.  Knight averaged 21 points, 5.5 assists and 4 rebounds in UK’s games with Arkansas and Florida.

Alabama and Florida have already wrapped up the SEC’s division titles and the tournament byes that go with them.  But the races for the #2 seeds in each division — and those byes — are still hotly contested.  And about as clear as mud.

Below are the bye scenarios in the East and in the West.  We’ve been writing and re-writing this piece all day, and there’s just no easy way to lay things out.  That said, here’s our best effort…


SEC East Race For #2:

Vanderbilt (9-5) — remaining games at Kentucky, versus Florida
Kentucky (8-6) — remaining games versus Vanderbilt, at Tennessee
Georgia (8-6) — remaining games versus LSU, at Alabama
Tennessee (7-7) — remaining games at South Carolina, vs Kentucky


Scenario One (Vanderbilt) — If Vanderbilt wins both of its last two games, the Commodores land the #2 seed and the bye.  (Tough to do.)

Scenario Two (Vanderbilt) – If Vandy wins one of its last two games and Kentucky and Georgia also split their final two games, VU lands the bye.  (Probably the most likely scenario.)

Scenario Three (Kentucky) – If Vanderbilt and Kentucky finish tied for second place, a tie-breaker would be used.  The first tie-breaker in a two-team tie is head-to-head records and the two teams would have split their two contests.  The second tie-breaker is division record.  UK would hold that advantage by one game… and thus Kentucky would earn the bye.

Scenario Four (Vanderbilt) — If Vanderbilt, Kentucky and Georgia all finish tied for second place, the best round-robin record between those three teams would survive.  Vandy would be 3-1, Kentucky would be 2-2, and Georgia would be 1-3.  Vandy would get the bye.

Scenario Five (Tennessee) — If Vanderbilt, Kentucky, Georgia and Tennessee all finish tied for second place at 9-7, the best round-robin record between those four teams would survive.    Tennessee would be 4-2 versus the others while UK and VU would be 3-3 with UGA standing at 2-4.  Tennessee would get the bye.

Scenario Six (Tennessee) — If Vanderbilt, Kentucky and Tennessee finish tied for second-place at 9-7, the best round-robin record would survive.  Tennessee would be 3-1, Kentucky would be 2-2 and Vandy would be 1-3.  Tennessee would land the bye.

Scenario Seven (Vanderbilt) — If Vanderbilt and Georgia finish tied for second place at 10-6, Vanderbilt’s 2-0 record versus Georgia head-to-head would land Vandy the bye.

Scenario Eight (Kentucky) — If Kentucky and Georgia finish tied for second place at 10-6, the two teams would have split their season series.  The next tie-breaker is division record and UK would easily hold the advantage.  Kentucky would get the bye.

Scenario Nine (Kentucky) – If Kentucky wins its last two games while Vandy loses its last two (one would be head-to-head, of course) and Georgia splits its last two, Kentucky would grab the bye.

Scenario Ten (Georgia) — If Georgia wins its final two games while Vandy loses its last two and Kentucky splits its last two, Georgia would earn the bye.


SEC West Race For #2:

Arkansas (7-7) — remaining games vs MSU, at Ole Miss
Mississippi State (7-7) — remaining games at Arkansas, vs South Carolina
Ole Miss (6-8) — remaining games at Auburn, vs Arkansas


Scenario One (Arkansas) — If Arkansas wins its last two games to finish alone in second place, the Razorbacks would earn the bye

Scenario Two (MSU) – If Mississippi State wins its last two games to finish alone in second place, the Bulldogs would get the bye

Scenario Three (MSU) — If Arkansas beats MSU and loses to Ole Miss, MSU beats South Carolina and Ole Miss beats Auburn, all three teams would finish tied for second place at 8-8.  The tie-breaker would be the round-robin record of the three teams involved.  MSU would be 3-1, UM 2-2, and UA 1-3.  Mississippi State would earn the bye.

Scenario Four (Ole Miss) — If Arkansas beats MSU and loses to Ole Miss, MSU loses to South Carolina and Ole Miss beats Auburn, Arkansas and Ole Miss would finish tied for second place at 8-8.  Ole Miss would be 2-0 against Arkansas head-to-head and the Rebels would grab the bye.

Scenario Five (MSU) — If Arkansas loses to MSU and beats Ole Miss while MSU loses to South Carolina, UA and MSU would finish tied for second place at 8-8.  MSU would hold a 2-0 record head-to-head against Arkansas and would land the bye.

Scenario Six (MSU) – If MSU beats Arkansas and loses to South Carolina while Ole Miss wins its last two games (including a head-to-head battle with Arkansas), MSU and UM would finish tied for second-place at 8-8.  MSU would hold a 2-0 head-to-head record against Ole Miss and State would get the bye.


Overall, it’s obvious Vanderbilt, Mississippi State and Arkansas control their own fates.  Everyone else needs a whole lot of help.

Sound the alarm.  Gregg Doyel of CBSSports.com has churned out yet another column blasting Tennessee’s Bruce Pearl and athletic director Mike Hamilton.  Officially, I think that’s his 100th column on the subject, which moves him just past Thayer Evans’ (with 99 or so stories on Auburn) for the title of “Mr. Vendetta.”

Vol fans won’t like what the always gruff Doyel has to say about the school’s decision to keep Pearl on staff and what that decision might result in:


“The NCAA is going to hammer Tennessee like a one-inch nail — one shot, boom! — and when it happens, Tennessee will have employees above Bruce Pearl to blame.”


According to Doyel, the NCAA set a precedent when it benched Oklahoma State receiver Dez Bryant for a season because he lied to its investigators.  The NCAA then reinforced that precedent when it handed former UConn assistant Beau Archibald a two-year “show cause” penalty for doing the same.  And remember Archibald lost his job and then got a two-year ban.  Pearl served an 8-game suspension and lost some cash, but he didn’t lose his job.  The NCAA knows, according to Doyel, “the world is watching to see what happens to Pearl for doing the same thing” (as Bryant and Archibald). 

We’ll pause here for Tennessee fans to scream, “But Pearl eventually came clean on his own!”  But who knows how much credit the NCAA will give him for that?  Obviously Doyel thinks very little.


“How have you not fired Bruce Pearl yet?  Most times the NCAA punishes a coach guilty of blatant unethical conduct, is it punishing an ex-coach — because the unethical SOB has already been fired.  By not firing Pearl, Tennessee is setting itself up to be treated like USC was treated after bringing in renegade Lane Kiffin.  Tennessee was in trouble with the NCAA anyway, yes.  But by keeping Pearl, it will be so much worse.”


Now, you can argue that Doyel might be wrong.  You can argue — as I have on dozens of occasions — that Doyel himself comes across as just an angry, pot-stirring SOB.

But you can’t argue with his logic.  By allowing Pearl to keep his job — when the last 20 people accused of “unethical conduct” lost theirs — UT appears to have gone all-in with its coach.  They would rather see their basketball program get burned to the ground and then rebuild with Pearl than suffer less significant damage to their program and turn it over to someone new.

The NCAA might not be too keen on the message Hamilton and the UT administration are sending.  That’s the gamble for Tennessee.  And in June we’ll find out whether or not UT bet their house on a sucker’s bet or not.

Steve Spurrier has finally accomplished one of the most important challenges he faced when he took over the South Carolina program in late-2004 — he’s luring the state’s top talent to Columbia.

Since joining the SEC, Carolina has seen Palmetto State prospects head in droves to Clemson (in-state, too, of course), Georgia and Tennessee.  But Spurrier has helped to build up a wall around the state’s Western border.  The Dawgs and Vols don’t go into Carolina like they used to… and Clemson is no longer landing the state’s A-1 top prospects.

Sorry Tiger fans, but you know you’d have loved to have gotten Marcus Lattimore last year and Jadeveon Clowney his past signing day.

Carolina AD Eric Hyman told Travis Haney of The Charleston Post & Courier that “five or six years ago you could not have imagined South Carolina signing the top-ranked player in the country.”  No, you couldn’t have.  Five or six years ago, Clowney would have gone to Clemson, if he’d stayed in state at all.

Departing recruiting coordinator Shane Beamer said, “We’ve been trying to tell guys they don’t have to leave the state to win championships.”  At long last, that message is being heard.

1.  Sounds like former Gator quarterback Shane Matthews is fired up to see Florida’s new offense.

2.  UF’s Kenny Boynton is heating up from the floor.

3.  New Georgia assistant Kirk Olivadotti wants his inside linebackers to “run to the ball and hit something.”

4.  This writer says Kentucky will be “more dangerous and dominant” than Florida when the tournament play begins.

5.  Tennessee is consistently inconsistent.

His team is coming off a 76-68 loss at Kentucky on Saturday.  Up next is a “for all the marbles” type of game against fellow SEC title contender Alabama.  But Billy Donovan’s biggest concern is timing.  Tomorrow’s game with the Crimson Tide will be UF’s third in six days.

“There’s a lot to get ready for. … We’re both going to have two days to try to figure each other out.”

Well here are couple of things Donovan should know going into tomorrow’s showdown:

* Alabama wins with defense.  When the Tide has given up 65 or more points on the season, they’re 1-7.  (The win came in a game in which they gave up just 66.)  That means Alabama is a smoking 18-2 when they hold their opponents to less than 65.. and both those losses came back in November.  Florida’s key tomorrow night?  Uh, score 66 or more.

* Florida has lost just three games since December when its scored at least 66 points.  Again, score 66 and the Gators should be in good shape.
(In fact, UF is 12-1 on the season when it scores 70+.)

1.  Yet another writer believes Atlanta is the perfect spot for the SEC Championship Game.

2.  Ryan Mallett’s arm made an impression at the NFL combine.

3.  People in Louisiana are ready to start talking LSU spring football.

4.  Wondering what makes Tad Smith Coliseum so bad?  Let this writer give you a breakdown.

5.  Mississippi State controls its own destiny in the SEC West.

This much we know — Greg McElroy is no Vince Young. 

According to his father, the former Alabama quarterback and Rhodes Scholar candidate scored a 48 out of 50 on the Wonderlic test at the NFL combine.  The 50-question test must be completed in 12 minutes and is used to determine player’s problem-solving abilities as well as his ability to remain cool under stress.

Harvard graduate Pat McInally is the only player believed to have scored a perfect 50.  Young, the former Texas quarterback, was rumored to have scored a 6 when he entered the NFL.

Last offseason most everyone with a pulse predicted Alabama and Florida would square off for the SEC championship.  Everyone just got the sport wrong.

While Bama and Florida failed to live up to expectations on the gridiron, the two schools’ showdown in Gainesville tomorrow could decide the outright SEC regular-season championship.  Both the Tide and the Gators are 11-3 in league play following weekend losses.

“It’s a monster game, not only from the pride factor of being the overall SEC champ,” ESPN’s Dick Vitale told The Birmingham News.  “They’re both coming off losses.  This becomes a real big game from that factor itself.”  Vitale will be part of the ESPN broadcast team.

The game is bigger for Alabama than Florida.  Billy Donovan’s team is already a lock to make the NCAA Tournament.  Anthony Grant’s team is not.

“I still think they’ve got a little work to do.  You never want that (selection) committee to have to make the choice.  You want to be able to throw the knockdown punch.  Alabama certainly would throw a knockout punch by getting a win on the road over Florida.”

Cam Newton must have looked a lot better at his media workout than he did at the NFL combine.  For instead of analysts like Trent Dilfer drooling — his words — Newton left several actual NFL personnel men questioning his ability.

One “veteran scout” told ProFootballTalk.com that Newton “looks terrible.”  The site points out that due to the scout’s team’s draft needs, there would be no reason for him to attempt to downplay Newton’s skills. 

ESPN.com reports that Newton did better in workout drills than he did passing the football:


Newton turned scouts’ head when he ran the 40 yard dash in 4.59 seconds, which tied Washington’s Jake Locker for the third-fastest time among quarterbacks, tied for the best broad jump at 10 feet, 6 inches and had a 35-inch vertical jump.

But the Heisman Trophy winner from Auburn struggled with his accuracy in the throwing drills, frequently overthrowing receivers, reports ESPN.com’s Tim Graham.


On the other hand, ESPN’s John Clayton said Newton looked like “the real deal” and “he’s the type of quarterback you can build around as long as you have good coaching and patience.”  He also said Newton’s arm is “stronger and more natural” than Hall of Famer Steve Young’s.

(Sidenote — Clayton also said that Ryan Mallett was the best passer overall.)

As for Newton’s inaccuracy during the passing drills, he says he “underestimated the time aspect of playing quarterback.”  He added, “You had receivers from the SEC, the SWAC, the MAC. … I was somewhat frustrated, but at the same time, I was having fun.”

Timing is one reason many quarterbacks stay away from passing drills at the combine and instead show off their arms on their college campuses with receivers they’re familiar with.  However, having receivers “from the SEC, the SWAC and the MAC” didn’t hurt Mallett or some others.

Bottom line: Post-combine there’s still no telling exactly where Newton might be drafted.