Tonight when Florida faces Stetson, Gator coach Billy Donovan will be going for the 400th victory of his career.  The 46-year-old coach has been a head coach since 1994 and has served in Gainesville since 1996.  It’s hard to believe that Donovan has been in the SEC that long.

In 16 years at Florida he’s won two national titles, been to three Final Fours and cranked out eight NBA first-round draft picks. 

For comparison’s sake, Mike Krzyzewski is now the game’s all-time winningest coach with 907 wins at the age of 64.  If Donovan continues to coach into his 60s and continues to enjoy his current level of success, it’s likely he’ll finish his career ranked among the top four or five winningest college basketball coaches ever.

Good luck to Donovan tonight.

With five minutes remaining in 41-17 beatdown on Saturday, Arkansas’ Bobby Petrino didn’t take too kindly to Les Miles sticking the final three points on the board with a 37-yard field goal attempt.  The fact that the Tigers led 38-17 and had starter Jordan Jefferson pass on five of seven plays to get into field goal range likely played some role in his disgust as well.

Petrino’s message to Miles from across the field was caught by CBS cameras and, well, if you can read lips it’s not hard to figure out what he had to say:

After the game, Miles tried to speak with Petrino, but the Razorback coach wanted no part of that conversation:

Now one could easily defend Miles for trying to put more points on the board.  His squad is playing for a slot in the BCS title game and style points might count to the human voters.

But Miles needs no defending.  A week earlier he took his foot off the gas and had his team kneel four times at the Ole Miss five-yard-line with five minutes to play.  He was ripped for that move, as well, so perhaps this time he decided to err on the side of running it up.

Or perhaps Miles fears Arkansas a bit more than Ole Miss when it comes to the recruiting trail.  The Hogs have reached the 10-win plateau two years in a row at this point.  Perhaps LSU’s coach wanted to show recruits the difference between his squad and Petrino’s.

Whatever Miles’ motivation, Petrino was in the wrong.  Mainly because Petrino hasn’t exactly been Bobby the Lenient this year, either:

51-7 over Missouri State — five of last 13 plays were passes

52-3 over New Mexico — scored last TD up 45-3 with 4:28 to play

38-14 over Auburn — scored last TD up 31-14 with 5:50 to play on pass from starting QB

44-28 over South Carolina — scored last TD up 37-28 with 4:07 to play

49-7 over Tennessee — scored last TD up 42-7 with 6:37 to play

44-17 over Mississippi State — scored last TD up 37-10 with 3:20 to play

Petrino has done a fantastic job in Fayetteville and he’s turned the Razorbacks into a national power.  But he’s no longer at Louisville.  Sure, he can still win big with his potent offense, but he’ll need to field a top-flight defense if he ever wants to win an SEC championship.  Until he gets himself one of those, it’s likely he’ll continue to find himself in situations like the one that so riled him up on Saturday.

In the 1970s and 80s, Joe Federspiel and Bobby Scott were teammates with the New Orleans Saints.  Before that they became legends in their college days — Federspiel as a linebacker at Kentucky and Scott as a quarterback at Tennessee.

Saturday, just seconds after the Wildcats’ streak-snapping victory over the Volunteers, Scott received a good-natured — and pretty funny — text from his old teammate, Federspiel:


“Nobody comes into (our) house and beats us 27 times.”


It was that kind of day in the Bluegrass State.  The joy of finally ending the nation’s longest losing streak between annual opponents mixed with the bewilderment that UK had somehow managed to lose 26 in a row against UT in the first place.

But there’s still another streak that’s yet to be snapped by Kentucky.  With a defeat this season, the Wildcats dropped their 25th game in a row to Florida. 

Never fear, Cat fans, Joker is here.

Joker Phillips — the subject of job security rumors last week — is a Big Blue streak-stopper if nothing else.  Last season, his first squad beat Steve Spurrier… a coach UK had never beaten at Florida or at South Carolina.  Last weekend, he vanquished the Vols.  Might the Gators be next?  Having lost 11 games over the last two seasons — with a bowl game yet to play — Florida isn’t as imposing as it once was. 

Until Kentucky travels to Gainesville next fall, Cat fans and alums (like Federspiel) can at least enjoy the fact that — as UK broadcaster Tom Leach put it Saturday — “Ding, Dong, The Streak (against UT) is Dead.”

Urban Meyer to Ohio State is indeed dunzo.

According to The Columbus Dispatch, “a source inside the current OSU coaching staff said the assistants were informed this morning there will be a change at head coach.”  Ohio State is expected to announce Meyer’s hiring today at 5:15pm ET.

1.  The SEC has named its basketball Players of the Week.

2.  Alabama opened up the offense to dominate Auburn.

3.  Let the retooling begin on The Plains.

4.  After losing to Alabama and LSU by a combined score of 79-31, Arkansas’ players have no problem with a Tide-Tigers rematch for the national crown.

5.  Set to face Georgia in Atlanta for the SEC championship, LSU isn’t afraid to play in front of a hostile crowd.

6.  The Ole Miss coaching search can now begin in earnest. 

7.  Mississippi State is still savoring its third-straight Egg Bowl victory.

8.  Florida’s defense forced only 12 turnovers this season… ranking them dead last in the SEC in that category.

9.  Georgia finished the season on a 10-game winning streak and this writer now says the Dawgs have “far better than a ‘puncher’s chance’ against LSU.”

10.  Receiver-turned-quarterback Matt Roark deserves praise, but Kentucky’s defense also deserves a lot of credit for snapping a 26-game losing streak to Tennessee on Saturday.

11.  Ten-win South Carolina is now waiting for its bowl invitation.

12.  Questions abound as Tennessee — fresh off a 10-7 loss to Kentucky — heads into a bowl-less offseason.

13.  Zac Stacy set Vanderbilt’s single-season rushing record as the Dores trounced Wake Forest on Saturday.

14.  The SEC has announced its football Players of the Week.

LSU’s 41-17 throttling of Arkansas on Friday coupled with Alabama’s 42-14 pasting of Auburn on Saturday have set the table for a BCS Championship Game rematch between the two SEC West foes.  In fact, the Tigers and Tide have such a big lead over the rest of the pack that only a last-second voter push could possibly roadblock the Superdome showdown.

Here are the latest BCS Top 25 standings… with school, overall record and current BCS score listed left to right:

LSU is a unanimous #1 in both human polls and they’re #1 in the combined computer rankings as well.  Alabama is a clear #2 in all of the human polls and in the combined computer polls.

While some human voters will have a problem with a rematch in the BCS Championship Game, it’s doubtful that any other contender will get enough votes to move them ahead of Alabama.  In fact, if LSU loses to Georgia in the SEC title game, it’s likely the Tigers would only fall to #2 and would still be matched with the Tide in New Orleans.

* Oklahoma State still has a game with Oklahoma, but would a win over what would be a three-loss Sooner team be enough to push the Cowboys into the top two?  Doubtful.

* Stanford’s regular season is finished as they failed to reach their conference title game.  (Congrats to the Pac-12, by the way.  Their inaugural league championship game will feature 6-6 UCLA.  Yikes.)

* Virginia Tech will face Clemson in the ACC title game, but the Tigers have fallen so far down the BCS chart that it’s unlikely the Hokies would get a major bounce from a victory.

Nope, it’s looking more and more like we’re all set for Tigers-Tide II.  And if that’s the case, the next big question is this: What if Alabama beats LSU in a tight game in Louisiana… after the Tigers beat the Tide in a tight game in Alabama on November 5th?

The BCS would automatically crown the Tide as champs.  That much we know.  But if the AP voters wanted to fire a shot at the BCS system, they could give LSU their national crown, suggesting that Les Miles team shouldn’t have been made to play a team it had already beaten on the road.

That scenario might not be likely, but it’s certainly possible.  Even more so now that an LSU-Bama title game seems like a 99% probability.

James Franklin — perhaps the least-heralded hire of all the coaching moves in America last offseason — has Vanderbilt going bowling in his first year.  His fiery demeanor has also brought attention to VU (and himself) from across the SEC.  The Commodores might not be world-beaters at 6-6, but they sure aren’t a laughing stock any longer.

As a reward for Franklin’s success, Vanderbilt is working on an extension for its new coach.  Some Nashville outlets quote vice chancellor of athletics David Williams as saying a deal is already in place.  Other Nashville sites quote Williams as saying “We’re trying to work on something.”

While the school is planning to make a bigger commitment to its coach in terms of salary and security, Vandy is not yet ready to fork over cash for an indoor practice facility that Franklin has campaigned for.

“We hope to have something and keep working and see what we can do,” Williams said.  “Right now we’re not in a position to move anything on that.  But we’re going to be working real hard to do all of the things we can do and need to do.”

Franklin has also made it pretty clear throughout the season that attendance at Vanderbilt Stadium has disappointed him.  Williams told The Tennessean yesterday that VU fans will need to help the school hang on to its successful, young coach.


“We’re fighting now in a situation of bowl picking… trying to get different bowl people to understand the value of having Vanderbilt in their bowl.  And one of the questions is, ‘Well, will a lot of people come?’

Those are all sort of things that need to be part of this equation.  I can do a lot and Vanderbilt can do a lot, but I can’t come over to your house and pick you up and make you sit in the stands or make you go to one of the bowl sites.

I think Coach has proved himself.  He’s a good football coach.  He’s a good person.  He’s a good part of this community.  Vanderbilt is prepared to step up and support that.

I just think we all have to stand up and support it and basically show the rest of the world, and more importantly show all of our coaches, we’re going to support you and fill up the place and travel with you.”


While Franklin deserves much of the credit for the Commodores’ success this year, the work of Bobby Johnson should not be forgotten.  Johnson made VU competitive during his reign and actually took the Dores to their first bowl since 1982 in 2008.  (The current VU senior class is the first in school history to reach two bowl games during a career.)

Johnson’s team slipped to 2-10 in his final season and Robbie Caldwell matched that record last year.  But Johnson had been stockpiling players for the future.  Franklin inherited a team with 28 redshirt juniors and seniors.  Think about that.  That’s a lot of guys that Johnson put on the shelf to age while he battled with a thinner roster.  Toss in nine more true juniors and true seniors and it’s clear Franklin has been working with a roster of men, not boys.  Johnson deserves some credit for that.

Vanderbilt will spend New Year’s Eve either in Nashville at the Music City Bowl or in Memphis at the Liberty Bowl.  We suspect the Music City will select MSU in hopes of bringing more fans to town.  That would leave the Liberty to deal with what would likely be a small Vandy turnout in Memphis.  On the flipside, VU players would at least get to go to a bowl outside of town.  In ’08, Vandy played in the Music City Bowl.

ESPN — Urban Meyer’s employer for the last few months — is reporting today that the ex-Florida coach has indeed been hired as head coach at Ohio State.  Forget the talk of family and health, Meyer is heading back to the sideline and he’s going to do so at a program that’s about to be bombed by the NCAA.  (OSU has already sacrificed 5 scholarships over the next three years as a self-induced, “please don’t hit us anymore” penalty.  It’s likely the NCAA will take away several more scholarships.)

We finally went with the “done deal” view on Meyer-to-OSU when The Columbus Dispatch reported the matter closed last week.  The reason: Yours truly once worked for The Dispatch Broadcast Group and having lived in Columbus, I know there are three mega-boosters of the Buckeye program: the Wexners, the McConnells, and the Wolfes.  The Wolfes own The Columbus Dispatch.  If the Dispatch reported Meyer was all but hired by OSU, then you can bet the paper’s source was one of three folks in Columbus who knew for sure.  Thus, we bought that paper’s story immediately.

Meyer had denied a deal with OSU for more than a week.  But anyone familiar with coaching searches knew that the coach’s claims that no deal was in place and that he hadn’t interviewed were likely a matter of semantics only.  Is a lunch an interview or just a lunch?  Depends on the person telling the story.

At 6-6 following a loss to Michigan, OSU is expected to fall no lower than the Gator Bowl in the Big Ten’s bowl pecking order this holiday season.  Guess who’s expected to land in the Gator Bowl from the SEC’s side of things?  Yep, Florida.

WKMG-TV in Orlando reported last week that Meyer was planning to take UF’s current linebacker coach DJ Durkin and strength and conditioning coach Mickey Marrotti to Columbus with him in new roles.  So the love in Gainesville for Meyer already might be dimming just a bit.  If the ex-Gator coach takes over OSU and coaches against Florida in a bowl game, you can bet Meyer’s popularity in the Sunshine State will take another hit.

Will Muschamp — the man who led Florida to a 6-6 record with Meyer’s leftovers this year — said, “It’s good for college football” that the ex-coach is dropping the “ex.”  “If it’s what Urban wants, I’m happy for him.”

And if Meyer and OSU whip Muschamp and Florida in the Gator Bowl, just how happy do you think he and Gator Nation will be?

1. Georgia has won 10 straight games. Can the Bulldogs hit a “hot streak” in recruiting, too?

2. Vanderbilt has reached a bowl game and looks to be receiving an official visit from star quarterback Gunner Kiel.

3. Highly-touted tailback Keith Marshall is finished with his official visits. He’ll choose a school next week.

4. Running back Kelvin Taylor continues to play like his father, former NFL running back Fred Taylor.

5. Orlando wide receiver Trey Griffey, son of Ken Griffey Jr., has been named an Under Armour All-American.

6. Kentucky running back commit Dy’Shawn Mobley is anxious to start his career with the Wildcats.

7. Urban Meyer would have a big impact on Midwest recruiting if he takes the Ohio State job.

8. Here’s a recent class ranking update for 2012 from ESPN.com.

There are a wide array of questions and topics out there involving SEC football. Here are my thoughts on some of those below.

Should there be a SEC rematch in the BCS Championship Game?

Absolutely. LSU and Alabama are the two best teams in college football and they deserve to be in (and this is important) a winner-take-all championship game. Make-up all the really lame, flawed excuses for not wanting to see Alabama in the title game (like: if you don’t win your conference you don’t deserve to play for the national title, you can’t lose at home, they already had their chance, the first meeting was boring, etc) all you want. Make inaccurate statements (like Lou Holtz on ESPN this past weekend saying, “nobody wants to see a rematch”) all you want. The rematch should happen. If LSU loses the SEC Championship, it should still happen. LSU’s resume is far and above anyone else’s in college football. In the current flawed system we have, the two best teams should play in that game. We all know who those two teams are. It is just a matter of whether you’ll allow yourself to admit it.

Is Georgia a threat to LSU in the SEC Championship Game?

Yes. However, so was Arkansas, and look how that played out. The Bulldogs have some ingredients to present problems if LSU isn’t sharp. Georgia has a great quarterback, a Top 5 defense and lots of talent. If Crowell is healthy, he makes Georgia even more of a threat. LSU would have to really help Georgia because LSU is the better team, but Georgia is capable of winning the game.

Where is the SEC in bowl scenarios?

If the SEC gets 3 teams into the BCS (LSU/Alabama in title game & Arkansas or Georgia in Sugar Bowl,) that will leave the SEC with 6 bowl eligible teams left for 8 remaining bowls with league tie-ins. That would mean the AutoZone Liberty Bowl in Memphis and the BBVA Compass Bowl in Birmingham would need to go outside the SEC for teams to play in those bowls. Those will be big financial hits for those bowls and those communities. Of those 6 remaining teams (Georgia or Arkansas, South Carolina, Auburn, Mississippi State, Florida and Vanderbilt) three are 6-6 and one is 7-5. That means after the Capital One and Cotton snatch-up those 10 win teams left on the board, the Outback, Chick-fil-A, Gator and Music City bowls will have teams with unusually average records left for them.

Should Derek Dooley be fired at Tennessee?

No. Not after only two years. Is the jury still out? Yes. Are there a lot of concerns? Definitely. The problem is that considering the brutal state of the program and circumstances Dooley inherited, you have to give him more time. A change in head coaches would mean 4 head coaches in 5 years. You can’t win that way. You need to give him another year to improve the roster and see what he can do with them. As LSU and Alabama show us annually, the first absolute ingredient to win championships is great players. Then you need great coaching with that. After another recruiting class and scholarship numbers recovered, the excuses go out the window from this point on. The results must come next year though. Tennessee fans are mad. Many want a change now. I say, not yet.

Should James Franklin be the SEC Coach of the Year?

Nope. Les Miles is the coach of the year. The “it’s easy to coach great players” argument doesn’t fly, especially in college football. Who recruits those great players? The coaches. Who has to motivate those great players? The coaches. You need great coaching to put elite athletes in positions to be successful and play hard for you. Those are not automatics in college football. Miles keeps his players confident and loose. Look at all the adversity LSU had to overcome this year. Miles is the best in the business at winning despite distractions. LSU has been the best team with a difficult road to an undefeated season. What Franklin has done at usually lowly Vanderbilt has certainly been impressive but Les Miles should be the SEC Coach of the Year.

Why was Bobby Petrino so upset at Les Miles?

For no good reason, whatever it was. Apparently, Petrino wasn’t pleased with LSU trying to score points in the fourth quarter while up big on the #3 team in the country. Wait, I thought you could win the game? Now, you expect an opponent to show mercy on you in a 1-vs-3 matchup with the current voting system in place? Please! We all know that Petrino would have done the same thing. That’s just a ploy to have a chip on their shoulder next year. Coaches rarely pass on motivational plays. Just ask James Franklin.

What’s the biggest misconception about the SEC?

That no one in the SEC East is any good. I know Georgia and South Carolina didn’t play the SEC gauntlet that Tennessee did, but you have to give them credit for winning games they should in the best conference and for reaching 10 wins. These teams have improved and overcome injuries, suspensions and more. Both teams and coaches deserve a lot of credit and recognition for it.

Vince Ferrara has more than 10 years experience in sports broadcasting, in numerous SEC and Big 12 markets, working in sports radio, play-by-play and television. You can hear him host the “News Sentinel Sports Page” weekdays 10am-12pm ET on WNML - “The Sports Animal” in Knoxville and read more of his work at Examiner.com.