Northwestern defeated Mississippi State 34-20 in the Gator Bowl on Tuesday
South Carolina defeated Michigan 33-28 in the Outback Bowl on Tuesday
Georgia defeated Nebraska 45-31 in the Capital One Bowl on Tuesday
Louisville defeated Florida 33-23 in the Sugar Bowl Wednesday
Georgia LB Alec Ogletree will turn pro early after a 13-tackle performance in the Bulldogs’ bowl game
Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin says he’s in no rush to hire a new offensive coordinator
New Arkansas linebackers coach Randy Shannon says the staff Bret Bielema has assembled “is going to be unbelievable.”
Florida receivers coach Bush Hamdan is leaving for a spot on Arkansas State’s staff
Tennessee DL Daniel McCullers will stay in Knoxville for his senior season
Alabama C Barrett Jones was back from an injury at practice on Tuesday
Memphis basketball coach Josh Pastner says he will no longer schedule Tennessee
Follow the Southeastern Conference every day on MrSEC.com

Vanderbilt lost to MTSU 56-52 in Nashville on Friday night
Tennessee took down Western Carolina 66-52 in Knoxville on Friday night
There are 12 games on the SEC basketball schedule today and tonight
Kentucky coach John Calipari is using a “really interesting, outside the box” training regimen with his team
Alabama OT D.J. Fluker says his teammates called him out during the season, leading to his improvement
Les Miles says his LSU team is “itching to get home for Christmas” and off the practice field
Mississippi State fans aren’t buying up Gator Bowl tickets as quickly as they did two years ago
Ole Miss juniors CB Charles Sawyer and RB Jeff Scott have asked for their NFL draft grades
An anonymous donor has made a $6.4 million gift to the Missouri athletic department
Follow the SEC all year long at MrSEC.com and twitter.com/mrsec

Quicky headlines today…

SEC Football

1.  Twitterers react to the SEC’s decision not to suspend Alabama’s Quinton Dial.

2.  Eleven of the 26 players on the FWAA All-America team are from the SEC.

3.  Todd McShay’s latest mock draft for ESPN has 15 SEC players going in the first round of the NFL draft.

4.  A Pac-12 officiating crew will handle the BCS Championship Game between Alabama and Notre Dame.

5.  Arkansas has released the contract information for its new assistants, including new O-line coach Sam Pittman.

6.  Chick-fil-A Bowl officials are hoping for big TV ratings from LSU-Clemson matchup.

7.  Georgia’s Mark Richt is still answering questions about not spiking the ball in the SEC title game.

8.  UGA backup tailback Ken Malcome is “not too happy with (the) situation” at running back.

9.  Kentucky has hired Chad Scott and Vince Marrow as assistant coaches.

10.  Mississippi State fans can take their cowbells to the Gator Bowl.

11.  The Bulldogs are already boning up on Northwestern game tape.

12.  Tennessee has confirmed all its assistant coaching hires but one.

13.  Texas A&M has a number of options when it comes to replacing ex-offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury.

14.  Kevin Sumlin could choose to promote from within for the spot, too.

SEC Basketball

15.  Tennessee knocked off unbeaten, #23 Wichita State last night 69-60 in Knoxville.

16.  LSU will open its road schedule at Boise State tonight in the Taco Bell Arena.

17.  Suspended Tiger point guard Anthony Hickey did make the trip to Idaho, but his status “remains to be seen.”

18.  Ole Miss will host East Tennessee tonight at the Tad Pad.

19.  Florida coach Billy Donovan won’t rule out jumping to the NBA someday.  (Presumably for longer than a week.)

20.  Wimp Sanderson’s son, Scott, will take his Lipscomb team to Kentucky tomorrow, but Papa won’t be in attendance.

21.  Vanderbilt’s Kevin Bright is finally getting used to American hoops after playing in Germany.

Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze getting a $500,000 raise and a one-year contract extension
Tennessee has confirmed the hiring of nine football staff members, including six who are joining new head coach Butch Jones from Cincinnati.
Former Tennessee wide receiver Da’Rick Rogers will bypass his senior season at Tenneessee Tech to enter NFL draft
Former Tennessee offensive coordinator Jim Chaney is taking the same position at Arkansas where he will be paid $550,000 annually
New Arkansas coach Bret Bielema says Tennessee offensive line coach Sam Pittman is joining the Razorbacks, where he will have the same job
Mississippi State running back Nick Griffin has torn his ACL, will miss Gator Bowl
Thursday night SEC Basketball
Tennessee 69 – Wichita State 60
Follow SEC news every day at MrSEC.com and on Twitter at Twitter.com/mrsec

Former Tennessee wide receiver Da’Rick Rogers will bypass his senior season at Tenneessee Tech to enter NFL draft
Texas A&M offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury leaving to become head coach at Texas Tech
Former Tennessee offensive coordinator Jim Chaney is taking the same position at Arkansas
Both South Carolina RB Marcus Lattimore and Arkansas RB Knile Davis are leaving school early, declaring for 2013 NFL draft
Alabama QB AJ McCarron will return for his senior year
Georgia QB Aaron Murray said his NFL decision will come after the Capital One Bowl
Mississippi State running back Nick Griffin has torn his ACL, will miss Gator Bowl
Nine of the top 11 highest-rated ESPN college football markets were in states with SEC schools – Birmingham 1, Knoxville 3, Nashville 9, Memphis 10
Follow SEC news every day at MrSEC.com and on Twitter at Twitter.com/mrsec

BCS National Championship - Alabama vs. Notre Dame

Sugar Bowl - Florida vs. Louisville where the Gators will face their former defensive coordinator in Cardinals coach Charlie Strong

Capital One Bowl – Georgia vs. Nebraska

Chik-Fil-A Bowl - LSU vs. Clemson

Cotton Bowl - Texas A&M vs. Oklahoma in a matchup of old Big 12 rivals. Big 12 coaches tried to maneuver Oklahoma into a BCS bowl game without success.

Outback Bowl – South Carolina vs. Michigan.

Music City Bowl – Vanderbilt vs. North Carolina State (Vanderbilt also announced that James Franklin is getting a contract extension).

Gator Bowl – Mississippi State vs. Northwestern.

BBVA Compass Bowl - Ole Miss vs. Pittsburgh

Jerry Palm — the computer guru/numbers-cruncher who made a name for himself ranking college basketball teams — has posted his predictions for this season’s bowl matchups.  You might want to hold off on ordering tickets with the season still a month away and all, but for a late-summer read, eh, it’s worth a look.

In chronological order, here’s how Palm expects things to shake out for the SEC’s team this season (the comments after each game are mine):

Music City Bowl, 12/31 (SEC #7 vs ACC #6): Missouri vs Georgia Tech (A so-so first year for Mizzou.)

Liberty Bowl, 12/31 (SEC #8 or #9 vs C-USA #1): Tennessee vs Houston (Enough to save Derek Dooley?)

Chick-fil-A Bowl, 12/31 (SEC #5 vs ACC #2): South Carolina vs Virginia Tech (A disappointment for the Cocks?)

Capital One Bowl, 1/1 (SEC #2 vs Big Ten #2): Georgia vs Michigan State (A rematch from last year and another reason we don’t like automatic tie-ins.)

Gator Bowl, 1/1 (SEC #6 vs Big Ten #4 or #5): Mississippi State vs Iowa (Pretty good expectations for the Bulldogs.)

Outback Bowl, 1/1 (SEC #3 or #4 vs Big Ten #3): Florida vs Nebraska (Will Muschamp makes some progress.)

Sugar Bowl, 1/2 (SEC champ or At-large BCS bid vs At-large BCS team): Alabama vs Louisville (Bama fans still remember the name of Browning Nagle.)

Cotton Bowl, 1/4 (SEC #3 or #4 vs Big 12 #2): Arkansas vs Oklahoma State (Good, but probably not good enough to land John L. Smith the full-time gig.)

BBVA Compass Bowl, 1/5 (SEC #8 or #9 vs Big East #5 or a C-USA fill-in): Auburn vs Cincinnati (Folks would start to have their doubts about Gene Chizik.)

BCS Championship Game, 1/7 (BCS #1 vs BCS #2): LSU vs Southern Cal (Tiger fans won’t have to wonder if Les Miles will play Jarrett Lee.)

The squads Palm doesn’t envision going bowling: Kentucky, Ole Miss, Texas A&M and Vanderbilt.

1.  NCAA president Mark Emmert says a report that he could leave his current post to return as chancellor at LSU is “complete nonsense.”

2.  Work begins on a new weight room at Alabama.

3.  Auburn’s summer workouts are serious business for Scot Loeffler’s new offense.

4.  The status of three suspended Arkansas footballers hasn’t changed.

5.  Razorback AD Jeff Long says photos of black football uniforms aren’t “official” and he refutes Jackie Sherrill’s assertion that the SEC has talked about pairing LSU and Texas A&M on Thanksgiving.

6.  MSU’s in-house punishment for receiver Chad Bumphis — arrested on New Year’s day for disorderly conduct and pubic drunkeness — has “been handled.”  (The charges against him have been reduced.)

7.  Two basketball players are leaving Ole Miss’ program, but in the case of Jelan Kendrick, it could be addition by subtraction.

8.  Sherrill has told one writer he does not have first-hand knowledge that talks have taken place regarding an LSU-A&M Turkey Day matchup, but his experience tells him they probably have.

9.  LSU AD Joe Alleva — like Arkansas’ Long — has dissed Sherrill as well: “Well, that’s totally wrong.  I don’t think Jackie knows what’s going on.  I don’t think he’s been at SEC meetings and I don’t think he knows what’s up.”  Zing.

10.  Florida was in the black for its Gator Bowl trip.

11.  Georgia inside linebackers coach Kirk Olivadotti got a new perspective on life when his 4-year-old daughter was diagnosed with leukemia.

12.  UGA D-coordinator Todd Grantham got a raise… but he’s actually dropped to fourth on the list of SEC defensive coordinators.

13.  When it comes to Kentucky, the NBA combine is Big Blue reunion.

14.  The Sporting News calls Tennessee’s Jarnell Stokes “a star in the making.”  (Stokes is a Team USA U-18 finalist.)

15.  Missouri and Texas A&M are getting ready for Season #1 in the SEC.

1. The SEC and Big Ten in three matchups today all starting at the same time. Today’s bowl schedule.

2. Florida vs. Ohio State in the Gator Bowl.  Gators say Urban Meyer represents the past.  Time to move on.

3. Gator Bowl players to watch in a game where writers and analysts agree – Florida has more to gain from a win.

4. The Gator Bowl wants to keep the SEC-Big Ten rivalry.

5. Is New York Jets offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer a candidate at Florida?

6. Georgia vs. Michigan State in the Outback Bowl.” The three times Georgia had a chance to make a statement, it made the wrong one.”

7. An important day for Bulldogs running back Isaiah Crowell.  ”This will be the final chance on the field for Crowell.”

8. Mark Bradley: “All things considered, you’d rather be Georgia than Florida or Tennessee or even South Carolina today.”

9. South Carolina vs. Nebraska in the Capital One Bowl.  Gamecocks wide receivers expect man-to-man coverage.

10. This time it’s different?  Gamecocks taking bowl game seriously.

11.  South Carolina’s success brings back memories of 1984.

12. Mississippi State wide receiver Chad Bumphis arrested for disorderly conduct and public drunkenness.  He says he was “attacked with bottles.”

13. Win the ground game – win the national title.   ”Only twice in the 13-year BCS era has a team won the national title game and lost the rushing stat.”

14.  A turning point in the first Alabama-LSU matchup?  When Alabama’s Marquis Maze turned his ankle.

15. Nick Saban on LSU punter Brad Wing: ”I think that he, you could argue, (is) maybe the best punter in the country.”

16. Nine fifth-year seniors on the LSU team watched the 2008 national championship game from the sidelines in street clothes.

17. Arkansas arrives in Dallas for Friday’s Cotton Bowl.

18 Razorbacks junior running back Knile Davis is thinking about the NFL while defensive end Jake Bequette says he’ll play in the Senior Bowl.

19. Dennis Dodd on the changing landscape of college sports: “Everything you watch and hear is about to be new in the second decade of the 21st century.”

20. The Omaha World-Herald on the changing landscape of college football: During a 10-season span from 1985-94, the SEC produced one team — one! — that finished top-3 in the AP poll. The past five years, it has produced eight; all other conferences combined have seven. And that’s before LSU and Alabama finish top-3 this year.

21. John Clay on Kentucky-Louisville: “When was it conceivable that Rick Pitino could lose six of eight games to his most important rival?”

22. The Tennessee basketball team looks to stretch its winning streak to four game tonight against Chattanooga.

23. LSU faces a mirror-image team in Virginia tonight – a team on a long winning-streak that plays strong defense.

24. Auburn faces Bethune-Cookman tonight.

25. Vanderbilt is at home against Miami-Ohio.

SEC/NFL extras

26. Tim Tebow’s disappearing act. But the Broncos win even when they lose.

27. Former LSU and current Green Bay backup QB  Matt Flynn throw six touchdown passes.

When Urban Meyer was finally coronated at Ohio State last month, ripples quickly went out across the great sea of recruiting.  “How many players will he grab from Florida?”

The new Buckeye and old Gator coach said at his initial presser that he would mainly focus on landing good ol’ Ohio boys for the scarlet and gray, but anyone with a noggin knows that Meyer will attempt to catch a few top prospects from the Sunshine State each year.  After all, interim coach Luke Fickell has admitted as much this week:  “Outside of our 250-mile radius, (Florida’s) the next probably largest area (we recruit).  It’s great anytime we can just get exposure down here.  Obviously, you want to play well and do well.”

For Florida, that’s become awfully important, too.  Not only do the Gators need to show the local recruits that there’s hope under Will Muschamp, but they also need to make it clear to the state’s 17- and 18-year-old blue chippers that their program isn’t going to get lapped by Meyer at OSU.

Recruiting guru Tom Lemming spoke with Rachel George of The Orlando Sentinel regarding the threat Meyer poses for UF:


“Urban Meyer was the biggest name in Florida.  Everyone there knows him.  He’s won two national titles, so the kids that followed him at Florida, some of them will follow him to Ohio State, especially if he has a good showing now and hasn’t lost his magic.”


Certainly, it will be Meyer’s program on the field Monday in Jacksonville, but the coach himself will not be in attendance.  And that’s probably a safe move on the part of Meyer. 

Recruiting his first class for Ohio State — and doing so at the last minute — Meyer can still make the case to Florida prospects that the Buckeyes are going to win at big levels once again, very soon.  But if he coached in the Gator Bowl and lost head-to-head to Will Muschamp and a 6-6 UF team, his message might not be as believable.

Especially to teenagers who tend to view the world through black-or-white lenses.