Missouri’s Gary Pinkel has never been a warm, fuzzy kind of guy.  At least not when it comes to his dealings with the media.  And certainly not in regards to position-battles.

This spring, Maty Mauk and Corbin Berkstresser are working to steal the quarterback job away from incumbent starter James Franklin.  Asked about the the signal-callers’ performances in Mizzou’s first scrimmage, Pinkel refused to go into detail.  “All three of them did a lot of good things, and it’s very competitive and it’s also very, very positive, so I’m excited about it.”

Yeah, but who looked best?

“I don’t discuss evaluation in the spring in what we do.  We’ll just see where it goes and keep competing…

I just think that’s our business right now; it’s nobody else’s business.  And I don’t think I have to be concerned about what anybody else things, either.  I’ve handled it like that ever since I’ve ever done this…

That’s why we don’t release depth (charts) or anything at (this) particular time.  I don’t know how it’s going to end up, and that’s ok… I’m in no rush to make a decision, and generally it takes care of itself.”

There’s nothing wrong with what Pinkel said.  And there’s nothing wrong with his decision not to discuss who’s leading in man versus man competitions for starting roles.

But when your fanbase is starting to tire of you — it usually happens around Year 10; Pinkel is entering his 13th season — it’s probably best not to appear too snippy, too defensive, or too standoffish.

Nick Saban isn’t going to be opening a charm school anytime soon, but when you’ve won four BCS championships in a decade, you can afford to be a little prickly now and again.  Pinkel put Missouri football on the map but time, a move to the SEC, and an injury-plagued disappointment of a season last year are conspiring against the coach now.

Pinkel, like Saban, studied at the foot of former Kent State and Washington coach Don James.  A 1981 UPI story on James might shed some light onto his disciples’ similar styles:  “One reason it’s taken some time for James to become known nationally has to do with personality.  Unlike some of the larger-than-life characters who run the football factories at other campuses, James tends to be low-profile and understated.”

Pinkel certainly tries to be low-profile.  Again, no harm, no foul.  But with a section of the Tiger fanbase already talking about a potential coaching change, it might be time for the coach to do himself a favor and lighten up just a bit.  Saying it’s “nobody else’s business” sounds one way when you’ve just won 10 games… another when you’ve just won five.  Pinkel won five last season.

Tutored by a man who played his own cards close to the vest, Pinkel feels his team’s business is his business and no one else’s.  It’s fine to feel that way.  But when the wolves are starting to howl and the ol’ seat is starting to warm, it’s probably best not to tell everyone you feel that way.

Coaching News/Rumors/Reactions

1. Did Auburn repeat a mistake and skip over more qualified candidates?

2. Stewart Mandel: “Auburn AD Jay Jacobs essentially conceded what many already believed — that Malzahn was the real brains behind Chizik’s 2010 national-title team.”

3. Bo Jackson on Malzahn: “(A)ctually, we were surprised that he was as sharp as he was.”

4. When Auburn phone Bobby Petrino this week, the questions and comments  “all revolved around Petrino’s personal life and why Arkansas fired him in April.”

5. Bret Bielema was a surprise hire at Arkansas to many people, including the state’s governor.  “I never heard him mentioned, so it is a surprise.”

6. Andy Staples on Bielema: If he considered (Urban) Meyer a ruthless foe, wait until he meets Nick Saban and Les Miles.”

7. Dan Wetzel: “There’s hardly any legitimate competition between the Big Ten and the SEC anymore. At least, not on the field. That’s just reality.”

8. Bielema’s deal worth $3.2 million annually over six years.

9. “Both schools found capable coaches, but chose very different approaches.” The challenges the two men will face.

10. Texas A&M offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury a possible candidate to replace Gus Malzahn at Arkansas State?

11. Texas Tech offensive coordinator Neal Brown on rumors linking him to Kentucky.

12. Ellis Johnson reportedly interviewing for defensive coordinator at Auburn. Future plans for Gene Chizik?

13. What does the future hold for Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo?

14. What about former Florida coach Ron Zook for the University of South Florida?

15. For the fifth straight year, the GoDaddy.com Bowl losing a coach who guided team to postseason.  This year, both teams, Arkansas State and Kent State, will be looking for new coaches.

16. Butch Davis to Florida International?

17. All these coaching searches have sparked an Internet feud.

Outgoing coach Joker Phillips suggested earlier this week that he knew that his fate was sealed as Kentucky’s coach when he looked into the Commonwealth Stadium stands last week and saw more silver benches than people.  If you didn’t see the “crowd” for yourself, it was really more like a gathering than a crowd:

The fact that UK announced the attendance for the Wildcats’ game with Vanderbilt as 44,902 led The Lexington Herald-Leader to file an open records request in the hopes of learning exactly how many tickets were actually scanned — not sold, but scanned — upon people’s entry into the stadium.  The paper got the records.  And the real attendance on Saturday… was just 18,885.

Most spring games in the SEC draw more than 19,000 fans.  Many Texas high school games draw more than 19,000 fans.

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Mitch Barnhart weighed in on the state of Kentucky football yesterday while speaking to the City Salesman’s Club in Louisville.  Of note, he specifically said that the school’s football program is “not where we want it to be just yet.”

(We’ll pause to allow Wildcat fans to say, “Duh!”)

Barnhart spoke about both the program and its coach, Joker Phillips:

“We made some progress and climbed up the hill a little bit and were doing some good things in a really tough league but we’ve found that we’ve stubbed our toes a little bit.  We’ve got to figure that out and we’ll get that figured out…

Joker is one of my dearest friends.  I think the world of him.  We’ve been together nine years in some way, shape or form as an assistant coach, coordinator and now as a head coach… I think the world of him as a man and as a coach and as a leader of our young men and what he’s done.  We just have to figure out the football piece and ow we get that going in the right direction.”

Kentucky is currently 1-8 overall and 0-6 in the SEC.  The Cats’ lone win came over Kent State back in Week Two of the season.  Now in his third season, Phillips is 12-22 as UK’s coach.  Rich Brooks went 22-17 as the captain of the Big Blue program before turning the wheel over to Phillips.

According to a Kentucky fan website — KentuckySportsRadio.com — “the University of Kentucky football field and locker room have been the site of a number of heated conversations between Coach Joker Phillips and Defensive Coordinator Rick Minter over the past 10 days.”  On Monday, the site wrote the following:

“According to multiple source, Phillips and Minter had a verbal confrontation on the sideline during the (Louisville) game about the defensive philosophy and alignments utilized during the game.  According to the sources, Phillips became agitated in the second half and screamed audibly to Minter, ‘we have to do something different.  You have to change it up…

The sources tell KSR that the disagreement spilled into practice and pre-game meetings in the week leading up to the Kent State game.  According to one source, ‘Joker was very upset that no changes were made after he made it clear that he wanted to see a different philosophy.  He confronted him (Minter) about it and there was a disagreement.’”

Phillips hired Minter before last season.  UK’s current head coach had once worked on the staff at Cincinnati when Minter was the head coach of the Bearcats.

Through two games this year, the Wildcats have allowed 401 yards rushing and 474 yards passing to Louisville and Kent State combined.  Performance like that and the pressure of sitting on a hot seat could certainly lead to bouts of in-fighting on a coaching staff.  But yesterday, when asked about the KentuckySportsRadio.com report, Minter flat denied the story:

“I’m not going to talk about that.  It didn’t happen.  Now what’s next?”

What’s next is there had better be some improvement on the defensive side of the ball or Minter, Phillips and the rest of the UK coaching staff could be looking for work at year’s end.

Mitch Barnhart stood by Rich Brooks during some tough times and it eventually paid off for both men.  Kentucky’s AD also has plenty of clout thanks to his hire of John Calipari, Prince of the Bluegrass State.  But if the Commonwealth Stadium stands are empty and the Wildcat team doesn’t improve as the season goes along, Barnhart might decide it’s time to make another high-risk/high-reward type of hire as he did with Calipari.

Bobby Petrino, anyone?

Bickering or not — and that kind of thing happens to some degree anytime a team loses — Minter’s defense needs to get better quick.  After Western Kentucky on Saturday, the Cats face Florida, South Carolina, Mississippi State, Arkansas, Georgia, Missouri and Vanderbilt before their open date.

Saturday SEC Final Scores
South Carolina 48, East Carolina 10
Mississippi State 28, Auburn 10
Florida 20, Texas A&M 17
Alabama 35, Western Kentucky 0
Tennessee 51, Georgia State 13
Louisiana-Monroe 34 – Arkansas 31 (OT)
LSU 41 – Washington 3
Ole Miss 28 –  UTEP 10
Kentucky 47 – Kent State
Georgia 41 – Missouri 20
Northwestern 23 – Vanderbilt 13

Here’s the rundown of non-conference evening games this Saturday.

UTEP at Ole Miss

1. A win tonight would mean Ole Miss would be 2-0 for the first time since 2009.

2. Hugh Freeze: ”I want four full quarters of good execution.”

Washington at LSU

3. Les Miles is a perfect 28-0 as LSU head coach against regular season non-conference opponents.

4. Tiger Stadium has been a house of horrors for many visiting coaches.

5. The LSU secondary is expecting a challenge from Huskies quarterback Keith Price.

Louisiana Monroe at Arkansas (Little Rock)

6. Expect a better performance from the Arkansas defense this week.

7. In preparation for Alabama, expect the Razorbacks offense to continue to play it close to the vest.

Kent State at Kentucky

8. Tommy Cook was the assistant director of football operations at Kentucky.  Two months ago, he became the director at Kent State.

9. Expect  a young Kentucky team to get even younger this week.

10. How many fans will show up?

Vanderbilt at Northwestern

11. To make a bowl game this year, Vanderbilt needs to win non-conference games like this one.

12. Commodores just 1-5 away from home last year.

Saturday SEC Schedule
Auburn at Mississippi State. MrSEC.com Pick: Auburn 20 – Mississippi State 16
East Carolina at South Carolina. MrSEC.com Pick: South Carolina 34 – East Carolina 17
Florida at Texas A&M. MrSEC.com Pick:  Florida 20 – Texas A&M 16
Western Kentucky at Alabama. MrSEC.com Pick: Alabama 41 – Western Kentucky 10
Georgia State at Tennessee. MrSEC.com Pick: Tennessee 52 – Georgia State 10
UTEP at Ole Miss. MrSEC.com Pick: UTEP 28 – Ole Miss 27
Washington at LSU. MrSEC.com Pick: LSU 37 – Washington 17
Louisiana-Monroe at Arkansas (Little Rock). MrSEC.com Pick:  Arkansas 52 – Louisiana-Monroe 14
Kent State at Kentucky.  MrSEC.com Pick: Kentucky 34 – Kent State 20
Georgia at Missouri.  MrSEC.com Pick: Mizzou 31 – Georgia 30
Vanderbilt at Northwestern: MrSEC.com Pick: Vanderbilt 24 – Northwestern 21

Here’s your regularly-scheduled rundown of all the Week Two SEC contests.  You’ll find everything from kickoff times to TV info to betting lines to our keys to each of the games.

Enjoy the games, be safe, and best of luck to your favorite school this weekend.

Auburn at Mississippi State

12:00pm ET on ESPN

Opening Line:  MSU -2

Current Line:  MSU -3

Storylines:  State comes in 1-0 and looking to get a leg up on Auburn for once.  Dan Mullen has never gotten the better of the Tigers and that’s left his Bulldogs to dig out of a hole in each of three previous seasons.  As for Auburn, Gene Chizik can’t afford to start 0-2.  There’s already a whisper in the wind that he might not be all he’s cracked up to be.  If AU loses tomorrow, expect the Auburn messageboards to heat up.

Keys for Auburn:  First, Kiehl Frazier and the Auburn passing game have to be more effective.  If it’s not, MSU will simply stack the box against the run.  Second, Brian VanGorder’s new defense needs to be stout against the run and tackle much, much better than it did last weekend.

Keys for Mississippi State:  With a game as full-time starter now under his belt, it’s time for Tyler Russell to establish himself as a true leader.  He has the weapons at wideout to move the ball against Auburn.  If State can avoid turnovers, they should finally record a much-needed breakthrough win for their head coach.  But if the Dogs find themselves in another tight game with Auburn late, will doubts begin to creep into their minds?

Pick:  Mississippi State 20, Auburn 17

East Carolina at South Carolina

12:21pm ET on SEC Network

Opening Line:  USC -23.5

Current Line:  USC -21.5

Storylines:  Connor Shaw’s bruised shoulder.  Carolina’s passing offense was almost non-existent last week against Vanderbilt.  If Shaw is ready to go — and he’ll be a gametime decision — then he and his receivers need to find some sort of rhythm.  If he’s not ready to go, expect a massive dose of Marcus Lattimore.

Keys for South Carolina:  As noted above — work on the passing game.  If Shaw’s not available, that’s a moot point.  Either way, USC’s ground game and defense should be enough to coast past ECU.

Pick:  South Carolina 34, East Carolina 17

Florida at Texas A&M

3:30pm ET on ESPN

Opening Line:  A&M -2.5

Current Line:  A&M -1

Storylines:  How ’bout that billboard in Gainesville for one?  Remember how all the Aggies claimed an investigation would prove that a Texas or Baylor person was behind it?  Well, besides what turned out to be a phony contract floating around on messageboards, there’s been nothing more said about who indeed paid for that bit of trash talk.  But more importantly, this is A&M’s welcome to the SEC party.  Will Muschamp brings what looked to be a sloppy Gator squad back to the Lone Star State where he’s sure to find a wild and raucous Kyle Field crowd.  If that weren’t enough, this will also mark the beginning of the Kevin Sumlin era in College Station.  Toss in the first start for redshirt freshman Aggie quarterback Johnny Manziel and you’ve got more storylines than a Steven Soderbergh flick.

Keys for Florida:  Brent Pease must help new starting quarterback Jeff Driskel build confidence via the coach’s play-calling.  The Gators have to prove that last week’s improved running game had more to do with themselves than with their competition (Bowling Green).  Defensively, you can bet Muschamp has studied Sumlin’s pass-happy system from Houston… but will that be the same offense the coach trots out tomorrow?

Keys for Texas A&M:  Hard to say since we’ve never seen a Sumlin-led Aggie squad play.  We’ll go with this one though — get the ground game going with a deep stable of backs to help take some of the pressure off of Manziel.  First starts can be tough on QBs.  They can be especially tough when the D-linemen coming after him have SEC speed and size.

Pick:  Florida 20, Texas A&M 16

Western Kentucky at Alabama

3:30pm ET on SEC Network

Opening Line:  UA -37

Current Line:  UA -38.5

Storylines:  RESPECT!  Nick Saban wants you to know that WKU is a big, bad, hard-working bruiser of a football team.  They’re nothing to laugh at.  Don’t scoff.  Scoffing isn’t part of the “process.”

Keys for:  In all seriousness, keep people healthy.  The #1 team in the country shouldn’t have too much trouble with a Sun Belt team so the trick will be to get the starters out as soon as possible and get reps for the backups.

Pick:  Alabama 41, Western Kentucky 10

Georgia State at Tennessee

4:00pm ET on Pay-per-view

Opening Line:  No Line Posted

Current Line:  No Line Posted

Storylines:  Will anyone attend?  Vol fans are excited about a season-opening win over NC State, but spending big bucks to watch Georgia State?  If the national trend holds, expect a whole bunch of empty seats at Neyland Stadium.

Keys for Tennessee:  Same as Alabama.  Same as so many SEC teams playing sub-par competition — just stay healthy.  Working on the interior run game against living, breathing opponents wouldn’t hurt either.

Pick:  Tennessee 52, Georgia State 10

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1. Friday night’s Tennessee-NC State game was the most-viewed game in the history of ESPNU.

2. Tommy Tomlinson on Tyrann Mathieu:  ”We couldn’t think of any other college football star who stuck around after getting kicked off his team.”

3. Kentucky running back CoShik Williams won’t play Saturday against Kent State.

4. Florida coaches watching almost three times as much film as normal in preparing for Texas A&M.

5. South Carolina defensive coordinator Lorenzo Ward in his own words: “Football actually changed my life …”

6. Kevin Scarbinsky on the formula that gets Nick Saban stirred up: “Extraordinary compliments from the opposing coach of a massive underdog plus a jump to No. 1 in both polls after the first game plus a bad practice equals a Saban rant.”

7. New AU logo placed on the east side of  Jordan-Hare Stadium.

8. Sports Illustrated’s Ben Glickman breaks down the Washington-LSU game.

9. SI”s Stewart Mandel calls Mizzou-Georgia his upset special of the week.

10. Only five coaches in college football –  none in the SEC – have been in their current jobs longer than Mark Richt and Gary Pinkel.

11. The joyless relationship between former Kentucky coach Billy Gillespie and his players.

12. What’s the best college football town in America?