SEC West

1. Tommy Tuberville a possible candidate at Arkansas? “I’d be surprised if Jeff Long doesn’t at least talk to Tommy Tuberville.”

2. Texas A&M’s players got a confidence boost earlier this season watching Florida beat Tennessee. Kevin Sumlin: ”In a weird way it helped our confidence at that point realizing, ‘Hey, you know what that [Florida loss] wasn’t as bad as we thought.”

3, Trademarking “Johnny Football”? Why Manziel jerseys took so long -  ”when a college player all of a sudden achieves stardom, it’s not a quick turnaround.”

4. Mississippi State’s defense averaging five tackles for loss per game this season - that’s tied for 13th in the SEC.

5. Dan Mullen on LSU quarterback Zach Mettenberger: “When you take a talented guy and he gets hot, you better watch out.”

6. LSU has won 19 of the last 20 games with Mississippi State – 12 in a row in Baton Rouge.

7. Where could LSU go bowling? Anywhere from California to Florida.

8. Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron on beating LSU: “The win only means so much if you finish out strong.”

9. Blue Horseshoe loves Anacott Steel and the Liberty Bowl loves Ole Miss.

10. Auburn hires a security firm to help enforce curfews.

11. Auburn freshman quarterback Jonathan Wallace will get his second start against the Bulldogs. Gene Chizik: “The speed and intensity with which they blitz and pressure and move around will be completely different than last week.”

 SEC East

12. Florida’s defense has intercepted 15 passes this year – only picked off six passes all of last year. Andre Debose, Mack Brown, and Leon Orr all expected to miss this weekend’s game with injuries.

13. After the Gators play Louisiana-Lafayette Saturday, Florida players will gather to watch Auburn-Georgia. 

14. Injury updates from South Carolina – Marcus Lattimore won’t need more than one surgery, according to his position coach.  Jadeveon Clowney’s bruised foot still an issue – estimates he’s at 85 percent.  “I can’t run full speed right now. We’re going to have to figure out what it is after the season.”

15. John Clay: Five myths about the Kentucky coaching search. Possible sticking point for Louisiana Tech coach Sonny Dykes? His offensive coordinator Tony Franklin wrote a book about his time at UK.

16. Mark Richt’s hip problems go back to a swing set 25 years ago.

17. Georgia safety Bacarri Rambo reminds his teammates and coaches of Baltimore Ravens safety Ed Reed.

18. Tennessee defensive coordinator Sal Sunseri: ”I’m not disappointed in the kids; I’m disappointed in myself.”

19. Tennessee offensive coordinator Jim Chaney on Mizzou: ”(Defensive coordinator) Dave Steckel is a heckuva football coach,’‘ Chaney said. “When you have talent and they play hard, good things come your way.”

20. Missouri coach Gary Pinkel on quarterback James Franklin: “He’s been through hell.”

SEC/College News

21. The Texas A&M – Alabama game will feature four of the best offensive tackles in the country.  

22. High school quarterback gets ejected for Cam Newton celebration.  Newton: ”Taunting is taunting, but at the end of the day, you still have to have fun playing the game,

23. Freshman defensive back at Tennessee State dies after collapsing during practice.

24. Making the case for No. 1 in college football among Alabama, Kansas State, Notre Dame and Oregon. Here’s the Alabama argument.  

25. SEC Commissioner Mike Slive on growing the league:  ”The answer for me is that I never thought about this fall or that fall. What I think about is the long-term horizon – 10 years from now, 20 years from now.”

SEC Basketball

26. Florida point guard Scott Wilkebin benched for tomorrow night’s game.

27. How John Calipari has turned Kentucky into the preeminent basketball program in the country - it’s all about marketing.

28. Calipari and UK players take part in telethon that leads to roughly half-million dollars raised for victims of Hurricane Sandy.

29. A big reason for confidence in Mizzou basketball this season - the guard combo of Phil Pressey and Mike Dixon. But Dixon is still suspended.

30. Point guard uncertainty at South Carolina.

31. Mississippi State will open at Troy Friday night – where they’ll be opening a new arena.  MSU guard Jalen Steele: “I know the crowd is going to be hyped. It’s going to fuel me and my teammates.”

32. UNC Asheville will play Tennessee next week in Puerto Rico.  Their coach wants Tennessee to come to Asheville: ”We need for some of those big schools to come in here and cause a little more interest…”

33. Best and worse-case scenarios for this year’s Tennessee team.

Atlanta Falcons fans are loving it.  Tommy Tuberville-backers are loving it.  And a lot of Arkansas fans are torn over it.

Bobby Petrino’s admission yesterday that he wrecked his motorcycle while riding with a 25-year-old woman he’d just hired into his football program leaves some fans defending their coach — he’s winning games, after all — and others ready to hurl their Bibles at him.

Below is a quick look at what’s being written about the topic this morning:


1.  As you already know, Petrino has been placed on paid leave.

2.  The coach could be in violation of the university’s policy on sexual harrassment.

3.  Here is Petrino’s two paragraph statement from last night in its entirety.

4.  Assistant head coach and linebackers coach Taver Johnson — the newest member of the Razorback staff — has been put in charge of the program for the time being.

5.  The University of Arkansas has “a public relations nightmare” on its hands.

6.  Here’s the official police report.

7.  Dennis Dodd of CBSSports.com says Petrino’s career should not survive because he will no longer be able to recruit.

1.  Nick Saban has no qualms with the NCAA’s new tougher, meaner APR policy.  (Here’s more on the new plan.)

2.  Linebacker Dont’a Hightower has a fracture in his left hand, but it’s not considered to be too serious.

3.  The development of Dre Kirkpatrick is good news for Bama’s secondary.

4.  Here’s a UA practice report.

5.  Practice conditions at Auburn are better now under Gene Chizik than they were under Tommy Tuberville.

6.  Onterio McCalebb’s 8.53 yards-per-carry average last season was the best in Tiger history.

7.  AU’s running backs feel they can fill the void left by Cam Newton.

8.  Arkansas has announced that Knile Davis is indeed expected to miss the 2011 season with “an injury to his left ankle.”  (That’s too bad for Davis, too bad for Arkansas, and too bad for the SEC.  Best wishes to Davis in his recovery.)

9.  Davis has had a long history of unfortunate injuries.

10.  In other news, Tyler Wilson looked sharp in last night’s scrimmage.  (I’m reminded of the old joke: “Aside from that, how did you enjoy the play, Ms. Lincoln?”)

11.  Want stupid?  Country music star Brad Paisley actually had to apologize for burning a Razorback rug as part of a simple tour prank.  (Some folks just have no sense of humor.  Or sense, for that matter.)

12.  Two of LSU highest-ranked — and biggest — recruits are squaring off daily in practice.

13.  Redshirt freshman center Cameron Fordham has left the Tiger team.

1.  Ex-Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville wants the 2004 BCS crown, but Bob Stoops and Oklahoma do not.  (Of course, Auburn wasn’t slaughtered 55-19 by Southern Cal as Oklahoma was.)

2.  This writer says Arkansas always gets hosed right before the NCAA decides to change and improve its rules.  (I’ve heard that from fans of just about every school in the SEC, by the way.)

3.  Alabama’s game at Penn State this fall will kick off at 3:30pm ET on ABC.

Auburn fans, just pack it in.  Bury the AU gear in your backyard.  The whole world is in fact out to get you.

SportsByBrooks.com — shocker — reported yesterday that former Auburn player Stanley McClover recently told HBO’s “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” that an Auburn assistant coach provided him with extra benefits while he was an AU player.




But before all you Auburn-haters pull a hammy from jumping for joy, you need to realize that McClover left The Plains way back in 2006.  His last football season was the 2005 campaign.  The assistant who gave him extra benefits — cash? a car? sea monkeys? — was part of the Tommy Tuberville staff.

In other words, the player and the coach and the whole darn staff is now gone from Auburn.  And has been for a while.

Now the problem for Auburn is this: The NCAA is basically Ken Starr.  They can start out investigating Whitewater, but if they find a stained dress… hey, they can go there, too. 

So it’s possible that the NCAA could roll this issue from five years ago into its current investigation of the Tigers.  But unless McClover reveals on TV that he got a lot more than a $50 handshake, it’s unlikely the NCAA will dig too deeply into something that might or might fall under the body’s statute of limitation guidelines in the first place.

Last week, LSU lost ace special teams coach Joe Robinson to North Carolina.  Les Miles said he was in no rush to fill the position.  But that doesn’t mean he’s not talking to people about the vacancy.

FootballScoop.com reports today that Miles “has interest in former Miami (FL) defensive coordinator John Lovett.”  Lovett was not retained by new Hurricanes coach Al Golden despite the fact that UM finished 16th in the nation in total defense and second in the country in pass defense.

Lovett’s name should be familiar to SEC fans.  He has coached in the league as a Tommy Tuberville aide.  Lovett served as the defensive coordinator at Auburn (1999 through 2001) and as the secondary coach at Ole Miss (1995 through 1998).  He has also coached at Clemson and North Carolina in the ACC.  At Carolina, he was the Tar Heels’ special teams coordinator.

At LSU, Robinson worked with defensive linemen in addition to his special teams duties.  With his defensive background, it seems that Lovett could fill that role, too, if Miles desired.

The case of former Texas Tech assistant James Willis — rumored to be a target of Florida’s Will Muschamp — continues to grow more and more odd.

First, the backstory: Willis was an assistant coach under Tommy Tuberville (and under D-coordinator Muschamp) at Auburn.  He then became an assistant at Alabama where he won a national championship ring last year.  This past season he served as Tuberville’s defensive coordinator at Texas Tech.

This weekend, Willis and Tech parted ways.  The school said Willis was leaving to pursue other opportunities.  Tuberville wished the coach well.  Willis then wrote “The truth shall set you free” on his Facebook page (whatever that means).

Eventually, reports emerged that Tuberville had learned — through third parties — that Muschamp had been talking to Willis about joining his staff in Gainesville.  It’s not considered Kosher for a coach’s ex-aide to poach said coach’s current staff without so much as a heads-up to his old boss.

Here’s the new twist: Last night the Fox television affiliate in Lubbock reported that “a domestic dispute” had taken place at the Wolfforth, Texas home of Willis last week.

Police were called to the residence at 3:15am on December 22nd.  A 33-year-old female alleged an incident of domestic violence.  Police reported her injuries as minor.

The suspect was a 38-year-old male who was not at home when police arrived.  No arrest has been made and the case has since been turned over to detectives.

Willis just happens to be 38 years old.

Not the kind of publicity you want floating around while you’re trying to land a new job, eh?

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.

“We’re about to have this all wrapped up.”

Those are the words of Vanderbilt Board of Trust and search committee member John Ingram.  They were uttered this afternoon.  They were uttered in regards to Maryland offensive coordinator James Franklin.

The Tennessean reports that vice chancellor David Williams — the man who has been running the VU search — has not returned phone calls all day.

Ingram said “There is a lot of clutter out there, and that’s what it is — clutter,” when asked about reports that Alabama offensive coordinator Jim McElwain and Texas Tech coach Tommy Tuberville (oh, please) have recently expressed interest in the Vandy job.

Vanderbilt is about to have a coach.  A coach who has no real ties to the South and whose offense at Maryland didn’t engender a great deal of love from Terp fans.  And he’s someone who 95% of SEC fans had never heard of prior to Vandy’s search.

In other words, he’s exactly the type of coach we believed would accept the monumental task of trying to win where no one else has won.

UPDATE – VandySports.com is reporting that a Friday press conference is expected.  The site also claims that Franklin “will earn close to Kentucky first-year head coach Joker Phillips in terms of salary and compensation.”

Phillips made $1.7 million this past season, ahead of only Mississippi State’s Dan Mullen and Vandy’s last coach, Robbie Caldwell.  Given that Mullen is expected to get a bump at MSU, Franklin will likely be the SEC’s lowest-paid head coach.

So much for conference solidarity.

Five of the six SEC coaches voting in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll slotted Auburn as their #1 ranked team in this week’s poll.  One did not.

Urban Meyer ranked the Tigers #2 behind Oregon.  Expect Auburn fans to remember that when Florida rotates back onto the Tigers’ schedule next season.

Chris Low of ESPN.com also points out that Texas Tech head coach Tommy Tuberville ranked the Tigers #1 on his ballot.