Season in jeopardy for Mizzou RB.
Missouri running back Damarea Crockett, a sophomore who graduated from Little Rock Christian, will miss a second consecutive game when the Tigers play Connecticut on Saturday night and possibly will be out for the rest of the season, Coach Barry Odom said.
Crockett, who has rushed 80 times for a team-high 491 yards, underwent arthroscopic surgery in his right shoulder Friday after being injured at Georgia on Oct. 14.
Odom said the surgery was a success and Crockett’s status will be evaluated week to week.
“Damarea’s a tremendous talent and tremendous kid,” Odom said Wednesday on the SEC coaches conference call. “I’m so happy we’ve got him in our program.
“It’s unfortunate that one of the drawbacks and hard parts of sports is when you have injuries. That’s always going to happen in any sport.”
Odom said the decision was made in consultation with Crockett and Missouri’s training staff for him to have surgery.
“Sitting down and looking at it, like we do every one of them, we ask, ‘If that’s your own kid, what’s the best thing for his long-term health?’ ” Odom said. “Could he have gone back out there and tried to play? Maybe. But that wasn’t in the best interest of him.
“It would have put him in a position to have more extensive damage to the shoulder, and obviously we don’t want to do that. So we got it fixed and he’ll rehab it. We’ll push it really hard to see how quick he can recover.
“If he can get back this year then obviously that would be a great benefit for our team. If he can’t, then we’ll get into the offseason and I know he’ll have a great winter and be ready going into spring ball and going into next year.”
Freshman Larry Rountree led Missouri with 11 carries for 97 rushing yards in its 68-21 victory over Idaho on Saturday. Senior Ish Witter had nine carries for 41 yards.
Crockett set a Missouri freshman rushing record with 1,062 yards last season in 11 games.
Doubling up
After linebacker Daniel Bituli intercepted a pass by Tua Tagovailoa and returned it 97 yards for Tennessee’s only touchdown in a 45-7 loss at Alabama, defensive back Rashaan Gaulden ran into the end zone as well and celebrated by extending his middle finger on both hands to the student section in Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Gaulden was penalized 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct, which was enforced on the kickoff.
“That’s not acceptable,” Volunteers Coach Butch Jones said after the game. “That’s something that will be dealt with internally in our football program.
“That’s not who we are. That’s not what we are about. But [Gaulden] knew that. We spoke about it. He feels awful about it.”
Tennessee made Gaulden one of five players available for postgame interviews, and he apologized before taking questions.
“That [gesture] that I showed was very out of character,” Gaulden said, according to the Knoxville
News-Sentinel. “That’s not how my parents raised me.
“That’s not how a leader of the team should show their emotion on the field, and I really, sincerely apologize to the student section of Alabama for disrespecting them.”
Beer backer
LSU Athletic Director Joe Alleva is hopeful SEC school presidents and chancellors will approval beer sales for all fans in football stadiums, not just those in indoor seating areas.
“I’m a big proponent of selling beer throughout the stadium,” Alleva said at the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation Quarterback Club luncheon, according to Nola.com. “I hope we can get to that point.
“It’s a presidential decision in our conference. I think we got a significant number of presidents that are seeing that needs to be done.
“If you look across the landscape of college football, the number of people attending games is going down. We have to do a better job of making the fan experience at games more friendly so they want to come and stay, and I really believe beer would help in that situation.”
Misguided remarks
Florida Coach Jim McElwain said Wednesday he over-reacted at his Monday news conference when he talked about himself and his players receiving death threats after the team’s 3-3 start.
Pressed for details Monday, McElwain said he wanted to move on to talking about other things.
Florida’s administration took his comments about the death threats seriously, and in an odd twist the athletic department released a statement later Monday that McElwain had declined to provide more information about the threats.
McElwain said Wednesday he allowed “one or two misguided remarks” get to him when he spoke Monday.
“I’ve got a lot of care for this program and these people,” McElwain said. “At that same time, allowing a couple of things get to you, you can’t do that, and ultimately that’s the business we’re in.”
Nick a problem
Texas A&M’s defense will be focused on Mississippi State quarterback Nick Fitzgerald from the Bulldogs’ first snap Saturday night at Kyle Field.
Fitzgerald ran 74 yards for a touchdown on the first play of Mississippi State’s 3528 victory over Texas A&M last season.
“Nick Fitzgerald is a problem,” Aggies Coach Kevin Sumlin said on his radio show. “That’s the best way for me to put it.”
Fitzgerald rushed 12 times for 115 yards and 2 touchdowns last week when Mississippi State beat Kentucky 45-7. On the season he is the Bulldogs’ leading rusher with 591 yards.
“He’s running away from a bunch of folks in our league,” Sumlin said. “Guys can’t catch him when he gets going.”
End-zone drought
Tennessee’s offense has gone 14 quarters — including the entire games against Georgia, South Carolina and Alabama — without scoring a touchdown.
The drought began in the second half of the Vols’ 17-13 victory over Massachusetts on Sept. 23 when Tennessee’s only points after halftime came on a field goal in the third quarter.
Georgia shut out Tennessee 41-0, the Vols managed just three field goals in a 15-9 loss to South Carolina, and their only touchdown in a 45-7 loss at Alabama was on an interception return.
Tennessee’s last touchdown on offense came on Quinten Dormady’s 8-yard pass to Tyler Byrd with 25 seconds left in the second quarter against Massachusetts.
100 times 2
LSU senior running back Darrel Williams is the first LSU player to have 100 yards rushing and receiving in the same game.
Williams rushed 22 times for 103 yards and caught 4 passes for 105 yards in the Tigers’ 40-24 victory at Ole Miss last week. He’s the first LSU running back with more than 100 receiving yards in a game since 1989 when Eddie Fuller had 5 catches for 108 yards in a 3530 victory over Ole Miss.
Two-minute drill
All five of Alabama freshman Henry Ruggs’ receptions this season have been for touchdowns, with one apiece against Fresno State, Ole Miss, Texas A&M, Arkansas and Tennessee.
Missouri Coach Barry Odom said there are 21 freshmen or sophomores on the team’s two-deep depth chart, with 11 on offense and 10 on defense.
LSU’s Derrius Guice is the first SEC player with three games of rushing for more than 250 yards after he gained 276 against Ole Miss last week. He rushed for 285 against Texas A&M and 252 against Arkansas last season.
Alabama has won 22 consecutive games against SEC opponents since losing to Ole Miss 43-37 in 2015.