SEC report
From SEC to Senate for coach
Camden native Tommy Tuberville will be playing political football in Washington, D.C.
Tuberville, the former coach at Ole Miss and Auburn, ran as a Republican and was elected to the U.S. Senate by Alabama voters in a landslide Tuesday night.
Tuberville, 66, essentially treated Democrat Sen. Doug Jones like an FCS team, winning with 60% of the vote.
“Tommy’s always been someone who I have a tremendous amount of respect for,” Alabama Coach Nick Saban said. “We competed against each other, but we’ve been really good friends for a long, long time.
“We’ve always tried to stay out of the political arena here just as a way of the world in the coaching profession, but I’m happy to see that he’s going to have an opportunity [in the Senate], and I think he’ll do a really good job.”
Tuberville played safety at Southern Arkansas University and was the head coach at Hermitage High School and an assistant at Arkansas State University before going to the University of Miami as a graduate assistant in 1986. He rose up the staff at Miami and was defensive coordinator in 1993.
“Me and Tommy Tuberville were roommates at Miami,” said LSU Coach Ed Orgeron, who went to Miami after being a weight room graduate assistant at the University of Arkansas. “We were graduate assistants together, so me and him are very close. I am so happy for him.
“I think that he’s going to do a great job. Tommy was a great coach. In fact, he’s the one that got me from Arkansas to the University of Miami.
“We always knew he’d be a politician. He just has that in him. I think he’s going to do a fantastic job.”
Fob James, an AllAmerican running back at Auburn, served two terms as Alabama’s governor from 1979-83 and 1995-99, and Tennessee quarterback Heath Shuler was a threeterm member of the U.S. House of Representatives for North Carolina from 2007-13, but Tuberville will be the first former SEC football coach to serve as a senator.
Tuberville had a 15999 career record, which included stops at Texas Tech and Cincinnati after his time in the SEC.
Jimmy Johnson, the former Arkansas player and defensive coordinator, was Miami’s head coach when Tuberville first joined the Hurricanes’ staff.
“Congratulations Tommy,” Johnson posted on his Twitter account. “You’ve come a long way since were an assistant on my Miami staff!!”
Saban, who has won five national championships at Alabama, probably could be elected to any office in the state. But he’s not interested in running. “I can answer that real quick,” Saban said laughing.
“No.”
Auburn Coach
Gus Malzahn offered congratulations to
Tuberville on his election, but said he’s not interested in a political career.
“That ain’t for me,”
Malzahn said. “Don’t ever have to worry about me being in politics.”
LSU challenges
Despite LSU losing 14 players to the NFL Draft from last season’s 15-0 national championship team as well as defensive coordinator Dave Aranda (now Baylor’s head coach) and passing game coordinator Joe Brady (now an NFL assistant with Carolina), expectations were high for the Tigers.
LSU was ranked No. 6 in The Associated Press preseason poll, but now is tied for fourth in the SEC West with Arkansas at 2-3.
After LSU suffered losses in offensive shootouts to Mississippi State 44-34 and Missouri 45-41, the Tigers were trounced at Auburn 48-11.
It was the largest margin of victory ever for Auburn against LSU, and the Tigers’ most-lopsided SEC loss since 1996 (56-13 to No. 1 Florida) and most lopsided loss to an unranked team since 1981 (48-7 to Tulane).
“We just got punched in the face. We got absolutely killed,” LSU center Liam Shanahan said. “It stings a lot. We just got embarrassed on a national stage.”
Now LSU has an open date before playing No. 2 Alabama.
“It’s very challenging right now, but we’ve got to fix ourselves,” Tigers Coach Ed Orgeron said. “We’re making a lot of mistakes, so we’ve got to coach better number one, and play better.
“We’ve got a lot of new players and they’ve got to learn that in the SEC you’ve got to come ready to play every game.”
’Dog recovering
Georgia senior safety Richard LeCounte has been released from the hospital, Bulldogs Coach Kirby Smart said Wednesday, after being injured in a motorcycle accident Saturday night.
LeCounte was riding a motorcycle when he was involved in a multi-car accident after the team returned home from a 14-3 victory at Kentucky.
“When you get news like that, it’s crushing, it’s disheartening,” Georgia Coach Kirby Smart said. “It just makes everything flash before you, all of the experiences I’ve had with him.
“It was a scary moment. It was a very serious crash. He’s very fortunate to have his helmet on.”
Smart said LeCounte was in Georgia’s training room Tuesday getting treatment.
Game ball for Gus
Auburn’s players presented Coach Gus Malzahn with a game ball after the Tigers’ 48-11 victory over LSU.
“It caught me off guard,” said Malzahn, who is in his eighth season at Auburn. “I know that’s the first time since I’ve been here that I got a game ball.
“It was a really special, special feeling to be presented a game ball by your team leaders. It was a real cool experience for me.”
Malzahn said he couldn’t recall the last time he got a game ball.
“I may have gotten one in the past, but it’s been a long time ago,” he said. “Long enough where I don’t remember. I’d have to think about that.”
Relief for Kiffin
Ole Miss freshman tight end Damarcus Thomas has been released from the hospital, Rebels Coach Lane Kiffin said Wednesday, after he was airlifted to Memphis when he initially couldn’t move after suffering an injury in Monday’s practice.
Thomas began moving later Monday.
“It really was cool the relief you felt when they said he was moving,” Kiffin said. “Then when they released him … I mean, it felt like a miracle.”
Kiffin said Thomas has rejoined the team, but it isn’t known when he might be cleared to resume practicing.
On the run
The team that finished with the most rushing yards has won the Georgia-Florida game the past 14 years. The Bulldogs and Gators are 7-7 against each other in that span, with Georgia winning the past three games.
Dan Mullen is 2-3 in those matchups — 2-1 as the Gators’ offensive coordinator when they won in 2006 and 2008 and lost in 2007, and 0-2 as their head coach the past two seasons.
“I think coming into the game you’re going to look and say, ‘Hey, Georgia’s going to want to run the football and control the clock and have a grind-it-out game, and we’re going to want a more high-scoring passing game,’ ” Mullen said of Saturday’s matchup. “But they could come out throwing the ball, and we could come out running the ball.
“At the end of the game, you could see it flip. I’ve had those before. A lot of times when you look at [rushing yards], the team that had a lead ran the ball to hold onto it. I don’t know that the pure rushing yards is a key stat. I think it can be skewed in terms of how the game plays out.”
OK Corral
Ole Miss sophomore quarterback Matt Corral completed his first 19 passes for 277 yards and 3 touchdowns in the Rebels’ 54-21 victory at Vanderbilt last week.
Corral finally threw an incompletion in the second quarter on a second-and-1 play from the Vanderbilt 33. He finished 31 of 34 for 412 yards and 6 touchdown passes without an interception.
The six touchdown passes tied Corral with Eli Manning for the most by an Ole Miss quarterback, though Manning’s recordsetting game included five touchdown passes after regulation in Arkansas’ 58-56 victory over the Rebels that took an NCAA-record seven overtimes.
Alabama quarterback Mac Jones also had 19 consecutive completions this season in the Crimson Tide’s 48-17 victory at Tennessee.
Tee Martin, now a Tennessee assistant coach, holds the SEC record of 24 consecutive completions in 1998 when the Vols won the national championship.
Corral’s 19 consecutive completions weren’t an Ole Miss record. Kent Austin completed 20 passes in a row for the Rebels in 1982 with his last five against Tulane and first 15 against Tennessee.