Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
SEC report: Sumlin, Aggies still looking for answer at quarterback.
Texas A&M might have its third different starting quarterback in three games when the Aggies play Louisiana-Lafayette on Saturday at Kyle Field.
Redshirt freshman Nick Starkel started the opener at UCLA, but he suffered a fractured left ankle. He underwent surgery and could be out for the rest of the season.
True freshman Kellen Mond replaced Starkel against the Bruins, who rallied to win 45-44 after trailing 44-10 in the third quarter.
Mond started last week against Nicholls State and completed 12 of 21 passes for 105 yards and 1 touchdown.
Senior Jake Hubenak — who didn’t play at UCLA — relieved Mond in the third quarter against Nicholls State and helped the Aggies pull away to win 24-14.
Hubenak completed 12 of 15 for 93 yards and directed a touchdown drive in the fourth quarter after Nicholls State had tied the game 1414.
Hubenak and Mond are listed as co-starters on the depth chart this week, and Aggies Coach Kevin Sumlin said both will play.
“For us, that plan is still in place,” Sumlin said Tuesday during his weekly news conference. “We have to continue to develop both of them, in my opinion, not just one guy.”
Headed upstairs
Chip Lindsey, Auburn’s offensive coordinator, will call plays from the press box against Mercer on Saturday night after being on the sideline for the Tigers’ first two games.
The move comes after Clemson held Auburn to 117 yards in total offense and quarterback Jarrett Stidham was sacked 11 times.
Auburn Coach Gus Malzahn said the move upstairs was the idea of Lindsey, who is in his first season as the Tigers’ offensive coordinator after holding the same position at Arizona State.
“Chip brought it up, and I totally supported it,” Malzahn said at his weekly news conference. “He just feels like he can get a better feel for the defenses and everything that goes with that.”
Malzahn taking Lindsey off the sideline isn’t an overreaction to the offense’s struggles at Auburn.
“It’s just more of a reaction to what’s best,” Malzahn said. “Really, Chip’s comfort zone just being able to see the field, see the defenses, and that was his comfort zone.
“Originally he felt pretty strongly he needed to be down there with the quarterback and look him in the eye and all that. But you learn, and you look at things and what’s best. He feels very confident that’s going to help, and I know it will.”
Auburn defensive coordinator Kevin Steele also is in the press box on game days.
Mullen on Ole Miss
Mississippi State Coach Dan Mullen couldn’t resist taking a shot at
Ole Miss when he was asked on the SEC coaches teleconference Wednesday about media reports that Bulldogs linebacker Leo Lewis testified this week at the NCAA Infractions Committee hearing on Ole Miss held in Covington, Ky.
Lewis told NCAA investigators that someone representing Ole Miss offered him and his family cash to sign with the Rebels.
“We’re not going to comment on major violations that other institutions have,” Mullen said. “But Leo’s done a good job of preparing for this week.”
The committee ended its hearing with Ole Miss officials Tuesday.
Ole Miss must wait to see whether the NCAA hits it with additional sanctions in addition to self-imposed penalties that include a bowl ban this season.
Kentucky blues
South Carolina went 13-1 against Kentucky from 20002013, but the Wildcats have beaten the Gamecocks in the past three seasons — 45-38, 26-21 and 17-10.
Kentucky never has won four in a row over the Gamecocks, who will try to stop the bleeding against the Wildcats when the teams play Saturday night in Williams-Brice Stadium.
Bryson Allen-Williams does not want to see it come to pass.
He has been part of four South Carolina football teams. The first three lost to Kentucky. The fourth will play the Wildcats this week.
“I don’t want to go out being 0-4 against Kentucky,” the senior linebacker told The State newspaper. “We’re talking about it. We’re making sure that we’re focused. We’re making sure that we’re locked in.”
Will Muschamp, in his second season as the Gamecocks’ coach, addressed Kentucky’s recent domination of the series immediately after his team’s victory at Missouri last week.
“I told the guys in the locker room after the last ballgame, our seniors haven’t beaten these guys,” Muschamp said at his weekly news conference. “That’s not something we need to allow to happen.”
Key returnee
LSU junior outside linebacker Arden Key, who set a school record with 12 sacks last season, is expected to make his 2017 debut Saturday night.
“It’s a big upgrade, just because you’re getting a guy that’s 6-6, 260 coming back and one of the best pass rushers LSU has ever seen, and that’s saying something,” junior center Will Clapp told The Advocate newspaper. “He’s electric. He’s a big play waiting to happen.”
Key, a junior AllAmerican edge rusher, is cleared to play in the Tigers’ SEC opener Saturday at Mississippi State, Coach Ed Orgeron announced Monday, ending a drama-filled offseason for LSU’s most decorated player.
Key missed spring practice with an excused absence for undisclosed personal reasons, then underwent shoulder surgery in May.
Mississippi State Coach Dan Mullen isn’t surprised Key has been cleared to play in time for the SEC opener.
“I assumed that he’d play in our game the whole time,” Mullen said at his weekly news conference. “It seemed like he was setting up to come play in our game through those first couple of games where they were resting him.
“He’s probably one of the most dominant players in our league. It’s a mismatch. He has the speed and physicality to be a run stopper, but he’s extremely disruptive as a pass rusher and can change the game.
“He can make things happen all by himself.”
Georgia takeover
Georgia quickly sold out of its allotment of 8,000 tickets for the Bulldogs’ game at Notre Dame on Saturday night, but based on media reports, about half of the announced crowd of 77,622 was wearing red and black.
“When we pulled up, we thought it was a home game,” Georgia Coach Kirby Smart said after the Bulldogs won 20-19. “I am proud of this university, and I am proud of the fact that we’ve got a fan base that came to this game in droves.”
It was Georgia’s first game at Notre Dame and first against a school in the North since 1965 when the Bulldogs won 15-7 at Michigan.
“This was a special trip for our fan base, and we need our fan base to get behind this team, support this team and support this university,” Smart said. “We’ve got a lot of projects right now that we’re trying to pay for, and these are the kind of games that help you get that done, because they see the promise in the program.”
Two-minute drill
■ Kansas State is playing Vanderbilt for the first time since 1984, when the Commodores beat the Wildcats 26-14 in Nashville, Tenn.
■ Jalen Hurts’ 154 rushing yards against Fresno State were the most by an Alabama quarterback since Tyler Watts had 162 against South Carolina in 2001.
■ Luc Bequette, a sophomore defensive end from Little Rock Catholic, will start at defensive end for California against Ole Miss on Saturday night.
■ Texas A&M has five takeaways this season without a turnover.
■ Auburn leads the SEC in sacks (10 for 64 yards) and sacks allowed (14 for 83 yards).
■ Vanderbilt junior quarterback Kyle Shurmur completed a school-record 83.3 percent of his passes (15 of 18) for 202 yards and 4 touchdowns in the Commodores’ 42-0 victory over Alabama A&M.