Vanderbilt eager to play Alabama
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt is ready for its showdown today with topranked Alabama, the moment that Commodores coach Derek Mason has been working toward since arriving on campus.
“We relish the opportunity ...,” Mason said. “We’re going to play good teams in this conference, but we don’t fear anybody in this conference. That’s what you sign up for when you come to the SEC. Nobody wants to be the doormat of the SEC. If that’s the case, then you have to be about the work to build a solid foundation to be able to compete.”
Vanderbilt was the league’s cellar dweller with splashes of success. Coach Bobby Johnson, then James Franklin — now at Penn State — took the Commodores to bowl games, had winning records and a few upsets of ranked teams.
Now the Commodores (3-0) find themselves one of the SEC’s five remaining undefeated teams, including Alabama (3-0), in Mason’s fourth season — fresh off upsetting then-No. 18 Kansas State 14-7. Vanderbilt has won seven of its last 10 games and upset the last two Top 25 teams it has played.
Mix that with a defense that’s the nation’s stingiest in points, yards and against the pass, it’s a combination Alabama coach Nick Saban appreciates. Saban also thinks the Commodores deserve to be ranked going into the SEC opener for both teams Saturday afternoon.
“He’s got a really good team,” Saban said of Mason. “They play well. They’re really well-coached. They play hard, physical, tough. They’ve got very good schemes on offense and defense and special teams, so when you watch the film you see a really good team that’s really well coached, and I think Derek deserves a lot of credit for that.”
Alabama, which hasn’t lost in Nashville to Vanderbilt since 1969, is focused on tuning up after a 41-23 win over Colorado State where Saban put his first-team offense back on the field to finish off the win.
Florida at Kentucky
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky’s futility against Florida that began long before its players were born hasn’t stopped the annual question about ending the slide.
Surprisingly, the Wildcats have embraced the issue more this year because a bigger reward looms if they break their 30-game losing streak to the No. 20 Gators .
Kentucky (3-0, 1-0 Southeastern Conference) can grab early control of the Eastern Division by beating the Gators (1-1, 1-0) tonight.
“You have to know about the streak, you have to know what has happened these last 30 years,” said quarterback Stephen Johnson, a late substitute in last year’s 45-7 shellacking at Florida who’s now the Wildcats’ starter. “You try not to focus on it, but we’re excited to come out here on Saturday.
“We’re a much better team than we were last year, and we think we can get it done.”
Kentucky has came close a couple of times to ending the Football Bowl Subdivision’s longest active losing streak before last year’s beatdown in The Swamp. The Wildcats have made big strides since then, reaching their first bowl since 2010 and building confidence that they can break into the East’s upper tier with Florida, Georgia and Tennessee. They’re coming off a 23-13 victory at South Carolina.
Florida has some issues of its own that the Gators will be looking to address.
The Gators want to establish some offensive consistency after coming off a last-second victory against Tennessee. Florida quarterback Feleipe Franks hit Tyrie Cleveland with a 63-yard Hail Mary touchdown pass for a wild 26-20 victory .
The Gators again will be without nine players, including starting receiver Antonio Callaway and 2016 leading rusher Jordan Scarlett. The nine players are being investigated for alleged credit card fraud and could face felony charges.
Arkansas vs. Texas A&M
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas coach Bret Bielema has had his share of struggles in the Southeastern Conference since leaving Wisconsin following the 2012 season.
None have frustrated Razorbacks fans quite as much as the school’s recent woes against Texas A&M.
The Aggies (2-1) are a former Southwest Conference rival of Arkansas (1-1). Since they joined the SEC in 2012, they are also one of two West division teams the Razorbacks haven’t defeated — along with No. 1 Alabama. Arkansas has lost all five of its SEC games against Texas A&M, a streak it is desperate to snap when the two schools meet once again in the Dallas Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium today.
Arkansas enters as in need of a win as at any other time during Bielema’s tenure, thanks to a 28-7 loss to No. 16 TCU two weeks ago that pushed the coach’s record (26-27) with the Razorbacks under .500. He’s also 10-22 in the SEC and spent last week during a bye challenging the Razorbacks and searching for answers following the loss to the Horned Frogs.
“I don’t need Superman to show up on Saturday,” Bielema said. “I don’t need someone to play at a level higher than they’ve ever played at. I just need them to play (like) what I’ve seen them do during the course of the week and that will lead to good results.”
Auburn at Missouri
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Last week was a bad week to be a Tiger in the Southeastern Conference.
LSU was blown out by Mississippi State, Missouri scored just three points in a loss to Purdue, and Auburn struggled mightily to put away FCS opponent Mercer.
No. 15 Auburn (2-1) and Missouri (1-2, 0-1 SEC) will now face off today, with coaches Gus Malzahn and Barry Odom among the SEC coaches currently on the hot seat .
Auburn has struggled with a dormant offense, which posted just 117 yards against Clemson and committed four turnovers against Mercer. Missouri’s defense could provide a cure, since it has allowed an SEC-worst 443 yards per game this season.
“We’re hoping we get it going offensively,” Malzahn said. “When I look at (Missouri’s) defense, their defensive front is disruptive. Coach Odom now has taken over the defense. How much different will it be from earlier in the season, or even last year?”
So far, Missouri’s defense hasn’t changed much from its 2016 form but now its offense is scuffling, too. The Tigers mustered just 203 yards against Purdue in an eyebrow-raising 35-3 loss at home last week. Now, they’ll face a stifling Auburn defense that allows just 202 yards per game, second among FBS teams.
“We’ve just got to come out tenacious,” Missouri running back Damarea Crockett said. “We’re at home. Just play like that, just play comfortable and with confidence.”
Syracuse at LSU
BATON ROUGE, La. — LSU coach Ed Orgeron has been apologizing for seemingly an entire week.
On the heels of 37-7 loss to Mississippi State, Orgeron has been taking the blame and emphasizing to fellow Louisiana natives that he feels their disappointment. He’s also pledged to turn things around against Syracuse in Tiger Stadium tonight.
“I definitely get it. I understand the expectations at LSU. That was a bad performance. I totally take the blame. I’m going to get this team right,” said Orgeron, who is in his first full season on the job. “This is not LSU football. That’s not what we came here for, but we’re going to get it fixed.”
There were few obvious signs of last weekend’s collapse by LSU (2-1), the lowlights of which included a pair of ejections for targeting, drive-stalling dropped passes, offensive penalties that twice negated touchdowns, and periodic defensive busts that led to big plays for the Bulldogs. The Tigers said the result served as an embarrassing wake-up call for a team that cruised through a pair of dominant victories over BYU and Chattanooga to start the season.
Louisiana Tech at S. Carolina
Louisiana Tech’s Skip Holtz finally gets to coach a game at South Carolina. Some thought the opportunity for the one-time Gamecocks offensive coordinator might come much earlier than this.
Skip Holtz and the Bulldogs (2-1) face South Carolina (2-1) today.
Holtz joined his father, Lou, at South Carolina in 1999, guiding the offense for the first five seasons and considered for much of that time the de factor successor to Lou Holtz as Gamecocks’ coach .
UMass at Tennessee
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee’s challenge this week has been focusing on Massachusetts when everyone around town asks about what went wrong against Florida.
The Volunteers acknowledge they’re frustrated over a 26-20 loss to the 20th-ranked Gators that was decided on a 63-yard touchdown pass as time expired. But they say they’re ready to move on.
“Once you’re on the football field, it’s your sanctuary,” Tennessee defensive tackle Kendal Vickers said. “Once you’re there, you don’t have much time for thinking about the past.”
The game today represents a chance for Tennessee (2-1) to try fixing its red-zone issues and kicking problems that arose at Florida before the Volunteers resume Southeastern Conference competition next week against No. 11 Georgia.