Kentucky embraces new rival

Arkansas State fans who want to see a matchup between the Red Wolves and the Arkansas Razorbacks might push for Kentucky Coach Rich Brooks as the Razorbacks’ next head coach if Bobby Petrino ever decides to leave Fayetteville.

Kentucky hosts Western Kentucky on Saturday in the schools’ first-ever meeting. It’s hardly a big game in the overall scope of the SEC, but it’s important to the Commonwealth of Kentucky. It will be particularly significant for fans of the Hilltoppers, who are still in the infant stages of major college football.

Arkansas officials have never warmed up to the idea of playing other in-state teams, but Brooks said he has no problem doing it.

“We’re going to play some teams that we don’t return home games to, and in my mind we may as well do what we can for some of the instate schools on a financial basis,” Brooks said. “So they can ride the bus and not spend a lot of money to take trips on a plane when they can just get on the bus and drive to Lexington.”

Kentucky already has a fierce in-state nonconference rivalry with Louisville, but the Cardinals are established and play in a Bowl Championship Series conference. Western Kentucky wants to make a name for itself, and beating Kentucky would be a benchmark moment.

“It’s a big opportunity,” Western Kentucky linebacker Blake Boyd told the Daily News of Bowling Green, Ky. “I think that going into this week you could change a lot of people’s minds. I think you could change a lot of the people’s minds that do wear those UK shirts and maybe make them hesitant to put it on and maybe put a Western shirt on instead.”

Even Brooks understands the reward for the Hilltoppers makes the game a risk for the Wildcats, who last season beat Eastern Kentucky and have a two-game winning streak against Louisville.

“Maybe some of [the players ] wanted to come in here and we didn’t offer them, so this is their opportunity to come in and show Kentucky that they can compete on the big stage in the SEC,” Brooks said. “It’s definitely a dangerous game.”

Secondary plans Georgia’s passing defense ranks 11 th in the SEC, but Coach Mark Richt thinks the statistics don’t reflect the true value of that unit. Georgia’s secondary isn’t getting easy quarterback assignments of late. Last week the Bulldogs had to prepare for Arizona State senior Rudy Carpenter, who has started most of the past four years and has started a Football Bowl Championship Subdivisionleading 35 consecutive games at quarterback. Now, after holding Carpenter and the Sun Devils to 208 yards passing and one touchdown, along comes Alabama’s John Parker Wilson, another senior who has 30 career starts.

Playing such experienced quarterbacks can make for a cautious approach in terms of defensive planning.

“First thing you do, very truthfully, is the stop the run,” said Richt, whose Bulldogs allowed Arizona State just 4 yards on 19 attempts. “If you can slow down the run and make a team a one-dimensional football team, then it puts a lot of pressure on that quarterback. “ But if you do it the same way over and over again, those kind of guys will recognize the blitz. I think with veteran quarterbacks, you have to disguise your looks and try not to give away your intentions until after the snap, try to confuse them the best you can.”

Pulling rank No. 21 Vanderbilt should stay in The Associated Press Top 25 poll at least until October since the team is idle this week. The last time Vanderbilt was in the Top 25, in October 1984, it promptly lost 27-23 to Tulane the next week, fell out the poll and took almost a quarter century to get back. The Commodores and their fans are surely savoring the moment. “It’s huge for our program for recruiting, getting us noticed,” quarterback Mackenzi Adams said. “Hopefully we can keep that momentum up,” safety Ryan Hamilton said. “I think it means a lot for the team, for the community.” No class, no play The SEC is demanding that every school adhere to a class attendance policy, stating players who miss too many classes or tutoring sessions are subject to sitting out a game.

South Carolina, one of the schools which already have the plan in place, will be without three starters this week against Alabama-Birmingham: tailback Mike Davis, offensive lineman Heath Batchelor and defensive lineman Jordin Lindsey.

Of course, the possible consequences come with an asterisk. The Gamecocks’ players missed their academic commitments last spring, and Coach Steve Spurrier could choose which game they would miss. He chose UAB, which is 3-18 in its past 21 games.

Some coaches don’t think the punishments should be consistent with each other whenever players are guilty of violating the attendance policy.

“I don’t think all the schools are the same, so you should set it up how you think your school operates and what’s required of your students,” Vanderbilt Coach Bobby Johnson said. “You’re the only one responsible for them. I’m not responsible for any other school’s attendance.”

A familiar sight Miami Dolphins running back Ronnie Brown’s monster day Sunday — he ran for 113 yards and was responsible for five touchdowns in an upset of the New England Patriots — provided some feel-good news for Alabama Coach Nick Saban and Ole Miss Coach Houston Nutt. Saban was the Dolphins’ coach when Brown was selected out of Auburn in 2005, and Brown did his best Darren McFadden impersonation by taking several quarterback snaps out of a formation that looked similar to ones McFadden ran for Nutt’s Arkansas teams. Brown even threw for a touchdown pass.

One of Nutt’s former offensive coordinators, David Lee, is the Dolphins’ quarterbacks coach and thought the formation would work with Brown.

“I talked to David, and they were really excited to put a heck of a plan together,” Nutt said. “It was good to see the highlights. On Sunday night, it does make you smile. I was surprised they actually ran it. That was obviously a good move.” Nose for football

Alabama nose guard Terrence Cody, all 365 pounds of him, is showing signs of being an outstanding player.

His coach thinks he can even be better as he gets older and, in a perfect world, in better shape. He’s already slimmed down from 420 pounds.

Nick Saban, a former NFL head coach and assistant, likens Cody’s size but underestimated quickness to former pro players like Keith Traylor of Malvern and Ted Washington.

“The kinds of guys have the kind of lower body explosion, even though they have the size, to be pretty strong and stout in a short area,” Saban said. “Hopefully we can continue to get him into better position and sustain his performance to play well on a consistent basis. I think he’s learning and is a new player. “ We’re happy with the way he’s played, but I think he can continue to improve.”

Let it ride Auburn Coach Tommy Tuberville has endured two consecutive last-second gambles by Les Miles that resulted in winning touchdown passes for LSU. “You don’t want to do anything that you don’t think will jeopardize your chance to win. But you look for moments to seize momentum, so you try to use that to your advantage,” said Tuberville, who also has a reputation as a daring playcaller. “Over the years, you’ve got calculated risks. You’ve got to sell it to your team, and your team has to understand why you’re doing it.

“ If you pull it out of your hat and do something, they might even question why you’re doing it.”

Auburn has another tough game this week against Tennessee, a team slowly heading into desperation territory following two devastating defeats. The Tigers know they have to bounce back after letting a huge victory slip away.

“That’s a tough job for all the coaches and your seniors, but each week it’s a battle,” Tuberville said. “The ones that dwell on wins and losses usually have problems getting through the next game fairly quickly.”

Two-minute drill It had indeed been a long time since LSU won at Auburn before last Saturday. While 1998 doesn’t seem that far back, consider that the Tigers’ coach then was Gerry DiNardo. LSU lost 15 of the next 19 games under DiNardo following that 31-19 victory at Jordan-Hare Stadium on Sept. 19, 1998. Kentucky’s kicking situation is tenuous at best. Lones Seiber missed 4 of 6 fieldgoal attempts two weeks ago against Middle Tennessee, which created an open tryout this week that could factor J. J. Housley and Ryan Tydlacka into the mix with Seiber struggling.

Ole Miss quarterback Jevan Snead likely needs to regain his composure at Florida after the Texas transfer threw four interceptions Saturday in the Rebels’ 23-17 home loss to Vanderbilt. “You can’t play effectively without first learning to protect the football. It starts there,” Ole Miss offensive coordinator Kent Austin said. “He’s getting an education right now. We’ll see what he learns.”

Florida managed to get touted Southern California transfer Emmanuel Moody into the Tennessee game, where he gained 55 yards on nine carries. That was after Moody didn’t get a snap against Miami in the previous game and had just two carries in the opener with Hawaii. “Next game I might not even play,” Moody said. “It’s not good to get too excited, because when you get too excited you go with your emotions.”

South Carolina isn’t expecting wide receiver Kenny McKinley back for Saturday’s game against Alabama-Birmingham. McKinley hasn’t played since leaving the Sept. 4 Vanderbilt game with a hamstring injury. Information for this report was contributed by SEC beat writers GAME OF THE WEEK NO. 8 ALABAMA AT NO. 3 GEORGIA

6: 45 P. M. SATURDAY, ESPN ESPN GameDay is Athens-bound for the first time since 2002. The Bulldogs will yank those rare but cool black jerseys out of storage. Alabama has returned to national relevancy. Sounds like all the makings of a huge showdown, which it is. Georgia is regaining steam since falling from its preseason No. 1 spot, and the Crimson Tide are literally rolling.

BY THE NUMBERS 3-4 Tennessee’s September record since the start of the 2007 season 7-1 Vanderbilt’s September record since the start of the 2007 season OVERHEARD “Evidently, we still haven’t figured out how to win a football game. We’re better than that. We’ve got to score when we’re that close. There’s no other way to

say it.” — Ole Miss left tackle Michael Oher, after the Rebels lost 23-17 to Vanderbilt last week “You test someone’s maturity level when you go on the road, not when you’re at home. All due respect, really anybody can play at home when your crowd’s behind you and you probably have a little better personnel than the team you’re playing. I don’t judge a team on

that.” — Florida Coach Urban Meyer, after the Gators won 30-6 at Tennessee