What have you done this year ?

A year after leading Tennessee to a share of the SEC East title and a berth in the SEC Championship Game, Phillip Fulmer is on his way out as the Volunteers’ coach.

Fulmer announced Monday he will resign at the end of the season as dictated by the Tennessee administration.

It might seem odd that a coach can lose his job a year after winning a division title, but it’s getting fairly common in the SEC.

Fulmer has become the fifth conference coach in the past 10 years to be fired or resign under pressure within a year of winning or sharing the SEC East or West, joining Auburn’s Terry Bowden, Alabama’s Mike DuBose, Ole Miss’ David Cutcliffe and Arkansas’ Houston Nutt. Bowden didn’t even make it a full season after his Tigers lost to Fulmer’s Vols in the 1997 SEC Championship Game. Auburn defensive coordinator Bill Oliver replaced Bowden midway through the 1998 season. “I guess that’s just kind of the nature of things,” Fulmer said. “If you don’t continue to do as well, certainly there’s a responsibility that we didn’t get it done on the field like we wanted to this year.” Fulmer has a 150-51 record in his 17 th season at Tennessee, but this year the Vols are 3-6 and last in the SEC East at 1-5

Short break After announcing his resignation Monday, Tennessee Coach Phillip Fulmer went home with his family and hosted several friends, staff members and former players and their families. “We had a good group of guys and gals, and we reflected and cried and laughed and just had a nice evening,” Fulmer said. “Then I got up at 5: 10 the next morning and was in the office trying to get ready for Wyoming.”

The future ? Phillip Fulmer will receive a $ 6 million buyout for being forced out as Tennessee’s coach, so he can take it easy for a while if he wants. But Fulmer, 58, might want to get another coaching job. “I’m not sure what I want to do,” Fulmer said. “I want to win these next three games and hopefully get our guys to a bowl game, if that’s possible, and see what happens.” Fulmer said he doesn’t want to make a hasty decision about his future.

“I think I still have the passion to coach,” he said. “But I need to sit back and reflect for a while.” The devil you say

Alabama defensive end Luther Davis, a sophomore from Monroe, La., made a commitment to LSU two years ago before changing his mind and signing with the Crimson Tide and their new coach, Nick Saban, who used to be the Tigers’ coach.

After practice Tuesday, Davis talked about his conversation with LSU Coach Les Miles when he changed his commitment to Alabama.

“He was pretty upset,” Davis said. “It went from him trying to talk to me to calling me a traitor and saying I’m only doing this because the devil is coming back to college football and trying to create a big buzz, when it wasn’t at all about that.”

Miles denied calling Saban the devil.

“Oh my gosh, no,” Miles said. “Are you kidding me ?”

Maybe Davis heard Miles refer to Saban as “Nick Satan” and got confused. Welcome back, Nick

Alabama Coach Nick Saban, who coached LSU to a share of the 2003 national championship and a 48-16 record in five seasons from 2000-2004, will bring the No. 1 Crimson Tide into Baton Rouge on Saturday to play the Tigers.

Saban left LSU for the NFL, but after two seasons as the Miami Dolphins’ coach, he decided he want to coach in college again.

Conveniently, the Alabama job was open and Saban accepted it in January 2006 after first denying any interest.

LSU won 41-34 at Alabama last season, so Saturday’s rematch marks Saban’s first game at Tiger Stadium as the Tide’s coach.

Most LSU fans now hold Saban in low esteem, but he said the feeling isn’t mutual.

“We have special friends there and special memories of our time there and what we were able to accomplish,” Saban said. “We’re certainly happy to see that program has continued to be a very strong program.”

Saban said he and his wife, Terry, based their decision to return to college football on what made them happy.

“It’s unfortunate that it’s in the same conference, but we felt it was a good opportunity,” Saban said. “It’s not personal. If people choose to make it that way, there’s really nothing we can do about that.

“ I don’t have ill feelings toward anybody. I think most people in Louisiana who know me know that.”

LSU Coach Les Miles also is downplaying the Saban factor for Saturday’s game.

“We’ve really discounted all those things to be honest with you,” Miles said. “It’s not a curriculum we’ve developed within our team.

“ There are some guys that are obligated to Coach for bringing them to LSU, and certainly they look forward to seeing him. Not necessarily on the other sideline.”

Tough stretch Tommy Tuberville has an 84-38 record in his 10 th season at Auburn, but four of those losses have come in the past four games. At 4-5 and with Georgia and Alabama left on the schedule after the Tigers play Tennessee-Martin on Saturday, Auburn could suffer its first losing season since 1999. That was Tuberville’s first season at Auburn and the Tigers finished 5-6. “It’s been tough, especially when our kids have really practiced hard and they’re doing everything every week to try to win a game,” Tuberville said. “I hate to see it in the players’ faces. That’s the toughest thing.” Tuberville fired Tony Franklin as offensive coordinator after six games. “I put us a in bind, obviously... and we’re trying to work our way out of that,” Tuberville said. “I do appreciate what the players have done. “ They accepted the change we made at midseason and they’ve worked to make it better, and we have improved. But we just haven’t been good enough to win a game. Hopefully, we can change that.”

Taking his time Florida Coach Urban Meyer called two timeouts in the final 44 seconds of the Gators’ 49-10 victory over Georgia. That apparently was Meyer’s form of retaliation for Georgia players flooding the field and getting a celebration penalty after the Bulldogs’ first touchdown in their 42-30 victory over Florida last season.

“Well, the rules say you have three timeouts per half,” Georgia Coach Mark Richt said. “They can use as many as they want within the rules. They have a right to do that.

“ All I can say is that I’m proud to be a Bulldog.”

Meyer said his reason for calling the timeouts was to get reserve running back Emmanuel Moody more carries, but Florida quarterback Tim Tebow hinted there was more to it than that.

“Enjoy the moment, enjoy the game,” Tebow said. “We’re still playing the game.

“ We didn’t do anything wrong. We were just playing the game.” Holding out hope

Georgia Coach Mark Richt isn’t ready to concede the SEC East title to Florida, but it doesn’t look good for the Bulldogs.

Florida has a one-game lead and holds the tiebreaker advantage over Georgia with two SEC games remaining.

“Until the Eastern Division is mathematically impossible to win, we’re still going to be fighting for that,” Richt said. “It’s highly unlikely Florida will lose two in a row, but it’s mathematically possible, so that goal is a possibility and we’re not going to say it’s over until it is over.”

Florida can clinch the East title by winning at Vanderbilt on Saturday night.

Walsh struggling

Freshman kicker Blair Walsh made 10 of 12 field-goal attempts during Georgia’s first six games this season, with both misses coming from beyond 50 yards.

But in the past three games, Walsh is 3 of 8, and against Florida he missed from 37 and 27 yards.

“I’m just not hitting it the way I want to hit it, as stupid as that might sound,” Walsh said. “I’m swinging around on the ball, and I need to correct my form this week.” Desperate Tide fan

Actress Eva Longoria Parker is usually seen at basketball games, watching her husband, San Antonio Spurs point guard Tony Parker. But Longoria Parker, who stars in Desperate Housewives, attended last week’s Alabama-Arkansas State football game with her friend and country music star Sara Evans and Evans’ husband, former Crimson Tide quarterback Jay Barker. Both women wore Barker’s No. 7 jersey.

Picks six LSU quarterback Jarrett Lee has thrown 10 interceptions this season, including five returned for touchdowns. “If it means a change in philosophy, it might be that,” Tigers Coach Lee Miles said. “We have to make sure we’re throwing the ball efficiently. Incompletions are preferred.” No quitting Mississippi State fell to 3-6 with last week’s 14-13 loss to Kentucky, but Bulldogs Coach Sylvester Croom isn’t worried about losing his team down the stretch. “I think we have enough leadership,” Croom said. “I think our guys have fought through enough now. They’re hurt, as well as disappointed, because they prepared extremely well.” Said cornerback Jasper O’Quinn: “Like Coach said, we’ve just got to keep the faith, keep fighting.”

Two-minute drill Alabama nose guard Terrance Cody, who has missed the past two games with a knee injury, is expected to return for Saturday’s game at LSU. Mississippi State has installed a new $ 6. 1-million video board at Scott Field. The board is 152 feet wide and 135 feet tall. South Carolina has guaranteed itself a. 500 or better record for the fifth year in a row. It’s the first time the Gamecocks have done that over a five-year span since 1930-1934. Information for this report was contributed by SEC beat writers GAME OF THE WEEK Alabama takes its first regular-season No. 1 ranking since 1980 into Tiger Stadium to play defending NO. 1 ALABAMA AT NO. 16 LSU

2: 30 P. M. SATURDAY, CBS national champion LSU. It will be Crimson Tide Coach Nick Saban’s first game at Baton Rouge since he returned to the SEC at Alabama. If Alabama wins, it will clinch its first SEC West title since 1999.

BY THE NUMBERS . 746 Phillip Fulmer’s winning percentage as Tennessee’s coach 42. 9 Points per game Florida is averaging 11. 6 Points per game Florida’s opponents are averaging 22 Takeaways by Kentucky this season

OVERHEARD “This is one that’s been in our head for so long. It feels good just to let it go.” Florida offensive tackle Jason Watkins after the Gators beat Georgia 49-10 to avenge last season’s loss “Ol’ Saint Nick’s coming back. It’s going to be special.” LSU linebacker Darry Beckwith on former Tigers Coach Nick Saban bringing in Alabama to play LSU “I’m used to hearing ‘Rocky Top’ about 10 times. Did they play it at all ?” South Carolina Coach Steve Spurrier after the Gamecocks beat Tennessee

27-6