Arkansas' defensive players may want to pull on their pants extra tight facing LSU tight end Logan Stokes on Saturday night.
Stokes briefly pulled down Alabama linebacker linebacker Reggie Ragland's pants -- Stokes insisted it was an accident -- after a play in last week's game at Tiger Stadium.
SEC TOP TO BOTTOM
Rank;previous;arrow;record;comment
1;(1);same;Mississippi State;9-0;High stakes game at Alabama
2;(2);same;Alabama;8-1;Rallies to win at LSU in overtime
3;(3);same;Auburn;7-2;Fumbles away game to Aggies
4;(4);same;Ole Miss;8-2;Open date before visit to Arkansas
5;(5);same;LSU;7-3;Has to rebound after crushing loss to Bama
6;(6);same;Georgia;7-2;Gurley’s 4-game suspension ends
7;(10);up;Texas A&M;7-3;Major road victory at Auburn
8;(7);down;Missouri;7-2;Depleted secondary for visit to Aggieland
9;(8);down;Florida;5-3;Hoping to beat Spurrier in his return to the Swamp
10;(9);down;Arkansas;4-5;Favored by Vegas to beat LSU
11;(11);same;Tennessee;4-5;Hopes to keep Kentucky reeling
12;(12);same;Kentucky;5-4;Four consecutive losses after promising start
13;(13);same;South Carolina;Frosh QB Harris breathing life into offense
14;(14);same;Vanderbilt;3-6;Open date to get ready for Mississippi State
BY THE NUMBERS
4-5 — South Carolina Coach Steve Spurrier’s record against Florida, where he won the 1966 Heisman Trophy as the Gators’ quarterback and as head coach in 1996 led them to the national championship.
0.9 — Average point differential in 117 games between Auburn and Georgia, with the Bulldogs scoring 109 more points, but the Tigers leading series 55-54-8.
2,952 — Receiving yards for Alabama junior Amari Cooper, who became the Crimson Tide’s career leader with 83 against LSU.
GAME OF THE WEEK
Mississippi State at Alabama, 2:30 p.m. Saturday, CBS
Seventy years after Alabama ended Mississippi State’s school-record 13-game winning streak, the Bulldogs hope the Crimson Tide don’t stop Mississippi State’s 12-game winning streak when the teams play Saturday in Tuscaloosa.
The Bulldogs (9-0) come into the game ranked No. 1 in the College Football playoff poll, but the No. 5 Crimson Tide (8-1) are favored by seven points to win a seventh consecutive game in a series they led 77-18-1.
Mississippi State’s 13-game winning streak was stopped when Alabama beat the Bulldogs 19-0 in Tuscaloosa on Nov. 18, 1944.
"I'm actually a great prankster, so if I was going to pants him, it would have been a lot better job than that," Stokes told reporters this week. "Everybody saw the top half of his butt for two seconds and you would have thought I just pulled the biggest prank ever out there.
"It was not the case, it was not intentional and my apologies to him and all the Alabama fans that have contacted me and just let me know how they feel."
Stokes said he's grabbed players by their pants in other games to pull them off a pile and away from teammates, but that in the previous cases, the players were wearing belts.
Ragland wasn't wearing a belt, causing his pants to go down slightly before he pulled them back up.
Several websites have video of the uniform malfunction.
"I believe people have seen my butt more than I have," Ragland said. "I'm getting tired of looking at it, to be honest."
Ragland said he didn't physically retaliate against Stokes for fear of drawing a penalty, but he did respond verbally.
"I just looked at him crazy and I was like 'C'mon man,' " Ragland said.
No finger-pointing
Auburn offensive coordinator Rhett Lashee refused to blame his players for two late fumbles the Tigers lost in their 41-38 loss to Texas A&M.
Quarterback Nick Marshall appeared to hold onto the ball too long on an exchange with running back Cameron Artis-Payne that resulted in a fumble and then center Reese Dismukes snapped the ball before Marshall was ready as he was checking to a play at the line.
"I think a lot of the responsibility falls on me, not on the kids," Lashlee, a former Arkansas quarterback and graduate assistant coach, told reporters this week. "They played their butts off, and they got us back down there with a chance to win.
"Here's the bottom line, guys: The game's over. We lost, and it's kind of like what I tell Nick when he throws an interception in the middle of the second quarter: 'There's nothing you can do about that play any more. Only thing that matters is what you can do moving forward.' "
Finally back home
Georgia's game against Auburn on Saturday night will be the first time the Bulldogs have played at home between the hedges in Samford Stadium in 42 days.
Since Georgia beat Vanderbilt 44-17 on Oct. 4, the Bulldogs have won road games against Missouri, Arkansas and Kentucky, lost to Florida in Jacksonville, Fla., and had an open date.
"If you could have it ideally, would you spread it out a little differently? I think we would," Georgia Coach Mark Richt told reporters this week. "But I say this same thing over and over -- just tell us what the schedule is and we'll go play it.
"I didn't think much about, 'Oh, this is going to be horrible' or 'This is going to be bad' or whatever. I was like, 'OK, this is what the deal is, let's go attack it the best we can and find a way to win every week.' "
Allen still the starter
Texas A&M sophomore quarterback Kenny Hill, who started the first seven games this season, is eligible to play after serving a two-game disciplinary suspension, but freshman Kyle Allen will make his third consecutive start when the Aggies play Missouri Saturday night.
The decision by Texas A&M Coach Kevin Sumlin is hardly a surprise considering Allen completed 19 of 29 passes for 277 yards and 4 touchdowns against Auburn.
"I don't know why he wouldn't start," Sumlin said. "He played pretty well last week."
Allen is taking on a leadership role for the team at the urging of junior defensive lineman Julien Obioha, who insisted on Allen talking to the team before the Auburn game.
"I was like, 'You're starting, you need to say something,' " Obioha said, according to The Dallas Morning News. "I threw him in the middle of it. He got us jacked before the game.
"I think that was really good for him to take ownership of the team. You're a starting quarterback, you're a leader of the team immediately."
Bulldogs confident
Top-ranked Mississippi State isn't one of the SEC's historic powers, but Bulldogs Coach Dan Mullen said his team is ready to take on No. 5 Alabama on the road after winning at LSU and beating Texas A&M and Auburn earlier this season.
"I think a bunch of our games give us confidence," Mullen said according to The Clarion-Ledger of Jackson, Miss. "I think guys draw back and look at what they've done throughout the year and how they handled different environments.
The Bulldogs have risen to the top of the national polls after being unranked to open the season.
"This is what they came to school here for," Mullen said. "They wanted to put us in a position where we're on the national stage here at Mississippi State."
Secondary depleted
Missouri will be down two starting defensive backs for the start of Saturday's game at Texas A&M.
Cornerback Aarion Penton remains suspended indefinitely after being arrested last week on suspicion of marijuana possession and strong safety Braylon Webb must sit out the first half under NCAA rules after being penalized for targeting in the first half of the Tigers' previous game against Kentucky.
Junior Cortland Browning will make his first career start place of Webb, who started 35 consecutive games. Sophomore John Gibson will start for Penton.
"You have to make adjustments," Missouri Coach Gary Pinkel said, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "Things happen.
"Bottom line is there are no excuses. We have to perform at a high level."
First things first
Florida will try to make it three consecutive victories and help Coach Will Muschamp hang onto his job when the Gators play South Carolina on Saturday at The Swamp.
Muschamp, 17-14 in SEC games in his fourth season at Florida, appeared to be out as coach after a 42-13 home loss to Missouri, but the Gators have bounced back to beat Georgia and win at Vanderbilt.
"I'm pulling for him to make it down there," said Spurrier, a former Florida player and coach. "Of course, I'm pulling for us to beat him down there.
"He's a good person, good coach. They've sort of come together these last few weeks."
Fresh legs
Georgia junior tailback Todd Gurley will start against Auburn after returning from a four-game suspension for violating NCAA by accepting $3,000 for signed memorabilia.
"Todd Gurley is the starting tailback at Georgia," Bulldogs Coach Mark Richt said earlier this week.
Freshman Todd Chubb rushed 102 times for 671 yards starting in place of Gurley, who averaged 154.6 rushing yards the first five games prior to his suspension.
"We think he's definitely got fresh legs," Richt said of Gurley. "I think he stayed in really good condition during the time that he wasn't playing.
"I don't think you forget how to play football in five weeks or forget how to run the ball the way he runs it and the way he pass protects and catches the ball out of the backfield and all that. I think it'll come back to him pretty quick."
Two-minute drill
• Mississippi State's 9-0 record is the team's best mark through nine games since the 1940 team started 8-0-1 en route to a 10-0-1 finish. The Bulldogs' tie that season was 7-7 against Auburn.
• Alabama and LSU have played four overtime games against each other since 2005, each going 2-2 and the road team winning every time.
• Kentucky has lost 18 consecutive games against teams ranked in The Associated Press top 25 poll, including 63-21 to Georgia last week. The Wildcats' last victory over a ranked team was in 2010, when they beat No. 10 South Carolina 31-28.
• Georgia's 63 points against Kentucky were the Bulldogs' most in an SEC game since they beat Florida 75-0 in 1942.
Sports on 11/13/2014