Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo has taken a lot of heat for calling a bootleg by quarterback Hutson Mason on a first-and-goal play with the Bulldogs trailing by three points in the fourth quarter at South Carolina.
The play resulted in an intentional grounding call, and three plays later Georgia missed a field goal attempt as the Gamecocks held on to win 38-35 last Saturday.
SEC TOP TO BOTTOM
Rank;previous;arrow;record;comment
1;(1);same;Alabama;3-0;Kiffin calling lots of passes for Cooper
2;(2);same;Auburn;2-0;Thursday night game at Kansas State
3;(4);up;Texas A&M;3-0;At SMU before taking on Razorbacks
4.(5);up;LSU;3-0;Hopes to continue domination of Mississippi State
5;(10);up;South Carolina;2-1;First road game at Vanderbilt
6;(3);down;Georgia;1-1;Another crushing loss to Spurrier
7;(6);down;Ole Miss;3-0;Neighborhood tussle with Memphis
8;(7);down;Missouri;3-0;Indiana final non-conference game
9;(9);same;Mississippi State;3-0;SEC opener at LSU
10;(8);down;Florida;2-0;Keeps streak going vs Kentucky
11;(12);up;Arkansas;2-1;Ran over and through Texas Tech
12;(11);down;Tennessee;2-1;Progressing, but no match for Oklahoma
13;(13);same;Kentucky;2-1;Lost at Florida in 3 overtimes
14;(14);same;Vanderbilt;1-2;Mason gets first victory vs UMass
BY THE NUMBERS
10-for-14 — Third down conversions by Missouri against Central Florida
21-1 — LSU’s record vs Mississippi State since 1992
151.3 — Receiving yards per game by Alabama’s Amari Cooper
28 — Consecutive victories for Florida over Kentucky
GAME OF THE WEEK
Florida at No. 3 Alabama, 2:30 p.m. Saturday, CBS
After escaping Kentucky with a 36-30 victory in three overtimes, the Gators will try to win at Alabama for the first time since 1998, when Mike DuBose was the Crimson Tide’s coach and Steve Spurrier was at Florida. The Tide has won the teams’ three most recent meetings — in 2009, 2010 and 2011 — by a combined 101-26. CBS will be hoping for a lot closer game.
Bobo, meeting with reporters Monday for the first time since the game, described his call as "a catastrophe" rather than giving the ball to star tailback Todd Gurley.
"It's a bottom-line business, and the bottom line is we had a chance to score and we didn't get it done," Bobo said. "We had three shots at it and we didn't get it in the end zone, and so that's ultimately my responsibility and my fault.
"I thought that play was a good call. It didn't work. If I sit around and second-guess myself every time I make a call that doesn't work, you can't be a good play-caller. You've got to go with what you believe in and what you worked on, period."
Georgia Coach Mark Richt and defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt came to Bobo's defense after hearing what he said to the media. Bobo has been calling plays for Georgia since 2006.
"I just want to make it real clear that I think Mike Bobo is one of the best coordinators in America and one of the best play-callers, and I've got full faith in the guy," Richt said.
Richt said he wished he had called a timeout to talk to the players about pounding the ball into the end zone with Gurley.
"That's what I could have done, and if I had to do it again, that's what I would have done," Richt said. "But I knew what the call was. The call was good. It's something we worked on.
"It's not like we just called something that didn't have a chance."
Pruitt said he made several bad calls on defense and shook his head when asked about criticism directed at Bobo.
"They ought to be dragging me over the coals," Pruitt said. "You score 35 points, you're supposed to win.
"It's embarrassing for me to be part of a team that scores 35 points and you lose a football game."
Watch these guys
The Alabama-Florida game will feature a marquee matchup between Crimson Tide junior wide receiver Amari Cooper and Gators sophomore cornerback Vernon Hargreaves.
"Saturday scouts will be drooling over the matchup in Tuscaloosa. The best CB in the country vs. the best WR. Hargreaves vs. Cooper," ESPN analyst David Pollack tweeted.
Cooper leads the SEC with 33 catches for 454 yards in 3 games. Hargreaves has an SEC-high five pass breakups in two games. He had four breakups against Kentucky last week.
"I'm excited about the matchup," Hargreaves said. "Obviously, everybody knows what's coming."
Florida Coach Will Muschamp said Alabama has done a good job of scheming to get Cooper open.
"They move him around a little bit and we've got to make sure we identify him and know where he is," Muschamp said. "He's been targeted a bunch in their first three games, so there's no question he's a playmaker."
47 and counting
Missouri had four takeaways last week in its 34-10 victory over Central Florida, extending the Tigers' streak of forcing at least one turnover to 47 games.
The last time Missouri didn't have a turnover was in a 31-17 loss at Nebraska on Oct. 30, 2010.
Tigers Coach Gary Pinkel said the coaches never talk about the streak with the players, but focus on having a positive turnover margin every game.
"Offensively, that number's got to stay low if you want to be on the plus side," Pinkel said. "So protecting the ball is what we focus on, the fundamentals of doing that.
"On defense, we don't ever look at it as luck, that things went well this particular day. What we do is focus on the process of creating turnovers. We talk to our team about we have to create them, and that's the only way it's going to happen.
"We work on the fundamentals of creating turnovers at every position, all over. We never talk about, 'Hey, we've got this streak going.' "
Missouri's streak is the nation's longest by 19 games. Louisiana-Monroe is second, forcing at least one turnover in 28 consecutive games. Houston is third with 26.
The Tigers are fourth nationally this season with a plus-2.0 turnover ratio per game after ranking fifth last season at plus 1.1.
Rare visit
Kansas Coach Bill Snyder was 30 the last time the Wildcats played a non-conference home game against a top-five ranked team.
Snyder is now 74.
Prior to No. 5 Auburn's visit to No. 20 Kansas State tonight for an ESPN telecast, the Wildcats' last non-conference home game from a team ranked in the top five was Oct. 4, 1969, when No. 2 Penn State won 17-14.
Same time, same area
Texas A&M Coach Kevin Sumlin, whose Aggies play SMU in Dallas at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, is glad their game against Arkansas on Sept. 27 in Arlington, Texas, also has a 2:30 p.m kickoff.
"Very rarely in college football do you get to duplicate the same situation from a travel and game-time standpoint," Sumlin said. "So I think we caught a break there."
Sweet 16
South Carolina's 38-35 victory over Georgia improved Gamecocks Coach Steve Spurrier's record against the Bulldogs to 16-6. That includes 22 games for Spurrier at Florida and South Carolina.
Spurrier passed Shug Jordan, Auburn's coach from 1951-1975, for the most victories against Georgia by an opposing coach.
Lights, camera, Gus
Auburn Coach Gus Malzahn spent his team's open date last Saturday in New York appearing as a guest studio analyst on CBS shows Inside College Football and College Football Today.
Malzahn accepted the invitation that came from CBS about a month ago, viewing it as an opportunity for positive publicity for Auburn. He talked about game-planning for an opponent as well as how Auburn educates its players on social issues such as domestic violence.
"It was different being behind the scenes, but I enjoyed it," Malzahn said.
Malzahn said he was able to get a lot of work done on the plane ride to and from New York, so his television appearance didn't take away from preparing for tonight's game at Kansas State. His trip home was later than expected when the Georgia-South Carolina game was delayed for 90 minutes because of lightning.
"I was getting a little antsy there," Malzahn said. "I was watching my clock, but I was able to get the work done we needed to get done."
During the weather delay for the South Carolina game, CBS showed Auburn's victory over Alabama last season.
"I was OK with it, but, no, it wasn't my idea," Malzahn said.
Wash his mouth out
After Texas A&M committed four penalties for 35 yards in the first half of last week's 38-10 victory over Rice -- including an unsportsmanlike call that negated a 93-yard kickoff return for a touchdown -- Aggies Coach Kevin Sumlin was ticked off even with his team leading 21-7.
While conducting a television interview coming off the field for halftime, Sumlin talked about the "dumb-ass" penalties.
"Sorry, Mom," Sumlin said Tuesday at his weekly news conference. "I'll try not to let that happen again."
Mullen owns Mobile
An SEC coach bragging about beating a Sun Belt team may sound odd, but it didn't stop Mississippi State's Dan Mullen after the Bulldogs beat South Alabama 35-3 last Saturday before a record crowd of 38,129 to Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Ala.
Mississippi State was the first SEC team to play in Mobile since 1968, when Alabama beat Southern Mississippi 17-14.
"This was the biggest game in the history of Mobile," Mullen said after the game. "Mississippi State is plastered as the biggest game in the history of this city and it was won by Mississippi State University.
"Not Auburn, not Alabama -- Mississippi State."
Bad trend
Georgia fell to 0-5 at South Carolina when both teams are ranked after last week's 38-35 loss.
The Bulldogs also have lost on the road to the Gamecocks when both teams were ranked in 1959, 1988, 2010 and 2012.
Sports on 09/18/2014