SEC Report

Coaches touting 10 in poll

Alabama head coach Nick Saban gives directions from the sidelines during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Wisconsin, Saturday, Sept. 5, 2015, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

The rest of the country has more reason to hate the SEC again.

After the SEC struggled in last year's major bowls to the delight of many outside the southeastern region, the conference bounced back by putting a record 10 teams in this week's Associated Press Top 25 poll.

The SEC -- who else? -- held the previous record with eight teams in the poll.

Every SEC opponent for No. 18 Arkansas is ranked: No. 2 Alabama, No. 6 Auburn, No. 14 LSU, No. 16 Texas A&M, No. 17 Ole Miss, No. 21 Missouri, No. 23 Tennessee and No. 25 Mississippi State.

"It's just wonderful," Razorbacks Coach Bret Bielema said chuckling. "I love it."

The SEC's other ranked team is No. 10 Georgia.

"I didn't even look at the poll, but it doesn't surprise me," Alabama Coach Nick Saban said. "I know quite a bit about all the teams we play, and I don't know that we play anybody in our league that shouldn't be ranked.

"This is a really good league from top to bottom. When people make comparisons to other leagues, I think they fail to look at that."

Bielema, who was Wisconsin's coach for seven seasons before taking the Arkansas job, couldn't resist taking a shot at the Big Ten. He also played and coached at Iowa and was Wisconsin's defensive coordinator.

"I spent a lot of time in that other conference," Bielema said. "Ohio State's ranked No. 1, and they have one game remaining on their schedule that has anybody ranked right now, [No. 5] Michigan State ... and we're going to play eight straight opponents that are ranked."

Bielema said Arkansas Athletic Director Jeff Long, chairman of the playoff selection committee, and the other members "have a huge task in front of them" figuring the SEC's strength of schedule into ranking teams.

"It's truly unprecedented what every team in this league can bring," Bielema said. "If anybody tries to argue that, they're completely nonsense. It's a whole other level when it comes to competitive nature and balance."

South Carolina Coach Steve Spurrier was asked if it's a concern SEC teams will beat up each other too much for one of them to make the four-team playoff.

"Everybody can't win, we all know that," Spurrier said. "Maybe somebody can go with only one loss, who knows?"

LSU Coach Les Miles had an interesting take, as usual, on the SEC's 10 ranked teams.

"I thought we should have had 25 teams ranked in the top 25, to be honest," said Miles, who apparently didn't do well in math at Michigan and didn't watch Vanderbilt's loss to Western Kentucky last week. "I think they didn't quite use all of the opportunities to rank our teams."

Silly kids

A caller to The Paul Finebaum Show on Monday who identified himself as a 13-year-old Georgia fan wanted Bulldogs Coach Mark Richt fired because he hasn't won a national championship.

Richt has a 137-48 record in his 15th season at Georgia, including 78-34 in SEC games, and has won two conference titles, but apparently that wasn't good enough for the caller named "Carson from Orlando."

Richt might have thought he'd heard it all before, but it had to be new getting criticism from someone who wasn't born when he took the Georgia job in 2001.

"I guess when you have SEC 24 hours a day, you've got to fill it with something," Richt said. "So, God bless him."

Waiting game

Ole Miss Coach Hugh Freeze said Wednesday there is no update on when junior offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil, a preseason All-SEC first-team pick, may be cleared to play by the school's administration.

Tunsil missed the Rebels' opener -- although they didn't miss him in a 76-3 victory over Tennessee-Martin -- as a precautionary measure as Ole Miss investigates to make sure he didn't violate NCAA rules.

In June, Tunsil was charged with domestic violence for allegedly assaulting his stepfather, Lindsey Miller. Tunsil said he was defending his mother, Desiree Tunsil, whom Miller said he was arguing with about her son hanging out with sports agents.

The charges against Laremy Tunsil were dropped.

Ole Miss likely won't need Tunsil on Saturday against Fresno State, but the Rebels would love to have him back for the third game, when they open SEC play at Alabama.

"It's just the ongoing process that I'm hopeful will wind up soon," Freeze said. "I don't even think about the possibilities of this week or next week. I just trust in the people that are involved in it and sure hope they do right for the young man and our program."

Running QBs

Mississippi State senior Dak Prescott rushed for 72 yards against Southern Mississippi last week to become the fifth SEC quarterback to break the 2,000-yard mark.

Prescott's 2,005 career rushing yards rank behind Florida's Tim Tebow (2,947), Arkansas' Matt Jones (2,535), Mississippi State's John Bond (2,280) and Texas A&M's Johnny Manziel (2,169).

Manziel likely would be the runaway leader in rushing yards among SEC quarterbacks if he had completed his eligibility, but he played only two seasons for the Aggies.

Tebow and Manziel were Heisman Trophy winners and first-round NFL Draft picks by Denver and Cleveland. Jones was a first-round pick but played receiver for Jacksonville.

PLAYER TO WATCH

Dak Prescott

QB, Mississippi State

The Bulldogs quarterback burst onto the national radar last season when he led Mississippi State to a 34-29 victory at LSU, completing 15 of 24 passes for 268 yards and 2 touchdowns and rushing 22 times for 105 yards and 1 TD.

After finishing eighth in the Heisman Trophy voting in 2014, the senior with a 15-6 record as the Bulldogs’ starter will look for another big game against LSU on Saturday night when the Tigers visit Starkville, Miss.

Prescott threw two touchdown passes in Mississippi State’s 34-16 victory at Southern Mississippi last week to give him the school’s career record with 43. He broke the record of 42 by Tyler Russell.

BY THE NUMBERS

106 Receiving yards by Texas A&M’s Christian Kirk against Arizona State. He became the first Aggies freshman with a 100-yard receiving game in his college debut.

56 Yards covered by Auburn sophomore Daniel Carlson’s field goal against Louisville. It was the third-longest field goal in Auburn history, behind 57-yarders by Neil O’Donoghue vs. Tennessee in 1976 and by Phillip Yost against Western Kentucky in 2003.

OVERHEARD

“I don’t know if we can get nine sacks a week, but our defense played very, very well and has something to build on.” — Texas A&M Coach Kevin Sumlin after the Aggies had nine sacks against Arizona State

“Winning by three or four touchdowns, I don’t know if that’s in our DNA right now.” — South Carolina Coach Steve Spurrier

GAME OF THE WEEK

No. 14 LSU at No. 25 Miss. State

8:15 p.m. Central Saturday, ESPN

Is it a bigger advantage for Mississippi State to have played a game — winning at Southern Mississippi 34-16 last week — or a bigger advantage for LSU not to have shown anything to the Bulldogs for scouting purposes after the Tigers’ opener against McNeese State was canceled because of lightning and thunderstorms. Mississippi State Coach Dan Mullen called it “a push,” but odds makers have LSU as a slight favorite. The Bulldogs for sure will have the home-field advantage with Mississippi State fans ringing all those cowbells.

Sports on 09/10/2015