LITTLE ROCK — Streak end no big deal to Tebow
Something odd happened in No. 1 Florida's 23-13 victory over Tennessee on Saturday.
Gators senior quarterback Tim Tebow didn't throw a touchdown pass.
It snapped a streak of 30 consecutive games with at least one touchdown pass for Tebow, the 2007 Heisman Trophy winner. Not that Tebow cared much about the streak.
"We beat Tennessee," he said. "I'm not too worried about that."
The last time Tebow didn't throw a touchdown pass was in the 2006 SEC Championship Game against Arkansas, which the Gators won 38-28.
Tebow, who was Chris Leak's backup at the time, didn't attempt a pass against the Razorbacks, but rushed eight times for 31 yards.
Tigers take six
Auburn defensive coordinator Ted Roof set a goal of getting four turnovers against West Virginia.
The Tigers got four - in the fourth quarter. They had six for the game, which helps explain how Auburn beat the Mountaineers 41-30 despite yielding 509 yards in total offense.
"All week we were preaching that if we got four, we'd win," Roof said. "It's good to know that they see that these drills that we're doing and the emphasis isn't busy work or something coaches do to take up time at practice."
Auburn has 10 takeaways on the season and its plus-2.3 turnover ratio leads the SEC and ranks third nationally.
Some empty seats
South Carolina had its smallest crowd for a home opener (72,017) in 14 years when the Gamecocks beat Florida Atlantic 38-16 at Williams-Brice Stadium (capacity 80,250).
In 1995, South Carolina drew 70,0411 for its home opener against Louisiana Tech.
Last week's attendance reflected the impact of newly implemented seat fees combined with a struggling economy.
South Carolina Athletic Director Eric Hyman said 11 percent of the school's 55,000 season tickets weren't renewed after they had been sold out for a decade.
"The economy has made it very difficult, as it has with pro sports," Hyman said. "It's impacting us all."
South Carolina is charging fans fees ranging from $50 to$395 per seat besides the $320 cost of a season ticket.
UK coach injured
Add Kentucky offensive coordinator Randy Sanders to the Wildcats' injury list.
Sanders suffered a broken left arm Saturday in Kentucky's 31-27 victory over Louisville.
Wildcats tailback Derrick Locke was knocked out of bounds on a kickoff return and collided with Sanders, who broke his arm trying to brace his fall.
"Sometimes when you think you're still young and quick, you can't get out of the way," Kentucky Coach Rich Brooks said. "It's a good lesson for everybody on the sideline. ... It's a dangerous place."
No. 3 quarterback Tyler Sargent signaled plays in from the sideline when Sanders was being tended to by the training staff.
Sanders will be on the sideline for Saturday's game against Florida, but Sargent will again signal in the plays.
Dangerous Huskies
When LSU opened by beating Washington 31-23, the score didn't look impressive considering it was the Huskies' 15th consecutive loss.
But LSU Coach Les Miles' comments after the game seem prophetic given Washington's 16-13 victory over Southern California on Saturday.
"Washington is going to be the most improved team in the Pac-10," Miles said. "I look forward to seeing them beat a lot of people. They are a very dangerous team."
Two-minute drill
Florida has won a schoolrecord 13 consecutive games since losing to Ole Miss 31-30 last season.
Ole Miss quarterback Jevan Snead has thrown two or more touchdown passes in eight consecutive games.
Derrick Locke is the first Kentucky player to return two kickoffs for 100-yard touchdowns in a career. He had a 100-yarder against Louisville on Saturday and a 100-yarder against Western Kentucky last year.
LSU has won 21 consecutive nonconference games, the longest streak in the nation. The last time the Tigers lost to a nonconference opponent was to Iowa in the Capital One Bowl on Jan. 1, 2005.
Information for this report was contributed by Florida Times-Union, Mobile (Ala.) Press-Register, The State of Columbia, S.C., Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader and Gannett Louisiana.
Sports, Pages 24 on 09/24/2009