SEC report

Gators winning in fourth

Florida quarterback Jeff Driskel said the Gators are determined to be better in the fourth quarter this season. “It’s a fourth-quarter game, a fourth-quarter league,” he said.
Florida quarterback Jeff Driskel said the Gators are determined to be better in the fourth quarter this season. “It’s a fourth-quarter game, a fourth-quarter league,” he said.

— Florida is off to a strong finish this season.

Gators Coach Will Muschamp has emphasized the importance of finishing games the right way after Florida was outscored 77-22 in the fourth quarter by SEC opponents last season.

It’s been a turnaround for Florida in the fourth quarter this season with the Gators starting 2-0 in SEC play, thanks to road victories at Texas A&M 20-17 and Tennessee 37-20. The Gators trailed in the third quarter of both games, but rallied to win and outscored the Aggies and Volunteers a combined 17-0 in the fourth quarter.

“Certainly that’s a huge part of winning in our league, because there are going to be so many tight games,” Muschamp said. “You’ve got to perform and coach and play well at the end of games in order to have success, and we’ve done that so far.

“But it’s a a long season, so we’ve got a long way to go.”

Sophomore quarterback Jeff Driskel said the Gators have matured as far as being able to finish off opponents.

“It goes back to the offseason, being drilled in our head, ‘Got to get better in the fourth quarter,’ ” Driskel told The Gainesville Sun. “It’s a fourthquarter game, a fourthquarter league. We were conditioned. We were ready to go, and it’s worked well for us.”

Receiver Frankie Hammond, Jr. noted that signs with “72-22” were visible throughout the Gators’ football complex and became a rallying cry during summer workouts harped on by the strength and conditioning coaches.

“Every workout we came into, they reminded us,” Hammond told The Sun. “It stuck in our heads.”

Zero heroes

When Alabama beat Arkansas 52-0 last week, it marked the first time the Razorbacks had been shut out in Fayetteville since a 7-0 loss to Baylor in 1966.

The Crimson Tide hope for another 1966 blast from the past when they go for a third consecutive shutout against Florida Atlantic on Saturday. Alabama hasn’t shut out three consecutive opponents since closing the 1966 regular season with four in a row, beating LSU 21-0, South Carolina 24-0, Southern Mississippi 34-0 and Auburn 31-0.

Alabama’s defense had a letdown in that season’s Sugar Bowl, where the Tide beat Nebraska 34-7.

Ready to rumble

Don’t look for Vanderbilt Coach James Franklin and Georgia defensive coordinator Todd Grantham to greet each other warmly before the Commodores and Bulldogs play Saturday in Athens, Ga.

The two had to be separated by officials, other coaches and players during a heated exchange of words on the field after the Bulldogs beat the Commodores 33-28 last season.

Three players were ejected during the game — two from Georgia and one from Vanderbilt — and Franklin said he believed Grantham’s defensive players were out of line and let him know about it.

“We are not going to sit back and take stuff from anybody,” Franklin said after the game. “Those days are long gone, and they are never coming back.”

Grantham said this week that last year’s confrontation isn’t a big deal and that the Bulldogs’ focus needs to be on the game.

“It’s us against them,” Grantham told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “It’s an SEC game. ... Anytime you play at home in the SEC you need to win those games to get where we want to go and do what we want to do.

“We’re all competitive people. Things happen and you learn from it and move on.”

Franklin also downplayed last year’s postgame incident.

“I know everybody else is going to talk about it, but [the coaches] are going to focus on just going out and playing the game,” Franklin said.

Lighter is better

LSU sophomore defensive end Anthony Johnson is playing at 290 pounds this season, 30 pounds less than he weighed last year. He said being lighter is helping him make more plays, such as two tackles for losses he had against Idaho last week when the Vandals had fourth-and-1 and third-and-1 situations.

Johnson said his mother, Nakisha, was helping motivate him to lose weight during the summer.

“She said, ‘Boy, you look cheesy in your uniform,’ ” Johnson told the Times-Picayune of New Orleans. “She told me I had Dunlap Disease — she said my stomach had done lapped over my belt.

“I had to slim up. I had to look good for my family and for the fans. I’m healthier now.”

In your face

Texas A&M defensive coordinator Mark Snyder makes calls on the field rather than from the press box.

“You’re so secluded up there,” Snyder told the Bryan-College Station Eagle. “You can’t feel the look in the guy’s eyes. You can’t tell when it’s time to blitz or time to back off.

“You don’t get that feel when you’re in the press box, and down on the field, you get that feel. You get immediate feedback.”

It’s serious, Joker

Kentucky had an announced crowd of 53,980 at Commonwealth Stadium last week when Western Kentucky beat the Wildcats 32-31 in overtime, meaning there were at least 14,000 empty seats.

Season-ticket sales this season were 38,554, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader, a dropoff of 9,851 (20.5 percent) from a year ago when the Wildcats were coming off a 6-7 season. They’re coming off a 5-7 season this year, and need to end a 25-game losing streak to Florida to avoid a 1-3 start.

Naturally, the job security of third-year Kentucky Coach Joker Phillips is a hot topic of discussion.

“I told our staff yesterday the players will hear it,” Phillips said Monday at his weekly news conference. “We won’t hear it. We’ll be buried in the office. We sense it, but we don’t get a chance to hear it because we’re buried in there trying to get ready for the next opponent.”

Kentucky’s players can’t help but hear it.

“You’ve still got class and stuff to go to and people know who you are, so you just have to tune it out the best you can,” junior linebacker Avery Williamson told the Herald-Leader. “You just got to take it and just walk away from it.”

Shaw starting

South Carolina Coach Steve Spurrier said quarterback Connor Shaw will start against Missouri on Saturday after aggravating a shoulder injury in the Gamecocks’ 49-6 victory over Alabama-Birmingham last week.

Shaw injured his shoulder in the opener against Vanderbilt and didn’t play when backup Dylan Thompson started in a 48-10 victory over East Carolina in week 2.

Spurrier said Shaw, a good runner, won’t be limited against Missouri.

“He could have played in the second half [last week] if we’d really needed him,” Spurrier said. “He didn’t run much last week, but part of our offense is with him running the ball. He’s cleared 100 percent, so he should have a few carries. We’re going to run our normal offense.”

Advantage, LSU

LSU figures to run over Auburn on Saturday at Jordan-Hare Stadium considering what the teams have done the first three games. LSU leads the SEC in rushing offense, averaging 269.3 yards per game and 5.9 per attempt. Auburn is 14th in the SEC in rushing defense, with opponents averaging 217 yards per game and 5.0 per attempt.

Passing over

Ole Miss has allowed its opponents to complete 74 percent of their passes (71 of 96) through three games. Texas sophomore quarterback David Ash was 19 of 23 (82.6 percent) for 326 yards and 4 touchdowns without an interception in the Longhorns’ 66-31 victory at Ole Miss last week.

“It’s been a challenge for us,” Rebels Coach Hugh Freeze said. “We’ve given up too many deep balls. Sometimes we’re in position to make plays and don’t. Other times we’re not. So we’re looking at options there.”

Junior Charles Sawyer, the Rebels’ top defensive back, is moving from safety to cornerback for this week’s game at Tulane, with freshman Trae Elston — suspended for the Texas game by the SEC for a flagrant hit against Texas-El Paso — starting at safety.

Vandy QB swap?

Vanderbilt Coach James Franklin hasn’t named a starter for the Georgia game, but Austyn Carta-Samuels is listed as the No. 1 quarterback on this week’s depth chart.

Carta-Samnuels, a junior transfer from Wyoming, replaced Jordan Rodgers as the starter against Presbyterian last week and completed 13 of 20 passes for 195 yards in a 58-0 victory.

“We feel like he has a chance to do some things for us to help,” Franklin told the Tennessean. “I thought he managed the game fairly well. I thought he was poised. I thought after the first couple of throws, he settled down and made some nice decisions. So we have to build on that.”

Game of the week

Missouri at No. 7 South Carolina

2:30 p.m. Saturday, CBS

Missouri’s indoctrination continues with the Tigers’ first SEC road game when they play the Gamecocks at the “other” Columbia in the conference. Missouri’s offensive line, revamped because of injuries, figures to struggle against South Carolina’s defensive line. Gamecocks quarterback Connor Shaw and his Missouri counterpart, James Franklin, are dealing with shoulder injures. Shaw is expected to start, while Franklin’s status is less certain.

By the numbers

32040 How much Florida outgained Tennessee in total yards over the final 18 minutes of last week’s game

1979 Last time Kentucky won at Gainesville

1986 Last time Kentucky beat Florida

4.7 Points per game for Alabama opponents

Sports, Pages 25 on 09/20/2012

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