Hog Calls

SEC limps to the finish, but Tide roll on

Alabama wide receiver Amari Cooper (9) scores a 75-yard touchdown reception as Auburn defensive back Jonathon Mincy (6) attempts to tackle him during an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2014 in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (AP Photo/The Montgomery Advertiser, Albert Cesare)
Alabama wide receiver Amari Cooper (9) scores a 75-yard touchdown reception as Auburn defensive back Jonathon Mincy (6) attempts to tackle him during an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2014 in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (AP Photo/The Montgomery Advertiser, Albert Cesare)

FAYETTEVILLE -- In Alabama's 14-13 victory over Arkansas on Oct. 11 in Fayetteville, receiver Amari Cooper caught 2 passes for 22 yards against the Razorbacks' smothering defense.

Cooper closed the SEC regular season as a potential Heisman Trophy finalist late Saturday night in Tuscaloosa, Ala., helping the Crimson Tide (11-1) clinch the outright SEC West championship with 13 catches for a school record 224 yards and 3 touchdowns in a 55-44 wild victory over Auburn.

The Crimson Tide, the No. 1 team in the current College Football Playoff rankings, now plays SEC East winner Missouri (10-2) Saturday in Atlanta for the SEC Championship.

Missouri overcame the September stigma of losing at home to Big Ten doormat Indiana, which finished the season at 4-8. Indiana needed a 23-16 victory on Saturday over an equally awful Purdue Boilermakers team to finish tied with the Boilermakers in the Big Ten basement. Both closed 1-7 in Big Ten games.

The ups and downs of Cooper and Mizzou, a 21-14 victor over Arkansas last Friday in Columbia, Mo., are among the contrasts of an SEC season fraught with contradictions.

Take Coach Steve Spurrier's South Carolina team as an example.

The Gamecocks were a popular preseason pick to win the SEC and perhaps the national championship, coming off an 11-2 season with a Capital One Bowl conquest of Wisconsin.

South Carolina concluded a 6-6 regular-season schedule last Saturday.

Texas A&M kicked off college football on Thursday night Aug. 28 gashing the Gamecocks, 52-28. Some pundits declared the Aggies the nation's best team and A&M quarterback Kenny Hill a strong Heisman Trophy candidate. Hill passed for 511 yards on South Carolina.

The Aggies finished 7-5 after losing Thanksgiving night to LSU. They benched Hill all November.

Both those LSU and Ole Miss teams that Arkansas shut out won their finales.

Ole Miss, which lost to Arkansas 30-0 on Nov. 22 in Fayetteville, finishes 9-3, knocking off No. 4 Mississippi State last Saturday and is still, the lone 2014 team to beat Alabama.

Arkansas, finishing 6-6 to be bowl eligible for the first time since 2011, went 2-6 in the SEC entirely against teams ranked among the Top 20 when Arkansas played them, including four then in the Top 10.

Arkansas was competitive in the first half of every game, except for Georgia in Little Rock, when the Razorbacks trailed 38-6.

The Hogs stood a viable chance of winning every game other game at the end -- except the season-opener at Auburn, when the Tigers pulled away in the second half.

The SEC became the turkey of Thanksgiving weekend, even though Alabama managed to win and likely retain its CFP No. 1 ranking.

The SEC skidded 0-4 against the ACC in the instate rivalry nonconference closers. Georgia lost to Georgia Tech; Kentucky lost to Louisville; Florida lost to Florida State and South Carolina lost to Clemson.

Perhaps that's not all bad. The SEC can get pretty smitten with itself. It needs a comeuppance every now and then to temper arrogance, customarily the most dangerous enemy from within.

Nothing quite so rids the taste of arrogance than four helpings of humble pie.

Sports on 12/01/2014

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