October 29, 2009

Mike Huguenin
Rivals.com College Football

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It's simple: Florida's offense is stuck in the mud.

The Gators have scored just seven touchdowns on 26 red zone possessions in five SEC games, and quarterback Tim Tebow - who has thrown eight TD passes (but just three in SEC play) and rushed for six touchdowns - has admitted to being frustrated by the offensive inadequacies.

Florida coach Urban Meyer said Tebow "is not playing at his highest level," but also said the offensive problems are not Tebow's fault. "I don't put it on Tim," Meyer said. "I put it on the surrounding cast," including the coaches because of the play-calling.

Tebow already has committed more turnovers this season (eight) than he did in 2007 (six) or '08 (six). He also has been sacked 15 times, equaling the number of times he went down last season in 14 games.

But there is a silver lining in all of this, Tebow said.

"I think it could possibly be a good thing," he said. "It could give us a little bit of an edge of, 'Hey, we haven't arrived. We still have a lot of work to do.' That's something to really motivate us."

Georgia's defense has been torched often this season and has been especially bad against the pass. Can Tebow and his offense have a breakout performance?

Tebow has 49 career rushing touchdowns, tied for most in SEC history with former Georgia star Herschel Walker. Tebow has rushed for five touchdowns in three career games against the Bulldogs.

PLAYER ON THE SPOT: Auburn QB Chris Todd. After a hot start to the season - 12 touchdowns, one interception in the Tigers' 5-0 start - Todd has cooled considerably. He has completed exactly 50 percent of his passes, with two interceptions and no touchdowns, in the past three games - all losses. This week, he has to throw against a strong Ole Miss defense. The Rebels are third nationally in pass efficiency defense and have a strong pass rush. Another mediocre game from Todd definitely would mean another loss for Auburn.

KEY MATCHUP: Steve Spurrier vs. Monte Kiffin. Spurrier calls his own plays for South Carolina, and he needs to be sharp against Kiffin, Tennessee's defensive coordinator. South Carolina has been adequate, at best, on offense this season, with the rushing attack remaining a sore spot. The Gamecocks haven't rushed for more than 128 yards in an SEC game. The Vols' defense, on the other hand, has been stout; Tennessee is 10th nationally in total defense and sixth in pass defense. Against Alabama and Florida, the Vols allowed a combined 579 total yards. How much success will South Carolina's offense have against the Vols? In the back of both coaches' minds will be that Tennessee's offense likely will have a ton of trouble consistently moving the ball against South Carolina's defense. Will either team muster any big plays offensively?

NUMBERS GAME: Tennessee hasn't allowed an offensive touchdown in the past two games - a win over Georgia and a loss to Alabama. It has been 133 minutes since the Vols allowed an offensive touchdown. Against the Bulldogs and Crimson Tide, the Vols held their opponents to 1-for-11 on third downs in the second half.

WHAT THEY'RE SAYING:

"You run another play and you throw an interception or they throw another flag on us - I wasn't going to let the refs lose the game for us there and some magical flag appear. ... I'm sure we'll get one of those letters that really means nothing, as Bobby [Petrino] got last week, but Florida and Alabama live on." - Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin, on the officiating in the Alabama-Tennessee game last week. He was reprimanded by the SEC office for the comments

"When you have half-and-half as far as the fan base, you have enough people to create enough noise to cause problems. When we have the ball, we know Florida is making all the noise they can, and when Florida has the ball, we know Georgia fans are making as much noise as they can. What's different about it is the constant volume of the noise throughout the entire ballgame, where if you were playing at Alabama, they are going to be loud, LSU is going to be loud, but when they have the ball, they are going to be quiet. There is really no quiet time - maybe on a punt or something or at the commercial breaks. The fans will definitely get a workout." - Georgia coach Mark Richt, on the crowd for Saturday's Florida-Georgia game

"Are you trying to get me in trouble here? I don't know; it's a good question. ... I think there has probably been a little bit more up and down on the West as far as being consistently good as far as having good years or down years on some of those teams than there has been on the Eastern side of the SEC." - Kentucky coach Rich Brooks, on his team having more success against SEC West teams than SEC East teams in recent seasons

"I don't think there was ever any 'renewed' needed. I think our football team recognizes that if they do the things that they are capable of, we'll get to a position where we'll play for everything that we want. There are reasons to look around at scores on Saturday." - LSU coach Les Miles, on whether there is a "renewed belief" that LSU can win the league

"People will talk about it, but I don't think it is hurting the conference. I think the product is too good. The product is the players. They get out and do wonderful things. They play hard, they represent their schools, and I don't think anyone is looking at the refereeing and saying the SEC is a second-rate conference because of the officiating, and I don't think that is the truth, either." - Vanderbilt coach Bobby Johnson, on whether uneven officiating is hurting the league

"We're not panicking by any stretch of the imagination. We've got to get better at what we do. The players know that, the coaches know that, and it starts with me. We've made that very evident as a coaching staff, that we have to get the details ironed out and get better at them. The level of competition has gone up, and we have to get better at what we do." - Auburn coach Gene Chizik, on his team's recent offensive struggles

"I don't think it's much different. We just watch the tapes. We don't watch tapes of the coaches very often." - South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier, on the differences in Tennessee without Phil Fulmer as coach

"We were running on fumes the last game. I could see it in the players in the meetings last week; they struggled to pay attention. It's not just physical. It's probably more mental than physical." - Alabama coach Nick Saban, whose team is off this weekend

ETC.: Fifty years ago this weekend, one of the most famous plays in SEC history happened. LSU's Billy Cannon returned a punt 89 yards with about 10 minutes left in the game to propel the Tigers to a 7-3 victory over Ole Miss on Halloween night, 1959. The return, in which he broke at least nine tackles, helped Cannon win the Heisman, and Ole Miss didn't suffer another loss until more than two years later. ... Ole Miss' Dexter McCluster ran for 123 yards and had 137 yards in receptions in last week's victory over Arkansas; he became the first Ole Miss player since at least 1965 (that's as far back as the records go) to top the 100-yard mark in both receiving and rushing in the same game. ... Georgia's Blair Walsh and Ole Miss' Andrew Ritter lead the league with nine touchbacks on kickoffs. ... Last season, Mississippi State didn't have a single non-offensive touchdown. Through eight games this season, the Bulldogs have a league-high six (one on a blocked punt, one on a kickoff return and four on interceptions returns). ... Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen, along with Kiffin, was reprimanded by the SEC office this week for criticizing the officials. ... Going into the season, Florida's projected starters at defensive tackle were Lawrence Marsh and Jaye Howard. Because of injuries, they haven't started a game together, though that could change Saturday against Georgia. ... Auburn offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn was the offensive coordinator at Arkansas under then-coach Houston Nutt in 2006. Nutt expects Malzahn to unveil a few gimmicks Saturday. Nutt said the key to stopping a Malzahn offense is to play assignment football but also to play fast. ... The last time Georgia beat a No. 1 ranked team? Nov. 9, 1985, when the Bulldogs beat Florida 24-3.

Mike Huguenin is the college sports editor for Rivals.com. He can be reached at mhuguenin@rivals.com.