November 12, 2009

Mike Huguenin
Rivals.com College Football Editor

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Florida has one league game left, Saturday at South Carolina. Alabama has two - Saturday at Mississippi State and Nov. 27 at Auburn.

If they finish unbeaten in conference play, it will be the first time in SEC championship game history (it began in 1992) that there will be two unbeaten division champions.

Alabama in 1992, '94 and 2008; Auburn in 2004; Florida in 1995 and '96; and Tennessee in 1998 are the only teams to finish unbeaten in division play since the SEC expanded in time for the 1992 season. The Alabama teams in 1994 and 2008 are the only teams that lost in the title game.

While the division titles have been wrapped up this season, the races for second place are wide open. Every team other than Vanderbilt can finish at least tied for second in the East behind Florida, and each team in the West is alive for at least a second-place tie behind Alabama.

Two cross-over games are notable this week - Tennessee at Ole Miss and Auburn at Georgia.

Tennessee has games against Vanderbilt and Kentucky after the matchup with Ole Miss, so a 5-3 league record looks good - if the Vols can beat the Rebels. Ole Miss also is 2-3 in league play, with games left against LSU and Mississippi State after the Rebels play the Vols.

Auburn is 3-3 in conference games and finishes up against Alabama, and Georgia is 3-3 and still must play Kentucky.

KEY MATCHUP: Auburn pass offense vs. Georgia pass defense. Auburn is throwing for 220.3 yards per game, with 20 TDs and four picks. But in the Tigers' three losses, they have thrown for a total of 309 yards, with one touchdown and two picks. Still, Tigers QB Chris Todd has been better than expected while working with a receiving corps that lacks a true go-to guy. Good news for Todd and the Tigers is that Georgia's pass defense has struggled for most of the season, giving up 14 TD passes with just four picks. The Bulldogs don't have an active secondary nor a consistent pass rush. Auburn's chances for a road win Saturday increase greatly if Todd can throw for 225-plus yards.

PLAYERS ON THE SPOT: Tennessee QB Jonathan Crompton and Ole Miss QB Jevan Snead. This is a big game for both teams, and the play of the quarterbacks will be big in determining the outcome. Crompton has come on strong the past few weeks and leads the SEC with 21 touchdowns passes. The Vols have won three of their past four and Crompton has thrown 12 TDs and two interceptions in that span. Ole Miss must get consistent pressure on Crompton, who has had a propensity to fold under pressure. But can Ole Miss get consistent pressure? The Vols have allowed just 10 sacks, while Ole Miss has come up with 25. As for Snead, he has been a disappointment. He has seven TD passes and 11 picks in the Rebels' five SEC games. He'll be throwing against a Vols defense that has allowed just four TD passes, tied with Florida for the fewest allowed in the league. When Ole Miss has run effectively, Snead has been much better as a passer. But when the offensive burden has been placed on Snead, he has not been able to respond.

NUMBERS GAME: Alabama's Javier Arenas has 1,590 career punt-return yards. That's 106 short of Lee Nalley's SEC record (1,695, set at Vandy from 1947-49) and 172 yards short of the NCAA record held by Wes Welker (1,761 yards at Texas Tech from 2000-03). Florida's Brandon James has 2,494 kickoff-return yards, four shy of tying Derek Pegues' league record (set from 2005-08 at Mississippi State).

WHAT THEY'RE SAYING:

"I just really do believe this: If I was an official and I was making what I made officiating, because I loved the game and I loved doing it, and was getting criticized by the media, including our announcers on TV, like these guys are getting criticized, I think I'd step back and say, 'I think I'm going to the lake this weekend; you guys can have this.' That's what I'd do." - Alabama coach Nick Saban, on the officiating controversy in the Alabama-LSU game

"I know this - the final score is the final score. I believe in my heart that those officials are trying, and if I felt differently, I'd say that. I don't believe that. I believe they are working hard to get it right, and that doesn't change the score and the position that we're in." -LSU coach Les Miles, on the Alabama loss

"We sat in the same room for about 30 minutes. It was Ed, Tommy Tuberville, myself, Lou Holtz and Phillip Fulmer. We were all sitting there waiting to go do our acting parts. ... We talked a little bit about different players. He commended me on the job that our staff did [last season] and I commended him on bringing in those defensive linemen. It went a little bit like that." - Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt, on whether he and former Ole Miss coach Ed Orgeron, now the defensive line coach at Tennessee, spoke during the filming of "The Blind Side," the movie about former Ole Miss OT Michael Oher

"I hope to go three or four more years and see what happens. If we are going 6-6 or 7-5, then someone else should have the opportunity to give it a try. We do have some guys coming that I am really looking forward to coaching. Looking forward to watching Alshon Jeffery, Stephon Gilmore. We really have some good, young guys that have a chance for big careers here." - South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier, on his coaching future

"You'd have to ask my wife. She's doing it. She handles all that stuff." - Florida coach Urban Meyer, on how it felt to pay the $30,000 fine for criticizing officials in the Georgia victory

ETC.: Alabama clinched a spot in the SEC championship game with last week's victory over LSU. Florida had clinched a spot a week earlier. ... Alabama DT Terrence Cody is one of four finalists for the Lombardi Award, which goes to the nation's top interior lineman or linebacker. The other finalists are TCU DE Jerry Hughes, Oklahoma DT Gerald McCoy and Nebraska DT Ndamukong Suh. ... Tennessee has scored 132 total points in the past three games. Vols QB Jonathan Crompton leads the league with 21 TD passes. ... Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt had former Tampa Bay and Indianapolis coach Tony Dungy speak to his team before practice Tuesday. Dungy talked about perseverance and accountability. ... Saturday's Alabama-Mississippi State game features the SEC's two most productive running backs. Alabama's Mark Ingram leads the league in rushing at 127.6 yards per game; Mississippi State's Anthony Dixon is second at 125.1 ypg. ... For the second week in a row, Georgia players who commit penalties Saturday against Auburn can expect to be removed from the game. Last week, Georgia coach Mark Richt kept the guilty players out the rest of the series, although that probably won't be the case against Auburn. ... Ole Miss Chancellor Dan Jones announced he has asked the school's band to stop playing "From Dixie With Love" at athletic events because some fans chant "The South will rise again" during the song. ... The SEC has three teams in The Associated Press top 10 this week. The league has had at least three teams in the AP top 10 each week this season. ... Florida has won 11 consecutive conference road games and, at 36-15, has the best road record in league play this decade. ... There have been four 99-yard drives by SEC teams this season. Two are by Arkansas and one is against Arkansas (by Alabama). The other is by South Carolina. ... Alabama's Leigh Tiffin has 76 career field goals, fourth-most in SEC history. He is one field goal behind former Georgia star Kevin Butler for third place and two behind former Alabama kicker Philip Doyle for second. Former Georgia kicker Billy Bennett is first with 87. ... Georgia has forced a league-low six turnovers. Next-lowest in the SEC is South Carolina, with 13. Arkansas, Auburn, Mississippi State and Tennessee lead with 19 forced. ... Auburn has allowed a league-high 20 rushing TDs, while Arkansas has allowed a league-high 17 passing TDs.

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