Alabama, Georgia set to stage title fight

BOB HOLT
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

FAYETTEVILLE -- The Arkansas Razorbacks may get a preview of the SEC Championship Game when they open conference play.
Alabama comes to Razorback Stadium for Arkansas' SEC opener on Sept. 23, then a week later Georgia makes its first trip to Fayetteville since 1992.
Alabama, the defending SEC overall champion, is an overwhelming favorite to win the West with 18 starters back from a 10-3 team.
Georgia is the chic pick to end the Florida-Tennessee stranglehold on the East title, with the Bulldogs returning 18 starters from an 8-4 team.
"You can see why they'd both be picked first in their divisions," Arkansas Coach Houston Nutt said. "They've both got a lot of talent, a lot of speed and a lot of depth.
"I'm glad to have them where we do. At least we get to play both games up here in Fayetteville, and that's exciting."
Alabama has come a long way since its last trip to Fayetteville in 1998, when Arkansas sent the Crimson Tide home with a 42-6 loss.
The Tide capped its 1998 season at 7-5 with a 38-7 loss to Virginia Tech in the Music City Bowl. That made Coach Mike DuBose's two-year record 11-11, and it seemed debatable whether he could hang on to the job through last season.
First, last August DuBose admitted he had lied about having an improper relationship with a university secretary that caused Alabama to pay $360,000 to settle a sexual discrimination lawsuit.
Then he committed the worse sin of overseeing Alabama's 29-28 loss to Louisiana Tech in the season's third game when the Bulldogs won on a last-second touchdown pass by their backup quarterback.
But just when it seemed as if the season and DuBose's job had been lost, the Tide began saving both the next week when they held on to beat Arkansas 35-28 despite six turnovers.
Then Alabama went into The Swamp and beat Florida 40-39 in overtime to end the Gators' 30-game home winning streak.
The Tide went on to win its first SEC title since its 1992 national championship season, pounding Florida 34-7 in a rematch in Atlanta, and earned an Orange Bowl berth.
After the season, DuBose was voted SEC Coach of the Year and awarded a contract extension.
"I do not have the words to express how grateful I am to our team and coaches," he said. "I felt miserably this time last year, but our team and coaches picked me up."
Alabama senior center Paul Hogan said the Louisiana Tech loss proved to be a turning point in the team's championship season.
"If we hadn't lost that game, I'm not sure how good we would have done," Hogan said. "That really woke us up for the Arkansas game, and when we won that game it gave us a lot of confidence and we knew we still had a shot to make something of the season."
The Tide goes into this season ranked No. 3 in The Associated Press poll behind Nebraska and Florida State.
"At the beginning of the season, there's always five or 10 teams that can honestly say they have a shot to win the national championship," Hogan said. "We've got the talent and experience to be one of those teams, now we just need a little bit of luck, too."
Alabama lost two first-round draft picks in offensive tackle Chris Samuels and tailback Shaun Alexander, but it still has plenty of firepower.
Junior flanker Freddie Milons will lead the Tide offense and is one of the most versatile players in the country. He can beat teams with his receiving, running, passing and kick returning abilities.
Milons, who played quarterback in high school in Starkville, Miss., broke out in last season's fourth game against Arkansas, catching seven passes for 109 yards and throwing a 66-yard touchdown pass on a fake reverse.
Milons wound up setting a school record with 65 receptions for 733 yards and 2 touchdowns, and as the season went on he began getting some snaps at quarterback. He wrecked Florida in the SEC Championship Game by rushing for 116 yards, including a 77-yard touchdown run that clinched Alabama's victory.
Also a dangerous kick returner, Milons returned two punts for touchdowns last season, including a 62-yarder against Michigan in the Orange Bowl.
The desperation of Alabama's situation after the Louisiana Tech loss caused DuBose to relent and take the shackles off quarterbacks coach Charlie Stubbs, who calls the plays on offense.
"In this offense, there's no limit," Milons said. "Whatever Coach Stubbs says, you just have to be ready to say, 'Yeah, Coach, I'll try it if that's what the team needs.' "
With Alexander's departure, the Tide figures to try and get the ball to Milons in more ways this season. That means while Milons primarily is a flanker, he'll continue lining up in the backfield to keep opposing defenses off-balance.
"We can get some mismatches on the defense because we'll have him at receiver one play, at quarterback one play and then motioning out of the backfield one play, doing all kinds of different things," Stubbs said. "We believe when he's back there, if he doesn't have an open receiver, he can still beat those defenders with his legs.
"As long as we get the ball in Freddie's hands, we know we've got a high chance to have a successful play."
Meanwhile, the quarterback situation was resolved Wednesday when DuBose named junior Andrew Zow to start over sophomore Tyler Watts.
"Both will play, but Andrew's the one that will get the majority of the reps from this point on," DuBose said. "Zow will start, and we'll still bracket Tyler as a first-team player and consider him a first-team player, and he will play. He still will have a chance to continue to compete for that job."
Zow has started 19 games the past two seasons and thrown for 3,768 yards and 23 touchdowns. Watts played in 10 games last season, including two starts when Zow was injured, and passed for 498 yards and 2 touchdowns but had 5 interceptions.
Whoever is at quarterback will be working behind a veteran line. Hogan is one of four returning starters on the offensive line, and the team has a solid tailback rotation, led by senior Shaun Bohanon.

MISSISSIPPI
BACKFIELD POWERFUL
Ole Miss is the only SEC West team not to win at least a share of the division title since the conference expanded in 1992, may be on schedule to challenge Alabama.
The Rebels, ranked No. 18 in the preseason AP poll, have an explosive offensive backfield led by senior quarterback Romaro Miller and tailbacks Deuce McAllister and Joe Gunn. They're hoping to finish this season playing on New Year's Day after winning the Motor City or Independence bowls the previous three seasons.
McAllister, a senior, had 1,692 all-purpose yards last season to lead the SEC and set a school record, and Ole Miss is mounting its first Heisman Trophy campaign for him since Archie Manning was starring for the Rebels 30 years ago.
"Deuce is a truly legitimate, deserving candidate for the Heisman," Coach David Cutcliffe said. "He's a model candidate for the honor."
Cutcliffe isn't likely to get an argument from the Razorbacks, considering McAllister had a school-record 317 all-purpose yards in the Rebels' 38-16 victory over Arkansas last season. He returned the opening kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown, rushed 21 times for 125 yards and 2 touchdowns and caught 2 passes for 34 yards.
"He is probably one of the most complete players I have seen," Nutt said. "A back that runs behind his pads and can be physical. He can give you a move ... and he has speed to run away from people."
McAllister enjoys being a versatile player.
"I show up in a lot of places," he said. "My goal is to give defensive coordinators the biggest headaches they've ever had."
Despite the hype surrounding McAllister, Gunn, a junior, is the SEC's leading returning rusher after gaining 951 yards last season. Cutcliffe said McAllister and Gunn will alternate at tailback.
"We won't change our offense to help Deuce in the Heisman race," Cutcliffe said. "He'll split time with Joe because they both deserve to play and we want both of them fresh for the fourth quarter."

AUBURN
LEARD THE BIG GUN
Auburn will be relying heavily on fifth-year senior quarterback Ben Leard.
In games in which Leard was healthy last season, the Tigers were 5-1, losing only to SEC champion Alabama. They were 0-5 in games that Leard couldn't finish or missed entirely because of injuries.
"If Ben stays healthy, we're going to be a pretty good offense," Auburn Coach Tommy Tuberville said. "I think he's got a chance to be the best quarterback in our conference."
When Leard was healthy last season, he put up impressive numbers, completing 111 of 157 passes (70.7 percent) for 1,423 yards and 12 touchdowns with 1 interception.
Leard said the new offense brought in by Tuberville and his assistants, who came to Auburn from Ole Miss last season, fit him well, relying on his ability to read defenses and make quick throws.
"If you've seen me play, you know I'm not going to run away from anybody and I'm not going to throw the ball 100 yards down the field," Leard said. "But this offense is a very, very quarterback-friendly system. It relies on the strengths, my decision-making and putting the ball in the right place."
Tuberville said Leard should be helped this season by an experienced offensive line, which returns four starters, and an improved running game with the addition of tailback Rudi Johnson, a transfer from Butler County (Kan.) Community College who rushed for 2,224 yards and 31 touchdowns as a sophomore. Johnson could help revive a rushing offense that averaged 68 yards last season to rank 112th out of 114 NCAA Division I teams.
If the running game gets going, Leard should be able to hook up more often with sophomore Ronney Daniels, who set an Auburn record with 1,068 receiving yards last season on 56 catches.

MISSISSIPPI STATE
DEFENSE MAY BE KEY
Mississippi State lost eight starters from a defense that led the nation in fewest yards allowed per game last season (222.5) and helped the Bulldogs to a 10-2 record.
But Coach Jackie Sherrill said Mississippi State will be just as good on defense this season because some of the backups from last season who will move into the starting lineup are more physical players and better athletes than the 1999 starters they're replacing.
"We can match the 11 we had on defense last year," Sherrill said.
Senior cornerback Fred Smoot, who earned All-SEC honors last season and is a first-team All-America pick on many 2000 preseason teams, said the Bulldogs might be even better on defense.
"We played two units last year, so we still have a lot of experience back, and we're faster on defense this year," Smoot said. "We have more talent on the defensive line, though not as much depth.
"We can duplicate what we did last year on defense, or we could be better. I don't see us declining any."
The Bulldogs' record figures to decline, however, because of a tougher schedule.
Mississippi State plays six road games, including the first three. The Bulldogs don't get to play at home until Sept. 30, and the opponent then will be Florida, which replaced Vanderbilt in the SEC rotation for Mississippi State.

LSU
IS SABAN THE ANSWER?
Nick Saban is the lone new coach in the SEC and is the ninth at LSU since 1979. He left a 10-2 Michigan State team to take over at LSU, which was a combined 7-15 the past two seasons.
LSU is paying Saban a reported $1.25 million a year to bring some stability to its football program and help fill all the seats at Tiger Stadium, which has been expanded to a capacity of 91,600.
LSU was so desperate to find a "name" coach that the school agreed not to write into Saban's contract a financial penalty should he leave for another job.
Saban is taking over a team whose only SEC victory in 1999 came against Arkansas, but predecessor Gerry DiNardo and his assistants recruited well and left behind a more talented team than its record indicates.
The problem for DiNardo was the Tigers made a habit of losing close games -- eight by six or fewer points the past two seasons -- and the players essentially gave up.
It's Saban's job to put the Tigers together again, and he has talent to work with, notably junior safety Ryan Clark, sophomore linebackers Treverance Faulk and Bradie James and sophomore wide receiver Jerel Myers.
But Saban is making sure not to get carried away.
"I do think we have some good football players, but three quarters of our team has never won [consistently]," Saban said. "And whether they know how to win is something they're going to have to demonstrate, and maybe even have to go through a process of understanding how to do that."

GEORGIA
BULLDOGS SET TO CELEBRATE
Georgia has played in the Peach Bowl twice in the past five years but hopes to make a postseason appearance in Atlanta's Georgia Dome a little earlier this season -- Dec. 9 in the SEC Championship Game.
"We've just got to play Florida and Tennessee a lot better," Georgia Coach Jim Donnan said. "They've dominated us."
Since the SEC expanded to 12 teams and split into divisions in 1992, Georgia is a combined 1-15 against the Gators and Vols and 33-14-1 in other conference games.
But Georgia fans, who haven't celebrated an SEC title since 1982, are hoping 2000 is the season the Bulldogs will break through against Florida and Tennessee.
The Bulldogs return more starters (18) than the Gators (13) or Vols (10) and are led by All-SEC quarterback Quincy Carter.
"I've heard people say, 'If Georgia doesn't do it this year, they'll never do it,' " Donnan said. "I really think we're going to do it, eventually."
Georgia is ranked No. 10 in The Associated Press preseason poll, sandwiched between No. 9 Florida and No. 12 Tennessee.
Georgia's championship hopes are tied to Carter, who threw for 2,713 yards and 17 touchdowns last season. He threw only six interceptions even though the Bulldogs' struggling defense often forced the offense to play from behind.
Donnan is looking for major improvement on defense with the addition of Gary Gibbs as coordinator in place of Kelvin Ramsey, who quit rather than accept a demotion after Donnan had lured him from Tennessee the previous year.
Georgia ranked last in the SEC in total defense last season, yielding an average of 382.6 yards a game.
Those problems caused Donnan to turn to Gibbs, with whom he coached from 1985-89 at Oklahoma. Donnan was the Sooners' offensive coordinator those five seasons, and Gibbs was defensive coordinator before succeeding Barry Switzer as head coach.

FLORIDA
GATORS FIGHTING BACK
Florida has won six SEC East titles and four overall conference championships the past eight seasons, and junior defensive end Alex Brown can't figure out what all the fuss is about Georgia.
"They haven't won an SEC championship in 18 years," Brown said. "Why should they be picked to win this one?"
Florida isn't a consensus pick to win the East because the Gators ended last season with a three-game losing streak to slide to 9-4, their worst record since 1992.
Granted, Florida's losing streak came against national champion Florida State, SEC champion Alabama and Michigan State in the Citrus Bowl.
But it was the Gators' longest losing streak in Steve Spurrier's 10 seasons as coach at his alma mater and the Gators finished the season ranked No. 12 in the final AP poll, the first time they hadn't been in the final top 10 since 1990.
Spurrier, who won the 1966 Heisman Trophy as the Gators' quarterback and calls the plays on offense, was especially embarrassed by the team's production last season. Florida fell from 14th nationally in total offense in 1998 to 30th last year, and its scoring average of 30.8 points a game was its lowest since 1992.
From 1993-97, the Gators scored at least 50 points on 13 SEC opponents. Their highest total last season was 39, and that was in an overtime loss to Alabama that broke Florida's 30-game winning streak at home.
True freshman Brock Berlin of Shreveport could take over at quarterback if senior Jesse Palmer struggles.
Berlin, the consensus 1999 national high school player of the year, is the most highly acclaimed recruit Spurrier ever has signed. Spurrier compares him to Danny Wuerffel, who won the 1996 Heisman Trophy and quarterbacked the Gators to the national championship.

TENNESSEE
VOLS HAVE NEW FOCUS
No college team lost more players to last spring's NFL Draft than Tennessee. The Vols had nine players drafted from their 9-3 team, including five who left before their eligibility expired.
But Coach Phillip Fulmer said some of the Vols were thinking about the draft last season instead of focusing on the team.
"We had some kids that were playing for the name on the back of the shirt rather than the name on the helmet at times," Fulmer said. "This [year's] team hasn't shown any signs of selfishness. Hopefully, we can keep it that way."
Returning standouts for Tennessee include senior tailback Travis Henry and senior wide receiver Cedrick Wilson. New stars who could step forward this season include freshman quarterback Casey Clausen, senior linebacker Eric Westmoreland, junior defensive linemen John Henderson and Will Overstreet, senior safety Andre Lott and sophomore wide receiver Leonard Scott.

KENTUCKY
NEW QB TAKES CHARGE
As a sophomore quarterback at Kentucky last season, Dusty Bonner led the SEC in total offense, averaging 284.1 yards a game. He threw for 3,266 yards and 26 touchdowns as the Wildcats finished 6-6 with a Music City Bowl loss to Syracuse.
Bonner transferred to Valdosta (Ga.) State after Wildcats Coach Hal Mumme said in June that redshirt freshman Jared Lorenzen would enter this season as the starter.
Mumme determined that while Bonner played well in the offense, he couldn't match the arm strength of Lorenzen, 6-4, 270, and that a change needed to be made.
Lorenzen was the scout-team quarterback last season when he redshirted, and he impressed the first-team defense.

VANDERBILT
COMMODORES EYES WINNER
Vanderbilt, which has 17 consecutive losing seasons since going 8-4 in 1982, almost broke the streak last year, finishing 5-6. The Commodores return 16 starters, led by All-SEC junior linebacker Jamie Winborn.
Woody Widenhofer, who is 10-23 in three seasons as Vanderbilt's coach, said last season's team grew up a lot.
"You look back and say, 'Same old Vanderbilt,' but it's not," Widenhofer said. "That football team was a young team that gained an awful lot of confidence in themselves and learned to believe that they can win."

SOUTH CAROLINA
GAMECOCKS HOPE TO RISE
The Gamecocks enter this season with a 21-game losing streak, longest in the nation.
"Hold the presses, I've got a scoop for you. South Carolina's got problems," said Lou Holtz, who went 0-11 in his debut as Gamecocks coach. "But they aren't anything that can't be solved."
Because of injuries, the Gamecocks played six quarterbacks -- an NCAA record -- and 16 offensive linemen. They ranked 114th nationally in scoring offense (7.9 points a game) and total offense (228.6 yards), allowed 45 sacks and suffered 27 turnovers.
South Carolina ranked 20th nationally in total defense, holding opponents to 307 yards a game.
Defense is again expected by to be a strength, led by senior linemen Cecil Caldwell and Cleveland Pinkney.

This article was published on Friday, August 25, 2000

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