Week 13 SEC Report
Ian Fletcher
November 23, 2007

The final week of play in the SEC brings rivalries and the decisive Champion for the Eastern Division championship crown. The Iron Bowl, the Battle of the Golden Egg, The Golden Boot, and the Governor’s Cup Trophy are trophies that will be given to the winning teams, some rivalry awards no trophy but the hatred can be cut with a knife. The SEC is also celebrating the SEC-ACC challenge in football as Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Vanderbilt takes on rivals Florida State, Georgia Tech, Clemson, and Wake Forest. All bulletin broad materials are up, no need for inspiring pre-game speech this week, if players are not motivated for any of these games they need to simply walk to the head coach office and turn in their scholarship.


Ole Miss (Overall: 3-8 SEC: 0-7) @ MSU (Overall: 6-5 SEC: 3-4)
Ole Miss travels to Starkville, Mississippi to take on MSU in the Battle of the Golden Egg.

Ole Miss is in search for some bright spots in a season that has seen them go win-less in the SEC. This rivalry game give them a chance to add a conference win this season and bragging rights in the state of Mississippi for a year.

Ole Miss quarterback Brent Schaeffer came of the bench against LSU to rush for 94 yards and pass for 208—both career highs.

Senior running-back Ben Jarvis Green Ellis has topped the 1,000 yard rushing mark for the second straight season.

Greg Hardy notched two sacks against LSU, giving him three games this year with multiple quarterback sacks. Hardy has 10.0 total sacks and 18.0 tackles for loss this season. Hardy tops the SEC and ranks third in the NCAA in both sacks (1.11 pg) and TFLs (2.00 pg) and is also the conference leader in forced fumbles (0.33 pg).

Ole Miss had a return for a TD for the second consecutive game. After Mike Wallace took a kickoff back 77 yards for a score against Northwestern State, Marshay Green returned a punt 44 yards for a TD in the LSU game.

MSU looks to record win number seven for the season. At the beginning of the season the question was would head coach Sylvester Croom survive to coach in Starkville another season.

The MSU offense averages 140.3 rushing yards and 168.0 passing yards per game.

Sophomore RB Anthony Dixon directs the ground game with 954 yards and an SEC-high 13 touchdowns for running-backs.

True freshman quarterback Wesley Carroll has settled in at signal-caller and completed 113-of-209 passes for 1,223 yards with eight touchdowns and five interceptions.

Friday's game will be the 80th “Battle of the Golden Egg,” as the two schools started playing for the trophy in 1927.


Arkansas (Overall: 7-4 SEC: 3-4) @ LSU (Overall: 10-1 SEC: 6-1)
Arkansas travels to Baton Rouge, Louisiana to take on LSU in their annual day after Thanksgiving battle.

Darren McFadden ranks fourth nationally in rushing with 138.1 yards per game. That mark also leads the conference. He is averaging 174.27 all-purpose yards per game, which ranks 14th nationally and tops in the SEC.

Will he stay or will he go is the question being asked of LSU head coach Les Miles this week. The question is being asked because, Miles played and coached at Michigan and with Lloyd Carr retiring from Michigan will this become a distraction for LSU BCS Championship hopes. The rumor mill is working overtime saying, the administration at LSU wants to see him go, and the administration at Michigan do not want him, but we will truly discover the truth after the bowl game.

Running-back Jacob Hester leads the Tigers in rushing with 771 yards and 9 touchdowns, while quarterback Matt Flynn has thrown for 2,024 yards and 14 touchdowns

For the 12th-consecutive year since its inception, Arkansas and LSU will be playing for "The Golden Boot," a trophy shaped like the two states. The trophy was introduced into the series prior to the 1996 game. It is believed to be the heaviest trophy awarded in a college football rivalry, it weighs approximately 175 pounds.

Tennessee (Overall: 8-3 SEC: 5-2) @ Kentucky (Overall: 7-4 SEC: 3-4)
Tennessee travels to Lexington, Kentucky to take on the Kentucky Wildcats in a game that will finally reveal who will represent the SEC Eastern Division in the SEC Championship game against the BCS number one ranked team LSU.

If Tennessee wins they will receive the invitation if they lose Georgia will get the invite.

Erik Ainge is 24-9 as a starter in his career. He has an efficiency rating of 132.7, which is the third-best mark in the SEC this season. He is third in the conference in passing yardage as well with (228.3 ypg).

Foster is third in the SEC in rushing touchdowns with 12 and fifth in yards per game with 89.9.

Kentucky had an opportunity to knock Georgia from the title game chase and was unable to do so, will they be able to end Tennessee dream.

Tennessee has won 22 straight against Kentucky. Kentucky’s last win in the series came in 1984, a 17-12 Kentucky win in Knoxville.

Wake Forest (Overall: 7-4) @ Vanderbilt (Overall: 5-6 SEC: 2-6)
Vanderbilt host Wake Forest for a season finally that most would consider the Brain Bowl. Many people say these two Universities are in their respective conference to help keep their conference grade point average up.

Through 11 games, Vanderbilt wide receiver Earl Bennett is tied for the SEC lead with 69 receptions and ranks 7th with 765 receiving yards. Bennett also has four touchdown catches. He has 22 more catches than any other receiver in SEC history. Bennett is on pace to reach 75 receptions for the third consecutive year. He is the only receiver in SEC history to post consecutive seasons of 75 receptions. Bennett is also trying to lead the SEC in receiving for the third consecutive year.

In 2006, Vanderbilt and Wake Forest agreed to a seven-game football series every year through 2014 except 2009, Vanderbilt is seeking to win its fifth consecutive game in the series.


Georgia (Overall: 9-2 SEC: 6-2) @ Georgia Tech (Overall: 7-4)
Georgia makes the short trip to Bobby Dodd stadium in Atlanta, Georgia to take on the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.

Senior wide receiver Sean Bailey leads Georgia with 34 receptions for 512 yards and four touchdowns.

Knowshon Moreno leads the Georgia in rushing with 1,228 yards, which is the seventh-best total in school history. His rushing total ranks at the fifth best ever by an SEC freshman.

The winner of the game receives the Governor's Cup Trophy. Georgia has won all six games in the Mark Richt era, prior to his arrival, the Yellow Jackets had a three-game win streak.

Florida State (Overall: 7-4) @ Florida (Overall: 8-3 SEC: 5-3)
Florida will host the Florida State Seminoles in the annual season finally for both teams. Florida has won the last three games in the series and enters today's game looking to win four-straight in the series for the first time since 1983-86.


Florida’s quarterback Tim Tebow became the first player in NCAA Division I-A history to run and pass for 20-or-more touchdowns in the same season (20 rush, 26 pass). Tim Tebow's passer rating of 177.5 is the second-highest in the nation.

Wide-receiver Andre Caldwell had 13 catches for 164 yards against Florida Atlantic to establish the new UF career record for receptions (177).

Florida head coach Urban Meyer has led the Gators to wins in each of his first two seasons in Gainesville, Galen Hall is the only coach in school history to win his first three games against the Seminoles.

Florida is 8-3 overall this year and has not won nine-or-more games in three-straight years since 1999-2001.

Since 1979, this game has been scheduled as the regular-season finale for both universities, since 1990, the team which has rushed for more yardage has posted a 16-2-1 record.

Clemson (Overall: 8-3) @ South Carolina (Overall: 6-5 SEC: 3-5)
South Carolina host Clemson for their end of the season battle. South Carolina also is looking to end a 4 game losing streak. South Carolina has not won a game since defeating Kentucky earlier in the season.

South Carolina running-back Cory Boyd has rushed for a career-high 829 yards this season and has a chance to become the Gamecocks first 1,000-yard rusher since Derek Watson ran for 1,066 in 2000.

Over the past three games, quarterback Blake Mitchell has completed 84-of-138 passes (60.9 percent) for 970 yards and four touchdowns.

This will be the 105th meeting between the two in-state rivals in a series that dates back to 1896.

Clemson has won four of the last five contests and eight of the last 10 meetings, but the Gamecocks posted a 31-28 win in Clemson last season.

Clemson earned a 13-9 win in 2005, the last time the teams hooked up in Columbia.

For the second-straight year, the game pits a six-win USC team against an eight-win Clemson team.


Alabama (Overall: 6-5 SEC: 4-3) @ Auburn (Overall: 7-4 SEC: 4-3)
Alabama travels to Auburn, Alabama to take on Auburn in the annual Iron Bowl after a devastating lost to Louisiana-Monroe.

Auburn coming off a much needed bye week is ready, to add to their current streak of 5 consecutive win in the series, something Alabama fans cannot be happy with.


Alabama wide-receiver DJ Hall leads the SEC averaging 83.5 receiving yards per game. Hall needs one touchdown reception to tie Dennis Homan's Alabama school record of 18 career TD catches.


Quarterback John Parker Wilson has 15 career 200-yard passing games, which is a new school record. In 29 career games, Wilson has completed 447 of 794 (.563) passes for 5,282 yards, with 34 touchdowns and 20 interceptions.


Junior wide receiver Rodgeriqus Smith leads Auburn with 45 catches for 614 yards and five touchdowns.

Quarterback Brandon Cox has led Auburn on scoring drives that gave Auburn the lead with less than four minutes left in the game five times this season. Cox is now third on Auburn's all-time passing yardage list with 6,631 yards.

Wide receiver Montez Billings had just one catch in the first four games, but has 23 in the last seven, including 11 catches combined at Arkansas and LSU.

This will be the first time the teams have met on Thanksgiving weekend since 1992 . The team leading at halftime has won 73.2 percent of the time.

This is the weekend that family members won’t speak to each other, co-workers will talk trash and place their wages as to which teams will win, and former High School teammates spew hate at one another.

Enjoy the Thanksgiving Weekend try not to eat too much, or spend too much money, and I will see you next weekend for Championship weekend.

Ian Fletcher is our special correspondent at UF. He provides Gator coverage, SEC coverage and more.
You can contact Ian at By emailing here.