ATHENS, Ga. - A couple of weeks ago, after a dismal loss at Tennessee, Georgia put a moratorium on any title talk.
Coach Mark Richt said it wouldn't do any good to continue discussing what it would take to win another SEC championship, especially after losing two of the first four league games.
After another crazy Saturday in the SEC, the Bulldogs found themselves right back in the race without even taking a snap.
While Georgia was getting in some rest and relaxation during an off week, South Carolina, Kentucky and Tennessee all took their second conference losses. Suddenly, the Bulldogs (5-2, 3-2 SEC) find themselves in a threeway tie for first in the Eastern Division.
"There's not too many years where a team from the East goes to the championship game having two losses," tight end Tripp Chandler said. "We're definitely fortunate."
Actually, Georgia played for the title twice in the past four years despite losing two conference games, but that's definitely against the norm. Since the SEC went to a title game in 1992, only one other Eastern team has made it with two losses in the league (that was Florida, in the first year of divisional play).
However, this is shaping up as a season like no other. It's not unrealistic to envision an Eastern champ with three SEC losses.
"You just never know," Georgia fullback Brannan Southerland said. "Honestly, it's hard to tell with the SEC, with all the talent and the fact that any team can beat anybody. You can't depend on one team to win and another team lose. You've got to try to do your part every day, because you never know what can happen to the other teams in the SEC."AUBURN
Third quarter a problem
AUBURN, Ala. - Coach Tommy Tuberville can pinpoint where Auburn started letting that game with BCS No. 3 LSU slip away, and it came long before the final-second touchdown pass.
It happened in the third quarter when his 22nd-ranked Tigers returned from the locker room barely resembling the impressivelooking team that built a 17-7 halftime lead. They couldn't move the ball and couldn't keep LSU from driving for two field goals to climb back into the game.
"You hear 'ifs,' 'ands' and 'buts' and what have you about that game," Tuberville said. "The bottom line is we didn't coach very well in that third quarter, and we didn't play very well on defense or offense or the kicking game in the third quarter. That's been our problem all year, consistency, playing an entire game."
The biggest problem has come upon Auburn's return from the locker room after halftime, particularly in the two biggest road games. Auburn (5-3, 3-2 SEC) barely held on after building a 14-0 lead at Florida and wound up falling to LSU 30-24 on Matt Flynn's touchdown pass at the end.
But the coaches haven't been harping on that play so much as what happened in that third quarter. The offense failed to manage a first down on three of four possessions, and the defense appeared to start wearing down with the short rest times.
It's nothing new for a team that hasn't scored in the third inthe past two games and has managed just 27 points coming out of the half in eight games, far fewer than any other quarter.
"It seems like somewhere during the game we lose some kind of edge, concentration, in all phases, including myself," Tuberville said. "Then it takes us awhile to get back on track. Then when we get back on track, we look like a pretty good team again." MISSISSIPPIStruggling QB to start
JACKSON, Miss. - Mississippi quarterback Seth Adams will start again Saturday at Auburn, but Coach Ed Orgeron said he'll be quick to pull the senior if Adams continues to struggle.
Adams has thrown 10 interceptions in his past three games, including four in a 44-8 loss to Arkansas on Saturday that grounded Ole Miss' offense. Brent Schaeffer entered the game and threw a touchdown pass, but Orgeron believes the team's best chance to win comes with Adams under center.
"We're looking at why the turnovers happened and we think they're very correctable," Orgeron said. "Seth's going to continue to be our starting quarterback, but there's going to be less room for error. And if he shows that he can't do it, then we're definitely going to put Brett in there." TENNESSEERB angry about not playing
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Tennessee tailback Montario Hardesty did not appreciate being left out of the Volunteers' running game in a 41-17 loss to Alabama.
Hardesty expressed his anger to a reporter from Web site Volquest.com as he was exiting the field Saturday.
"You tell me," Hardesty said when asked why he didn't play against the Crimson Tide.
The sophomore missed a rare Sunday practice, which Coach Phillip Fulmer called after Tennessee's worst loss to archrival Alabama in Fulmer's 16 seasons as head coach of the Vols (4-3, 2-2 SEC).
Fulmer wasn't aware during practice why Hardesty was missing, but said he learned later that Hardesty was sick and had left a voice mail with running backs coach Kurt Roger.
Hardesty is the Vols' secondleading rusher this season, behind Arian Foster. He has 184 yards and 2 touchdowns on 41 carries, despite missing two games with an ankle injury.
Hardesty rushed for 146 of those yards in Tennessee's two previous games against Mississippi State and Georgia. Tennessee rushed 19 times against Alabama.
Sports, Pages 26 on 10/24/2007