SEC report

LITTLE ROCK — Streak not part of plan

Florida has Kentucky’s number, and it’s now reached 23.

The Gators will look for their 24th consecutive victory over the Wildcats when the teams play at Florida Field on Saturday night.

Florida’s streak began with a 27-14 victory at Gainesville, Fla., in 1987.

“That is mind-boggling, and that’s why we don’t speak of it much here,” Florida Coach Urban Meyer said when asked about the streak.

“Because whatever happened 20-whatever years ago has no bearing on this Kentucky team coming in here right now.”

Joker Phillips was in his first season of coaching as a Kentucky graduate assistant in 1988 when Florida won its second game in the streak, 24-19 victory at Lexington, Ky.

Now Phillips is in his first season as Kentucky’s head coach.

“We haven’t talked about it all this week, I can tell you that,” Phillips said of the streak. “Every year it’s a different team.

“Our goal is to win the East, and to do that you’ve got to knock off the guys who have won the East the last few years.”

Florida is looking for its fourth SEC title in five seasons.

“We’ve got to go down to their place and go toe to toe with them,” Phillips said, “and see if we can come away with a win.”

Kentucky’s last victory over Florida was 10-3 on Nov.

15, 1986 at Lexington.

The Gators lead the all time series 43-17, though Kentucky started well. The Wildcats won the teams’ first meeting 52-0 in 1917 and were 9-2 in the first 11 games through 1951.

Nutty Vandy stat

Vanderbilt is 11-30 in SEC games since 2005, but 3-2 against Coach Houston Nutt during that span.

For those of us without a Vanderbilt education who may struggle with math, that’sa .600 winning percentage for the Commodores against Nutt teams and a .222 winning percentage against other SEC foes over the past five-plus seasons.

The Commodores went 1-1 against Arkansas when Nutt coached the Razorbacks and are 2-1 against Nutt’s Ole Miss teams, including a 28-14 victory last week.

Conversely, Nutt has a better winning percentage (.553) against SEC teams other than Vanderbilt with a 49-43 record than he does against the Commodores (.400) during his 12-plus seasons in the conference.

As long as Nutt is at Ole Miss, he’ll face Vanderbilt every season because the Commodores are the Rebels’ permanent opponent in the West vs. East matchups.

The other permanent West vs. East opponents in the otherwise rotating schedule between divisions are Alabama-Tennessee, Arkansas-South Carolina, Auburn-Georgia, LSU-Florida and Mississippi State-Kentucky Happy returns

LSU junior cornerback Patrick Peterson is filling in nicely for the departed Trindon Holliday as theTigers’ kick returner.

Peterson is averaging 31.7 yards on 6 kickoff returns and 23.9 yards with a touchdown on 7 punt returns. He also has two interceptions for 46 yards in returns.

“He’s made some great plays and certainly has the potential to turn games around individually,” LSU Coach Les Miles said. “With his wanting to be the best and the way he approaches practice every day, he’s liable to have one of the most spectacular years I’ve ever been around.” Got to give

Auburn, which plays at South Carolina on Saturday, has the SEC’s top rushing offense, averaging 259.3 yards per game.

South Carolina has the SEC’s top rushing defense, holding opponents to 59.7 yards per game.

“Certainly we all know the team that runs the best usually wins,” Gamecocks Coach Steve Spurrier said.

“Not always, but usually.

“So I’m sure it’s important to both coaching staffs to try and win the rushing battle, as it always is.”

Laid-back week

Vanderbilt Coach Robbie Caldwell gets an open weekend to enjoy his first coaching victory with the Commodores, who beat Ole Miss last week.

“Believe you me, I’m going to throw something on the grill and watch me a little bit of football and laugh at everybody else having all the pressure on them,” Caldwell said of his Saturday plans.

Going for 100

Florida Coach Urban Meyer can pick up his 100th career victory if the Gators beat Kentucky on Saturday.

He’s 99-18 in 10 seasons at Bowling Green, Utah and Florida.

“I just remember so many of the great efforts, and I’ve been blessed to have so many great players,” Meyer said when asked about his most memorable victories. “I remember the players more than the plays.”

One more week

Georgia will be without star receiver A.J. Green for one more game, Saturday’s contest at Mississippi State. That will complete Green’s four-game NCAA suspension. He’ll be eligibleto play against Colorado on Oct. 2.

Without Green, Georgia has started 0-2 in SEC play for the first time in Mark Richt’s 10 seasons as coach.

“I don’t want to sound like we have to have A.J. to win because we don’t,” Richt said.

“We should be able to win without A.J.

“He is a special player, no doubt. When he’s allowed to come back and play, we’ll talk a whole lot more about him.

“I would have to think if I was a defensive coordinator, I would play Georgia differently with him than without him.” First quarter blues

Florida takes a 3-0 record into Saturday’s game against Kentucky, but the Gators have yet to score in the first quarter against Miami (Ohio), South Florida or Tennessee.

The Gators’ combined first quarter stats include 58 yards in total offense, 7 first downs and 2 turnovers.

“We’re going to make an emphasis of coming out of the gate fast,” Florida Coach Urban Meyer said. “How do you do that? Execute.

“We’ve been talking to our guys about it, and I hope we see some results.” Better effort

Tennessee lost to Florida 31-17 last week, but the Volunteers felt better about their effort than the previous game, a 48-13 loss to Oregon in which the Ducks scored the final 45 points.

“A loss is a loss,” Tennessee junior middle linebacker Austin Johnson told reporters after the Florida game. “But we feel a little bit better than we did last week, because we didn’t give up and we knew we fought the whole game. That was a step up from last week.” Nice feeling

Vanderbilt’s 28-14 victory at Ole Miss last week snapped a 10-game losing streak for the Commodores, including an 0-8 record in SEC play last season.

“Man, it’s hard to explain this feeling in words,” Vanderbilt linebacker Chris Marve told the Tennessean of Nashville. “Losing 10 games straight gets rough. To train and put as much work into it as we do, finally getting a ‘W’ feels so good.”By the numbers36.8Yards per kickoff return for Florida’s Jeff Demps0Catches by Auburn’s tight ends this season1974Last time Mississippi State beat GeorgiaGame of the Week

NO. 1 ALABAMA AT NO. 10 ARKANSAS

2:30 p.m. Saturday, CBS The Crimson Tide, leading the SEC in total offense and total defense, go for their 17th consecutive conference regular-season victory in an early-season West showdown. Arkansas will need to run the ball better, or pass for a ton of yards with a plus-turnover margin, to have a shot at the upset.

Overheard

“I felt like I was in an NFL game out there with that guy.” - Georgia safety Bacarri Rambo on facing Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett last week