SEC report

LITTLE ROCK — Ongoing shuffle for QBs

Another week, another new starting quarterback in the SEC.

Tennessee true freshman Justin Worley is set to start Saturday against South Carolina. He’ll be the 21st quarterback to start for an SEC team this season, including three for the Vols and three for Ole Miss.

Only four SEC teams have had the same starter for every game: Alabama with AJ McCarron, Arkansas with Tyler Wilson, Georgia with Aaron Murray and LSU with Jarrett Lee.

Worley was a third teamer earlier this season and appeared headed for a redshirt, but he finds himself as the starter because of sophomore Tyler Bray’s broken thumb and senior Matt Simms’ ineffectiveness.

“My philosophy has always been to play the best players who give you a chance to win, period,” Tennessee Coach Derek Dooley said. “I think that’s my responsibility as the coach. To me, that’s a professional responsibility I have to the organization to go out and try to do anything I can to win the next game.”

Tennessee has lost three in a row to Georgia, LSU and Alabama, and the Vols need to win three of their final five games to become bowl eligible.

“I’m not going to just tank it here and say, ‘See you next year,’ ” Dooley said. “I don’t like losing.”

Worley should be extra motivated starting against South Carolina. He’s from Rock Hill, S.C., but wasn’t recruited by the Gamecocks despite being the Gatorade National Player of the Year last season when he passed for 64 touchdowns at Northwestern High School.

That’s the ticket

Alabama Coach Nick Saban has won a national championship and has a statue outside of Bryant-Denny Stadium, but that doesn’t entitle him to park illegally.

Saban got a $15 ticket Monday when his Mercedes was parked in a marked “no parking” area in front of the Harbert Center in downtown Birmingham.

Alabama has an open date this week before its showdown with LSU on Nov. 5, and Saban had some speaking engagements Monday, including a stop to the Birmingham Monday Morning Quarterback Club.

A member of Saban’s support staff drove him to Birmingham and actually was the one parked illegally.

Wonder if Saban, who makes $6 million annually, will make the staffer pay for the ticket?

Video of a meter maid placing a ticket on Saban’s car is all over the internet because she happened to do it at the same time some media members were leaving the building after interviewing Saban.

The meter maid was told she was ticketing Saban’s car.

“Oh, so you’re going to take pictures of me doing my job?” she said, according to the Birmingham News.

“Maybe he’ll give me a free ticket.” On the other side

Will Muschamp played as a defensive back for Georgia teams that went 0-4 against Florida from 1991-1994.

Now in his first season as the Gators’ coach, he hopes to finally be on the winning side in the series when Florida plays Georgia on Saturday.

Muschamp is the first person to play for one team and coach for the other in the heated Georgia-Florida rivalry. But Muschamp, who also has been a defensive coordinator at LSU and Auburn, said playing his alma mater holds no special significance.

“I’ve faced Georgia a lot before as a defensive coordinator,” he said. “I enjoyed my time there, but I’ve worked at LSU, I’ve worked at Auburn.

“In this league, I’ve worked for different coaches ... My loyalties reside with people, not places necessarily. And certainly my loyalty’s here at the University of Florida.”

Trio reinstated

LSU cornerback Tyrann Mathieu, tailback Spencer Ware and defensive back Tharold Simon returned to practice Tuesday after being suspended for last week’s 45-10 victory over Auburn because they violated the team’s drug policy.

It’s anticipated they’ll all play against Alabama on Nov. 5 after this weekend’s open date.

“We’re going to plan on using them,” LSU Coach Les Miles said.

Brantley back

Florida senior quarterback John Brantley, who missed the second half against Alabama and games against LSU and Auburn after injuring an ankle in the Gators’ loss to the Crimson Tide, is expected to return for Saturday’s game against Georgia.

“I fully expect him to continue to progress through the week unless we hit something that we’re not predicting,” Florida Coach Will Muschamp said. “I fully expect him to be fine.”

Brantley has completed 65 percent of his passes for 942 yards and 5 touchdowns with 3 interceptions.

“Getting him back is going to be a huge psychological shock for our football team,” Muschamp said. “Obviously, the production when he was not in the game went down.

You’ve got to give our opponents some credit on that as well.” Another shot

Auburn’s defense must regroup for Saturday’s game against Ole Miss after being pounded in a 45-10 loss at LSU last week.

“We’re trying to go back out there and let the world know we’re not the team we showed Saturday night,” Auburn defensive back T’Sharvan Bell told the Birmingham News. “We’re definitely better than that and capable of playing better than that.”

Auburn’s defense played well in victories over South Carolina (16-13) and Florida (17-6), but was hit with several big plays against LSU and had several penalties to keep drives alive.

“Looking at the young guys, they were kind of shell shocked, wide eyes,” Bell said. “As a leader, you’ve got to do what you can to instill in them that they have a lot of time left to play in the game.

“We’ve got to do everything we can to keep ourselves from getting ourselves embarrassed - worse than we already are. That’s what you try to tell everybody, keep playing, and play for respect.” Tag team

Alabama, which leads the nation in scoring defense (6.9 points) and total defense (180 yards per), is the only team with two linebackers - senior Courtney Upshaw and junior Dont’a Hightower - among 12 semifinalists for the Butkus Award.

Upshaw leads the Crimson Tide with four sacks and 11 tackles for loss.

Hightower has a team-high 48 tackles.

No other SEC team has a Butkus Award semifinalist on their roster.

Nearing record

Mississippi State junior defensive back Johnthan Banks has five interceptions this season to rank second nationally, and with 12 for his career he is just four shy of Walt Harris’ school record 16.

“I actually want to break that record this year,” Banks told the Jackson Clarion-Ledger. “I’m not going to lie. I do pay attention to that.”

Banks played at Maben (Miss.) High School, about 30 miles from Mississippi State’s campus in Starkville.

“I always knew I was going to go to Mississippi State if they offered me or not,” said Banks, who has played cornerback and safety for the Bulldogs.

“I would have walked on.

Coach [Dan] Mullen could take my scholarship right now and I’d still walk on.”By the numbers 40 Career touchdown passes by Georgia sophomore QB Aaron Murray to lead active SEC players.

68.7 Percent of times Alabama’s defense forces opponents to go three downs and out.

Overheard “The best 2-5 team

in the country.” - Auburn Coach Gene

Chizik on Ole Miss,

the Tigers’ opponent Saturday.

Game of the week GEORGIA VS. FLORIDA 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Jacksonville, Fla. CBS

After being outscored a combined 96-27 while losing to Alabama, LSU and Auburn, the Gators are glad to be done with the West Division. Florida should get senior quarterback Jeff Brantley back for Georgia after he was sidelined by an ankle injury against Alabama, giving the Gators a shot to beat the Bulldogs. Georgia Coach Mark Richt needs a victory, or else speculation about his job security will mount again.