Seattle Seahawks Coach Pete Carroll took a page from Auburn Coach Gus Malzahn's playbook when the defending Super Bowl champions beat Green Bay 36-16 last week to open the NFL season.
The Seahawks trailed 7-3 in the second quarter when quarterback Russell Wilson -- who played for Bret Bielema at Wisconsin -- lined up in the Shotgun and took a snap, faked a handoff to Marshawn Lynch, ran to his left to draw the defense, then stopped and passed to Richardo Lockett for a 33-yard touchdown play.
SEC TOP TO BOTTOM
Rank;previous;arrow;record;comment
1;(1);same;Alabama;2-0;Sims, Coker still competing for starting QB job
2;(2);same;Auburn;2-0;Open date before Gus bus motors to Kansas State
3;(3);same;Georgia;1-0;Hoping to give South Carolina 0-2 SEC start
4;(4);same;Texas A&M;2-0;Ready to cook Rice at Kyle Field
5;(5);same;LSU;2-0;Welcomes La-Monroe to Death Valley
6;(6);same;Ole Miss;2-0;No problem rolling over Vandy
7;(8);up;Missouri;2-0;Pinkel enjoys Toledo homecoming
8;(7);down;Florida;1-0;Hoping to break five-game SEC losing streak
9;(9);same;Mississippi State;2-0;Going on road for South Alabama game
10;(10);same;South Carolina;1-1;Bounced back to beat East Carolina
11;(11);same;Tennessee;2-0;Will struggle to keep pace with Oklahoma
12;(12)same;Arkansas;1-1;Facing old SWC rival in Lubbock
13;(13);same;Kentucky;2-0;Sick of question about Florida’s winning streak
14;(14);same;Vanderbilt;0-2;Offense has yet to score a touchdown
BY THE NUMBERS
1-1 — Tennessee’s record vs Oklahoma. The Vols beat the Sooners in the 1939 Orange Bowl and lost to them in the 1968 Orange Bowl.
38,800 — tickets issued to Texas A&M students at partially-renovated Kyle Field for last week’s game vs Lamar.
0 — Punts by Ole Miss in its 41-3 victory over Vanderbilt
1979 — Last time Kentucky won at Florida
GAME OF THE WEEK
No. 6 Georgia at No. 24 South Carolina, 2:30 p.m. Saturday, CBS
It’s only the second conference game of the season for the Gamecocks, but they likely have to win to have a realistic shot to win the SEC East. South Carolina already has one home SEC loss (52-28 to Texas A&M) and it’s hard to imagine the Gamecocks coming out of an 0-2 SEC hole to make it to Atlanta for the SEC Championship Game. Georgia beat Clemson 45-21 to open the season, then had an open date to rest up for the Gamecocks.
Carroll, a graduate assistant at Arkansas in 1977, told Peter King of Sports Illustrated after the game that he and Seahawks offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell saw Auburn run the play last season against Alabama.
"We'll go anywhere to find a play," Carroll said. "Give Gus Malzahn credit. That's a great play. I kept telling them [the offensive staff and players] this summer, 'It'll work, it'll work.' "
Malzahn, the former Arkansas high school coach and Razorbacks offensive coordinator, saw Auburn's play run by the Seahawks on a replay.
"I'm glad it worked," Malzahn said Wednesday. "It was pretty neat to see the plays we run here work at the next level. I was pretty impressed with the way they executed it."
Malzahn said the play is a variation of the traditional triple option, with the receiver taking the place of a pitch back.
"I think any time anyone has success doing something that other teams will try to also do it," he said. "That's kind of where the game is going right now with the quarterbacks that can successfully run a zone read-type concept.
"It's just one more little wrinkle you can use off of it."
Can Kentucky end streak?
Talk of the streak continues to be a topic for the Florida-Kentucky game. That will be the case until the Wildcats finally beat the Gators again.
Kentucky has lost 27 consecutive games to Florida since last winning in 1986, when Jerry Claiborne was the Wildcats' coach.
Since then, the Kentucky coaches who failed to end the streak are Bill Curry, Hal Mumme, Guy Morris, Rich Brooks, Joker Phillips and Mark Stoops.
"I really don't think we need that as motivation," said Stoops, in his second season at Kentucky. "If it does [motivate] some individual players, that's fine.
"I'll let them read that, but it's not something I want to put in front of them. We're pretty motivated to get out there and play well and to try to get a win."
Florida Coach Will Muschamp, 3-0 against Kentucky, always downplays the streak.
"It's a 2014 Florida team versus a 2014 Kentucky team, and that's all it is to me," Muschamp said.
Spurrier can tie Dooley
South Carolina Coach Steve Spurrier can match Vince Dooley for the second-most victories by an SEC coach if the Gamecocks beat Georgia -- Dooley's team -- on Saturday at Williams-Brice Stadium.
Arkansas native Bear Bryant has the most victories by an SEC coach with 292 at Kentucky and Alabama. If Bryant's 25 victories at Texas A&M counted -- the Aggies didn't join the SEC until last season -- he'd have 317 at SEC schools.
Dooley won 201 games in 25 seasons at Georgia from 1964-1988.
Spurrier picked up his 200th victory as an SEC coach when the Gamecocks beat East Carolina 33-23 last week.
"I hadn't really thought about that," Spurrier said of hitting the 200-victory mark. "I was just hoping to get a win and not go into the Georgia game 0-2. That was the biggest thing I was worried about right there."
Spurrier had 122 victories in 12 seasons at Tennessee and has 78 in his 10th season at South Carolina.
Little overboard
LSU freshman tailback Leonard Fournette struck a Heisman Trophy pose after scoring his first touchdown on a 4-yard run in the Tigers' 56-0 victory over Sam Houston State.
"I think it's a little premature to launch a Heisman candidacy," LSU Coach Les Miles said after the game. "I think that he needs to realize, too, that this is a team.
"There's a lot of guys blocking for that run. A lot of effort and energy to help that man score that touchdown, so we'll make that point."
Miles said it's good that Fournette plays with energy and enthusiasm.
"Maybe he's a little full of himself, but that's not all bad yet," Miles said.
Miles said on Wednesday's SEC coaches teleconference that Fournette apologized to the team for his pose.
"He addressed the team and described that as something he wishes he had not done," Miles said. "He's right on pace.
"One thing about him: He truly is a humble guy. There's nobody that works harder, there's nobody that learns as fast. We would expect that he would have really a great campaign in his true freshman year."
Senior guard Evan Washington said after the game he didn't see why the media was making such a big deal about Fournette's pose.
"I liked it, personally," Washington said. "He has the talent for it, and I see [a Heisman Trophy] in the future. He's a humble guy, but sometimes emotions get the best of you. Just let your personality shine."
Pass defense lacking
Mississippi State beat Alabama-Birmingham 47-34, but the Blazers had 548 yards in total offense, including 435 passing.
"To give up over 400 yards passing is embarrassing," Mississippi State Coach Dan Mullen. "That's not what our program is built on and not where we need to be. We'll get that fixed on that side of the ball."
Wait and see
Blake Sims has been Alabama's starting quarterback the first two games, but Coach Nick Saban isn't yet naming him the starter over Jacob Coker.
"I know that you all would love to create a quarterback controversy," Saban said at his weekly news conference "I think as much as you might try to do that, the one thing that I noticed that I wish you noticed is that after Jake Coker's touchdown pass [against Florida Atlantic], who was the first guy to go jump up and give him a congratulations and a hug and all that? Blake Sims.
"I think at this point our focus needs to be on trying to help both of those guys to play better."
Struggling offense
Vanderbilt's 18-8 record the previous two seasons seems like a long time ago.
The Commodores have lost their first two games to Temple and Ole Miss by a combined 78-10. Their only touchdown came on a fumbled punt snap by Temple and their field goal against Ole Miss came after a fumble recovery and a drive that went for -4 yards.
Sports on 09/11/2014