SEC report

Big yards are old hat for Horton

NWA Democrat-Gazette/JASON IVESTER
Auburn running back Kamryn Pettway (36) looks to get by Arkansas linebacker Dwayne Eugene (35) (left) and defensive back Santos Ramirez (9) on Saturday, Oct. 22, 2016, at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Ala.
NWA Democrat-Gazette/JASON IVESTER Auburn running back Kamryn Pettway (36) looks to get by Arkansas linebacker Dwayne Eugene (35) (left) and defensive back Santos Ramirez (9) on Saturday, Oct. 22, 2016, at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Ala.

The top three rushing performances by one SEC team against another share a common denominator.

Tim Horton.

SEC TOP TO BOTTOM

Rank;(previous);record;comment

1;(1)Alabama;8-0;In control of West race after beating Aggies

2;(2)Texas A&M;6-1;Still in playoff hunt

3;(3);Florida;5-1;Can win East by winning out

4;(7);Auburn;5-2;Ran over, through and around Hogs

5;(8);LSU;5-2;Fournette roars back against Ole Miss

6;(6);Tennessee;5-2;Ready for Gamecocks after open date

7;(4);Arkansas;5-3;Searching for answers after Auburn debacle

8;(5)Ole Miss;3-4;Will try to slow down surging Auburn

9;(12);Kentucky;4-3;Ends frustration against Mullen

10;(10);Vanderbilt;4-4;Open date to get ready for Auburn

11;(11);Georgia;4-3;Beating Gators would help salvage season

12;(9);Mississippi State;2-5;Not that far from 5-2

13;(13);South Carolina;3-4;Looking to upset Vols

14;(14);Missouri;2-5;It's about academics at Mizzou

PLAYER TO WATCH

AUBURN SOPHOMORE TAILBACK KAMRYN PETTWAY

Kerryon Johnson is expected to return for the Tigers at Ole Miss on Saturday after he missed the Arkansas game because of an ankle injury, but he may have trouble getting his starting job considering Pettway has rushed for 361 yards the previous two games.

After Johnson was injured at Mississippi State and limited to 3 carries for 21 yards, Pettway took over and rushed 39 times for 169 yards and 3 touchdowns in the Tigers' 38-14 victory.

Pettway followed up that performance by starting against Arkansas last week and rushing 27 times for 192 yards and 2 touchdowns as Auburn pounded the Razorbacks 56-3.

Pettway, a bruising 6-0 and 240 pounds, has rushed 118 times for 697 yards -- a 5.9-yard average per carry -- and 6 touchdowns.

GAME OF THE WEEK

Florida vs. Georgia

WHEN 2:30 p.m. Saturday (CBS)

WHERE EverBank Field, Jacksonville, Fla.

RECORDS Florida 5-1, 3-1 SEC. Georgia 4-3, 2-3

RANKINGS Florida is ranked No. 14. Georgia is unranked.

LINE Florida by 7 points

Florida finds itself in control of the SEC East despite a loss at Tennessee, thanks to the Vols' conference losses to Texas A&M and Alabama.

The Gators don't play the Aggies or Crimson Tide, but they still have to win at Arkansas and LSU along with beating Georgia and South Carolina to be assured of winning the East.

Florida -- which ranks second nationally behind Michigan in scoring defense (12.0 points), total defense (252.0 yards) and passing defense (132.8 yards) -- will look to make life tough for Georgia freshman quarterback Jacob Eason.

The Gators have 10 interceptions this season, and Eason has thrown five.

BY THE NUMBERS

1933 -- Year Florida and Georgia began playing annually in Jacksonville, Fla. The teams have played ever year since then in Jacksonville, except in Gainesville in 1994 and Athens in 1995 when the stadium then known as the Gator Bowl underwent renovations.

1-7 -- Kentucky's record against Mississippi State Coach Dan Mullen after the Wildcats beat the Bulldogs 40-38 last week on a last-second field goal.

284 -- School-record rushing yards by LSU tailback Leonard Fournette on 16 carries against Ole Miss. He broke the record of 250 by Alley Broussard against the Rebels in 2004.

The Gators have 10 interceptions this season, and Eason has thrown five.

OVERHEARD

"It started up front and ended up front. ... On every single play, we had the front four either knocking people back or affecting the rusher."

-- Auburn defensive coordinator Kevin Steele on the Tigers holding Arkansas to 25 rushing yards.

"Disappointed in the way we played. Didn't play well enough to win the football game. I know you're getting tired of hearing me saying that. And I'm getting tired of saying it. We've got a lot of work to do."

-- Missouri Coach Barry Odom at his weekly news conference after Middle Tennessee beat the Tigers 51-45.

Horton, a former Razorbacks receiver and punt returner from Conway, was the running backs coach for Arkansas and Auburn when those teams had the top running games in SEC play.

Horton, Auburn's running backs coach since 2013, was at Arkansas in 2007 when the Razorbacks rushed for 542 yards -- including 307 by Darren McFadden -- in a 48-36 victory over South Carolina.

At the time, Arkansas' total was the most ever by an SEC team in a conference game.

Auburn broke that mark in the 2013 SEC Championship Game when the Tigers rushed for 545 yards in beating Missouri 59-42.

On Saturday, the Tigers set a record for an Arkansas opponent by rushing for 543 yards in a 56-3 victory over the Razorbacks.

So what do all these rushing yards say about Horton?

"I think it says a lot," Auburn Coach Gus Malzahn said. "You're talking about one of the better running back coaches in all of college football. Just his coaching, the type of person he is. I'd say his evaluation of running backs in recruiting. I think it all goes together."

Auburn is averaging 302.9 rushing yards per game to lead the SEC and rank third nationally.

The Tigers could be in for another big rushing game at Ole Miss, which ranks last in the SEC and 113th nationally in rushing defense, yielding an average of 226.9 yards per game.

Familiar place

Florida redshirt sophomore quarterback Luke Del Rio will play Saturday in the stadium where he used to watch his father, Jack Del Rio, coach the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars.

The Gators play Georgia at Everbank Field, which was known as Alltel Stadium when Jack Del Rio coached Jacksonville from 2003-2011.

"I used to run and get the tee after the kickoffs, so I would hang out with the specialists because they have the most free time," Luke Del Rio said. "[Josh] Scobee and [Joe] Zelenka. And then [running back] Maurice Jones-Drew was always really good to me when he was there.

"Just a lot of good memories. We still have a game to win, but it will be fun to be back there."

Jack Del Rio is now coaching the Oakland Raiders, but he'll be able to attend the Florida-Georgia game.

The Raiders beat the Jaguars in Jacksonville on Sunday and stayed in Florida to practice this week because they play at Tampa Bay this Sunday.

"Hopefully, the Del Rio family can go 2-0 [in Jacksonville] back-to-back weeks," Luke Del Rio said.

Mizzou hurting

Missouri lost more than a game when Middle Tennessee State beat the Tigers 51-45.

The Tigers also lost starting linebacker Michael Scherer and sophomore defensive tackle Terry Becker to season-ending knee injuries. Both suffered torn anterior cruciate ligaments.

Scherer is a fifth-year senior, so his college career is over. He had started the past 33 games. Becker, a key reserve in the line rotation, has two seasons of eligibility remaining.

"Terry's going to be back and has a lot of football left to play here," Missouri Coach Barry Odom said. "Mike, on the other hand, it rips my heart out that he's done everything he's done and it ends for him with that injury."

Kentucky comes through

The SEC East's first victory over a West team this season wasn't provided by traditional powers Florida, Georgia or Tennessee.

Kentucky came through for the East, beating Mississippi State 40-38 last week on a last-play field goal.

Granted, Mississippi State has the West's worst record at 2-5, but any victory for the East over the West is a good one, considering the East was 0-7 against the West prior to Kentucky coming through.

Tennessee went 0-2 against the West, losing to Alabama and Texas A&M. Georgia lost to Ole Miss and still has to play Auburn. Florida has to play Arkansas and LSU.

Kentucky broke the East's 10-game losing streak to the West. Before the Wildcats beat Mississippi State, the East's last victory was by Georgia last season at Auburn 20-13.

Kentucky hadn't beaten a West team since 2011, when the Wildcats had a 30-13 victory over Ole Miss.

Extra time

Gus Malzahn improved to 6-0 as Auburn's coach in games after a bye week with the Tigers' 56-3 victory over Arkansas.

During Malzahn's first season at Auburn in 2013, the Tigers beat Ole Miss and Alabama after open dates. In 2014, Auburn beat Kansas State and South Carolina, and in 2015 the Tigers beat Kentucky.

Arkansas was the last team to beat Auburn after the Tigers had an open date, 24-7 in 2012 when John L. Smith was the Razorbacks' interim coach. Auburn finished 0-8 in SEC play that season, and Gene Chizik was fired as the Tigers' coach and replaced by Malzahn.

Like Dooley

Kirby Smart is hoping to be the first Georgia coach to have a winning record against Florida since Vince Dooley went 17-7-1 from 1964-88.

Georgia is 7-20 against Florida since Dooley stepped down from coaching, with Ray Goff going 1-6, Jim Donnan 1-4 and Mark Richt 5-10.

Third not good

Maybe Ole Miss Coach Hugh Freeze needs to work on his halftime speech.

The Rebels haven't trailed at halftime in any of their seven games, but they've been outscored 78-34 in the third quarter.

"We play good in the first half," Ole Miss quarterback Chad Kelly said. "But we just have to play harder and have the mental makeup that we're going out to the second half to a team that's going to make adjustments."

Off target

Alabama Coach Nick Saban said linebacker Mack Wilson's big hit on Texas A&M kickoff returner Speedy Noil rightfully was not ruled targeting.

"It was a great hit," Saban said. "I know some people made something about the fact that it was targeting. But it was not an unprotected player. The guy is running with the ball."

Two-minute drill

• Alabama lost senior safety Eddie Jackson for the rest of the season when he broke a leg returning a punt against Texas A&M. Jackson averaged 23.0 yards on 11 punt returns and scored 2 touchdowns this season. He also returned an interception for a touchdown.

• If Kentucky wins at Missouri, it will be the first time the Wildcats have beaten three SEC East teams in the same season since the conference split into divisions in 1992 with the addition of Arkansas and South Carolina. The Wildcats beat South Carolina and Vanderbilt earlier this season.

• Middle Tennessee State's 51-45 victory at Missouri featured the most points allowed by the Tigers in a nonconference home game since 1944, when Iowa Navy Pre-Flight won 51-7 in Memorial Stadium.

• Stanton Truitt, who rushed for touchdowns of 31 and 20 yards against Arkansas and also scored on a 45-yard pass, became the first Auburn player to have rushing and receiving touchdowns in an SEC game since Mario Fannin against Georgia in 2008.

• Kentucky's 40-38 victory over Mississippi State on Austin MacGinnis' 51-yard field goal as time expired was the first game the Wildcats won on the last play since Oct. 17, 1998, when Seth Hanson's field goal beat LSU 39-36.

• Defensive end Jonathan Allen's 30-yard fumble return for a touchdown against Texas A&M extended Alabama's streak of scoring on defense or special teams to 10 games, going back to last season's Cotton Bowl victory over Michigan State. The Crimson Tide have scored 5 touchdowns on fumble returns, 4 on interception returns, 4 on punt returns and 1 on a kickoff return.

Sports on 10/27/2016

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