ShareThisThe SEC schedule-makers had no idea that Lane Kiffin would dump Tennessee after one season and take his "What? Me Worry?" head coaching philosophy to USC.
And they couldn't have predicted that the Vols would hire Derek Dooley as Kiffin's replacement.
Which is why Tennessee, the only remaining SEC team without a conference victory, is about to play its final game of a three-game stretch that's Dooley's homecoming trilogy.
First, it was a game at LSU, where Dooley was once an assistant. Then, it was a contest at Georgia, where his father, Vince, was head coach for 25 years. This Saturday night in Knoxville, for the first time, he gets to face Alabama coach Nick Saban, his old boss at LSU.
"We're very different personalities," Dooley said of Saban, "but philosophically I've always believed in what he believes in and that's a starting point.
"The ways they (Saban's teams) win are very simple. It's stop the run. It's pressure the quarterback on third down. It's a good return game and special teams to control the vertical field position, and it's run the ball. That formula has been around for a long time in football."
Saban, who said he still talks to Dooley on occasion, always felt he had the qualities to be a successful college coach.
"He is a very bright guy, a student of the game in all parts of the game," Saban said of Dooley. "He was never one of those guys that just thought he was a one-position coach on offense or a one-position coach on defense. He understands the big picture of issues and problems that you have to deal with in a program and I think he is a really good recruiter."
Even so, expect Alabama (6-1, 3-1 in the Western Division) to take no mercy on the Vols (2-4, 0-3 in the Eastern Division). The defending national champion Crimson Tide are No. 8 in the first BCS standings released on Sunday, the highest rated one-loss team and are 17-point favorites at Neyland Stadium.
SHAKE IT UP
If any team ever needed an open date, it's Florida, which looks nothing like the program that went 48-7 the previous four seasons when it won two national championships.
After suffering their third consecutive loss, a 10-7 home decision to Mississippi State on Saturday, the Gators dropped out of The Associated Press Top 25 for the first time since the end of the 2004 season, or before the arrival of coach Urban Meyer.
Florida safety Ahmad Black said after the loss that he made sure there was no infighting or finger-pointing in the Gators' locker room. But honestly, you couldn't have blamed anyone on the defense if they had all worn one of those oversized foam hands with the long index finger and pointed it at Florida's pathetic offense.
In the three consecutive losses, the Gators' offense has scored a total of 42 points, with a mere four touchdowns in 11 trips into the red zone, and has committed eight turnovers (three in the red zone). In two of its games this season, Florida has scored seven or fewer points (six against Alabama), which hasn't happened since 1989.
Meyer is hinting at changes. Does that mean eliminating the option from the spread option, because it doesn't fit starting quarterback John Brantley, a dropback passer? Or does that mean backup freshman QB Trey Burton, a slinky option runner, will get more and more snaps?
Will the offense change or the quarterback who's running it?
"What coach Meyer thinks we need to do, we're all for it," Brantley said. "We've all got each others' back. We've got coach (offensive coordinator Steve) Addazio's back. We've got coach Meyer's back. Whatever they want to do, we're on board."
SEC PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
-- Offense: Auburn junior quarterback Cam Newton and Kentucky senior quarterback Mike Hartline.
Newton rushed for 188 yards and three TDs on 25 carries and completed 10 of 14 passes for 140 yards and another score in Auburn's 65-43 win against Arkansas. Hartline completed 32 of 42 passes for 349 yards with four TDs and no interceptions in Kentucky's 31-28 win over South Carolina. His 24-yard TD pass to Randall Cobb with 1:15 left in the game was the winning score.
-- Defense: Mississippi State senior linebacker Chris White -- Had 11 total tackles (nine solos) including 41/2 tackles for loss (minus-20 yards) in Mississippi State's 10-7 win at Florida.
-- Special teams: Kentucky junior punter Ryan Tydlacka and Alabama junior wide receiver/return specialist Marquis Maze -- Tydlacka averaged 41.5 yards on six punts, with three inside the 20 yard line, in Kentucky's 31-28 win over South Carolina. Maze had six punt returns for 125 yards, subbing for injured Julio Jones, in Alabama's 23-10 win against Ole Miss. The yardage was the third-most in school history.
(Contact Ron Higgins of The Commercial Appeal in Memphis, Tenn., at higginsr(at)commercialappeal.com.)
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