Top-ranked Florida solved one half of the Southeastern Conference football puzzle by beating Georgia on Saturday, 41-17, to clinch the Eastern Division title.
The Gators captured the Eastern championship earlier than anyone in the division since the Gators on Oct. 29, 1994. The last SEC West team to clinch the division earlier was Auburn on Oct. 30, 2004.
Now, it's No. 3 Alabama and No. 9 LSU's turn to decide the Western Division on Saturday in Tuscaloosa. If unbeaten Alabama wins, it wins the division. If one-loss LSU wins, it is tied with the Crimson Tide for the division lead, but holds the head-to-head tiebreaker.
Saturday's game is nicknamed Saban Bowl III, since it's the third time former LSU coach Nick Saban has faced the Tigers as head coach of the Crimson Tide. He's 1-1 against LSU, losing two years ago in Tuscaloosa by a Tiger team that went on to win the BCS national championship.
"We're going to prepare this week like it's the national championship game and roll with it," LSU defensive end Pep Levingston said. "I'm kind of hoping for a zero on their end."
The Tigers need more than a little Pep in their step. Alabama had an open date last week, so it is well rested and thoroughly versed on LSU.
"We did have the opportunity to work on some of the future opponents that we have, and some of the issues they might bring," Alabama coach Nick Saban said. "We were able to work to some degree, at some time, against a little bit of what LSU does."
LSU had its open date on Oct. 17, and since then the Tigers' offense has dramatically improved in victories of 31-10 over Auburn on Oct. 24 and 42-0 over Tulane on Saturday.
"I just think there is greater focus on their personal role," LSU coach Les Miles said of why his offense has come alive. "I think our guys are putting it together and understanding how important it is that all 11 operate at the same time in unison and irrespective of the play call. I also think we are using our personnel maybe a little bit better."
EXTRA POINTS: Auburn coach Gene Chizik said that safety Zac Etheridge would miss the rest of the season after sustaining a neck injury in Saturday's 33-20 win over Ole Miss. Doctors are hopeful of a full recovery, but Chizik didn't indicate whether that recovery would include football. Etheridge got hurt when he and teammate Antonio Coleman were trying to tackle Ole Miss running back Rodney Scott, who laid perfectly still for almost 10 minutes while the medical staff gingerly moved Etheridge, who was face down across Scott's body. "It was one of the most amazing things I've seen," Chizik said. "I've got to give that young man a lot of credit. I don't know how he knew, but he just knew he couldn't move. He sat as still as the night lying right underneath him. It was one of the most phenomenal things I've witnessed.". ... Vanderbilt freshman Warren Norman is on fire. His 80-yard touchdown kickoff return in Saturday's 56-31 loss to Georgia Tech was Norman's third kickoff return for a TD in his last four games. He had a 76-yarder at Army on Oct. 10, and a 99-yard kickoff return at South Carolina last week. Only two players in SEC history have finished their college careers with four kickoff returns for touchdowns. They are former Tennessee star and Olympic sprinter Willie Gault (1979-82) and former Arkansas speedster Felix Jones (2005-07). Gault was the only player in SEC history to have three in one season until Norman matched it on Saturday. "We've done it since Week 1," Norman said. "They (Norman's blockers) come in and work just as hard as I do and hopefully break one every time we get the ball."
Arkansas tailback Broderick Green is a man of his word. After Eastern Michigan punted the ball down to the Razorbacks 1 Saturday, Green called his shot as he trotted on the field. "Right before we went in, I told coach I was going to take it 99 yards, and I did," Green said. "After I got a couple yards past the line of scrimmage, I was like, 'Oh, yes, it's going to the house.'" Green's run was the seventh time since 1941 that a player scored on a 99-yard run. ... After Mississippi State won at Kentucky, 31-24 on Saturday behind Anthony Dixon's school-record 252 yards, Dixon got a backhanded compliment from Wildcats' UK defensive tackle Corey Peters. He said of Dixon, "I definitely think he's a great back, and I definitely think he's a guy you'll see playing on Sundays." But when Peters was told that Dixon gained 252, he instantly replied, "He's not that good." ... Georgia plays its first home game in five weeks on Saturday with a drastically different aura around it than when it nearly upset fourth-ranked LSU on Oct. 3. Georgia has fallen from a Top 20 team to one that needs to win two of its final four regular-season games to become bowl-eligible. Since losing to LSU on Oct. 3 in a 20-13 thriller, Georgia (4-4, 3-3 SEC) has suffered the second- and third-worst losses in coach Mark Richt's nine seasons, falling to Tennessee by 26 and to Florida by 24.
(Ron Higgins writes for The Commercial Appeal in Memphis, Tenn.)
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