SEC BUZZ
Compiled by Ray Cox
THE SCOOP
Tennessee quarterback Justin Worley’s teammates can sense a difference in him this season.
Now that he’s entrenched as Tennessee’s starter, Worley is playing more confidently. That was apparent Saturday as Worley threw more touchdown passes (three) than incompletions (two) in a 45-0 blowout of Austin Peay.
“You could tell as the game went on he got a little ‘swag’ in him,” offensive tackle Ja’Wuan James said. “He started playing. I liked the way he played, and I like his leadership.”
Worley won Tennessee’s four-way quarterback competition in part because he was the only candidate with any college playing experience. Worley, a junior from Rock Hill, S.C., says he’s a different quarterback now than when he played briefly and struggled as a freshman.
By the way, in August 2010, Worley threw five touchdown passes as his Northwestern High team in Rock Hill, S.C., defeated crosstown-rival South Pointe and Jadeveon Clowney, now at South Carolina.
GONE, BUT NOT OUT
Alabama senior wide receiver Kenny Bell tweeted Tuesday that he left the team, according to posts on his Twitter account, the Anniston Star reported, but Tuesday night, coach Nick Saban released a statement that he gave Bell a “personal day” and that Bell would return to practice Wednesday. “Sometimes we have personal things we need to iron out, and today he had a day to do that,” Saban said.
POLL CHATTER
Most voters in the AP poll kept Georgia in the 6-12 range after the loss at Clemson. Charles Davis of Fox Sports was among the biggest outliers: Impressed enough by Clemson to move the Tigers to No. 4 in his ranking, but dropping Georgia to No. 21, the sixth of his seven SEC teams in the Top 25.
BY THE NUMBERS
29
Sacks yielded by Georgia last season, ninth in the SEC, and the Bulldogs’ average of sacks allowed for the past three seasons.
QUOTABLE
- "When you're a quarterback and your team, especially throwing the football, is … 13-of-19 on third downs … it just lets you know that the quarterback is understanding the calls and making the plays. … The one thing Zach (Mettenberger) appears to me to have is a greater tempo. Understands what he's responsible to do in terms of coordinating the style of play and the motion and the adjustment." — LSU coach Les Miles, who said that freshman backup Anthony Jennings of Marietta likely will get more playing time. Jennings played one play in the opener.
- "We always celebrate the same way. We always have a little competition to see who can jump higher, so everybody was thinking the same thing and no one really even noticed until we got back over to the sideline that something was wrong. Of course, now everyone is a little more conscious about it. It's kind of an unspoken that we're not going to do that anymore. We'll find another way to celebrate." — Georgia receiver Chris Conley about the celebration injury that has sidelined Malcolm Mitchell for the season with a torn ACL.
