SATURDAY’S GAMES
New Mexico State at Ole Miss, noon, SEC Network
LSU vs. South Carolina (at Baton Rouge, La.), 3:30 p.m., ESPN
Georgia at Tennessee, 3:30 p.m., CBS
Troy at Mississippi State, 4 p.m., SEC Network
Arkansas at Alabama, 7 p.m., ESPN
Florida at Missouri, 7:30 p.m., SEC Network
Ole Miss is having one of those weeks.
The 14th-ranked Rebels (4-1, 2-1 SEC) have been dealing with bad news since their 38-10 loss to Florida on Saturday.
Here’s a short list:
- Linebacker C.J. Johnson will be out a least four weeks after having surgery to repair a torn meniscus.
- Three offensive lineman, not including Laremy Tunsil, who is still waiting for word on his eligibility from the NCAA, are injured and will miss Saturday's game against New Mexico State.
- Running back Jaylen Walton also will miss the game with an ankle injury.
- Cornerback Tee Shepard, who missed last season with a toe injury, retired from football.
“We’re not elite right now,” coach Hugh Freeze said on the weekly SEC teleconference. “Do we have potential to be much better than we played the other night? I think we’ve shown that we do. But we’ve still got a lot of work to do. It was evident the other night that obviously we weren’t prepared to play our best.”
Ole Miss never figured out how to handle Florida’s defense, which held the Rebels, who were averaging 54.8 points and had scored 43 against Alabama, to 328 yards.
Ole Miss rushed for 2.1 yards per carry, had four turnovers, gave up four sacks and 11 tackles for loss.
And now offensive linemen Javon Patterson, Justin Bell and Robert Conyers will miss this week’s game, meaning four of the Rebels’ top five linemen — including Tunsil — are out.
Shepard’s retirement further depletes the secondary, which already was missing starting nickel back Tony Conner (knee).
“I believe that this team will respond. No question,” Freeze said. “I can’t control injuries, but everyone has something like that. So you’ve got to continue to build the depth of your program to where you can be elite when those happen.”
On the move: LSU is doing as much as it can to make South Carolina feel at home Saturday after flooding throughout the state forced the game to be moved from Williams-Brice Stadium to Tiger Stadium, aka Death Valley.
LSU’s band will play South Carolina’s fight song and alma mater, and “Sandstorm” will be heard through stadium speakers (if the Gamecocks score).
They also received the uniform choice and decided to wear white jerseys, forcing LSU away from its preferred home whites and into purple ones.
The Tigers have worn white jerseys for every home game since 1996.
LSU had to move its 2005 opener to Arizona State after Hurricane Katrina.
“We’ve been through this in Louisiana,” athletic director Joe Alleva said at a news conference. “We want to help any way we can.”
Storms and rain have factored into several SEC games this season.
LSU canceled its opener against McNeese State, and Georgia stopped its opener against Louisiana-Monroe in the fourth quarter because of lightning.
Many of last week’s games were played in steady downpours.
“Our football team, obviously, we want to do what’s the right thing for our community and for our state, especially all the victims of the devastating flood we had here this past weekend,” South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier said in a “SportsCenter” interview. “If it’s best for us not to play here, we’re going to play at LSU, and that was a decision I think our governor, law enforcement and our president … they made this decision.
On the road again: What happened to home-field advantage?
Road teams are 8-8 in conference games this season, including wins by Alabama (at Georgia) and Arkansas (at Tennessee) last week.
Florida (at Kentucky), Georgia (at Vanderbilt), Kentucky (at South Carolina), LSU (at Mississippi State), Ole Miss (at Alabama) and Mississippi State (at Auburn) have SEC road wins.
Texas A&M’s win over Arkansas was in Arlington, Texas.
The Aggies also played Arizona State at a neutral site (Houston) and won’t have a true road game until playing at Ole Miss on Oct. 24.
Rocky numbers: Tennessee's inability to hold leads has left the Volunteers (2-3, 0-2) searching for their first SEC victory.
Those losses also have led to several telling statistics.
Coach Butch Jones is 14-16 in his first 30 games at Tennessee. Derek Dooley, the coach he replaced, also was 14-16 in his first 30 games, but won only once more in 2012 and was fired before the final regular-season game with a 15-21 career mark.
Jones, Dooley and Lane Kiffin, who coached in 2009, have had little success against Florida, Georgia and Tennessee.
The Volunteers are 1-21 against those rivals since former coach Phil Fulmer’s final season in 2008.
“Tough times challenge you, but I truly believe that they form who you are,” Jones told reporters. “You find out a lot about yourself.”
he said it: "I want to see how engaged and kind of the framework for where we are at as far as going into this game. Obviously, against a team on the road that's a two-time defending (SEC East) champ. Based on history, I'm sure they've got pretty good confidence that they'll put it on the Gators. It's one of those deals where I'm sure, based on that history, they feel pretty good about us being their homecoming (opponent)." — Florida coach Jim McElwain on playing Missouri this week. The Tigers have defeated the Gators the past two seasons.
Etc.: Kentucky defensive tackle C.J. Johnson had 19 tackles in the Wildcats' victory over Eastern Kentucky and has 30 in the past two games. … Alabama freshman receiver Calvin Ridley has 22 catches in his first five games, more than either Julio Jones or Amari Cooper had at that point in their careers. Jones had 16 catches in 2008 and Cooper had 17 in 2012, Sporting News reported. … Kentucky ranks last in the SEC and tied for No. 114 in the FBS having allowed 16 sacks, or 3.2 a game. The Wildcats were No. 105 last year and 112th in 2013. … Auburn, Kentucky, Texas A&M and Vanderbilt don't play this week.
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