Saturday’s games
LSU at Syracuse, noon, ESPN
Southern at Georgia, noon, SEC Network
Central Florida at South Carolina, noon, ESPNU
Tennessee at Florida, 3:30 p.m., CBS
Louisiana-Monroe at Alabama, 4 p.m., SEC Network
Vanderbilt at Ole Miss, 7 p.m., ESPNU
Texas A&M vs. Arkansas (Arlington, Texas), 7 p.m., ESPN
Mississippi State at Auburn, 7:30 p.m., ESPN2
Missouri at Kentucky, 7:30 p.m., SEC Network
The SEC’s quarterback quandary continues.
Stability has given way to shakeups as coaches across the conference search for quarterbacks who can eliminate mistakes and produce.
Alabama and Florida switched starting quarterbacks. An injury and ineffectiveness sent South Carolina to its third quarterback, and Auburn coach Gus Malzahn is benching starter Jeremy Johnson and his six interceptions in favor of redshirt freshman Sean White on Saturday.
“It’s still too early to really say there’s a problem with the quarterback play in the SEC,” SEC Network analyst and former Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy told The Associated Press. “I think there are a lot of talented guys. It’s going to come down to consistency. That’s what it always comes down to at the quarterback position.”
Inexperience has been an issue for several teams, including Alabama, where Jake Coker (two) and Cooper Bateman (one) have a combined three career starts.
And South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier, like Malzahn, is turning to a quarterback making his first career start this week.
White has never played at Auburn, and South Carolina freshman Lorenzo Nunez (Harrison) saw the first significant action of his career in relief of Perry Orth in Saturday’s loss to Georgia.
“Hopefully he knows where all the receivers will be, all of the run plays,” Spurrier said on the SEC teleconference. “A lot of decisions the quarterback has to make, as you know, so hopefully we can put him in a position that he’s sound in his decision-making on all the plays that he has. I would say just to make sure we don’t overload him with too much of the mental part of it.”
But even the experienced quarterbacks are having issues this season.
Missouri’s Maty Mauk, who has 21 career starts, has thrown four interceptions this season and 17 in his past 17 games.
“Is it really an epidemic?” McElroy told the AP. “Or is it just a matter of perception and us becoming a little bit too overzealous with our praise going into the season, especially with that of Jeremy Johnson at Auburn?”
One QB for Gators: The quarterback controversy at Florida has been eliminated, at least for one game.
Treon Harris, who started the opener and is 5-2 as a starter, is suspended, along with cornerback Jalen Tabor, for Saturday’s game against Tennessee.
“Obviously that thins you out at the quarterback position,” coach Jim McElwain told reporters Wednesday.
That means Will Grier likely will play the entire game at quarterback, as he did in Saturday’s victory over Kentucky.
Grier is 2-0 as a starter, but was only 13-of-22 for 125 yards and an interception in the 14-9 win. He also led the Gators with 61 yards rushing.
Tabor has started two of Florida’s three games and has 10 tackles with an interception.
Staying power: Ole Miss, which is tied with TCU for third in the AP Top 25, is determined to build on its victory over Alabama.
The Rebels (3-0) also defeated the Crimson Tide last year, but then faltered in the second half of the season, losing four of their final six games to finish 9-4 after a 7-0 start.
“I feel like this team is stuck in the moment because the moment is real beautiful,” defensive tackle Robert Nkemdiche (Grayson) told The Oxford (Miss.) Eagle. “People don’t like to do that. They’re always worried about something else. … No matter what last year was or two years ago, it’s just a different program. It’s hard to think about the old Ole Miss. This is a totally new Ole Miss. It’s fun that we see everybody preaching about the moment of now.”
Ole Miss leads the FBS in scoring with 64 points per game and the defense has intercepted an FBS-high seven passes.
The Rebels will be without All-SEC safety Tony Conner, who will miss up to a month with a torn meniscus. A.J. Moore will start for Conner, who has 10 tackles.
Safety Trae Elston leads the Rebels with three interceptions and linebacker C.J. Johnson has two.
Familiar ground: Talk about consistency.
LSU (2-0), which is No. 8 this week, has been ranked in the top 10 of the AP poll for at least one week in each of the past 14 seasons.
The Tigers also have won 49 consecutive regular-season non-conference games, the longest streak in the FBS, heading into Saturday’s game at Syracuse (3-0).
They haven’t lost to a non-SEC opponent in the regular season since Virginia Tech defeated them in the 2002 opener.
He said it: "We're just looking to get better and better every week. There are no shortcuts. We understand that. There are a lot of great teams in this league that have been doing things right for a long time. We're just trying to be one of them." — Kentucky coach Mark Stoops
Etc.: Arkansas quarterback Brandon Allen has been sacked once in his past 160 attempts, and the Razorbacks haven't given up a sack in four of their past five games. … Auburn is 6-7 in its past 13 games against Power Five teams. … Missouri has won 11 consecutive road games, the third-longest road winning streak in the FBS (behind Ohio State and Florida State), heading into Saturday's game at Kentucky. … The quarterbacks at Georgia, LSU and Mississippi State haven't thrown an interception this season. … Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long is exploring neutral-site games, including playing Baylor in Houston in 2020, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported. … Mississippi State's Brandon Holloway leads the FBS in kickoff returns, averaging 49 yards on his three returns. He returned one for 100 yards and a touchdown.
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