SEC GAMEDAY

Ole Miss defensive players and coaches often reference last year’s Texas game as a turning point in the season.

Humiliated at home, defensive coordinator Dave Wommack says that was when players really began to trust one another and the coaching staff.

If so, the Alabama game was the first time the Rebels began to show the proof of that belief as they came out and played physical with the Crimson Tide.

“We out-physicaled them a little bit. I expect them to remember that game, and they’re going to come out and give us their best,” Ole Miss safety Cody Prewitt said.

Prewitt called this week’s game a “throwdown.” He was a big part of that physical play last year, totaling 13 tackles, several of them bone-jarring.

The defensive storyline for Ole Miss this week has been linebacker Denzel Nkemdiche’s (Grayson High) recovery from a sprained knee ligament.

Originally next week’s trip to Auburn was targeted as Nkemdiche’s return, but his rehab has been ahead of schedule. With little swelling this week, it’s possible he will play. Last year, he had a big game against the Tide with 11 tackles, a sack, three tackles for loss and two forced fumbles.

— Parrish Alford, Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal

Tide offensive line to get serious test

One of college football’s statistical truisms the past few years has been that you won’t beat Alabama if you can’t slow the rushing attack.

That’s typically much easier said than done, but two defenses have already achieved the goal against the top-ranked Crimson Tide through three games.

The uncharacteristically unproductive running game hasn’t cost Alabama yet, but No. 21 Ole Miss visits Saturday night with the Tide coming off its worst rushing output since the South Carolina game in 2010.

Alabama managed only 66 yards on 21 carries against Colorado State and ranks last in the SEC in rushing and only one spot higher in total offense. Ole Miss safety Cody Prewitt thinks it’s more aberration than trend.

“They were making mistakes that Alabama normally doesn’t make,” Prewitt said. “They had players not playing that will be playing against us. We’re absolutely expecting the best Alabama team to be out there.”

The Tide is 52-0 since the start of the 2008 season when running for at least 140 yards and has produced an average of 84.6 rushing yards in the seven losses during that span. Virginia Tech also held Alabama less than 100 yards (96).

The biggest difference in the offense from last season is the loss of three All-American offensive linemen.

“At some point you can’t let them dictate what we’re going to do,” center Ryan Kelly said. “We’re going to still run our offense.”

— John Zenor, Associated Press

No. 12 South Carolina at Central Florida, noon, ABC

Ready for any team, anywhere

For a team that caught a break on the schedule this season, South Carolina isn’t feeling like it has been an easy first month.

The No. 12 Gamecocks, who are 2-1 and coming off a bye week, are the only team in the SEC to have played every game this season against an opponent from a BCS automatic-qualifying conference. That trend will continue when South Carolina travels to Orlando to play Central Florida.

“We’re ready to play all of them, and we’ll be ready to play down there, too, so it should be a heck of game,” Gamecocks coach Steve Spurrier said. “It’s a big game. We try to recruit our guys to come here and play in big games, so we should like big games.”

The Gamecocks play 11 of their 12 regular-season games against teams from BCS AQ conferences. The exception is a Nov. 23 game against Coastal Carolina, which is late for the type of game that usually serves as a chance for SEC teams to catch their breath during the grind of the season.

While South Carolina’s schedule doesn’t have many valleys, it also doesn’t have many peaks left. The Gamecocks play two more teams that are ranked by the Associated Press, No. 20 Florida and No. 3 Clemson.

Jeff Sagarin, whose computer ranking system is used in the BCS formula, ranks South Carolina’s schedule the eighth toughest in the nation.

The schedule disparity among SEC teams this early in the season makes the conference statistics mostly meaningless. “You have to look at everybody’s schedule. If they really wanted to honestly do the best team offense, defense, so forth, they should just use conference games. And better yet, they should just use Eastern Division games because we all play each other,” Spurrier said.

Florida at Kentucky, 7 p.m., ESPNU

Gators’ reserve keeps his focus

A handful of coaches and teammates knew that the injury to Jeff Driskel was the opportunity that Tyler Murphy had been awaiting.

John Campanello, coach at Wethersfield (Conn.) High, Murphy’s alma mater, was one of them.

“I thought he kept his poise. He kept his composure,” Campanello said. “It’s been a goal he’s wanted, and he stuck by that goal. … Tyler’s a very focused young man. He’s a hard worker, and he’s very determined.”

Teammates have seen that determination on the practice field, even when he toiled at the bottom of the depth chart.

Longtime Gators fans know the “unfamiliar quarterback thrust into the featured role” storyline.

In 1984, they saw little-known redshirt freshman Kerwin Bell, out of the small town of Mayo, work his way up from eighth string to starter when fifth-year senior Dale Dorminey went down with a knee injury four days before the season opener.

Bell, now the football coach at Jacksonville, said his situation was a little different, but he knows what Murphy is going through. “Those guys being around him in the offseason, he probably didn’t realize this, but that went a long ways in him being able to step in and people trusting him,” Bell said. “As he continues to make those plays, then they’ll gain more and more confidence in him.”

— Antonya English, Tampa Bay Times

Texas A&M at Arkansas, 7 p.m., ESPN2

Success with unusual position switch

Rovinda Coe, as steadfast, loving mothers do, offered her son pep talks and inspirational messages over his first three years at Texas A&M.

But when a distressed Nate Askew called last spring, he had big news. He was being asked to move from wide receiver, where he was lost on the depth chart, to linebacker.

“He was down,” Coe recalled. “Going over to the defensive side was such an unknown, but I also know the Lord works in mysterious ways. So I told him, ‘Sweetie, the only thing you can do is pray about it. Don’t quit. Try it out and see what happens.’”

When the answer came months later, they believed their prayers had been answered.

“He’s got so much talent, and I hated him standing next to me during the game (last year),” A&M coach Kevin Sumlin said. “As a coach my philosophy has always been, ‘Let’s not give up on a guy, let’s try and find something for him.’ He’s 235 pounds, 6-foot-4 with a 42-inch vertical jump — we want to (recruit) a guy like that every year.”

Askew caught six passes in 13 games last season in limited playing time, but this year he’s become a regular on defense. “It had (felt) like forever since I had been on the field,” he said. “Now, I’m out there contributing to the team and trying to win games.”

Askew also will go down in A&M history as one of the few players in the modern era to have scored a touchdown on offense and defense (the last to do it was Larry Horton in 1990). Askew snagged a touchdown pass from quarterback Ryan Tannehill in 2011 against Kansas, and this season he returned an interception 30 yards for a score against Sam Houston State.

When he made his college choice, it was between Texas A&M and Arkansas. Saturday night, in a mysterious way, he gets his first start — at Arkansas.

— Brent Zwerneman, San Antonio Express-News

Hog relishes another shot at Aggies

Arkansas cornerback Tevin Mitchel had to watch last season as Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel picked apart his defense in a 58-10 blowout.

On Saturday, Mitchel will get his chance to face the Aggies’ fast-paced offense that has scored at least 40 points in each of its first four games.

Mitchel, a junior from Mansfield (Texas) Legacy High, is eager for the challenge.

“I’m doing everything I can to prepare myself for this game,” Mitchel said.

Mitchel made an immediate impact as a freshman in 2011. He started seven games for the Razorbacks, including the final six of the season. He finished with 56 tackles and a fumble recovery in a big win against a ranked A&M team at Cowboys Stadium (now AT&T Stadium).

But last season, Mitchel had a setback with an injury in a 34-31 overtime loss to Louisiana-Monroe in the second game. He missed four games, including the Razorbacks’ loss at A&M when Manziel threw for 453 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions to go with 104 yards rushing and another score.

Mitchel credits tough high school competition with his quick adjustment to the speed he sees weekly in the SEC. And he likes new coach Bret Bielema’s philosophy. “Since he’s been here, we’re more disciplined,” he said. “We are in the film room more. We’re growing as men. We are a family. He brought us together.”

— Brent Shirley, Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Other SEC games

South Alabama at Tennessee, 12:21 p.m., WPCH: Tennessee isn't making nearly enough big plays. The Volunteers' offense has produced two plays of at least 40 yards through its first four games: Rajion Neal's 47-yard touchdown run against Austin Peay and Justin Worley's 51-yard pass to Josh Smith at No. 2 Oregon. Last year, the Vols had three plays go farther than 40 yards in the first quarter of their season opener. And they have only four plays of at least 30 yards.

Arkansas State at Missouri, 7:30 p.m., CSS: The Tigers are on the cusp of the Top 25 and need to protect quarterback James Franklin, but he keeps on running, with a team-high 36 attempts for 182 yards. He isn't afraid to lower his shoulder — even if there's a heightened chance of incurring an injury, something that marred his junior season and cost him four games. "I can't say, 'Don't scramble,'" coach Gary Pinkel said. "If he protects himself, he can run a bunch. It helps us. The pressure to defend a quarterback that can run is a tremendous asset that you have, and he has that."

UAB at Vanderbilt, 7:30 p.m., SPSO: The Commodores (2-2) are becoming a bit of a fourth-quarter team. They outscored their past two foes by 29-0 in the final period and haven't allowed a point in the quarter since the game-winning score by Ole Miss in the opener. "One of the things that's always been a key focus on our team has been conditioning," junior defensive end Kyle Woestmann told the Tennessean in Nashville. "I'm not proud, because a lot of times we have had a slow start in the first half. We dominate second halves of football games, whether that's halftime adjustments or conditioning."