Arkansas Sports 360 - ArkansasSports360.com

11/2/2011 at 3:00pm

South Carolina already has reaped as many turnovers through eight games — an amazing 26 takeaways (10 fumble recoveries, 16 interceptions) — as the Gamecocks collected through all 14 games in 2010, when they won the Southeastern Conference East Division.

Contrast that with this week's opponent, the 7-1 Arkansas Razorbacks, which have forced just 11 turnovers (8 interceptions, 3 fumbles). With an offense than was suspect even when Stephen Garcia was the quarterback and Marcus Lattimore was healthy, the defense has been South Carolina's saving grace in a 7-1 start.

So, while most of the nation will be focused on the huge showdown in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Saturday night, plenty is at stake in Fayetteville when two 7-1 teams collide in the Hogs and Gamecocks.

The South Carolina defense is a worry for Arkansas Coach Bobby Petrino, he indicated Wednesday during the SEC's weekly coaches teleconference.

"They’re a very good defense," Petrino said. "We always have great battles with them, they have a strong defensive front, great secondary. They're very talented, really good players, tall and long, and they really do a nice job of not only defending the run, but rushing the passer."

While much preseason attention was placed on the arrival of freshman wunderkind Jadeveon Clowney at end, it's the defensive end on the other side, Melvin Ingram, who can wreck an offense — he may have been as instrumental as any player in the Gamecocks' 45-42 win over Georgia that has South Carolina still in control of its destiny over the Bulldogs in the SEC East.

South Carolina hasn't surrendered a play of more than 40 yards this season, while everyone knows how much Arkansas depends on the big play. "They do a nice job of keeping everything in front of them, they are very fast in the secondary and they tackle real well," Petrino said. "If your safeties tackle well, you don’t give up many big plays."

South Carolina Coach Steve Spurrier said, "First of all we’ve been pretty fortunate. Mississippi State ran a few stutter-goes on us and they overthrew them. Tennessee ran one that the guy didn’t catch. So right there we've been fortunate.

"Our defense after our first two games has really come around. We’re right behind LSU and Alabama in the league's statistics. Our guys are playing well. Hopefully we won’t give up any big ones this week or next week [against Florida at home] either."

South Carolina needs wins at Arkansas and at home against the Gators to repeat as East Division champ. Georgia, which has won six straight and is 5-1 in the SEC, needs to win over Kentucky and Auburn and for the Gamecocks to stumble.

Antonio Allen, DJ Swearinger, Stephon Gilmore and C.C. Whitlock each have three interceptions for South Carolina. Allen also has three fumble recoveries, while Ingram has two.

"We’ve seen the style of defense they play and how well they rush the passer," Petrino said. "That’s what makes it difficult for us in that we have to protect the quarterback. The style they play and ability of their front four to rush the passer is the challenge for our team."

SLOW STARTERS
Arkansas has become notorious through the entire month of October for starting slowly, especially on defense. South Carolina may have Arkansas beat in terms of slow starts on offense. All eight Gamecocks opponents this year have scored first.

"That is interesting," Spurrier said. "I remember the old theory that the team that scored first would win over 50 percent of the time. The other team has scored first every game we’ve played this year, all eight games. We haven’t gotten way behind, maybe a field goal or the first touchdown, and we’re pretty close at halftime."

The Gamecocks have scored just 20 points in the first quarter, but they've outscored the opposition 155-58 over the second and third quarters.

"You've got to play the full 60 minutes and Arkansas has certainly proven they know how to come from behind. It will be a 60-minute game no matter what happens out there early," Spurrier said.

Arkansas trailed Texas A&M by 18 points at halftime, was down 7-0 and 14-7 to Auburn at home in the first half, fell beind Ole Miss 17-0 in the first half at Oxford, and was down 21-7 at Vanderbilt, but rallied in every game to win. The Hogs beat Auburn by 24 points, but the other three games were decided by 5 points or less.

South Carolina trailed at Tennessee last week 3-0 but won the game 14-3. The Gamecocks scored late to win at Mississippi State 14-12. Other than a 54-point outburst at home against Kentucky, South Carolina in SEC games in October struggled, especially when Marcus Lattimore blew out a knee at Mississippi State.

Freshman Brandon Wiles had his first start, in place of Lattimore and rushed for 120 yards against Tennessee. "We're doing a lot of the same things we were doing when Marcus was healthy," Spurrier said. "Brandon is a good back, and if we can block for him he can make some yards." Wiles has averaged 5.2 yards per rush on 41 carries this season.

Spurrier said South Carolina's offensive woes could be eased somewhat if the Gamecocks passed better and if the special teams contributed to better field position.

"When we call a pass, we don't get it thrown or something happens," Spurrier said, criticizing the pass blocking for quarterback Conner Show. "We've run the ball well. You know they say, if you play defense and run the ball, as everybody knows, that's a pretty good formula."

Shaw, who saw some action late in Arkansas' 41-20 win at Columbia last year, has a decent pass efficient rating of 127.80 and has completed 60 of 96 passes (62.5 percent) with 6 touchdowns and 3 interceptions.

ArkansasSports360.com Power Poll Week 10

1. Alabama (8-0). Crimson Tide hasn't led by less than two touchdowns in the fourth quarter all season.
2. LSU (8-0). Road-experienced Tigers take on the Tide in Tuscaloosa.
3. Arkansas (7-1). Hogs' slow starts have Petrino a little agitated.
4. Georgia (6-2). Richt got his much-needed win over Florida, and Dawgs are on a 6-game roll.
5. Auburn (6-3). Offense looks more potent with Clint Moseley at QB, but Michael Dyer's running always helps.
6. South Carolina (7-1). Gamecocks' defense has quietly gotten tough, nearly in an LSU/Alabama way.
7. Florida (4-4). Gators haven't lost four in a row in what seems like forever.
8. Tennessee (3-5). Vols get a breather from the SEC wars with Middle Tennessee.
9. Vanderbilt (4-4). Hard-luck Commodores have to journey to the Swamp.
10. Mississippi State (4-4). Bulldogs broke through on the road with a two-quarterback system.
11. Ole Miss (2-6). Rebels need a second half to match the first half to break through.
12. Kentucky (3-5). Wildcats may have found a quarterback to move the team in second half of loss to Mississippi State.

THE BIG ONE
Saturday’s game between LSU and Alabama will be the first time in SEC history that two of its teams ranked 1-2 will face off in the regular season. A 1-2 SEC matchup has happened just two other times and both were in the SEC Championship Game.

In the 2009 SEC Championship Game, No. 2 Alabama defeated  No. 1 Florida, 32-13, and in the 2008 SEC Championship Game, No. 2 Florida defeated No. 1 Alabama, 31-20.

Only 13 times since 1980 has the league seen two teams matched while both were ranked in the AP Top 5. The last time it happened in the regular season was Oct. 10, 2009, when No. 1 Florida defeated No. 4 LSU in Baton Rouge 13-3.

CBS will carry the Alabama-LSU game from Tuscaloosa starting at 7 p.m. Saturday.

NO-BACK OFFENSE?
Georgia likely will be dipping into the walk-on ranks or among its defensive players to find a running back this week in a non-conference game against New Mexico State.

Richard Samuel was injured in the Florida game late and will miss four weeks. Then, on Tuesday, running backs Isaiah Crowell, Carlton Thomas and Ken Malcomb were suspended for Saturday's game for violation of team rules, according to head coach Mark Richt. Dawgnation.com quoted a source, however, as saying that all three failed a drug test administered before the Bulldogs 24-20 win over Florida on Saturday.

Naturally, Richt on Wednesday was asked his thoughts on the perception among fans and media that the players were being held out this week because of the opponent.

"My reponse is we have always done things with the utmost integrity in what we do and we have policies in place in our athletic administration that we follow to a T," Richt said. "People don’t know. I’d be able to prove 100 percent they are wrong, but I’m not going to spend any time doing that. We follow our rules, we have rules and we follow them to the T, and we have integrity and go and do our business."

Richt said the suspension of three running backs at the same time "is a new one" for him. "You'd think after 11 years that you had seen pretty much everything, but I guess not." Richt also suspended his top two running backs from the end of last season through the summer, and both left Georgia before the start of this season.

QUICK HITS
The league’s Players of the Week for Oct. 29 games were Auburn RB Michael Dyer (offense), Arkansas LB Jerry Franklin and Georgia LB Jarvis Jones (defense), Arkansas PK Zach Hocker (special teams), Georgia OT Cordy Glenn (offensive lineman), Miss. State DT Fletcher Cox (defensive lineman) and South Carolina RB Brandon Wilds (freshman) … The SEC has six teams ranked in an AP poll for the fourth time this season and the 70th time since 1992. The SEC has had at least six teams ranked in an AP poll every season since 1997 except one (2002). The SEC has four teams in the BCS Top 10 for the first time since Nov. 8, 1999 … the league honored Vanderbilt senior defensive tackle T.J. Greenstone as the Community Service Team Player of the Week. Greenstone has been active in the Nashville community, visiting local elementary schools, visiting patients at Vanderbilt Hospitals and is active in Athletes in Action and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and is the president of Vanderbilt’s FCA chapter.

THE MATCHUPS
Saturday, Nov. 5 (all times Central)
Vanderbilt (4-4, 1-4 SEC) at Florida (4-4, 2-4 SEC). 11:21 a.m., SEC Network/ESPN3.com. Florida leads the all-time series 33-9-2.

New Mexico State (3-5) at Georgia (6-2, 5-1 SEC). 11:30 a.m., CSS/ESPN3.com. Does Georgia even need a running back this week?

Ole Miss (2-6, 0-5 SEC) at Kentucky (3-5, 0-4 SEC). 2:30 p.m., ESPNU. Ole Miss leads the all-time series 27-13-1, and the most recent victory, Oct. 9, 2010, was the last time the Rebels have won an SEC game.

Middle Tennessee (2-5) at Tennessee (3-5, 0-5 SEC). 6 p.m. ET, FS South/ESPN3.com. Another example for Arkansas to play in-state competition? Tennessee playing an in-state Sun Belt team.

South Carolina (7-1, 5-1 SEC) at Arkansas (7-1, 3-1 SEC). 6:15 p.m., ESPN. The B game on Saturday night behind the Big One.

Tennessee-Martin (5-3) at Mississippi State (4-4, 1-4 SEC). 6:30 p.m., CSS/ESPN3.com. Bulldogs are seriously scheduling the likes of Tennessee-Martin?

LSU (8-0, 5-0) at Alabama (8-0, 5-0). 7 p.m. CT, CBS Sports. Alabama leads the all-time series 45-34-5. The loser may get left out of the BCS title game simply because of the rest of the country's jealousy toward the SEC's success.

OPEN: Auburn (5-3, 3-2 SEC)

Tagged: Steve Spurrier, Southeastern Conference, Nick Saban, Les Miles, Alabama Crimson Tide, LSU Tigers, Bobby Petrino, Houston Nutt, Mark Richt, Georgia Buldogs, Florida Gators, Kentucky Wildcats, Ole Miss Rebels, Mississippi State Bulldogs, Tennessee Volunteers, South Carolina Gamecocks, Vanderbilt Commodores, Auburn Tigers