Arkansas Sports 360 - ArkansasSports360.com

11/16/2011 at 3:02pm

Image by Mark Wagner

Arknasas' Cobi Hamilton is one of the many receivers Mississippi State will have to account for this weekend.

Dan Mullen has been fairly happy with his Mississippi State secondary of late, but Saturday's nationally televised game with Arkansas in Little Rock presents a different challenge.

"They have so many of them," Mullen said of the Razorbacks receiver during Wednesday's Southeastern Conference's coaches teleconference.

There are many and they are skilled, he'd also say, and that's where the tough matchups start.

"A lot of teams will have a go-to receiver and you can match your best corner against their best receiver," Mullen explained. A coach tosses that plan out the window against Bobby Petrino's Arkansas offense.

"They have so many guys who can make plays. That's where the mismatch occurs. You can't stop one of them, you've got to stop a lot of them. You can't say, 'Our one guy will shut down their one guy.' You have to have all of your guys playing well."

When MSU held down the Hogs' big three of Jarius Wright, Greg Childs and Joe Adams two years ago in Little Rock, freshman Cobi Hamilton had his breakout game with two long touchdown plays. Last year, with Arkansas displaying a breakaway running threat in Knile Davis, the Bulldogs worked to slow that element down, and Jarius Wright burned the Bulldogs deep with a huge second-half play.

This year, the more experienced secondary has avoided giving up many big plays, Mullen said. The MSU secondary has intercepted 12 passes, returning two for touchdowns. The 'Dawgs are ranked 14th nationally in pass defense and 26th in pass efficiency defense. They've allowed just nine touchdowns.

Juniors Jonathan Banks and Corey Broomfield start at the corners, senior Wade Bonner splits time with sophomore Nickoe Whitley at free safety and senior Charles Mitchell is the strong safety.

"They’ve had a good year had a good year," Mullen said. "We're fortunate we had some experience back there with some who have played some football. They’ve played in these games before. ... That experience sometimes helps when you put so many weapons on the field."

The players on both sides should be well acquainted. Most of them were playing key roles two years ago when the teams played in Little Rock, the Hogs' home-away-from-home, when Hamilton's big catches sparked a 42-21 Arkansas romp.

"I don't think our guys will be intimidated when they go out there," Mullen said.

"They are very good," Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino said of the Bulldogs' defensive backs. "We've been playing against them for three years, and it seems like the same matchups we’ve had since the last time we were in Little Rock."

It seems as though Mississippi State has always possessed an NFL-ready corner or two — Fred Smoot is one that stands out — since the Hogs joined the SEC in 1992. While the Bulldogs might not have a player with Smoot's level of greatness, they don't allow opposing receivers many long gains.

"Their cornerbacks are good technically, they don’t make mistakes, the safeties have ability to help in coverage," Petrino said. "I’m impressed about how well they tackle. They don't give up big plays because they tackle so well."

With so many SEC teams playing out-of-conference breathers the week before rivalry games, and with Tennessee (vs. Vanderbilt) and Ole Miss (vs. LSU) so down, the Mississippi State-Arkansas game turned out to be the most attractive matchup for CBS. It's doubtful anyone saw this coming as the national game of the day on CBS back in preseason, and certainly not after the Bulldogs started 0-4 in the SEC. But Mullen's squad has a chance to become bowl eligible with either a win over Arkansas or in the "Egg Bowl" at home the next week against Ole Miss.

"With several young players that we have, the extra practices that come along with that [a bowl] is a huge advantage," Mullen said. "Obviously we're going to have to play hard on the road to win against a Top 10 team."

ArkansasSports360.com Power Poll Week 12

1. LSU (10-0). Can't focus on Hogs and overlook the Rebels in Oxford ... er, yeah they can.
2. Alabama (9-1). Crimson Tide sticks a pretty good FCS program in the slot before Auburn game.
3. Arkansas (9-1). Hogs are suddenly on a 46.5 per game clip the past two weeks against athletic SEC defenses.
4. Georgia (8-2). Bulldogs' D pitched a shutout against Auburn; special teams were tricked for lone TD.
5. Auburn (6-4). Remember when the Tigers could at least run the football? Now, no run or pass.
6. South Carolina (8-2). Gamecocks had just enough to post rare back-to-back wins over Gators.
7. Florida (5-5). Gators aren't making any plays on offense.
8. Tennessee (4-6). Worst tackling Tennessee defense and special teams ever, perhaps?
9. Vanderbilt (5-5). First-year coach Franklin is one win shy of going bowling, and VU fans would love to kick UT.
10. Mississippi State (5-5). Bulldogs haven't made the home-field edge stand up this season.
11. Kentucky (4-6). Better than Ole Miss but worst than the rest.
12. Ole Miss (2-8). Announcing the end of the Nutt era didn't change the Rebels' fortunes, just made them worse.

SABAN CONNECTION
It's well known that Georgia defensive coordinator Todd Grantham joined Mark Richt's staff after serving on Wade Phillips' Dallas Cowboys coaching staff in the NFL. Grantham's improved Bulldogs defense is a big reason Georgia is on an eight-game winning streak and one win over Kentucky from winning the SEC East.

But Grantham's history also includes coaching for Nick Saban, now Alabama's head coach, at Michigan State.

"He's one of the best coaches I had," Saban said.

Grantham's installation of a 3-man-front defense last year took pretty much the whole season to catch on in Athens. However, this year Georgia has zoomed up the national defensive rankings to stand No. 4 in all of college football. Of course, no one is confusing the 'Dawgs with Alabama or LSU in the top spots, but Georgia fans aren't lamenting huge scores by opponents like they were last year either. The run defense has become dominant, holding Auburn last week to less than 150 yards.

Saban, who went 7-6 his first season at Alabama as head coach, said Wednesday he could relate with Grantham's new style of defense taking a year to jell.

"When you change a system, it takes a while for the players to get comfortable with the system and in the system ... the mental errors hurt you," Saban said. "When they get comfortable you have less of that and you play better. And, as you get a history of your opponents, you do a better job of preparing for them."

Auburn Coach Gene Chizik, whose Tigers were clobbered 45-7 by Georgia in Athens last week, said Wednesday, "From the beginning of the year and the films we watched to what we experience Saturday night, this is a much improved football team."

Joker Phillips, whose Kentucky Wildcats face Georgia in Athens on Saturday, indicated he was impressed by Georgia's physical play on both sides of the ball compared with last year's team, which beat the Wildcats 44-31 in Lexington. The hard-hitting on defense has filtered over to the offense.

"They seem to have taken a page from South Carolina. South Carolina lined up and ran downhill with the big back [Marcus Lattimore] they had last year," Phillips said. "You see a lot of similarity to what Georgia’s doing with the back they have this year [freshman Isaiah Crowell]. You see more attitude plays, downhill power players. When they want to run right at you, they have one of the biggest lines in the country and when they want to run downhill they do a good job of it."

If they win Saturday, the Bulldogs will face either Alabama, LSU or Arkansas in the SEC Championship Game in Atlanta on Dec. 3. The Bulldogs' SEC schedule did not include that trio this year. South Carolina, which needs Kentucky to beat Georgia to return to the title game, played only Arkansas among the West three and beat Georgia 45-42 in Week 2 but lost to Auburn 16-13 on Oct. 1.

QUICK HITS
The league honored the following athletes as Players of the Week for games of Nov. 12: Vanderbilt running back Zac Stacy (offense), Alabama linebacker Dont’a Hightower (defense), Arkansas wide receiver/return specialist Joe Adams (special teams), Georgia center Ben Jones (offensive lineman), South Carolina defensive tackle Travian Robertson (defensive lineman) and Georgia running back Isaiah Crowell (freshman) ... SEC has five teams ranked in this week’s AP, USA Today and Harris Interactive polls, all within the the top 15, most of any conference ... This week’s LSU-Ole Miss game is the third most competitive series in the SEC since 2000. The average scoring margin in the 11 games played between the Rebels and Tigers is 9.91 points. Six of the 11 games have been decided by 9 points-or-less ... SEC defenses have held opponents this season to an average of 20.7 points and 328.5 yards per game. The totals are the lowest in the SEC since 2008 (20.5 points / 309.4 points). SEC pass defenses have limited opponents to 185.1 yards per game, which is the lowest since 1993 ... SEC teams are 34-10 this season when they rush for more yards than pass in a game. When passing for more yards than rushing, SEC teams are 41-35.

THE MATCHUPS

WHO DID THIS SCHEDULING?
It tells fans all they need to know about the SEC schedule this Saturday when a season-high four games will be televised by respective schools via pay-per-view. Each SEC program is allowed to choose one game a year for pay-per-view, and it's usually against the worst non-conference game on the slate, since some fans may choose to skip seeing the game in person.

Each SEC team with a breather has a big rivalry game the following week. South Carolina entertains The Citadel this week to stay loose for Clemson; Alabama (Georgia Southern) and Auburn (Samford) will be gearing up for the Nov. 26 "Iron Bowl" in Auburn; Florida takes on Furman, which seems more like an opening-week foe, to prep for Florida State.

Georgia also has an annual rivalry clash the last week of the year with Georgia Tech, but doesn't get a weekend to coast before it. The Bulldogs have to take care of business in Athens against struggling Kentucky to secure the East division's spot in the SEC Championship Game.

SEC teams are 35-5 against nonconference competition this year and should run that to 39-5 this weekend. The current percentage (.875) is second in the Football Bowl Subdivision behind the Big 12's 26-3 mark (.897). The most nonconference wins in a single regular season was 42 in 2009 (42-6).

Saturday, Nov. 19 (all times Central)
Kentucky (4-6, 1-5 SEC) at Georgia (8-2, 6-1 SEC). 11:21 p.m., SEC Network/ESPN3.com. UGA leads the all-time series 50-12-2, and one more win gives the 'Dawgs the East's spot in the SEC Championship Game.

The Citadel (4-6) at South Carolina (8-2, 6-2 SEC). 11 a.m., pay-per-view. They're really making Gamecocks fans pay for this? Spurrier unlikely to have a Jack Crowe day vs. The Citadel,  but CIT beat them in last meeting, 38-35, in 1990.

Samford (6-4) at Auburn (6-4, 4-3 SEC). Noon, pay-per-view. Auburn has never lost to Samford in 26 meetings, but they did tie once. Gus Malzahn pupil Rhett Lashlee coordinates the Samford offense.

Furman (6-4) at Florida (5-5, 3-5 SEC). Noon, pay-per-view. Gators can take their shock at their first SEC losing record since 1988 out on the Palladins.

Georgia Southern (9-1) at Alabama (9-1, 6-1 SEC). 1 p.m., pay-per-view. Nick Saban half-joked in preseason that he wished if Alabama was scheduling an FCS team in this slot that it wouldn't be a traditionally good one like GSU.

Mississippi State (5-5, 1-5 SEC) at Arkansas (9-1, 5-1 SEC). 2:30 p.m., CBS Sports. No disrespect meant to Arkansas, but CBS execs had to be scratching their heads over the SEC schedule this weekend. Hogs have never lost to MSU in Arkansas.

LSU (10-0, 6-0 SEC) at Ole Miss (2-8, 0-6 SEC). 6 p.m., ESPN. Rebels have beaten Tigers twice in last three years and lost only by a touchdown last year. Yes, we know, this is a waaaaay different year.

Vanderbilt (5-5, 2-5 SEC) at Tennessee (4-6, 0-6 SEC). 6 p.m., ESPNU. Hard to believe the Vols are still looking for their first league win, and might not get it this week.

Tagged: South Carolina Gamecocks, Vanderbilt Commodores, Bobby Petrino, Dan Mullen, Tennessee Volunteers, Ole Miss Rebels, Mississippi State Bulldogs, LSU Tigers, Kentucky Wildcats, Georgia Bulldogs, Florida Gators, Auburn Tigers, Alabama Crimson Tide, Southeastern Conference, Todd Grantham, Nick Saban, Gene Chizik, Joker Phillips