Bama’s ‘D’ not half bad

Since Texas scored 21 points in the fourth quarter of the Longhorns’ 34-24 victory at Alabama on Sept. 9, the Crimson Tide defense has been dominant in the second half.

During Alabama’s nine-game winning streak, the Tide have held opponents to an average of 5.8 points in the second half, including shutting out South Florida and Tennessee.

Alabama Coach Nick Saban credited Kevin Steele, in his second stint as the Tide’s defensive coordinator, for much of the success after halftime

“We all contribute to trying to make adjustments in the games,” Saban said. “Kevin’s done a really good job. He’s in the box, so he has a really good perspective of what we didn’t do correctly, what we need to fix. What’s not working, what might work better.”

Saban said coaches on the sideline also have done a good job relaying adjustments to the players.

“We’re getting a lot of stuff, man,” Saban said. “A lot of multiples that players have to adjust to. And we want to do more things, but make it simpler for the players. So we can actually do these things, and be able to adjust to all the stuff we’re seeing, so they’re confident we can make the adjustments we need to make.”

Arkansas’ 15 second-half points are the most allowed by Alabama during its winning streak. The Tide held on to beat the Razorbacks 24-21.

Experienced interim

Greg Knox earned victories as Mississippi State’s interim coach six years apart.

In Knox’s first go-around as the Bulldogs’ interim coach, he led them to a 31-27 victory over Louisville in the TaxSlayer Bowl to cap the 2017 season.

Knox, in his ninth season as Mississippi State’s running backs coach at the time, took over as interim coach when Dan Mullen resigned to take the Florida job.

This season Knox, 60, returned to Mississippi State as a senior offensive analyst. He was named interim coach when Zach Arnett was fired 10 games into his first season as the Bulldogs’ coach after being promoted from defensive coordinator in the wake of Mike Leach’s death last December.

Mississippi State beat Southern Mississippi 41-20 last week led by Knox, who will be in charge again when the Bulldogs play No. 12 Ole Miss at home tonight and try to get bowl-eligible.

Knox, who has 28 years of coaching experience in the SEC with other stops at Ole Miss, Auburn and Florida, went 1-1 as the Gators’ interim coach at the end of the 2021 season after Mullen was fired.

Strength vs. strength

Texas A&M’s defense will try to put a dent in LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels’ Heisman Trophy campaign when the Aggies play at Tiger Stadium on Saturday.

The Aggies are tied for third nationally with 40 sacks among their 94 tackles for losses totaling 360 yards, and they’ll be coming after Daniels.

Texas A&M leads the SEC in total defense, holding opponents to 285.6 yards per game, while LSU is averaging 562.2 yards and 46.8 points to lead the nation in total and scoring offense.

Daniels has passed for 3,577 yards and 36 touchdowns, but also has rushed for 1,014 yards and 10 touchdowns, so the Aggies will have their hands full trying to get him down.

Got his number

Hugh Freeze’s most recent game as Auburn’s coach felt a lot like his finale as Liberty’s coach last season.

Both games featured shocking home losses by Freeze’s teams to New Mexico State.

The Aggies beat Liberty 49-14 in Freeze’s farewell game with the Flames before he accepted the Auburn job. Liberty was a 24-point favorite in that game.

Fast forward to last Saturday at Jordan-Hare Stadium, where New Mexico State came in as a 25-point underdog and beat Auburn 31-10.

“About as disappointing as I’ve ever been in coaching with Saturday’s effort,” Freeze said Monday at his weekly news conference. “It was an embarrassment and it just can’t happen like that.”

Freeze took full responsibility for the loss, which came a week after Auburn won 48-10 at Arkansas and a week before the Tigers play Alabama on Saturday.

“It starts with me,” Freeze said. “I have to get our coaches and our players ready to play. I obviously missed the mark tremendously. It’s frustrating and sickening to watch.”

New Mexico State improved to 9-3 with its seventh consecutive victory under Coach Jerry Kill, the former Minnesota coach who led the Gophers to three bowl appearances in five seasons.

“Jerry Kill’s crew did exactly what they needed to do to win the game,” Freeze said. “Give them credit — they’re a really good football team.

“We did not respond in any way. That is very frustrating.”

Carolina-Clemson

South Carolina ended its losing streak to Clemson at seven games when the Gamecocks upset the Tigers 31-30 at Clemson last season.

Gamecocks senior quarterback Spencer Rattler, who transferred to South Carolina from Oklahoma, completed 25 of 39 passes for 360 yards and 2 touchdowns and also rushed for a touchdown at Clemson.

“After that game last year, it was a lot of love from the fans,” Rattler said this week. “I tell stories about, months after, people saying, ‘My year was made because you guys won that game.’

“Obviously, we want to do that again. We want to bring that joy to the fan base, to our team, to our coaches.”

South Carolina plays Clemson at Williams-Brice Stadium on Saturday when the Gamecocks will go for back-to-back victories in the series for the first time since they won five in a row from 2009-13.

“We can’t expect to go out there and win just because we’re at home,” Rattler said. “They can come out here and play their best game. We have to come out here and play better than them.”

Gov’s cup

The winner of the Kentucky-Louisville game receives the Governor’s Cup Trophy.

Going into Saturday’s matchup, Kentucky has won four in a row over the Cardinals.

Louisville (10-1) is ranked No. 10 and a 6 1/2-point favorite at home against Kentucky (6-5).

“I am looking forward to Saturday’s game. I would desperately like to keep that trophy here,” Wildcats Coach Mark Stoops said. “It’s been here a while, and I hope it stays here.

“But [Louisville] is one heck of a football team. This is a new year, and you also know how I feel about years past and records, all that crap.

“Hopefully, we can bring our ‘A’ game and play up to our potential.”

Tackling tandem

Mississippi State fifth-year senior linebackers Jett Johnson and Nathaniel Watson could be the SEC’s top two tacklers for the second year in a row.

Going into the Bulldogs’ game against Ole Miss on Thursday night, Jett leads the SEC with 117 tackles and Watson is second with 116.

The Bulldogs have to beat the Rebels to become bowl-eligible, but Jett and Watson have a solid lead over South Carolina linebacker Debo Williams, who is third in the SEC with 102 tackles for a team that has to beat Clemson on Saturday to gain bowl eligibility.

Alabama safety Caleb Downs is fourth in the SEC with 90 tackles, and the Crimson Tide figures to play at least three more games and possibly four if they make the College Football Playoff.

Last season Jett led the SEC with 115 tackles and Watson was second with 113. They have a combined 681 career tackles — 358 for Watson and 323 for Johnson.

Going for 800

Auburn has a 799-464-47 record going into Saturday’s game against Alabama.

Only 12 FBS programs have reached 800 victories, led by Michigan’s 1,000-353-36 record.

SEC programs with 800 or more victories are Alabama (963), Georgia (879), Tennessee (874) and LSU (841).

Arkansas is 24th among FBS teams with 740 victories.

Third-down kings

Georgia leads the SEC in both third-down offense and defense.

The Bulldogs have a 56.9% conversion rate on third downs (78 of 137) and are stopping opponents from converting on third down at a 27.3% rate (38 of 139).

Hitting 10 again

Alabama improved to 10-1 with its 66-10 victory over Tennessee-Chattanooga last week.

The Tide extended their NCAA record streak of seasons with 10 or more victories to 16 years. They set the record last season after previously being tied with Florida State, which had 14 consecutive seasons with 10 or more victories from 1987-2000 under Bobby Bowden.

During Alabama’s streak, it was has won 13 or more games seven times and 14 four times.

SEC TOP TO BOTTOM

Ranking(prev);record;comment

1. (1);Georgia;11-0;Short road trip to Georgia Tech

2. (2);Alabama;10-1;Auburn awaits in Iron Bowl

3. (3);Missouri;9-2;Another game-winning kick for Mevis

4. (4);Ole Miss;9-2;Thanksgiving night Egg Bowl

5. (5);LSU;8-3;Daniels will face fierce Aggies pass rush

6. (6);Tennessee;7-4;Vandy shouldn’t be a problem

7. (7);Texas A&M7-4;Headed for Tiger Stadium

8. (8);Kentucky;6-5;Upsetting Louisville would help salvage season

9. (10);Florida;5-6;Can ruin FSU’s national title hopes

10. (11);South Carolina;5-6;Has to beat Clemson to go bowling

11. (9);Auburn;6-5;Embarrassing loss to New Mexico State

12. (12);Mississippi State;5-6;Looking to upset Rebels

13. (13);Arkansas;4-7;Has struggled against Mizzou

14. (14);Vanderbilt;2-9;Step back from 5-7 last season

PLAYER TO WATCH

Alabama LB Dallas Turner, Jr., 6-4, 252 pounds

Turner will look to spend plenty of time in the Auburn backfield when the No. 8 Crimson Tide play the Tigers on Saturday at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

In 39 career games for Alabama, Turner has 28 1/2 tackles for losses totaling 156 yards, inching 19 1/2 sacks, with 109 total tackles. This season Turner has 10 1/2 tackles for losses of 69 yards with 7 sacks. He also has 12 quarterback hurries, 2 forced fumbles and 1 pass breakup.

GAME OF THE WEEK

No. 8 Alabama at Auburn

2:30 p.m. Saturday, CBS

RECORDS Alabama 10-1, 7-0 SEC; Auburn 6-5, 3-4.

LINE Alabama by 14 1/2

The Crimson Tide should roll to an easy victory after New Mexico State came into Auburn last week and beat the Tigers 31-10, right?

But this is the Iron Bowl and Auburn has been tough at home against Alabama. The Tigers have won three of the past five meetings at Jordan-Hare Stadium, beating the Tide in 2013, 2017 and 2019.

New Mexico State shouldn’t have beaten Auburn, period — and certainly not by 21 points — but it was the perfect trap game for the Tigers after they won 48-10 at Arkansas to get bowl-eligible and were looking ahead to facing Alabama.

BY THE NUMBERS

$1.85 million Guarantee Auburn paid New Mexico State, which also went home with a 31-10 victory over the Tigers

5-3 Record by the road team in the Ole Miss-Mississippi State series the previous 8 years. The Rebels have won 4 consecutive games at Mississippi State’s Davis Wade Stadium, where the teams meet tonight.

36 Passing touchdowns by LSU senior QB Jayden Daniels this season

1999 Last time Georgia lost at Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets beat the Bulldogs 51-48 in overtime.

49-37-1 Alabama’s record against Auburn

OVERHEARD

“I’m so proud of Coach E, so happy for him, so glad that he’s getting the things that he’s getting. I’m so glad that we got the win for him.”

Texas A&M senior receiver Ainias Smith on the Aggies beating Abilene Christian 38-10 with Elijah Jackson as their interim coach

“You are playing for something every time you play them. You’re playing for the state championship.”

Georgia Coach Kirby Smart on playing Georgia Tech

“No matter what state you’re from, you do know about the Iron Bowl. Being from Texas, I know about the Iron Bowl, for sure. I grew up watching it.”

— Alabama QB Jalen Milroe, who is from Katy, Texas