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Compared to last week, Week 11 in the SEC might feel a little anti-climactic.
Alabama’s trip to Mississippi State is the biggest matchup on Saturday’s slate, which includes Arkansas visiting LSU and Florida traveling to South Carolina.
Here’s what the league’s coaches had to say about their teams’ respective games this weekend:
Nick Saban, Alabama: “They force you to defend the entire field horizontally … This offense is very challenging,” Saban said.
Bret Bielema, Arkansas: “It’s the Boot. Everybody loves that Boot, man,” Bielema said of the Golden Boot, the trophy that Arkansas and LSU will once again be playing for on Saturday night. “We’ve got it sitting down there in that little spot and when people come off that elevator, they freak out. They want to take a picture with the Boot. Can I take a picture? It’s like it’s maybe illegal to take a picture with the Boot, which makes it even more freaky.”
Gus Malzahn, Auburn: “I’m not for sure right now who will be the first guy out there,” Malzahn said of potential starting QBs Sean White and Jeremy Johnson against Georgia on Saturday. “We’ll see after we practice this week. But I will tell you this — we’ve got confidence in both these guys. Both these guys have won SEC games on the road, and I think that says a lot. I know our players and coaches have confidence in both of them also.”
Jim McElwain, Florida: “They’ve been in all these games,” McElwain said of the South Carolina Gamecocks, who host the Gators on Saturday. “I don’t want to be that guy that lets them get over the hump.”
Mark Richt, Georgia: “I think we’ll have an element of the ‘Wild Dog’ in there,” Richt said. “Terry (Godwin) doing it a little bit. Sony (Michel) doing it a little bit.”
Mark Stoops, Kentucky: “We will see how the week goes. Whoever gives us the best chance to go to Vandy and win will take the first snaps. If we feel confident in both guys and one is struggling, then we will go to the other,” Stoops said of Kentucky QBs Patrick Towles and Drew Barker entering this week’s game at Vanderbilt.
Dan Mullen, Mississippi State: “They don’t give me a vote, but they are the best team in America,” Mullen said of Alabama.
Gary Pinkel, Missouri: “A lot of the guys on there are Mormon. They go on missions. So you get 24-year-old freshmen,” Pinkel said of BYU, which plays Missouri on Saturday night.
Shawn Elliott, South Carolina: “They’re certainly not going to overlook South Carolina,” Elliott said of Florida. “They know they’ve got to finish strong, and we know what kind of challenge it’s going to be for us to take on their football team this week.”
Butch Jones, Tennessee: “You have to be focused for 60 minutes, and it takes a mature football team to be able to do that,” said Jones, whose Volunteers host North Texas on Saturday after struggling to beat South Carolina last week.
Kevin Sumlin, Texas A&M: “So we’ll see where Kyler (Murray) is from a physical standpoint. He needs to practice because he needs the reps. If he’s ready to go, he’ll be the starter. If not, we’ll make a decision later in the week. All that will come later in the week,” said Sumlin, whose Aggies host Western Carolina this week.
Derek Mason, Vanderbilt: “We’re trying a lot of things differently right now,” Mason said in advance of Saturday’s game against Kentucky. “We’ve focused on a couple of different things. I’m not going to talk about those. You’ll see them on Saturday.”
Stan Chrapowicki is a contributing writer for Saturday Down South. He covers SEC football, Alabama and Auburn.
