THE BIG STORY

Georgia senior tailback Kregg Lumpkin is expected to miss Saturday’s game against South Carolina and could miss several more after breaking a thumb in the 35-14 season opening win over Oklahoma State.

But don’t fret for the Bulldogs. They have some other guys who can scoot.

Redshirt freshman Knowshon Moreno led Georgia with 70 rushing yards against Oklahoma State. Senior starter Thomas Brown ran for 48 yards with two touchdowns. There’s also freshman Caleb King, who has been slowed by a hamstring injury but he could be back to full speed in practice today. Fullbacks Shaun Chapas and Jason Johnson have trained at tailback and could provide depth.

“Lumpkin is not a season-ending injury,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said. “That would probably keep us from being in a rush on Caleb unless he’s just ready to go, unless he’s the best.”

A look at the league:

ALABAMA

Alabama’s 52-6 season opening win over Western Carolina amounted to an exhibition game. The Catmounts had just four of 12 drives last longer than six plays. One of the defensive standouts was true freshman middle linebacker Rolando McClain, who had seven tackles in replacing suspended star Prince Hall. “We dominated our opponent like they preach to us, but I think that our identity won’t really be determined from one game,” Tide cornerback Simeon Castille said. . .Alabama’s 35 first downs Saturday night were the most in school history, breaking the old mark of 34 set in 1983 against Penn State. That’s The Tide’s 52 points were the most in a season opener since a 66-0 victory over California in 1973.
The 575 yards of total offense were the most in nearly six years. Alabama totaled 588 yards in a 56-3 victory over UTEP during the 2001 season. Saturday’s 313 rushing yards were the most since a 338-yard effort at South Carolina in 2005.

ARKANSAS

The one thing Arkansas will re-emphasize in its open date this week is catching punts. In Saturday’s 46-26 win over Troy, Michael Smithfumbled two punts in the third quarter. He also got whacked several more times when he refused to call for a fair catch. “Boy, we’ve had a great camp of catching every ball, and that’s what’s frustrating,” Arkansas coach Houston Nutt said. He added that fullback Peyton Hillis will get some work over the next two weeks at punt returner. Hillis averaged 11.5 yards on eight punt returns last season.

AUBURN

Auburn had to come back late to scratch out a season-opening 23-13 victory over Kansas State, and the Tigers’ lack of offense was noticeable. K-State had a simple plan, sticking eight to nine players on the line and daring Auburn to throw. The Wildcats stacked nine men up against the Tigers’ new offensive line, stuffing the run and daring Cox to pass. “They obviously looked at Nebraska’s game plan against us and they brought the house,” Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville said. “They had everybody inside and they weren’t letting us run the football. They were running their safeties inside out to try to make plays.”

FLORIDA

Lightning that ended Florida’s’ 49-3 win over Western Kentucky with 8:23 left on Saturday stopped Gators’ tailback Kestahn Moore from his first 100-yard game. He ran for 91 yards on 16 carries. “I can always go out there next week and try to get that 100-yard game,” Moore said. Moore only had five carries at halftime, but Florida’s coaches made it a point to get Moore the ball in the second half.
“He deserved that,” Florida coach Urban Meyer said. “We made a concerted effort in the second half to get him the ball. I thought Kestahn did good.”

GEORGIA

The Bulldogs had 376 total offense in their season opening 35-14 win over Oklahoma State, but Georgia coach Mark Richt wasn’t satisfied with his offensive line which has three new starters. “We had a lot of problems,” Richt said. “We had some backs that made us look better than we were. We had a quarterback that probably made us look a little bit better than we were up front. We’ve got to continue to get better. They’re going to be OK, but we’ve got a ways to go.”

KENTUCKY

Kentucky’s offensive line came to play in Saturday’s season opening 50-10 victory over Eastern Kentucky. The Wildcats rushed for 288 yards, its highest total in three years. But Kentucky’s next game on Saturday suddenly doesn’t look like a gimme. Kentucky will have to focus vs. Kent State, who went on the road and knocked off Iowa State 23-14 last Thursday. The Golden Flashes are coached by former UK quarterback Doug Martin. “We’ll have to see what we can do against some stiffer competition,” UK coach Rich Brooks said. “It wasn’t too difficult to find things we need to work on. If we don’t get better, we lose ground moving forward.”. . .One of the few weak points in UK’s season opener was its kicking game. Placekicker Lones Seiber missed a 40-yard field goal and two extra point attempts. A bad snap was involved on one of the misses.

LSU

ESPN’s College GameDay will be on LSU’s campus this weekend at the Parade Grounds for second-ranked LSU’s game against ninth-ranked Virginia Tech.The LSU campus will also serve as the host site for ESPN’s College GameDay Radio this weekend. College GameDay Radio will broadcast from the Parade Grounds throughout the day on Saturday. This year’s trip marks the fifth time College GameDay has visited LSU for a football game. The last time College Gameday came to Baton Rouge for a game was for the 2004 season-opener against Oregon State. College Gameday was scheduled to return to Baton Rouge in 2005 for the Tennessee contest, however, Hurricane Rita forced the show to cancel its visit that weekend.

OLE MISS

The Jackson Clarion-Ledger is reporting defensive tackle Jerrell Powe is still waiting for decisions on two appeals that could overturn the NCAA’s decision to rule him academically ineligible to compete or play. The appeals, which were filed by Ole Miss and received by the NCAA late last week, are being reviewed by two separate committees. The committees - which consist of a wide-range of members and operate independent of the NCAA staff - will likely make a ruling on each appeal this week. “I think there still is a chance,” Powe’s attorney, Don Jackson, said late last week. “Our focus is on him playing this year.” The NCAA made two determinations on Powe’s eligibility status last Tuesday. First, that he could receive an athletically related financial aid to attend classes, but can’t practice or play until at least Fall 2008. In addition, the NCAA also voided the coursework Powe took at three different schools in the past year. The second decision will be reviewed by the NCAA Student Records Review Committee, a nine-member group. The decision to hold Powe out of practice and games will be judged by the NCAA Initial Eligibility Waiver Learning Disability Subcommittee, which has four members. According to Diane Dickman, the managing director of membership services at the NCAA, appeals are common in eligibility cases. The NCAA didn’t have statistics available, but Dickman also said staff decisions are overturned. But it’s not that often. “Do we get turned over a lot? Is it a high percentage?” Dickman said. “No, it’s not a high percentage. But do we get overturned and they make a different decision? Yes, that happens.”

MISS. STATE

In State’s awful 45-0 season loss to LSU, the Bulldogs’ defense actually played well, giving LSU’s offense nothing easy. “There’s no question the defense played very well early,” State coach Sylvester Croom said. “Even at the end when things weren’t going well, there was never an area they gave up or gave in.”

SOUTH CAROLINA

Offensive lineman James Thompson started the season like last year — suspended for the season opener. Thompson, who was supposed to have started at right guard Saturday against Louisiana-Lafayette, is suspended for the first three games due to an undisclosed violation of university policy, USC athletics director Eric Hyman said before the game. Thompson, a fifth-year senior, was suspended for the first four games last season for breaking team rules. Former defensive lineman Stanley Doughty told The State newspaper in Columbia last spring that Thompson took money from him, resulting in Thompson’s 2006 suspension.Lemuel Jeanpierre, who moved from defensive tackle in the spring, made his second career start and his first on offense in place of Thompson. Thompson was one of several players suspended for the opener. Starting quarterback Blake Mitchell, backup cornerback Chris Hail, and injured tailback Bobby Wallace were suspended for one game for missing too many summer school courses. Strong safety Emanuel Cook, out following an appendectomy, was suspended from the university following his arrest on a gun charge last month, but was reinstated days later. Also, starting defensive end Jordin Lindsey was academically ineligible for the game and might be ineligible for the entire season.

TENNESSEE

The Vols breathed a big sigh of relief on Sunday when they good news on injured Xavier Mitchell, who was carted off the field on a stretcher in the 45-31 loss at California on Saturday night. Vols’ coach Phillip Fulmer said Sunday the CT scan of Mitchell’s head and neck was negative and that the injury is considered a concussion. Mitchell was taken to a Berkeley-area hospital as a precaution but was able to return to Knoxville on the team plane late Saturday evening. Fulmer wasn’t sure Sunday if Mitchell would be available for Saturday’s game at Neyland Stadium against Southern Mississippi. Robert Ayers or Wes Brown will start if Mitchell can’t play against Southern Miss.

VANDERBILT

Vandy receiver Earl Bennett was on fire in the season opening 41-17 win over Richmond, with a school-record 223 receiving yards on 13 catches including three touchdowns. The two-time first-team All-SEC wide receiver is now 35 catches shy of the SEC all-time receptions record. “I can’t tell you how he does it, I just know he is going to do it,” said Vandy quarterback Chris Nickson, who had 13 of his 19 completions caught by Bennett.