Here’s a look some interesting one-liners before the Tigers play Arkansas State Saturday in Jonesboro:

** Arkansas State running back Reggie Arnold, the 2006 Sun Belt Conference freshman of the year and a 1,000-yard rusher, DID NOT play in last year’s game in Memphis because of injury.

** Arkansas State receiver Patrick Higgins, who caught the `Hail Mary’ pass to beat Memphis last year, is no longer with the team; he was dismissed before the season began.

** Memphis linebackers coach Kenny Ingram played for Arkansas State from 1989-93.

** A trip to Jonesboro for Memphis fans isn’t for those unprepared for last-minute drama as the Tigers won on a last-minute field goal in 2000 and with a furious rally in the final three minutes in 2004.

** Tiger quarterback Martin Hankins leads the nation with 41 completed passes, but his four interceptions drops him to 71st in pass efficiency.

** Hankins can become the fifth quarterback in the program’s history to reach 3,000 career passing yards with at least 107 yards at Arkansas State.

The Jerrell Powe saga has pretty much exhausted the patience of Ole Miss fans and non-fans alike, but the situation appears to be reaching some semblance of a conclusion — or as much of a conclusion as we can expect. After a pair of appeallate boards yesterday upheld the NCAA’s ruling that prohibits Powe from playing for the Rebels this season, I spoke late last night with Joe Barnett, a close friend of the Powe family who has tried to guide Powe through his 3-year struggle to gain athletic eligibility.
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THE BIG STORY

You could say South Carolina linebacker Dustin Lindsey is anxious to play at Georgia on Saturday.

The Gamecocks’ third-leading tackler in 2005, Lindsey failed out of school days after the Independence Bowl and sat out the ‘06 season. He returned last spring, only to tear the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in the spring game. Now Lindsey is back, cleared to play in Saturday’s game.

“I’m already on starting kickoff team. I hope we kick off (the) first kick of the game, so we can go down there and blow somebody up,” Lindsey told The State newspaper in Columbia. “I’m ready to get out there and give it all I can. . .I’m ready to whip some Georgia butt.”

Carolina coach Steve Spurrier wasn’t happy when he hurt Lindsey’s “whip some Georgia butt” remark.

“I told him that it was him who did all the talking, so we’ll see if he can live up to it,” Spurrier said of Lindsey. “The guy hadn’t played in over a year and a half. I want those Bulldog people to know that he’s not our spokesperson.”

Lindsey has endured his own turmoil at USC, with two arrests sandwiched around his academic problems. Lindsey was charged with DUI in his hometown of Mobile, Ala., in the spring of 2005, although the charge was reduced to speeding. A year later he was arrested following a bar fight in Five Points when he was living in Columbia as a non-student. Lindsey re-enrolled at USC last fall and spent the season as a walk-on on the scout team. He was named USC’s most improved inside linebacker before he blew out his ACL in the spring game.

A look at the league: Read the rest of this entry »