Alabama coach Mike Shula has taken heat for inserting an injured Brodie Croyle into the Georgia game trailing 30-3. Shula said the coaches had decided before the game that Croyle would play if needed, based on advice from the team doctors and trainers.
Croyle separated his left, non-throwing shoulder a week earlier and was knocked out again after landing hard on his second play against the Bulldogs.
Shula said he's not second-guessing the decision.
Croyle, meanwhile, said he was ``begging'' his coach to put him into the game.
``It was a situation I needed to be in there,'' Croyle said. ``I just landed on it and it kind of slid in and out. It wasn't near as bad as the week before, it was just already irritated and upset.''
Backup Spencer Pennington separated his throwing shoulder in the third quarter and expects to miss about four weeks.
Redshirt freshman Brandon Avalos will start Saturday against Southern Mississippi if Croyle can't go.
Croyle said he isn't worried about further injuring his shoulder.
``There isn't much else I can do to it,'' he said. ``It can come out and they can put it back in. That's all that can happen.''
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Coach Houston Nutt doesn't expect to see the Razorbacks start to fall from their spot as the SEC's least-penalized team.
Arkansas was flagged 11 times for 74 yards in its 34-31 victory over Alabama on Sept. 27, but it still leads the conference with an average of 45 penalty yards per game.
It's big turnaround from 2002, when Arkansas ranked 11th in the SEC, averaging 71.6 yards per game. The Razorbacks picked up many taunting, unnecessary roughness and celebration penalties last year.
At Alabama, left tackle Bo Lacy had three of the team's five false start penalties and there were two unsportsmanlike penalties.
``We've been emphasizing it since January that we're going to have the fewest penalties in the league,'' Nutt said. ``Right now we're the best in SEC. There was a noise factor that hurt us with five illegal procedures. We're at home, so you hope you won't get that five or six.
``With our seniors and the way we're approaching penalties it's been very good. We've had very few celebration penalties this year, if any at all.''
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Humble and soft-spoken, quarterback Jason Campbell isn't really the type to be vocal about his critics. Perhaps it's evidence of his confidence right now that he took a few gentle shots this week, saying most fans don't see little things like him checking into the right plays and reading defenses.
``People criticize me, but they really don't understand what goes on,'' Campbell said. ``When I get an opportunity to make plays, I make them. I just do my job.
``Talk is cheap. You've got to let your playing do your talking for you.''
Not surprisingly, Campbell's stats have improved dramatically with the resurgence of the running game. He has thrown five touchdown passes and no interceptions in the past three games, completing 70 percent of his attempts.
``He's taken some shots over the year and I've never seen him rattled,'' coach Tommy Tuberville said. ``I've never seen him lose his composure.
``He's starting to be a little bit more vocal with the offense. I'm just impressed with what he does when he gets to the line of scrimmage on play selection and reading the defense and getting the play called on the right side.''
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The Tigers' pass rush, one of the best in the SEC, plans to make life difficult on Florida freshman quarterback Chris Leak.
``It's very exciting,'' LSU middle linebacker Lionel Turner said. ``By him being a freshman, he can get rattled much quicker. We rattled (Georgia quarterback David) Greene, but it took awhile for us to get to him. It's going to be very exciting to see how much we get to (Leak) at the beginning of the game. I know coach (Nick) Saban is going to be putting in a lot of blitzes.''
LSU is second in the Southeastern Conference with 15 sacks for minus-111 yards. Florida is eighth in allowing sacks with 12 for minus-73 yards. Leak was sacked just once against Ole Miss as Florida coach Ron Zook and offensive coordinator Ed Zaunbrecher continued to keep it conservative with 35 runs and 27 passes.
Leak was 14-for-27 for 234 yards in the loss to Ole Miss.
``You've got to get to him and put him on the ground,'' LSU defensive end Marcus Spears said. ``You don't have to necessarily sack him, but if you get him on the ground a few times he'll start thinking about it.''
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For the past few seasons, Ole Miss has been among the worst defense's in the Southeastern Conference against the run.
This year things have changed. Now, the Rebels can't stop the pass.
Ole Miss ranks last in the nation in pass defense _ thanks in large part to the 661 yards Texas Tech hung on the Rebels two weeks ago.
What's gotten lost in all the panic about the pass defense is that the Rebels are doing a solid job against the run.
Sure, the numbers are skewed because few of the Rebels' opponents have tried to pound away with the run. Still, Ole Miss is permitting just 88 yards rushing per game (fourth in the SEC) and _ more importantly _ 2.8 yards per rush.
Defensive tackle Jesse Mitchell said a change of attitude has made the difference.
``What happened a couple of years ago is something we took to heart. When somebody lines up in front of you and just wants to run the ball down your throat, it has to offend you. We decided we weren't going to just lay there and take it anymore,'' the senior said.
The Rebels will learn just how far they have come against the run in the upcoming weeks. After homecoming against Arkansas State on Saturday, Ole Miss plays Alabama, Arkansas and South Carolina _ three run first teams.
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Add another freshman to the lineup for Mississippi State.
Donovan Davis will replace guard Ottis Riddley, who broke his leg last week and his out for the season, Saturday against Memphis.
The 6-foot-7, 330-pound Davis was Mississippi State's top offensive line recruit. The coaches have raved about his potential.
``Donovan came in and didn't make mistakes,'' MSU coach Jackie Sherrill. ``He's a very intelligent young man. He has what I would call football awareness. He will do his homework and put himself in a position to be successful.''
Davis, has played in just two games this year, seeing his first action at Houston.
He allowed a sack in last week's victory over Vanderbilt. That's one less than he allowed during his entire career at Callaway High School in Jackson.
``I'm frustrated about that one sack,'' Davis said. ``To only give up two in high school and then give up one in my first big game here was disappointing.''
Davis played tackle in high school.
The Bulldogs have started two freshman defensive backs _ cornerback Quinton Culberson and safety Jeramie Johnson _ and have used freshman defensive lineman Deljuan Robinson and cornerback Adrian Griffin regularly.
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ROLL TIDE!! Rick
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