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SEC Roundup: Tide's Late Stand Brings Win

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The Associated Press

The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 19, 2008

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - John Parker Wilson threw for a season-high 219 yards and a pair of touchdowns and No. 2 Alabama made a late defensive stand to hold off Mississippi for a 24-20 victory Saturday.

The Crimson Tide stopped the Rebels on fourth-and-5 from their 43-yard line in the final minute, when Jevan Snead's pass to Dexter McCluster fell incomplete. He was well covered by Javier Arenas.

Alabama (7-0, 4-0 SEC) scored 24 consecutive points after falling behind for the first time this season, 3-0, and allowing its first points in an opening quarter. Then Ole Miss (3-4, 1-3) answered 17 straight points and closed to within 24-20 on Joshua Shene's 35-yard field goal with 6:09 left.

The Tide pushed the ball across midfield on its next possession aiming to put the game away but the drive stalled. P.J. Fitzgerald's short punt gave Ole Miss the ball at its own 24 with 3:03 left.

Snead ran it on the first three plays, including one 5-yard gain on a pass that was batted right back into his arms by Bobby Greenwood. Brandon Deaderick then had a sack, Snead threw an incompletion and hit McCluster for a 10-yard gain to set up fourth down.

NO. 10 GEORGIA 24,

NO. 22 VANDERBILT 14

ATHENS, Ga. - Knowshon Moreno rushed for a season-high 172 yards, freshman A.J. Green had 132 yards receiving and 10th-ranked Georgia held on to beat No. 22 Vanderbilt.

Matthew Stafford threw a pair of touchdown passes for Georgia (6-1, 3-1 SEC), which twice built 14-point leads but didn't put away the Commodores until Blair Walsh kicked a 40-yard field goal with 17 seconds remaining.

Mackenzi Adams, who replaced Chris Nickson as Vandy's starting quarterback this week, threw a pair of touchdown pass to Jamie Graham.

The Commodores (5-2, 3-2) lost their second in a row, again missing a chance to become bowl eligible for the first time since 1982.

NO. 13 LSU 24

SOUTH CAROLINA 17

COLUMBIA, S.C. - Jarrett Lee went 16 of 26 for 189 yards and LSU held South Carolina to minus-7 yards in the fourth quarter and the No. 13 Tigers beat the Gamecocks.

LSU (5-1, 3-1 SEC) took the lead for good on Charles Scott's 2-yard touchdown run with 4:16 to go.

Then Curtis Taylor picked off Jefferson High graduate Stephen Garcia two plays later, souring an otherwise remarkable game for the freshman, who accounted for 230 of 254 yards for South Carolina (5-3, 2-3) in his first career start.

TENNESSEE 34,

MISSISSIPPI STATE 3

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Eric Berry shattered a 60-year-old Southeastern Conference record with a 72-yard interception return, and Tennessee avoided its worst league start in two decades with a win vs. Mississippi State.

Berry picked off a pass by Tyson Lee with 10:37 left in the fourth quarter and ran it back for a touchdown to put the Vols (3-4, 1-3) up 20-3.

The play ignited a Tennessee team that was off to its worst start under Coach Phillip Fulmer and sent Mississippi State (2-5, 1-3) reeling further.

KENTUCKY 21, ARKANSAS 20

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Mike Hartline threw two fourth-quarter touchdown passes to Randall Cobb to help Kentucky (5-2, 1-2) beat Arkansas (3-4, 1-3).

Kentucky spent much of the game struggling to find a playmaker to replace Dicky Lyons Jr., out for the season because of torn ligaments in his right knee. But Cobb, wearing Lyons' No. 12 as a tribute, did his best impersonation of the senior receiver when it mattered.

Kentucky trailed the whole game until Hartline connected with Cobb from 21 yards out with just more than 2 minutes left. Cobb cut through the middle of the field untouched and Lones Seiber's extra point was good to give Kentucky victory.

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