SEC pocket book: Sooners savor relaxation; Florida, Georgia comfortable to be house

Oklahoma is getting healthy while getting a freshman quarterback ready for No. 2 Texas at the Cotton Bowl.

Sooners coach Brent Venables expects an immense benefit to true freshman Michael Hawkins — and seven injured starters — with a bye this week before taking on the rival Longhorns.

“It’s a benefit for Mike and the offensive staff, so here’s your first body of work, good, bad and ugly and some things where we need to get better,” Venables said. “For him, you would expect there to be great growth from the first game to the second game from everything that takes place from a practice standpoint.”

Venables used a total of 28 underclassmen at Auburn to secure OU’s first SEC road win in its first attempt. Hawkins replaced a struggling Jackson Arnold and finished 10 of 15 for 161 yards plus 69 rushing yards and a touchdown against the Tigers.

The bye week timing stands to be a victory in and of itself for Venables.

“Every year is different,” he said. “It’s unique from trying to get some guys healthy is the biggest thing. This is one of the most challenging schedules we’ve had. From an opponent’s view, certainly they’re going to be able to do the same thing as well.”

–Florida coach Billy Napier said the Gators enjoyed their open date and practiced with purpose to prepare for UCF.

“For us, in-state opponent, UCF program continues to grow. It’s a big week here in Gainesville,” Napier said.

Big games are a near-term trend for Florida with successive games against Tennessee, Kentucky and Georgia up next.

The Gators are committed to playing two quarterbacks, Napier said, but how they deploy the tandem of Graham Mertz and freshman DJ Lagway will differ every game.

“Based on how they practice, the opponent. We’ll execute that regardless,” Napier said.

The critical component Saturday night in The Swamp for Florida is the run defense. Former Auburn coach Gus Malzahn runs to set up the rest of the offense and the Knights are doing it better than almost everyone in college football, averaging 326.0 yards per game.

Running back R.J. Harvey had 16 TDs last season and is putting up video-game numbers in 2024. He opened with 11 carries for 142 yards and two touchdowns against New Hampshire, had 19-126-4 against Sam Houston and 29-180-2 at TCU. Last week in a loss to Colorado, he caught four passes for 92 yards with a touchdown and rushed for 77 yards.

“Gus has always been a very good game-planner. The run-play-action system,” Napier said. “The quarterback is involved in about every play. There’s some option elements. There’s some Wildcat elements. I think they’re really well-coached up front. It is a true challenge. I think they had close to 500 yards offense (vs. Colorado) they just struggled in the red zone, had a couple critical turnovers.

“Harvey is at the core of everything they do for sure.”

For Florida, running the ball might be its best defense. Napier calls on his core starting offensive line to set the tone Saturday night.

“We’re trying to develop some of the younger players, mostly in a practice setting, but we’ve committed to getting those guys some reps in the game,” Napier said of his offensive line. “We’re going to continue to do that. Pick our spots. But ultimately we’ve got five guys taking the majority of the reps.”

–Disappointment lingers for Kirby Smart as Georgia moves past the high-profile defeat at Alabama that ended a 42-game regular-season winning streak.

“We’re excited for our first SEC home game,” Smart said on Wednesday during the SEC coaches teleconference.

Georgia dropped three spots to No. 5 in the Top 25 poll with Auburn headed to Athens this week.

Alabama lost a 30-7 lead but held off the Bulldogs with a 75-yard touchdown pass by Jalen Milroe and a game-sealing interception of Carson Beck on Georgia’s final possession.

Smart is usually allergic to hypothetical questions but said he would have leaned toward going for the two-point conversion and win had the Bulldogs’ last drive ended with a touchdown.

“We had discussed it previously, and I felt very strongly that if the clock was under 30 seconds that we would probably go for two. But talking to the analytics afterwards, it would have suggested to not do it, you know — to play overtime, to kick it,” Smart said. “And there’s a lot that goes into that because when you give a team enough time and they know what they need, meaning it’s not tied, they have more aggression. They had three timeouts. They would have only needed a field goal. It would have played out, you know, a possibly different way, but we had discussed it and leaning towards going for two if it was under 30 (seconds), which I think happened around 43 (seconds) or something.”

–Field Level Media