Week 12 of the college football season for the Southeastern Conference is the week when teams are trying to cement their spots in postseason bowl games.Three SEC teams gained bowl eligibility during week 11 — Kentucky, Georgia and Arkansas. The SEC leads the nation with nine teams that have gained bowl eligibility. The Big 12 follows with eight bowl-eligible teams.EASTERN BOWLINGKentucky (6-4, 2-4) travels to Sanford Stadium this weekend to face off against Georgia (6-4, 4-3).The Bulldogs will be without sophomore receiver A.J. Green, who leads the SEC in receptions per game (5.2 per game) and reception yards per game (83.4 yards per game).
Green was tackled hard last week against Auburn and sprained his shoulder.”We are certainly playing without A.J. Green, and we’re trying to find other men that will step up and make plays for us,” said Georgia coach Mark Richt in a teleconference.Both the Bulldogs and the Wildcats are trying to finish the season strong to move up the ladder in the SEC East and secure the best bowl game bid possible.But the two teams’ final games won’t be easy. After they face each other, Kentucky has to face division rival Tennessee, and Georgia has to face in-state rival No. 7 Georgia Tech.Georgia and Kentucky each have won their past two games and have gained bowl eligibility with last week’s victories. If Tennessee gets one more win and Mississippi State wins its last two games, 11 of the 12 teams in the conference will be bowl-eligible.”What happened this year is that you had two teams that are looking like they are going to run the table, and everybody else is banging away at each other enough to where everyone is finding a way to get six or seven wins,” Richt said. “Most teams are getting victories in out-of-conference games and then winning enough in league play to get bowl-eligible.”IN-STATE RIVALSVanderbilt (2-9, 0-7) travels 180 miles east down Interstate-40 to Knoxville, Tenn., to play in-state rivals Tennessee (5-5, 2-4) on Saturday.Saturday’s game will be Vanderbilt’s final game of the season. The Commodores haven’t beaten an SEC team since they beat Kentucky on Nov. 15, 2008.Tennessee, on the other hand, will be bowl-eligible with a win against Vanderbilt. If the Volunteers win, they will be the 10th bowl-eligible team in the SEC.The Commodores have struggled on the offensive side of the ball this season. Vanderbilt ranks last in the SEC in scoring offense (16.4 points per game), total offense (308.1 yards per game) and passing offense (144.7 passing yards per game). “We haven’t had consistent play in the wide receiver position,” said Vanderbilt coach Bobby Johnson. “Injuries at the offensive line have made us too inconsistent for the pass game.”Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin said his team will not be focusing on getting after the quarterback this week. “I don’t think that’s going to be a very big factor in this game,” Kiffin said.Instead, Kiffin expects Vanderbilt to run the ball against Tennessee after the Volunteers gave up 359 rushing yards last week against Ole Miss.”I would certainly think these guys are going to turn around and hand off the ball a ton in this game because of what happened last week with us,” Kiffin said. “That’s kind of their style anyway.” BOTTOM OF THE WESTArkansas (6-4, 2-4) will host Mississippi State (4-6, 2-4) on Saturday in Fayetteville, Ark., in a battle between the two bottom teams in the SEC West.”We need to come out and play one of our better, if not our best, game,” said Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen. “When you are in the road playing in a tough environment, that’s what you have to do in the Southeastern Conference.”Mississippi State needs to win Saturday’s game to have a chance to get its sixth win next week to become bowl-eligible. “Our guys know that we are in a must-win situation the rest of the way to find a way to get ourselves bowl eligible,” Mullen said. “That was one of the goals of our senior class.”Mississippi State will play Ole Miss in the final week of the regular season.—-Contact Jarred LeBlanc at [email protected]