SEC Football by the Numbers: Top 10 for Week 3

SEC Football by the Numbers: Top 10 for Week 3

The third Saturday of the SEC’s 91st season features the first three conference games of the season as well as eight non-conference contests. Here are 10 numbers, along with the schedule, TV and betting lines, to get ready for Week 3:

0 Mississippi State coaches have won their first four games with the Bulldogs. Zach Arnett enters Saturday’s game against LSU with a 3-0 record as the MSU coach. The Bulldogs’ defensive coordinator, Arnett took the reins after Mike Leach died last year, and he guided Mississippi State to a 19-10 victory over Illinois in the ReliaQuest Bowl. MSU has opened the 2023 season by beating Southeastern Louisiana 48-7 and Arizona 31-24 in overtime. Arnett is the seventh Mississippi State coach with a 3-0 record. In their fourth games, Earl Abell lost to Tennessee 7-3 in 1923, John Hancock lost to LSU 9-7 in 1927, Spike Nelson lost to Auburn 20-6 in 1938, Allyn McKeen lost to Auburn 7-0 in 1939, Jackie Sherrill lost to Tennessee 26-24 in 1991 and Joe Moorhead lost to Kentucky 28-7 in 2018.

0 Previous games for Georgia Tech at Ole Miss, even though the Yellow Jackets and Rebels spent 31 seasons as SEC rivals. While in the same conference, Georgia Tech and Ole Miss played twice and only once in a conference game – the Yellow Jackets’ 24-7 victory on Oct. 12, 1946, in Atlanta. The other game came in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1, 1953, when Georgia Tech scored another 24-7 victory. Since the Yellow Jackets left the SEC, the teams have met three times – twice in bowls and in Atlanta last year. Ole Miss won all three games, including a 42-0 victory in 2022. When Georgia Tech visits Vaught-Hemingway Stadium on Saturday, the Yellow Jackets will become the second ACC team to play in Oxford. Visiting Wake Forest defeated Ole Miss 27-3 on Sept. 23, 2006.

0 Victories in two games in Raymond James Stadium for Alabama coach Nick Saban. The Crimson Tide lost to Clemson 35-31 in the CFP national-championship game on Jan. 9, 2017, and the Miami Dolphins lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 27-13 on Oct. 16, 2005. Alabama plays South Florida at Raymond James Stadium on Saturday.

31 Consecutive homecoming games have been won by Auburn. The Tigers haven’t lost on homecoming since 1991, when Mississippi State spoiled things by taking a 24-17 victory. Auburn has an 84-8-4 record in the homecoming game heading into this year’s festivities on Saturday against Samford.

52 Years since the previous time a ranked Tennessee team played an unranked Florida team. On Oct. 2, 1971, No. 12 Tennessee defeated unranked Florida 20-13. On Saturday, No. 11 Tennessee visits unranked Florida. In between, the Volunteers have been ranked 23 times while playing Florida, and the Gators also were ranked for all those games. Tennessee has a 5-0 record when playing as a ranked team against unranked Florida, with the other victories coming in 1940, 1944, 1953 and 1970. The Volunteers have lost their past nine visits to Gainesville since a 24-10 victory over the Gators in 2003.

RELATED: SEC FOOTBALL BY THE NUMBERS: TOP 10 FROM WEEK 2

99 Games between Missouri and Kansas State when the Tigers and Wildcats square off on Saturday – and also the number of seasons the schools were conference rivals. Missouri leads the series 60-33-5 entering Kansas State’s first visit to Columbia in 2010. That game was a Big 12 contest. Missouri and Kansas State were members of the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference from 1913 through 1927, the Big Six from 1928 through 1947, the Big Seven from 1948 through 1959, the Big Eight from 1960 through 1995 and the Big 12 from 1996 through 2011.

129 Games have been played by Alabama since the Crimson Tide most recently lost two in a row, the nation’s longest streak without consecutive losses. Alabama fell to Auburn 34-28 and to Oklahoma 45-31 in the Sugar Bowl to end the 2013 season. Alabama has lost 13 games since the back-to-back losses. The Tide lost to Texas 34-24 last week.

199 Receptions by WR Fred Ross and RB Jo’quavious Marks, tied for the most in Mississippi State history. Ross had 199 receptions for 2,528 yards and 22 TDs for the Bulldogs from 2013 through 2016. Marks has 199 receptions for 1,149 yards and three TDs after catching four passes for 32 yards in last week’s 31-24 victory over Arizona. With one reception against LSU on Saturday, Marks would become the 12th SEC player with 200. Jordan Matthews holds the conference’s career record with 262 receptions for Vanderbilt from 2010 through 2013. Other SEC players with at least 200 receptions include Alabama’s Amari Cooper, Calvin Ridley and DeVonta Smith, Georgia’s Terrence Edwards, Kentucky’s Craig Yeast, Ole Miss’ Laquon Treadwell, South Carolina’s Bryan Edwards and Kenny McKinley and Vanderbilt’s Earl Bennett and Keith Edwards.

243 Consecutive passes without an interception by Missouri QB Brady Cook and 239 by Tennessee QB Joe Milton III. The SEC signal-callers have the two longest streaks without an interception in the nation. Cook’s most recent interception came on Oct. 22, 2022, against Vanderbilt. Milton’s most recent interception came on Nov. 14, 2020, when he was playing at Michigan. The past 207 passes in Milton’s streak have come at Tennessee, giving the Volunteers QB the 11th-longest interception-less streak in SEC history. Cook’s streak ranks sixth on the league list.

400 Games as a college head coach for LSU’s Brian Kelly when the Tigers take the field against Mississippi State on Saturday. Kelly has a 295-102-2 record. Kelly has been 118-35-2 at Grand Valley State, 19-16 at Central Michigan, 34-6 at Cincinnati, 113-40 at Notre Dame and 11-5 at LSU.

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This week’s SEC schedule includes (all times are CDT with point spreads from Catena):

Saturday

· No. 15 Kansas State (2-0) at Missouri (2-0), 11 a.m. at Memorial Stadium in Columbia, Missouri (SEC Network). Line: Kansas State by 4.

· No. 14 LSU (1-1) at Mississippi State (2-0), 11 a.m. at Davis Wade Stadium in Oxford, Mississippi (ESPN). Line: LSU by 9.5.

· No. 10 Alabama (1-1) at South Florida (1-1), 2:30 p.m. at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida (ABC). Line: Alabama by 33.5.

· South Carolina (1-1) at No. 1 Georgia (2-0), 2:30 p.m. at Samford Stadium in Athens, Georgia (CBS). Line: Georgia by 27.5.

· Louisiana-Monroe (2-0) at Texas A&M (1-1), 3 p.m. at Kyle Field in College Station, Texas (SEC Network). Line: Texas A&M by 36.5.

· Samford (1-1) at Auburn (2-0), 6 p.m. at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn (ESPN+). Line: None.

· No. 11 Tennessee (2-0) at Florida (1-1), 6 p.m. at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Florida (ESPN). Line: Tennessee by 6.

· Vanderbilt (2-1) at UNLV (1-1), 6 p.m. at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada (CBS Sports Network). Line: Vanderbilt by 5.

· Akron (1-1) at Kentucky (2-0), 6:30 p.m. at Kroger Field in Lexington, Kentucky (ESPNU). Line: Kentucky by 25.

· BYU (2-0) at Arkansas (2-0), 6:30 p.m. at Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville, Arkansas (ESPN2). Line: Arkansas by 8.

· Georgia Tech (1-1) at No. 17 Ole Miss (2-0), 6:30 p.m. at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Mississippi (SEC Network). Line: Ole Miss by 17.5

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.