At the mid-season mark in college football, the three biggest surprises in the SEC are Alabama's team, Tennessee's offense, and CBS's doubleheader.

Alabama is No. 1 in the SEC West and No. 6 in The Associated Press top 25. It leads the SEC in defense and Sports Illustrated cover stories.

The Tide hasn't lost a game and hasn't lost quarterback Brodie Croyle to injury. It hasn't even had a scandal.

If Alabama is the biggest success story of the SEC season , UT is the biggest disappointment.

The Vols were ranked No. 3 in preseason and picked by some astute observers of college football (Who could that be?) to play Southern Cal for the national championship. They're 3-2 with one of the least-productive offenses in the country.

Wonder what Alabama fans enjoy more? Their success or UT's failure?

You also might wonder why CBS would pick this Saturday for its SEC doubleheader. You knew in preseason that Florida vs. LSU would be a key game, but the best CBS can do for its noon game is Alabama vs. Ole Miss.

Next Saturday, you have UT vs. Alabama and Auburn vs. LSU. On Nov. 12, you have LSU vs. Alabama, Georgia vs. Auburn, and Florida vs. Steve Spurrier.

But CBS' choices were limited by the preseason draft. CBS had the first two picks and seven of the first 10 picks. ESPN had the third choice and three of the top 10.

Alabama 27, Ole Miss 10: The Rebels were encouraged by quarterback Micheal Spurlock's second-half play against The Citadel. What does that tell you?

Answer: Offensive encouragement is hard to come by under first-year coach Ed Orgeron.

Scoring 27 points against a Division I-AA team is cause for celebration for the Rebels offense, which ranks 11th in the SEC in scoring and must play Alabama and Auburn -- the league's two top defenses -- in the next three games.

Don't expect a repeat of Alabama's last visit to Oxford. The Rebels scored 43 points, 13 more than the Tide has given up in three SEC games this season.

LSU 24, Florida 17: The Tigers have given up an average of only 240.3 yards per game since being ravaged for 560 yards in their season opener by Arizona State. Does the improvement say more about LSU's defense or its opponents -- Tennessee, Mississippi State and Vanderbilt?

The same question might apply after today. Florida's new offense has yet to jell under first-year coach Urban Meyer; the season-ending injury to Andre Caldwell has deprived the Gators of a speed receiver to complement Chad Jackson; quarterback Chris Leak is struggling to stay healthy while running the option.

Offense isn't Florida's only concern.

Alabama was able to beat the Gators' secondary deep. So could LSU.

Auburn 30, Arkansas 20: Don't be surprised if a couple of Auburn freshmen miss the plane. They don't have a clue about road trips.

Auburn has played four games, had an open date, and still hasn't had a road test.

Based on Auburn's track record, Fayetteville isn't the best place to start. The Tigers have lost two of their last three games there by big margins.

Arkansas won by 24 points in 1999 and 42-17 in 2001. Auburn won in Fayetteville in 2003, 10-3.

But there's a more-recent track record to consider: Arkansas' defense against the run. The Razorbacks are giving up a league-high 4.9 yards per rush.

One Auburn freshman who won't miss the plane: starting tailback Brad Lester, who gets to make his first college start against Arkansas' suspect rushing defense.

Georgia 37, Vanderbilt 17: The Bulldogs don't exactly qualify as Road Warriors themselves. Their only regular-season road games are to Starkville, Knoxville, Nashville, Jacksonville and Atlanta.

If the Bulldogs win the SEC championship game and play in the Sugar Bowl, which has been moved from New Orleans to Atlanta, they would play eight of 13 games in the state of Georgia, plus a ninth game just across the Georgia border in Jacksonville.

Moreover, Tennessee is becoming a second home to the Bulldogs, who have won three consecutive games in Knoxville and six consecutive games in Nashville.

The Commodores, like the Vols, have suffered from Georgia's hiring of Mark Richt. The Bulldogs have outscored the Commodores by an average of 24 points in four games under Richt. In the six previous games, Georgia outscored the Commodores by an average of 16 points and lost to them by 13 in 1994 (See Ray Goff for details).

Top 25: Southern Cal 37, Notre Dame 27; Texas 41, Colorado 20; Florida State 23, Virginia 13; Ohio State 34, Michigan State 23; Miami 45, Temple 3; California 27, Oregon State 17; Wisconsin 34, Minnesota 27; Texas Tech 37, Kansas State 27; Boston College 27, Wake Forest 16; UCLA 41, Washington State 30; Michigan 31, Penn State 27; Louisville 37, West Virginia 23; Oregon 38, Washington 30; TCU 34, Army 13.

Record: 94-32 (.744) overall, 62-63 (.496) against the spread.