Calling all playmakers

Alabama receiver DJ Hall sustained bruised ribs in Saturday's 13-10 win at Ole Miss and is questionable for this weekend's game against Tennessee. That's not good news for a Tide team that has already lost Tyrone Prothro for the season with a broken leg. Prothro and Hall and have accounted for six of Alabama's 10 TD catches, and Croyle had no touchdown passes for the first time this season against Ole Miss. "The biggest thing is just after the catch --that's where Prothro made his money," Croyle said. "Most of his yards were after the catch. That's something we're going to have to deal with."... .Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville, whose unbeaten team of a year ago never got a chance to play in the BCS national championship, foresees the same fate if any SEC team gets through this season unbeaten. "Unless Texas or USC loses a ballgame, that's going to be the Rose Bowl," Tuberville said. "They've been up there too long. Most people won't change their minds unless those teams lose. USC's dodged some bullets, but they're a good team, and so is Texas."

Home isn't that sweet

The Auburn loss on Saturday dropped Arkansas to 7-10 in SEC games at Reynolds Razorback Stadium since 2000. "Not good," Arkansas Coach Houston Nutt said. Even worse is that Arkansas is off to its first 0-3 SEC start since 2001 and could be looking at its first 0-4 start since it plays at Georgia on Saturday. "We've got to keep believing and keep fighting," he said. Insiders say that Nutt will return next year as coach, but only he fires some assistants. ... LSU's barrage of turnovers (9) and penalties (25) in the last two games, both wins over Vanderbilt and Florida, have sent first-year LSU coach Les Miles over the edge. "I can tell you this," Miles said angrily. "We're going to look at that again and again and again, and we're going to get it corrected. There'll be some thought given to some punishment. I can tell you right now the punishment may be most painful when it's watched in front of your teammates and you see how you hurt your team. When you throw the ball on the ground and you have penalties, you can't close the game out."

R & R

If there was anyone who needed an open date week last week, it was Mississippi State quarterback Omarr Conner. He was trying to heal a bruised sternum he sustained in a loss at Florida on Oct. 8. ... Someone who's playing hurt is Ole Miss redshirt freshman tailback Mico McSwain. Despite a bruised arm, McSwain ran for 70 yards on a career-high 27 carries Saturday and passed Deuce McAllister to move into second on Ole Miss freshman rushing list. McSwain, a redshirt freshman from Richton, has 461 yards and is 87 yards shy of breaking Joe Gunn's record set in 1998. McSwain also extended his streak to four straight games when he's had at least one carry of 25 or more yards. "All credit goes to the offensive line," McSwain said.