Needless to say, new LSU coach Les Miles may have enjoyed the shortest honeymoon in Southeastern Conference history.

With the Tigers finally making their home debut Monday night since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita re-arranged the first two home games, Tiger Stadium was set to explode with an LSU victory over Tennessee.

It would have been the perfect emotional cathersis for a state ravaged by back-to-back hurricanes.

Instead, the Tigers blew a 21-0 halftime lead, and lost, 30-27 in overtime, after Miles chose to sit on the ball for most of the second half. And that didn't sit too well with the LSU faithful, who booed Miles during Tennessee's second-half comeback and at game's end when Gerald Riggs scored the game-winning TD.

The most shocking thing of all was that on a humid night that had the average fan soaked with sweat, LSU faded in the second half and Tennessee got stronger.

"When you're into your second game, you wish you would have played with the ability to finish, and we didn't," Miles said. "We got nicked up a bit in the offensive line, came out in the second half and lost our push."

In the final two quarters and not counting overtime, 17 of LSU's 24 offensive snaps were running plays that resulted in 31 yards.

He'll miss the Hogs

Alabama senior linebacker DeMeco Ryans will always look back on his four games against Arkansas with fondness, especially Saturday's 24-13 win over the Hogs. He had 15 tackles, giving him 52 for his career against the run-oriented Razorbacks. "They line up and run the ball right at you," Ryans said. ... This is when an offensive coordinator earns his money. He works all week on a game plan, then has to ditch it just before kickoff because his starting quarterback is too ill to play. That's what happened to Auburn O-coordinator Al Borges before Saturday's game against Division 1-AA Western Kentucky. Borges went in a 911 mode on Saturday when starting quarterback Brandon Cox was taken to the hospital shortly before the game with a virus. Borges turned to backup QB Blake Field and basically had him hand off a lot early in a 37-14 victory. Borges opened the game by calling eight straight running plays, and Field threw just two passes in the first quarter. Once Western Kentucky started stacking the line to stop the run, Field calmly completed 13-of-22 passes for 200 yards and three touchdowns. "We didn't want him to have to check off protections and do a lot of high-maintenance stuff," Borges said of his revised gameplan for Field.

It don't come easy

Arkansas' three losses this season have come against teams with a combined 11-0 record. Vanderbilt is 4-0, No. 1 Southern California is 3-0 and No. 15 Alabama is 4-0. Now for a quick quiz. Which one of those teams have never won a national championship? Sorry, that was cruel. ... Mississippi State second-year coach Sylvester Croom is determined more than ever that his West Coast offense, which he brought with from the Green Bay Packers where he was an assistant, will work, The Bulldogs have scored 10 points in two SEC games. "We're going to run the West Coast offense," Croom said. "That's not going to change. We're going to run it, we're going to get it protected, and we're going to get receivers in here who can run it. That's the offense I believe in. It's an offense that works. People are open, we're just not making plays."