Alabama will finally have a full team plane when it heads to Fayetteville this weekend to take on Arkansas.

Alabama coach Mike Shula suspended seven players in the off-season, most notably starting linebacker Juwan Simpson, who was arrested over the summer on drug and gun charges.

Simpson finally gets to take the field Saturday. Some others who have missed games this season because of suspension are backup running back Jimmy Johns, backup cornerback Lionel Mitchell and tackle Kyle Tatum.

Shula wouldn't reveal the names of the other suspended players. But he made it clear that he didn't want to suspend all seven at the same time.

"I don't think it's fair to our football team to suspend all seven for one game, so we suspended them in the order of (the rules they broke)," Shula said. "We don't talk about suspensions because they are personal to us. We are a family. I also feel like it puts us at a disadvantage to talk about it beforehand."

Simpson is ready to play. He said it wasn't easy watching games from the sideline, but he's looking ahead

"We've dealt with it," Simpson said, "and put it behind us. Now, it's time to get ready for Arkansas."

Purple And Gold Hex: Auburn senior placekicker John Vaughn, who missed five field goals in Auburn's 20-17 loss to LSU last season in Baton Rouge, missed his only attempt against LSU last Saturday in Auburn's 7-3 win. Last year when Vaughn left the field after the many misses, his teammates didn't say a word. But not this time.

"Everybody kind of laughed at me and told me to calm down," Vaughn said. "I was just a little too excited about being out there. I attacked the kick a little too aggressively."

Punter Kody Bliss said of Vaughn's miss, "I think it was just a coincidence against the same team. I told him in the locker room you never have to play them again. Get over it."

LSU's defense has nothing to be ashamed about in the close loss to Auburn. It held the Tigers to 72 yards rushing and one TD, the first scored against LSU this season. LSU had eight tackles behind the line for minus-41 yards, including four sacks of quarterback Brandon Cox. Defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey made eight tackles with an 11-yard sack and two other tackles for six more yards in losses.

"Even though we came away with a loss, I am pleased with our defense and their efforts throughout the entire game," Dorsey said.

What Happed To McSwain? Why didn't Ole Miss running back Mico McSwain, last year's leading rusher for the Rebs, play in last week's loss at Kentucky?

Apparently, because he dances too much with the ball for offensive coordinator Dan Werner's taste, particularly after McSwain lost 15 yards on a shovel pass (almost impossible to do) against Missouri a couple of weeks ago.

"We want north-and-south runners, and I think he's starting to learn," Werner said of McSwain.

Pegues Pushes Mississippi State: Winless Mississippi State's best offense is punt returner Derek Pegues. He had 173 yards on kick and punt returns in Saturday's loss to Tulane. He ranks first in the SEC in kickoff return average at 38.9 yards an attempt and is second in punt return average at 13.8.

"Pegues gives us some juice as a returner," State coach Sylvester Croom said.

Hard Nutt To Crack: Last Saturday, Arkansas coach Houston Nutt became the third coach in Razorbacks' history to coach 100 games at the school. He picked up his 59th win (against 41 losses) when a last-second gust of win left a Vanderbilt game-winning field goal two yards short.

The other Arkansas coaches with 100 or more games are current athletic director Frank Broyles (144-58-5 in 207 games from 1958-76) and Fred Thomsen (56-61-10 in 127 games from 1929-41). The other 11 SEC schools have had a combined 30 head coaches since Nutt was hired to coach the Razorbacks in December 1997.

"I've seen a lot of different faces," Nutt said. "That shows you how volatile it can be in the SEC. You feel good to still be around."