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Last season, Mississippi State's coach complained about a no-call during his team's 29-19 loss to Florida in Starkville. Gators linebacker Dustin Doe appeared to fumble the ball just before crossing the goal line, but he was awarded a crucial touchdown.
"I don't know why we even have replay right now in the Southeastern Conference if they are not going to utilize it," Mullen said on a teleconference the day after that game.
Prior to the MSU-Florida game, an officiating crew was suspended after questionable calls in the LSU-Georgia and Arkansas-Florida games.
A few days after Mullen's remarks, spurred by the complaints of coaches involved in those games, the SEC announced it would crack down on public criticism of its officials with fines or suspensions instead of mere reprimands.
Rogers Redding, the SEC's coordinator of football officials, said at Media Days on Thursday that coaches have a better avenue of communication regarding officials than blasting them publicly. Coaches who have questions about certain plays can submit tape to the league office.
"We ask the coaches to grade the officials each game, that sort of thing," Redding said. "We certainly take that into account. We fold that into our evaluation of the officials.
"What the coaches say publicly, I don't get into that."
Several other BCS conferences are going to HD replay this year. The SEC will provide its schools with the monitors.
Redding is sure it will help, given the sharper, clearer images provided by the HD format, but he isn't sure to what degree.
"It's hard to know. We don't have any experience with it," he said. "I could probably name maybe two plays last year where with high-definition we may have been able to come to a different (conclusion)."
He then said that there was one call last season that could have been overturned with an HD viewing, but he declined to get specific.
Mullen, back in Starkville after addressing the media Wednesday, had only this to say about HD replay, via a team spokesman: "Sounds great."
Spurrier: Time to win big
- Steve Spurrier figures it's about time South Carolina do some big winning.
The 65-year-old Gamecocks coach thinks he has the tools to challenge for the Eastern Division title.
Florida has ruled the East under Urban Meyer, winning three division titles in five years, including the last two.
"I think we got the best group of athletes since we've been there. I know they have the best attitudes," said Spurrier, who's 35-28 in Columbia. "Their work habits and so forth have been excellent. Now we need to get past seven wins. We need to win big at South Carolina."
Unexpected bonus
- While Spurrier wants bigger things in the postseason, his school has recognized the off-field accomplishments of his players.
"I never thought I'd get a bigger bonus for our guys graduating than I did for the bowl game, but that's what I did this year," he said. "I got a bigger bonus for our APR improvement and our graduation and so forth."
McAllister takes on TV duties
- Ole Miss career rushing leader Deuce McAllister will be back in the college game this fall as a member of the media.
McAllister will do a weekly show with Fox Sport South which will look ahead to the weekend's big matchups. On Saturday's he'll do a pre-game tailgate show for CBS.
He is hopeful that his work will lead to live game coverage.
"We're working on that," he said.
A first-round pick of the Saints, McAllister played eight seasons in New Orleans, rushing for 6,096 yards and 49 touchdowns.
He has been active in other business pursuits and is glad to have a foot in the door in television.
"I feel pretty good about it. You have to be on top of the preparation on a weekly basis, but I feel pretty good about it, because I've kept up with it even when I've been away from it this long," McAllister said.
Arkansas receivers snubbed
- Find any quarterback with big numbers, and the receivers are sure to follow.
For all the attention Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett has received, his receivers appear to be flying under the radar. Not single one gained any mention on the coaches preseason All-SEC team. The media's All-SEC team will be released today.
"I know our receivers will take it personal," Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino said. "They're very motivated, and they think they're a good group."
The Razorbacks return three players with at least 30 catches.
Wideouts Greg Childs and Jarius Wright had 48 and 41 respectively. Tight end D.J. Williams had 32. Those three players combined for 15 touchdown catches.
The coaches picked Georgia's A.J. Green and Alabama's Julio Jones in the first two spots, South Carolina's Alshon Jeffery and Auburn's Darvin Adams in the next two. They made no honorable mentions.
Jones had 43 catches, but his four touchdown receptions would have left him fourth on the team at Arkansas.
"There are always guys on your team or others that you think, 'How did that guy not make it,'" Petrino said. "The fact of the matter is that when you have that many good players in a conference, you never know how the voting is going to go."
Scaling back the punter
- Most coaches want to see their player surpass their production from the previous season.
That's not the case with Georgia's Mark Richt. At least not with his punter.
Drew Butler, a 6-2, 203-pound junior from Duluth, Ga., won the Ray Guy Award given to the nation's best punter.
He led the SEC last year with a 48.1-yard average and was named All-American by six different outlets.
But Richt has a theory about Butler's success.
"My guess is this year he won't have quite the average, because I think - and I hope - that this year he'll be punting with less grass in front of him. I think his focus is going to be more on directional kicking and trying to pin people deep. I hope he'll be punting a lot less," Richt said.
How much action Butler gets may depend on the development of Georgia's starting quarterback, redshirt freshman Aaron Murray.
A decorated prep player from Tampa, Fla., Murray was a mid-year enrollee and has been through two springs and a regular season.
"He understands our system well. We have to not be enamored with that and expect him to answer the question so well when he's on the field. We have to remember to go at his pace, and if we do, we'll be OK."
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