With a forceful push from Steve Spurrier, the Southeastern Conference came to embrace the five-wide-receiver set, the first-down pass and the allure of wide-open football.

But when the going gets too fancy, the league can always count on hearing from its Caveman Emeritus, Pat Dye.

Dye coached Auburn during a different era -- the Pleistocene -- and coached it well. He lived at the corner of Block & Tackle and hasn't moved. He still rattles around the SEC media circuit on occasion, sounding like a bluntly cranky old-timer who thinks the world has gone irredeemably soft on him.

Putting The Mean In Mean Green

At the American Football Coaches Association's annual convention, conversations usually start with offensive and defensive strategies, then progress to scheduling. That's when Darrell Dickey starts receiving condolences from his peers. "Everyone says how hard their schedule is," the North Texas coach said. "Then they say, 'But I wouldn't trade with you.'" Like many of the lesser Division I lights, the Mean Green must pay athletic department bills by adopting a play-anyone-anywhere-anytime motto. In the season's first month that has meant trips to Texas, Alabama, Texas Christian and Arizona -- combined record: 14-3 -- and just a single home game, against Nicholls State. But a funny thing has happened on the way to Blowout City: North Texas (1-4) has refused to play along. The Mean Green hasn't won any of those games, but it hasn't rolled out the red carpet to the end zone, either. These boys can play some defense. The Longhorns have scored 41 or more points against Tulane, Houston and North Carolina -- but got just 27 against North Texas. The Crimson Tide racked up 33 points -- fewer than it scored against defensive juggernaut Oklahoma. The Horned Frogs were held to a season-low 16 by the Mean Green. Arizona scored just 14 -- seven of it on a blocked field goal return, and zero of it in the second half -- and was outgained by 121 yards. "We're playing teams better than we did in the past," Dickey said. "Defense is the strength of our team, no question." Despite the level of competition, the Mean Green is 19th in the nation in total defense (surrendering 282.4 yards per game) and 28th in scoring defense (18 points per game). No wonder North Texas had three of the first four Defensive Players of the Week in the Sun Belt -- and no wonder it has the highest Sagarin Rating of any Sun Belt team, and No. 82. A front four of Brandon Kennedy, Chris McIver, Adrian Awasom and Darrell Daniels has proven it can control the line of scrimmage and rush the passer, providing the foundation of the defense. Now the Mean Green just needs some offense to go with it. Junior quarterback Scott Hall was injured in the second half of the season opener against Texas and hasn't returned, turning the position over to freshman Andrew Smith. The running game has picked up some momentum with senior Kevin Galbreath, but has been inconsistent. "Our team's a little beat up," Dickey said, ticking off a list of injuries. "We're a little frustrated, and mentally a little drained." But if anyone knows the restorative powers of Sun Belt play, it's North Texas. The Mean Green started off 0-5 last year before finishing strong and earning the league's first bowl bid, even with a 5-6 record. "Whoever comes through the non-conference schedule healthiest and with some momentum has a chance," Dickey said. "In our league, somebody goes on a roll and they have a chance to contend." -- Pat Forde

Which brings us to Georgia at Alabama Saturday.

Quoth the Caveman on an Alabama radio station Monday: "I don't believe Georgia's man enough to beat Alabama."

He said it once about the undefeated, seventh-ranked Bulldogs. Then he said it twice. And he said it a third time.

About the meanest words a football man can say about a team. In triplicate.

"That's a pretty strong statement there," show host Paul Finebaum said.

"I meant it to be strong," Dye responded.

"Alabama is gonna line up and run the football and they're gonna play defense and I don't believe Georgia is man enough to beat that," Dye said, throwing the manhood label in once more, just in case anyone had missed it the first three mentions.

Welcome to the Bulletin Board Bowl.

The actual combatants have hardly said a word. Instead, in quite the plot twist, a third party is extolling the virtues of his old mortal enemy and impugning the masculinity of his alma mater. To hear Pat Dye tell it, this is Vin Diesel vs. RuPaul.

And, yes, they heard about the Caveman's comments over in Athens.

"It created a little buzz," Georgia coach Mark Richt said with a chuckle. "You can't hardly not notice it.

"We got I don't know how many e-mails. People flooded us with that. And then the media picked up on it."

Truth be told, the media is tickled by contentious comments like these, if only because there is some potential candor behind them. Most of the time coaches, ex-coaches and alleged analysts are too busy blandly and disingenuously complimenting one another to actually speak their minds.

The fanciful among us will suggest that Dye is seeking to motivate his old school against his old rival. (And the fanciful are plenty. In the SEC, ulterior motives are ascribed to every act and utterance.)

If so, a man who beat the Tide six times in 12 tries might be sticking it to 'Bama once again. But even in an age where information flows quickly, an Alabama radio interview would hardly seem like the optimum way to send motivational messages to Athens, Ga.

Nevertheless, intentional or not, they got there.

"Wow, that hurts," Bulldogs offensive tackle John Stinchcomb told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "That's a bold statement. That's definitely bulletin-board material. It stings a little bit when you hear you're not man enough. I guess we'll find out Saturday."

That we will. This is indeed the biggest manhood test of the year for the Dogs.

On paper, there's no doubt that Alabama has the advantage in the trenches. Behind a bruising offensive line and a stellar defensive front, the Crimson Tide leads the SEC in rushing offense (248.8. yards per game) and rushing defense (83.4 ypg). First time 'Bama touched the ball from scrimmage last week in thumping Arkansas 30-12, Shaud Williams went 80 yards to score.

"When Shaud busted that run, any nerves I had went away," said redshirt freshman Brodie Croyle, who was making his first college start. (And making it impressively, throwing for 285 yards and two touchdowns.)

Georgia, on the other hand, is fighting a stigma of softness that actually has applied off-and-on for years. The Bulldogs have shown some level of testosterone in 1½ seasons under Mark Richt, winning all five of their SEC games played on the opponent's home field, but there's some manhood missing in the running game.

The Bulldogs are tippy-toeing for 112 rushing yards per game and has just three rushing touchdowns. Tailback Musa Smith has been unspectacular, averaging 89.2 yards per game. It is doing rather well stopping the other guys' rushing attack (90.5 per), but the Caveman is skeptical of the competition.

"Georgia hasn't played anybody close to what Alabama is," Dye said. "... People get all carried away with winning games, winning games ... well, it's nice to win and it's nice to be 4-1 or 5-1 or 4-0 and 5-0 ... I guess Georgia is what? What are they? Four-and-oh?"

Told that they are, Dye resumed: "All right, then it's nice but they haven't played a good football team yet. If they come over and beat Alabama, then they can beat on their chests when they go back to Athens."

If they come over and beat Alabama, the Georgia Bulldogs might beat on their chests before they get home. They might make a pit stop on the way back at Pat Dye's cave for a man-to-man talk.

Around the SEC

Alabama
Coach Dennis Franchione is playing his usual don't-ask-don't-tell game with his starting quarterback. Senior Tyler Watts missed the Tide's 30-12 thumping of Arkansas with a sprained foot and was replaced by redshirt freshman Brodie Croyle, who lived up to years of pre-college hype by throwing for 285 yards on only 12 completions -- against arguably the league's best secondary. But Croyle has no interest in igniting a controversy. "He's the senior and the leader of this team," he said of Watts. "I'm waiting my turn for next year." But Watts didn't practice on Wednesday and even if Watts is healthy, Franchione has said he plans to play Croyle in every game. ... Alabama easily leads the league in time of possession at 34 minutes and 41 seconds per game. That's two minutes more than runnerup Arkansas -- and nearly 10 minutes more than last-place Georgia. If those numbers hold up Saturday, the 'Dogs' defense should be prepared to spend a long time on the field.

Arkansas
The Razorbacks' lame scheduling set them up for failure against Alabama. Arkansas had played only two soft home games prior to the Tide, rolling over South Florida and Boise State. When an opponent arrived that was capable of competing with the Hogs on both sides of the line of scrimmage, Arkansas was grasping for a Plan B. Quarterback Matt Jones was harassed into a 7-for-18 throwing night, producing just 111 yards and two interceptions. Backup Tavaris Jackson was worse, going 1 for 11. ... Nutt had beaten Alabama in both previous meetings in Fayetteville. ... The Tennessee-Arkansas series, which resumes Saturday in Knoxville, has been most memorable in the Nutt Era. In 1998 there was the Clint Stoerner fumble game that allowed the Volunteers to escape with a win -- and, eventually, a national championship; there was Stoerner's retribution game in a 28-24 upset in 1999; there was a 63-20 disaster blowout for the Hogs in 2000; and last year there was the 13-3 Tennessee win in a driving rain. Arkansas is just 2-8 against the Vols since joining the league.

Auburn
The Tigers finally have a week off, after jamming five games into 26 days. "We're pretty much draggin'," coach Tommy Tuberville said. ... Among those draggin' most noticeably is senior quarterback Daniel Cobb, who sprained an ankle during Auburn's wild, double-overtime win over Syracuse. He was replaced by sophomore Jason Campbell, who played well, but Tuberville expects Cobb to be his QB when the Tigers get down to game preparation for Arkansas next week. "We feel like he has the best grasp of what we're doing," Tuberville said. "If he can get back to 100 percent, he'll probably be the guy starting at quarterback the beginning of the week." ... Carnell "Cadillac" Williams almost single-handedly rescued the Tigers from what would have been a bad home loss to a winless team, rolling for a career-high 202 yards on a career-high 40 carries. But Tuberville apparently is no John McKay. (The late USC coach was once asked why he was giving O.J. Simpson the ball 40 times a game. His response: "Why not? It's not heavy. And besides, he doesn't belong to any union.") Tuberville said he'd ideally like to see Williams tote the rock 20-25 times per game.

Florida
The Gators somehow failed to win the SEC Special Teams Player of the Week award. Instead it went to Kentucky kick returner Derek Abney, who ran back a punt and a kickoff for touchdowns against Florida. The Gators also had a punt blocked, dropped a punt snap and had two extra point kicks blocked, in what might be the worst special-teams performance in recorded history. Given the punting travails, coach Ron Zook was asked whether he was holding tryouts to find a new one. "Everyone in Gainesville wants to be our punter," he said with a laugh, but added that he's sticking with junior Sean Morton. ... For good measure, the Gators are last in the league by a long shot in both kickoff returns and net punting. ... Outstanding wide receiver Taylor Jacobs strafed Kentucky last week and continues to lead the league by a wide margin in both receptions per game (7.2) and yardage (129.8). Quarterback Rex Grossman has a slim lead on Ole Miss' Eli Manning (4.3 yards per game) in passing yardage. The two meet this week in the SEC Gunslinger Invitational in Oxford. ... Florida's offensive-line melodrama continues. Guard David Jorgensen, who was pulled after the opening series against Kentucky and had angry words with the coaches on the sidelines. He later sat by himself on the bench and said afterward that he felt "pretty disrespected," but this week said he intends to stay with the team. His replacement was Mo Mitchell, who left the team before the Tennessee game and missed practices afterward because of personal problems.

Georgia
The last unbeaten team in the league goes to a place where it last experienced victory in 1913. The Bulldogs have only played eight times in Tuscaloosa, but nobody alive can remember their 20-0 triumph there before World War I. No wonder coach Mark Richt said yesterday that Georgia had never won there. Might as well have been never. ... Offensive tackle George Foster made an earlier-than-anticipated return to practice this week, after dislocating his wrist in an auto accident before fall practices began. Richt declared him "very, very rusty," but he did not wear a non-contact green jersey.

Kentucky
Kentucky's coaches will be reimbursed after have cash stolen from their dressing room in The Swamp last weekend. Or at least so they've been told. "I haven't seen any of that money yet," Guy Morriss said. "But I'm sure they'll send it." ... Kentucky coaches undoubtedly are pleased they nixed a preseason experiment with having someone other than Abney return kicks. It was a curious thought to begin with, after Abney returned a punt for a touchdown last year and had a kickoff-return TD called back on a penalty. ... Running back Artose Pinner is second in the nation in yards from scrimmage with 765 yards rushing and receiving.

LSU
It's not exactly a rivalry, since the two schools haven't played in 64 years. But Louisiana-Lafayette's visit to Tiger Stadium has caused sufficient buzz in the state, especially for the Ragin' Cajuns. "One of my Cajun friends has called me at least once a week to talk trash about how they are going to beat us," said LSU kicker and Lafayette native John Corbello. "I'm hearing it more and more now. I told him he could stay at my house if we won. If we lost, he was going to have to hitch hike back home." ... LSU linebacker Bradie James is an all-SEC player, but he's not all-SEC at the coin toss. When the Tigers played Mississippi State last week, the Bulldogs won the toss and deferred. James elected to kick, meaning that LSU kicked off both halves. Then again, James is a defensive guy; maybe he just wanted to be on the field more. ... Domanick Davis continues to steal the offensive spotlight from LaBrandon Toefield. The multipurpose back had 128 rushing yards against Mississippi State and leads the league in all-purpose running by 45 yards per game, at 197.2.

Ole Miss
Any chance the Rebels have of upsetting Florida starts with getting pressure on Grossman, and the good news for Ole Miss fans is that the pass rush is improved. The Rebels have a dozen sacks in four games this year, equaling last year's anemic total for the entire season.

Mississippi State
Sitting 0-3 against I-A opponents, with an average defeat margin of 23 points, the Bulldogs are facing a crossroads. But Jackie Sherrill is sounding no alarms. "I don't ever hit the panic button," Sherrill told the Jackson Clarion-Ledger. "That's probably the best thing about me." Others are hitting it for him. ... The Bulldogs started playing more young players during last week's loss to LSU and likely will continue in that direction. Freshman backs Nick Turner and Jerious Norwood saw more action against LSU, although Turner injured his foot in that game. ... The Bulldogs were outrushed 256-88, the kind of stat that should at least tempt Sherrill toward the panic button, given his predilection for the ground game.

South Carolina
Vanderbilt tends to make everyone feel better, and the Gamecocks were no exception last week. The SEC's worst offense ground out 398 yards and controlled the ball in a 20-14 victory, with quarterback Corey Jenkins producing 277 yards of total offense. ... Running back Andrew Pinnock came out of the doghouse long enough to run the ball 17 times for 69 yards against the Commodores. Pinnock didn't carry the ball once the previous week against Temple, after his key fumbles helped cost South Carolina against Georgia. ... NCAA investigators returned to Columbia for further fact-finding in the Derek Watson investigation this week.

Tennessee
NCAA gumshoes also made their way to Knoxville this week, asking questions about repairs made to the SUV driven by former Volunteers quarterback Tee Martin. ... The bad feelings left over from the Florida debacle didn't dissipate too quickly against Rutgers. The abjectly bad Scarlet Knights led the Volunteers 14-7 at halftime in Knoxville before receiver Kelley Washington took over. ... First item of business this week for the Vols is repairing their traditionally powerful running game. They rank a startling 10th in the league, and have nobody averaging even 50 yards per game on the ground -- a dramatic departure for the school of Reggie Cobb, Chuck Webb, Jay Graham, Jamal Lewis, Travis Henry and Travis Stephens, to name just a few. Arkansas coach Houston Nutt is preparing for Tennessee to make that a point of emphasis this week. "We're going in very prepared for the run," Nutt said.

Vanderbilt
Freshman quarterback Jay Cutler, off to a creditable start on the season, was suspended indefinitely this week by coach Bobby Johnson for violating team rules. Cutler was cited by university police for underage consumption of alcohol and evading arrest after he and another person allegedly ripped the handset off an emergency phone on campus early Monday morning. Freshman receiver Grant Brigham also was suspended. After attempting to flee police, the 19-year-old Cutler was forced to the ground and handcuffed, according to police reports. "We set down some rules for the team and we expect everybody to go by them," Johnson told the Nashville Tennessean. "It doesn't matter if you're the starting quarterback or whatever your role is on the team. I'm really disappointed and know both of those guys feel very badly."

Around the Sun Belt Conference
Arkansas State could be the team grabbing the early momentum in the league. The Indians, coming off a 2-9 season a year ago, are 3-3 to date and have won three of their last four under new coach Steve Roberts. Arkansas State has gotten its running game going, rushing for over 200 yards in three of the last four games, and has scored more than 30 points in consecutive games for the first time since 1996. ... Idaho is at least showing improvement. The Vandals' 41-27 loss to Washington was infinitely better than their 53-3 loss in Seattle last year. After playing three ranked teams in the last four weeks, Idaho will gladly take on Montana Saturday and then settle into Sun Belt play after that. ... Louisiana-Lafayette will have two weeks to build off its shocking 34-0 upset of UAB when it heads into Tiger Stadium Saturday to play state heavyweight LSU for the first time in 64 years. Holding onto the football will be key: The Ragin' Cajuns turned it over 16 times in three opening losses, then were a plus-four in the turnover department in thrashing the Blazers. Big weapon for UL-L continues to be receiver Fred Stamps, who three 100-yard receiving games on the year and has 250 yards and two touchdowns in his last two games. ... Louisiana-Monroe also has a long-awaited date with an instate big boy -- and it's at home. The Indians host Tulane in the first-ever meeting between the schools. Interim coach Mike Collins, who took over when Bobby Keasler resigned last month, used an off week last week to open up competition at every position. One position that wouldn't figure to be open under better circumstances is linebacker, where preseason Defensive Player of the Year Maurice Sonnier is out with a broken leg suffered against Arkansas State. Sonnier had surgery last Wednesday and is gone for the season. ... Middle Tennessee is entering must-win territory this week at Arkansas State. The Blue Raiders, expected to make noise this season, followed three competitive losses to SEC opponents with a surprising flop against Southeast Missouri State. Although Middle finally scored points in the first quarter and took its first lead of the season, it came from ahead to lose 24-14 to its former Ohio Valley Conference brethren. The loss snapped an 11-game home winning streak and leaves the Blue Raiders 0-4 for the first time since 1980. ... "It's championship week," New Mexico State coach Tony Samuel said. His team will try to win the Rio Grande title when it hosts nearby cross-border rival UTEP, after a year's hiatus to an ancient series. The Aggies already have beaten New Mexico to get a leg up in the Rio Grande sweepstakes, sort of a civilian's Commander-In-Chief competition. UTEP leads the series 46-32-2, but New Mexico State officials are always glad to see the Miners come to town and bring their fans. The seven largest crowds in Aggie Memorial Stadium history have been against UTEP, including a record of 32,993 in 1998. New Mexico State is hoping to have sophomore quarterback Buck Pierce back at full speed, after missing the entire game against New Mexico and part of the game against Georgia last week with a shoulder injury. Freshman Paul Dombrowski stepped in ably and will see action as well, Samuel said. ... North Texas sees its home turf for just the second time this season Saturday against South Florida, and after that won't see it again until a three-game home stand in November.

Pat Forde covers college football for the Louisville Courier-Journal.