College Football Poll, SEC Championship Game Preview

THE COACHES
Phillip Fulmer is in his 16th season at Tennessee and overall with a record of 146-44 (.768). The Volunteers’ offensive coordinator is David Cutcliffe and the defensvie coordinator is John Chavis.

Les Miles is in his third season at LSU with a record of 32-6 (.842) and in his 7th season overall with a record of 60-27 (.690). The Tigers’ offensive coordinator is Gary Crowton and the defensive coordinator is Bo Pelini.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR WHEN TENNESSEE HAS THE BALL
Erik Ainge set new career-highs last weekend for passing yards (397) and passing touchdowns (7) during UT’s thrilling four-overtime triumph at Kentucky. Ainge needs just eight more completions to break Peyton Manning’s single-season school record of 287 set in 1997. Arian Foster has 810 yards rushing, 245 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns in his last eight games after rushing for 118 yards and catching nine passes for 98 yards and a score at Kentucky. Lucas Taylor leads the team with 71 catches for 975 yards.

Defensively, S Craig Steltz leads LSU in tackles with 89, five of which have gone for losses. Steltz also leads the SEC in interceptions with 6 to go with 7 pass breakups. He's also recorded one sack, forced two fumbles and recovered a fumble. He's fifth in the league in passes defended with a total of 13. Steltz has been named one of three finalists for the Thorpe Award. Glenn Dorsey has recorded 61 tackles this year despite being constantly double and sometimes triple-teamed on just about every snap. He's also managed to recorded 11.5 tackles for losses, six sacks. He's also batted down four passes and posted four quarterback hurries.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR WHEN LSU HAS THE BALL
Jerod Mayo led the team with a career-high 19 stops at Kentucky, including a sack and a TFL. He has 34 stops in the last two games. Ryan Karl posted 10 stops and Rico McCoy posted nine at Kentucky. Mayo leads the team with 112 tackles, followed by McCoy with 98 and Karl with 80. Eric Berry has 25 tackles and two interceptions in the last three games. He posted 14 stops at Kentucky. Berry has four interceptions and 207 INT return yards this season, which is a single-season school record. Jonathan Hefney is fourth on the team with 78 tackles.

Offensively, the Tigers have scored a school-record 482 points this year, which includes going over the 40-point mark a school-record seven times. LSU is averaging 40.2 points per game. RB Jacob Hester leads the squad with 897 yards rushing and 11 TDs, while QB Matt Flynn has thrown for 2,233 yards and 17 scores. With 7 receptions against Arkansas, LSU WR Early Doucet moved past Dwayne Bowe into fourth place in school history with 158 catches for his career. Despite missing four games this year with an injury, Doucet has still managed to catch 45 passes for 445 yards and four scores.

SPECIAL TEAMS
Daniel Lincoln is second in the SEC in field-goal percentage (21-of-26, .808) and 49-of-50 on PATs through 12 games. Lincoln kicked his career-long 48-yard field goal vs. South Carolina. Dennis Rogan replaced Hefney as the punt returner before the LA-Lafayette game. Rogan averages 11.6 yards per punt return and 30.3 yards per kick return.

LSU junior PK Colt David has kicked his way into the LSU record books as he now holds the school's single-season record for field goals (23) and points (132). With a pair of field goals against Ole Miss, David moved past David Browndyke (19 field goals in 1988) for first place in LSU history for field goals in a season. In addition, David's 11 points against the Rebels allowed him to surpass RB LaBrandon Toefield for points in a season. Toefield held the school mark with 114 points scored during the 2001 season. David's 132 points this year ranks as the second-highest total in SEC history, while his 23 field goals ranks seventh in SEC history.

SERIES/GAME NOTES
Record: UT, 20-6-3 • Last: LSU, 28-24 (2006 at Knoxville)
Tennessee leads the series, 20-6-3... In games played in Knoxville, Tennessee leads, 11-2-1... In games played in Baton Rouge, Tennessee leaads, 8-3-2... The two teams met in the 2001 SEC Championship Game with LSU winning, 31-20... The teams also met in the 1972 Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl with Tennessee winning, 24-17...This marks Tennessee's fifth appearance in the contest while LSU is in the game for the fourth time... The Vols are 2-2 in its previous visits to Atlanta while LSU is 2-1... Tennessee defeated Auburn, 30-29, in 1997 and Miss. State, 24-14, in 1998, while falling to LSU, 31-20, in 2001 and Auburn, 38-28, in 2004... LSU defeated the Vols in 2001 and Georgia, 34-13, in 2003 and fell to Georgia, 34-14, in 2005...Since 1998, Tennessee and LSU have been two of the four winningest teams in the SEC.