Let’s take a quick tour of the SEC to see what the head coaches were talking about on Saturday following their Week 9 games:

BRET BIELEMA, ARKANSAS

On keeping his guys focused for blowout win against UT-Martin: “I was really proud of the way our guys handled the preparation. Playing a non-SEC school and playing an FCS opponent, everybody is going to take you down that path, but I was just really proud of the way they focused on the preparation.”

GUS MALZAHN, AUBURN

On reasons for losing 27-19 to Ole Miss: “I’m proud of our guys, but obviously we are disappointed. We had trouble running the football, and that was a big factor in the game, too. But really what stands out to me is the 2-for-15 on third downs, and you aren’t going to beat that many people when you go 2-for-15 on third downs. Coming into this game, we were either at the top or one of the top in the league on third downs, and I thought that was a huge factor in the game. ”

JIM MCELWAIN, FLORIDA

On why he thinks this team was capable of earning an SEC East title: “Because I don’t expect to lose, and I think we should never come into an event thinking we are going to come in second. One thing you learn real quick in this business is that there are no participation medals. Doesn’t matter who we play, we go in with the mindset that we are going to put a plan together and do whatever it takes to win the football game. You know we slipped up in that one a couple weeks ago and gave up some big plays. Learn from it and we just got to keep moving forward. So, you ask if I am surprised, I am not. It is just how we are built, and every competitive guy in our team is competitive. It’s not about thinking about going to the championships. It’s about what we do right now to get better because a championship will never come if we don’t take care of the now.”

MARK RICHT, GEORGIA

On starting Faton Bauta at QB in 27-3 loss to Florida: “It goes way back to camp to just how close the competition was, and the fact that you’re wondering if Faton should’ve been the choice somewhere along the way. We gave Greyson (Lambert) an opportunity, and we told him to hang loose. Same thing with Brice (Ramsey). We felt like Faton performed well enough to get the nod, and that’s what we did.”

MARK STOOPS, KENTUCKY

On blowout loss at home to Tennessee: “It’s not acceptable. It’s not okay. And not very pleased. There are a lot of things that we need to do better that we will. It starts with me. I’ve got to do a better job of getting the team prepared, our coaches prepared, and not a very good effort. Give them credit. They beat our butts in all phases. They were much more physical than us. And we’ve got to play with a lot stronger attitude and mentality than that.”

HUGH FREEZE, OLE MISS

On what he said to WR Laquon Treadwell prior to the Rebels’ 27-19 win at Auburn: “This game is about us getting closer to winning the SEC West. It (Treadwell’s injury) happened against Auburn at home last year. I don’t know why people are making it out to be a big thing. It was a freak accident. They didn’t try to do it to him on purpose. If you get caught up thinking about that, what are you going to think about the next game and when it’s time to play? He told me ‘Coach, I’m not worried about that. I just want to play.’”

SHAWN ELLIOTT, SOUTH CAROLINA

On the Gamecocks’ 35-28 loss at Texas A&M: “This was a tough loss to a good Texas A&M team, when you reflect on that game from just walking out of the locker room, I think the team made improvements. They played with great effort. We need to make a few more plays offensively. Our defense gave us an opportunity to take it down the field. I told the team that if we did get it down there and score the touchdown, we were going to go for two and go for the win. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out for us. We just didn’t get the job done.”

BUTCH JONES, TENNESSEE

On his team’s performance in 52-21 win at Kentucky: ““I thought it was a very complete game. We challenged our football team all week long. This has to be a game of complementary football. We had to play complementary football and really complement each other in all three phases: offense, defense and special teams. We were able to do it. I thought our team showed some maturity on the road.”

KEVIN SUMLIN, TEXAS A&M

On pushing the tempo with QB Kyler Murray in a 35-28 win against South Carolina: “We ran close to 50 plays in the first half, so our tempo was a lot higher. Kyler Murray is comfortable in that setting. The coaching point was ‘be quick, but not in a hurry.’ He was able to communicate with our players and he did a great job communicating with us coaches during the game. The biggest thing for him was not forcing it but letting the game come to him. Once he settled down and actually began to read things out, he was effective.”

DEREK MASON, VANDERBILT

On playing well defensively and struggling offensively: “When you lose you lose, whether its 3-0 or 34-0, I hate losing. I always have, and I always will. The thing that we have to do is balance this out because right now there is an imbalance in terms of production. We will look at it, we will continue to get better and we will clean up the phases that we need to clean up.”