TUSCALOOSA — Senior placekicker Leigh Tiffin is coming off a huge game and going into another one this weekend.

Tiffin scored all of Alabama’s points on four field goals — including 49- and 50-yard kicks — in the 12-10 victory over Tennessee.

He is climbing school and SEC career kicking marks this season. Tiffin trails only Philip Doyle on Alabama’s career points scored list. He is at 337, and Doyle recorded 345.

Tiffin is No. 7 in SEC points scored by kicking (337). He trails Doyle (339), Georgia’s Kevin Butler (353), LSU’s Colt David (363), Florida’s Jeff Chandler (368), Tennessee’s Jeff Hall (371) and Georgia’s Billy Bennett (409).

Note the difference in Alabama’s points total from the SEC’s points scored by kicking? Doyle scored a touchdown on a fake field goal.

Tiffin is also five field goals away from Doyle’s Alabama record of 78 set from 1987-90.

The success is noteworthy since Tiffin considers Bryant-Denny Stadium among the most difficult places to kick.

“A lot of the smaller stadiums don’t mess with the wind currents that much,” Tiffin said after the Tennessee game. “Some of the bigger ones like Neyland Stadium can be tricky. For whatever reason, ours is one of the ones that’s hard to tell what the wind is doing. You can’t look at the flag. The wind changes a lot.”

Tiffin and holder and punter P.J. Fitzgerald both felt satisfaction in the field goals after they were singled out by South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier. Spurrier alerted the SEC that Fitzgerald was using white tape to mark the placement of the ball for Tiffin — which is a violation.

“My jaw just dropped,” Fitzgerald said when he found out about the controversy. “At least I know (Spurrier) is paying attention to detail. ... We weren’t the only ones (using the tape).”

Poll push: Alabama is No. 3 in the Associated Press and BCS polls this week. The Crimson Tide was No. 1 in the AP two weeks ago, but fell to No. 2 after struggling past the Vols 12-10. They dipped to No. 3 after the bye week.

Senior left guard Mike Johnson said he doesn’t feel disrespected by the trend.

“When you look at a poll, it’s not like it’s the final round,” Johnson said. “We’ve got a lot more games ahead of us.

“The great thing about playing in the SEC, if we keep winning games and keep doing our thing we’ll be there at the end of the season. It’s nothing to worry about. Just focus on getting better.”

Tough Bengals: LSU’s defense has gotten better after an inconsistent first month. The Tigers haven’t given up more than 13 points in a game the last five games. They also recorded a 42-0 shutout at Tulane last week.

Defensive coordinator John Chavis, who was a longtime coordinator of Tennessee’s defense, has turned the Tigers around very quickly.

“They do what he does, and he is a very good coach,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said. “He was a great coach at Tennessee for a long time, and one of the best defensive coordinators in the SEC, in terms of full body of work over a period of time.”

Saban noted LSU’s improvement in nearly every statistical category.

Tuesday’s practice: Alabama linebacker Cory Reamer said practice Tuesday afternoon was intense.

“Yeah, you can definitely tell everybody’s got their legs back underneath them,” Reamer said after the two-hour workout in full pads. “We came out (Monday) after a weekend off, the first day back, there wasn’t as much pop in the pads as you’d like to have. ...

“Today was a lot better. It’s definitely a nice thing to have, three days off. You get a little rest in your body.”

Arenas recognized: Crimson Tide senior cornerback Javier Arenas is one of 12 semifinalists for the Jim Thorpe Award, given annually to the nation’s best collegiate defensive back.

Arenas is coming off a career-best 13-tackle performance against Tennessee. That included seven solo tackles and 3 1/2 tackles for loss totaling 21 yards.

The other semifinalists include Eric Berry, Jr., Tennessee; Barry Church, Sr., Toledo; Perrish Cox, Sr., Oklahoma State; Joe Haden, Jr., Florida; Brandon Harris, So., Miami (Fla.); Taylor Mays, Sr., USC; Tyler Sash, So., Iowa; Darrell Stuckey, Sr., Kansas; Earl Thomas, So., Texas; Alterraun Verner, Sr., UCLA; and Kyle Wilson, Sr., Boise State.

The list will be narrowed to three finalists on Nov. 23. Those players will be invited to the Home Depot ESPNU College Football Awards Show on Dec. 10.