The Hangover: Nuggets and tidbits from Week 8 in the SEC

There were only three matchups between Top 25 teams Saturday, and all three were in college football’s best division: the SEC West.

No. 1 Alabama was dominant again in a win over No. 6 Texas A&M in Tuscaloosa. No. 21 Auburn overwhelmed No. 17 Arkansas on The Plains. No. 25 LSU continued its transformation by defeating No. 23 Ole Miss at Death Valley.

It was almost as if the East didn’t exist. Florida had a bye. So did Georgia. Tennessee, too. South Carolina needed to hold on late to survive UMass. Mizzou couldn’t keep up with Middle Tennessee. At least Vanderbilt took care of Tennessee State and won back-to-back games for the first time under coach Derek Mason.

That being said, the East — the red-headed stepchild of the two divisions by now — finally notched a victory over the West for the first time this season when Kentucky upended Mississippi State on a last-second field goal.

Program by program, here are some of the more memorable nuggets and tidbits that I scribbled into my Week 8 notebook.

#RollTide

Jalen Hurts is the most athletic quarterback that Alabama coach Nick Saban has fielded. The game plan has adjusted accordingly.

The Crimson Tide are essentially a hurry-up, spread-option offense now, as Hurts is almost always in the shotgun and practically never huddles. ‘Bama has also added more run/pass options to the play sheet on a weekly basis.

Despite being a true freshman not even a year removed from high school, Hurts seemingly never makes the wrong decision on option plays. If the defensive end stays home, Hurts hands the ball to his back up the middle with a numbers advantage. If said D-end crashes inside, Hurts keeps it himself and gets to the edge.

A third option was on display in the 33-14 win over Texas A&M. Instead of handing it off or tucking it, Hurts (above) threw quick flares into the flat. His 4-yard touchdown pass to receiver Calvin Ridley came on such a decision.

Tight end O.J. Howard caught a career-high 8 passes against the Aggies, and about half of them were on that particular RPO.

#WoooPig

Arkansas came into its showdown with Auburn having surrendered the most rushing touchdowns (18) in the SEC.

That figure is now all the way up to 25, as the Tigers ran it 57 times for 543 yards and 7 TDs in a 56-3 beatdown at Jordan-Hare Stadium. The Razorbacks allowed six players to post a run of 11 yards or longer.

Even more alarming for the Hogs, of those 57 rushing attempts, not once was Auburn stopped behind the line of scrimmage. Even with quarterback Sean White throwing just 11 passes from start to finish, Arkansas defenders had no answers for a Tigers offense that ran over, around and away from them all night long.

Sure, linebacker Dre Greenlaw was recently lost for the season due to injury. But there were 11 holes on defense in Week 8, not just one.

#WarEagle

Roc Thomas transferred. Jovon Robinson got kicked off the team. Then Kerryon Johnson came up lame with an injury.

Auburn was supposed to be thin at the tailback position, but somebody forgot to tell Kamryn Pettway. The 6-foot, 240-pounder was a battering ram, running 27 times for 192 yards and 2 touchdowns. In his past two games, which coincides with Johnson’s injury, Pettway has 66 carries for 361 yards and 5 TDs.

He had a 29-yard run against Mississippi State two weeks ago and a 27-yarder Saturday, but most of his damage is done 3, 5 and 7 yards at a time.

#bbn

Kentucky pulled out a 40-38 win at home vs. Mississippi State, kicking a 51-yard field goal on the last play of regulation.

The game-winning drive was far from a thing of beauty, though. Taking over at their own 21-yard line with 1:02 to play, the Wildcats managed the clock poorly. Eventually, they only had 9 seconds left a yard shy of the 50.

Quarterback Stephen Johnson connected over the middle with receiver Jeff Badet, who had the presence of mind to immediately hit the deck at the Bulldogs’ 33. Making the catch between the hash marks with 3 seconds to play, a lot of wideouts would have tried to make it to the sideline and expired the remaining time.

The play gave kicker Austin MacGinnis his chance to be a hero. Prior to the kick, Badet was the only ‘Cat with his head screwed on straight.

#geauxtigers

Even though he’s missed three games this year due to injury, LSU running back Leonard Fournette still has a chance at the Heisman Trophy.

Playing for the first time since Sept. 24, Fournette set a school record with 284 yards on only 16 carries in a 38-21 win over visiting Ole Miss. He dazzled the Tiger Stadium crowd with touchdown runs of 59, 76 and 78 yards.

While his season totals (83-670-5) are lagging behind since he’s spent so much time in street clothes, Fournette has run for at least 101 yards in each of the four games he’s suited up for in 2016. He showed no ill effects from his ankle issues, either. The Rebels had no answers for his blend of power, speed and vision.

The Tigers have four tilts left in the regular season: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida and Texas A&M. No player in the Heisman conversation has such a difficult road the rest of the way, so Fournette will have the attention of voters.

If Fournette runs wild on the Crimson Tide in two weeks, don’t hand the trophy to Louisville quarterback Lamar Jackson just yet.

#hottytoddy

After giving up 180 yards on the ground a week ago to Rawleigh Williams III of Arkansas, Fournette gashed Ole Miss even worse.

The Rebels came into Baton Rouge with the 12th-ranked rushing defense in the league, and it showed. In addition to Fournette’s career day, backup Derrius Guice added 16 carries for 57 yards and a TD.

True, time of possession isn’t as important of a statistic as it was years ago, not with quick-strike offenses like Mississippi’s moving the ball at such a frenetic pace. But the Tigers maintained possession for 32:13 compared to the Rebs’ 27:47. The disparity wasn’t greater because Fournette (above) kept hitting home runs.

It’s no mystery why Ole Miss can’t keep up in the second half. Its defense is gassed from being on the field too much.

#hailstate

Mississippi State was awful defensively for large stretches of its loss to the Wildcats, who are anything but an offensive juggernaut.

Johnson, an injury replacement for Drew Barker, had averaged 91 yards passing with no scores in his previous three starts, yet the Bulldogs let him throw for 292 and a pair of touchdowns. UK’s ground game, a middle-of-the-pack unit in the SEC, got 128 yards from Benjamin Snell Jr. and another 99 from Stanley “Boom” Williams.

The Bulldogs have two wins. They came over South Carolina and UMass. Both entered Week 8 ranked 120th or worse in total offense.

#mizzou

In a defense-optional affair, Missouri lost at home 51-45 to Middle Tennessee in a game that featured 1,213 yards of total offense.

The Tigers actually outgained the Blue Raiders 629-584, but yardage totals don’t mean much when you continue to have unforced errors. While Mizzou turned it over twice, Middle Tennessee took perfect care of the pigskin.

Tigers quarterback Drew Lock lost a fumble scrambling to his left, as he got careless with the ball and let it slip out of his throwing hand. Receiver J’Mon Moore also coughed it up after a catch deep in Blue Raider territory. A special-teams gaffe led to a Middle Tennessee touchdown on the very next play.

First-year coach Barry Odom is going through some growing pains right now. His team simply doesn’t play with any discipline.

#spursup

South Carolina broke a three-game losing streak with a 34-28 victory at home over a UMass squad that’s now 1-7.

Yes, Jake Bentley made his first career start at QB and went 17-of-26 for 201 yards with 2 TDs and 0 INTs. What did we really learn, though? The Minutemen have the 110th-ranked defense in FBS, so don’t buy a No. 4 jersey just yet.

Chances are, Perry Orth or Brandon McIlwain would have been equally successful, if not more so. It’s understandable that the Gamecocks want to move on from Orth, as he’s a senior and not a part of this program’s future. McIlwain, on the other hand, was supposedly the crown jewel of February’s recruiting class.

Remember, McIlwain was also a blue-chip baseball prospect and perhaps could have been a first-round draft pick had he not stuck with football. He didn’t come to Columbia to be a short-yardage and goal-to-go gimmick.

If Bentley carves up Tennessee next week, fine. But if he struggles, then the UMass win answered no questions under center.

#gigem

The Aggies learned the same lesson that too many teams before them already have: Nobody runs consistently on Alabama.

Texas A&M arrived in Tuscaloosa with the No. 1 rushing offense in the conference at 274 yards per game. It couldn’t even get half that much against the Crimson Tide, stuffed to the tune of 114 yards on 38 attempts.

Fabulous freshman tailback Trayveon Williams, who was transcendent with 217 yards and a score on 28 carries two weeks ago against Tennessee, was a non-factor: 9 rushes, 23 yards, 0 TDs. A&M opted for the bigger and stronger Keith Ford, but he was contained, too. All things considered, his average of 4.1 yards per try wasn’t bad.

Even quarterback Trevor Knight, the SEC’s leading scorer through eight weeks with 9 touchdowns on the ground, only had one run of note.

#anchordown

It took an FCS opponent, but Vanderbilt evened its record to 4-4 Saturday with a 35-17 win over visiting Tennessee State.

The Commodores ran the ball productively against the Tigers, as tailback Ralph Webb logged his fourth 100-yard game of the season and only needed 9 carries to do so. Additionally, converted linebacker Khari Blasingame hit triple digits for the first time in his career and seems to have a knack for the position.

Very quietly, the diminutive Webb (above) and the enormous Blasingame have become one of the better one-two punches in the league.

Sweet Tweet

Lining up at fullback, Fournette raced into the left flat uncovered and caught a short pass from LSU quarterback Danny Etling. Building up a head of steam down the sideline, the best ball carrier in America only had one thing in mind when he saw Ole Miss safety Deontay Anderson, and it wasn’t dipping out of bounds.

If that kid that Leonard Fournette just hit never wants to play football again, I would not fault him for that decision. #LSU

— Peter Burns (@PeterBurnsESPN) October 23, 2016

Fournette lowered his shoulder and just about committed a felony. Anderson, a poor true freshman, can now be found on endless GIFs and Vines all over the internet. If this is his 15 minute of fame, it’s quite dubious.

Sweet Stat

Arkansas quarterback Austin Allen had thrown at least 2 touchdown passes in all seven starts this year. But facing Auburn, not only did he fail to record a TD through the air, but he didn’t get the Hogs into the end zone at all.

The Tigers have allowed just 6 scoring passes in seven games despite facing the likes of Allen, Knight and Clemson’s Deshaun Watson.

Sweet Quote

“The first time, the play before, I got cut. I was planning on doing it the first time, so I knew the second time it was going to happen. It was just a leap of faith, and I am glad it worked out.”

— Alabama DE Jonathan Allen on going full Superman to sack Texas A&M QB Trevor Knight

Pick Six

• South Carolina continues to have problems in the return game. Cornerback Chris Lammons got his turn Saturday, but he fumbled away a punt in Gamecocks territory. Fortunately for Lammons, he intercepted UMass quarterback Andrew Ford a few snaps later to make up for the mistake.
• Remarkably healthy for most of the season, Alabama will now have to go the rest of the way without standout safety Eddie Jackson, who broke his leg. A big-play artist on defense and special teams as well with three return touchdowns in 2016, he was also the unquestioned leader of a secondary that’s still relatively young.
• Texas A&M receiver Christian Kirk leads the SEC with 49 receptions, although he’s averaging a fullback-like 8.4 yards per catch. While he reeled in 9 passes against the Crimson Tide, he totaled only 58 yards. Unable to wiggle free this year, he’s averaged 8.3 yards per grab or less in five of seven games.
• It’s safe to say that Ole Miss quarterback Chad Kelly might be questioning his decision to return to Oxford for his senior campaign. Not only are the Rebels 3-4, but Kelly is perhaps hurting his draft stock more than helping it. Scouts wanted fewer turnovers and better mechanics, but they’re not seeing either.
• The lone unranked team in the West coming into Week 8, Mississippi State solidified itself as the cellar dweller. Now 2-5, the Bulldogs still have to face Texas A&M, Alabama, Arkansas and then Ole Miss in the Egg Bowl. The toughest division in the country is even tougher with a post-Dak Prescott roster.
• Six players ran the rock for Auburn against Arkansas: running backs Pettway and Kam Martin, receivers Eli Stove and Stanton Truitt and quarterbacks Sean White and John Franklin III. They averaged 7.1, 11.4, 31.3, 9.8, 15.3 and 5.6 yards per attempt, respectively.

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John Crist is the senior writer for Saturday Down South, a member of the FWAA and a voter for the Heisman Trophy. Send him an e-mail, like him on Facebook or follow him on Twitter.