I Hate You, John Crist: Don't make excuses, Mississippi State fans

Looking at the SEC schedule for Week 12, there’s not a lot to be excited about heading into the Saturday before Thanksgiving.

If not for Florida-LSU, which is only being played this week in Baton Rouge due to a postponement forced by Hurricane Matthew, there really wouldn’t be a game of note. Austin Peay-Kentucky doesn’t move the needle all that much.

Another sore spot right now for the best conference in America is the lack of interesting races in the East and West divisions. While the Gators currently hold a narrow lead over Tennessee in the East, neither appears to be a legitimate contender. As for the West, Alabama has already wrapped up a return trip to Atlanta.

Fortunately, there is never a shortage of debate topics in this league. While there wasn’t a major talking point dominating the conversation in the comments section, fans of every program — well, maybe not Missouri — still had plenty to say.

Here are some of my favorite comments from this past week. Regardless of what our first commenter may think, no controlled substances were involved.

In my weekly SEC quarterback rankings, which are getting increasingly tougher to do, I did indeed have Auburn’s Sean White at No. 6.

The previous week, he was at No. 3. Following his atrocious performance in a 13-7 loss to Georgia, when he was 6-of-20 for 27 yards and no touchdowns and an interception that resulted in a pick-six, I moved him down three spots.

Do I think White is some sort of great QB? No, I don’t. But look at the rest of the list. From 6-14, there really isn’t anybody that deserves to be ahead of him at this point. Most of the season, White has been the top-rated passer in the conference — an admittedly watered-down conference when it comes to throwing the ball, for sure.

Still, who deserves to be higher than White right now? Nick Fitzgerald? Austin Appleby? Drew Lock? Keep in mind that White clearly played hurt this past Saturday, which is why he won’t see the field at all in Week 12.

It’s an awful year at the game’s most important position in this league. About half of them are equally bad by any reasonable measure.

When I put together my All-Freshman Team for coach Nick Saban at Alabama, some pretty good players were left on the cutting-room floor.

Cornerback was one of the hardest positions for me, as there were more qualified candidates than open spots to fill. Dee Milliner seemed like the one no-brainer. He had a terrific freshman campaign and was recognized accordingly.

Credit: Marvin Gentry-USA TODAY Sports

It came down to Humphrey (above) vs. Fitzpatrick, who started opposite each other in 2015 for a club that won the national championship. True, their stats were rather similar across the board. Even if Fitzpatrick balled out in that Texas A&M game, I’m of the opinion that Humphrey was the more consistent defender from week to week.

Additionally, Humphrey was selected as a Freshman All-American by the Football Writers Association of America. I’m a member of the FWAA, so I took that into consideration. Ultimately, it ended up being the tiebreaker between the two.

If you thought corner was tough, look at receiver. There’s only room for two. How do you leave out Julio Jones, Amari Cooper or Calvin Ridley?

When I revisited my preseason predictions for the last-place finishers in the East and West, it was sort of a mea culpa to South Carolina fans.

However, it also doubled as an “I told you so” to Mississippi State readers. As you might assume, those two fan bases have given me a hard time all season long for having such meager expectations for their respective programs.

While USC fans were appreciative that I gave the Gamecocks some well-deserved credit, Bulldogs fans refused to admit that I was indeed right. Don’t be that guy. Every team in the country could play the “what if?” game. It doesn’t matter that you got a bad break here or an unlucky bounce there. You are what your record says you are.

Also, any argument suggesting that Fitzgerald is even remotely on the same trajectory as Dak Prescott is ridiculous. They both have/had Fred Ross and very little else. Prescott made it work. Fitzgerald, more often than not, hasn’t.

Should we reserve judgment on Fitzgerald until we’ve seen the totality of his career? Perhaps. But I’m pretty comfortable with my belief that he’s a below-average passer at best.

Just like the College Football Playoff committee, my Top 4 heading into Week 12 is Alabama, Ohio State, Michigan and Clemson.

The previous week, then-Nos. 2-4 all lost and created even more of what makes this sport so great: chaos. But while Clemson and Michigan remain in the Top 4 after their losses, Washington was dumped to No. 6.

I don’t think it has anything to do with Washington’s defeat to USC being less egregious than Clemson falling to Pittsburgh at home or Michigan getting beat at Iowa. To me, it’s more about the entire résumé. The Huskies have only beaten No. 12 Utah and No. 24 Stanford in what has been a down year for the Pac-12.

Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports

Clemson has defeated No. 5 Louisville — that’ll change after Thursday’s loss, obviously — and No. 17 Florida State in the top-heavy ACC. Michigan has upended No. 7 Penn State and No. 8 Wisconsin in the deep-and-dangerous Big Ten.

Because chaos tends to invite more chaos, I believe a one-loss Washington that wins the Pac-12 still has an excellent chance to make the playoff.

Even as a card-carrying Seminole, Callaway is one of my favorite players in the league. He’s always a threat to score.

That being said, his numbers are fairly pedestrian this season. Callaway has been credited with just 35 catches for 533 yards and 2 touchdowns. As a matter of fact, he hasn’t reeled in a TD grab since Kentucky in Week 2.

In the three games Austin Appleby has started under center for Florida, Callaway has averaged 72.6 yards receiving and hasn’t gotten anywhere near the end zone. That figure is inflated to some degree, too. In the first half against Tennessee, he had 134 yards. But in the second half, after the Vols had adjusted to Appleby, Callaway didn’t catch a thing.

He’s also been terrible in the return game. His punt-return average from 2015 (15.5 yards) was more than double what it is for 2016 (7.6). He curiously keeps fielding punts inside his own 10-yard line, which is a no-no you learn in junior high.

It would surprise me if Callaway proved to be the difference against LSU. He’s a special player, but recent history is working against him.

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.