I love a good redemption story.

When someone bounces back and dunks on the haters, I like to pretend that I wasn’t one of the haters and I jump back on the bandwagon.

That was the theme of the week in the SEC. Quarterbacks like Jake Bentley, Nick Fitzgerald, Jake Fromm and Terry Wilson were all hearing about how their backups deserved a shot, and what did all of them do? Ball. Out.

So excuse me while I pretend like I wasn’t one of the people calling for their backups.

14. Terry Wilson, Kentucky

You want the good news or the bad news? Let’s start with the good news. Wilson drove Kentucky 81 yards in 1:24 to win in improbable fashion on the road. He threw for more yards than he did in his past 3 games combined, and he completed 71 percent of his passes. He’ll lead a Kentucky team into an SEC East title game against Georgia on Saturday.

What’s the bad news? If not for that borderline pass interference call to set up the walk-off touchdown pass, Wilson ends that game without leading Kentucky on a touchdown drive. That was against a defense that dared him to throw. Call me crazy, but I’m still not sold on Kentucky’s passing game.

13. Ty Storey, Arkansas

In what could have been a bounce-back game coming off the concussion for Storey, turnovers and a brutal defensive performance prevented him from getting his first SEC win. He still put up 31 points and racked up over 260 yards from scrimmage, which was probably a lot more production than Arkansas was getting from the position without him. I still like that Storey can stretch the field and move the chains with his legs. He’ll need his best game of the year to pick up an SEC win against LSU, Mississippi State or Mizzou.

12. Jake Bentley, South Carolina

Redemption week, babbbayyyyyyy. A tip of the cap to Bentley, who heard boos in the midst of a double-digit home deficit to Tennessee. He made several key conversions to help lead a comeback to avoid what would have been a bad home loss. It helps when you have receivers who can make catches like this:

Bentley has to start stronger in games, especially against better defenses like Clemson and Florida. The South Carolina running game finally provided a productive complement, which certainly helped. There’s no reason they can’t continue that in a favorable matchup against Ole Miss.

11. Kyle Shurmur, Vanderbilt

It was the Ke’Shawn Vaughn show in Fayetteville, but Shurmur was efficient in what was easily Vanderbilt’s best offensive performance of the year. He completed north of 65 percent of his passes without an interception for the second consecutive game, which helped him improve his touchdown-interception ratio to 14-5. He’s really developed a nice connection with Jared Pinkney, who has quietly become one of the country’s most productive tight ends. Shurmur has a favorable chance to rise on this list with late-season matchups against Mizzou, Ole Miss and Tennessee.

10. Jarrett Guarantano, Tennessee

I know Guarantano came up empty down the stretch and he couldn’t hold onto a double-digit lead, but I’m not putting that entirely on him. Tennessee’s offensive line struggled and we again saw him take way too many hits. But to his credit, Guarantano kept bouncing back. Excluding the Alabama game that he was knocked out of for an entire half, the sophomore has at least 2 touchdown passes, 0 interceptions and a 62 percent completion rate in his other three most recent SEC games. Considering all 3 were on the road at Georgia, Auburn and South Carolina, that’s not bad at all. Here’s hoping Tennessee’s offensive line can figure things out without Trey Smith and it can keep Guarantano upright.

9. Feleipe Franks, Florida

That game was Franks’ Florida career in a nutshell. We saw the good — the dime to Freddie Swain to start the second half was the best ball I’ve ever seen Franks throw — and we saw the bad. The horrendous interception, the nightmare fumble on his own 1-yard line and the inability to move the ball in obvious passing situations down the stretch hurt. Franks flat out admitted that he needs to play better, which he does. He did at least play better than he did last year against Georgia. The improvement is there, but surely Dan Mullen would like Franks to end his streak of 4 consecutive games with an interception.

8. Jarrett Stidham, Auburn

Something that’s worth remembering with Stidham coming off the bye is how good he was in November last year. Besides being 4-0 with wins over a pair of No. 1-ranked teams, Stidham had an 8-1 touchdown-interception ratio and he completed at least 70 percent of his passes for 200-plus yards in each game. He was efficient (9.4 yards per attempt) and he ran the ball like a true dual-threat quarterback (51 rushing yards a TD against Alabama). Will we see November Stidham again? Auburn fans sure hope so.

7. Nick Fitzgerald, Mississippi State

Fitzgerald with the “HI HATERS” game of the year. Even though Keytaon Thompson did play as Joe Moorhead said he would, it was brief. That’s because Fitzgerald was playing too well to be kept out of that game. He won his third consecutive game against the Aggies, and delivered what was easily his best performance of the year. The guy who didn’t have an SEC touchdown pass threw for 2 scores and passed for more yards than he had in his past 3 games combined. Fitzgerald finally got some help from his receivers, but he also helped himself by keeping his eyes downfield and handling pressure better than he has all year. Moorhead probably let out an “AMEN” when he saw this conversion:

6. Jordan Ta’amu, Ole Miss

With the way the schedule shakes out, I think there’s a chance that Ta’amu throws for 4,000 yards and 30 touchdown passes. In a 12-game season — Ole Miss has that postseason ban — that would be darn impressive. So why isn’t Ta’amu even in the top 5 on this list? In games against quality defenses (Alabama, Auburn and LSU), here are his numbers:

  • 2 TD passes, 3 INTs
  • 6.0 yards per attempt
  • 50 percent passing
  • 13 points per game

I understand not all of that comes back to Ta’amu, but I have a hard time saying he’s elite when the Ole Miss offense goes into a shell against elite competition.

5. Drew Lock, Mizzou

Speaking of guys who can’t get it done against elite competition, Lock again struggled against a quality defense. It’s past the point of this just being “well, he doesn’t have Emanuel Hall.” If a quarterback can’t function without one player, he’s not that great of a quarterback. Great quarterbacks don’t have 8 straight 3-and-outs in the second half. Consider this:

Lock will head into November with just 1 touchdown pass against SEC competition this year. You can make all the excuses for him you want — no Hall, Derek Dooley’s offense, drops, etc. — but this still comes back to the senior signal-caller.

4. Kellen Mond, Texas A&M

Mond moved up because while he was by no means stellar, he wasn’t nearly as bad as Lock on Saturday. Mond didn’t get much help from his receivers, but let’s not forget that he was going against the No. 2 scoring defense in the SEC, and on the road. Here are Mond’s passing numbers against Power 5 competition this year (5 SEC games and Clemson):

  • 8 TD passes, 6 INTs
  • 58 percent accuracy
  • 273 passing yards per game
  • 7.8 yards per attempt
  • 20.3 points per game

There’s some good and some bad there. But for someone who faced 3 of the top 4 scoring defenses in America and 4 of the top 10 if you include Alabama, that’s not bad at all.

3. Joe Burrow, LSU

Again, competition matters. Burrow has found ways to win big-time games against quality opponents (4 wins vs. ranked foes). As I mentioned last week, facing 4 of the top 14 passing defenses in the country ain’t easy. Burrow beat 3 of them. Sure, he got plenty of help from that elite defense, and the ground game was productive, but I think Burrow’s impact goes well beyond the numbers.

LSU has rallied around him because he scrambles to pick up first downs, he fits balls into tight windows on third down and he doesn’t hold LSU back. I think Steve Ensminger opens up the entire bag of tricks against an Alabama secondary that can be had. Let’s see what Burrow can do in the biggest game of his career.

2. Jake Fromm, Georgia

Take a bow, Sir. You earned it. Fromm was brilliant against Florida’s pressure to silence all the Justin Fields talk we heard throughout the bye week. On third down, he had 3 touchdown passes and he averaged 14 yards per attempt. It felt like he was out to remind the world that he was still one of the nation’s best quarterbacks and one bad game wasn’t going to spoil that. I thought the throw to Terry Godwin to provide the dagger touchdown was peak Fromm.

It was an All-American performance from someone who shouldn’t be questioned like he was after LSU. If Fromm puts up some big numbers in November — that’s not a given with stout defenses to end the SEC slate — don’t be surprised if he earns an invite to New York.

1. Tua Tagovailoa, Alabama

So it’s November and here are some things that Tagovailoa has yet to do this year:

  • Throw an interception
  • Attempt a fourth-quarter pass
  • Be held to just 1 TD pass in a game
  • Win by fewer than 3 scores
  • Score fewer than 39 points
  • Face a top-20 passing defense

That last one is going to be brought up a lot this week. Part of why Tagovailoa has yet to face an elite passing defense is his own doing. It’s hard to be elite if you allow a bunch of passing yards to Tagovailoa. While this LSU secondary might not be a top-20 unit statistically speaking, there’s no doubt in my mind that it’s easily the best group Tagovailoa has faced. I’d argue it’s the best back end unit in the country when you consider their play-making ability. It’ll be as good of a matchup as we can ask for this year.

But yeah, Tagovailoa is the best player in America right now.