10 things I’m absolutely overreacting to after Week 3 in the SEC
By Chris Wright
Published:
It was a rough week for AP voters.
It wasn’t much better for SEC haters, Vols fans, DJ Lagway, Dabo Swinney or Nico Iamaleava, either.
Those are some of the 10 things I’m absolutely overreacting to after Week 3 in and around the SEC.
10. It’s still Kirby’s world …
For 59 minutes and 57 seconds Saturday, Tennessee had its way with Georgia.
For the 9th consecutive year, it wasn’t enough.
Tennessee did almost everything right … and it still wasn’t enough.
The Joey Football Heisman Campaign was in 6th gear … until it ran out of gas and needed Sea Tow on the Tennessee River.
How did Georgia win? Everybody else is asking: How did Tennessee lose? Don’t blame the Vols. Don’t blame the kicker. Tennessee didn’t blow it, but how in the world did Georgia win?
The only time Georgia’s defense looked like a vintage Kirby Smart defense was the only time it mattered — on the Vols’ opening possession of overtime in what likely will be college football’s Game of the Year.
After surrendering 38 points, 371 passing yards and 4 passing TDs in regulation, the Dawgs stuffed Tennessee on the first 3 plays of OT and forced the Vols to settle for 3.
41-38 Tennessee quickly turned into … oh, what could have been.
Big picture? Both teams are Playoff-bound. Just like last year.
Narrowing the focus? As much as I like LSU’s oh-so legitimate chance to win the SEC, Saturday night in Knoxville proved it’s still the Dawgs’ world.
9. Actually, it’s the SEC’s world … thanks to Texas A&M
Last week, I wrote that everybody was sleeping on Texas A&M, but that would change in Week 3 after the Aggies knocked off Notre Dame and ended the Irish’s Playoff hopes.
Mission accomplished … and how.
On 4th-and-goal from the Irish 12, Marcel Reed tossed a game-winner to tight end Nate Boerkircher with 13 seconds left to stun the Irish 41-40.
Reed threw for 360 yards and 2 TDs. The terrific transfer tandem of Mario Craver (7 catches, 207 yards, 1 TD) and KC Concepcion (4 catches, 82 yards) was unstoppable. The Aggies’ defense tightened just enough to allow the offense time to erase a 24-14 deficit.
Texas A&M still has an incredibly difficult path to reach the Playoff, maybe the most difficult in America, but the Aggies also might have enough firepower to pull it off.
Saturday night, A&M created wiggle room, too, and further proof after another signature nonconference victory that the SEC — and only the SEC — deserves to have 5 teams in the Playoff.
8. Nick Saban Knows Defense, Part 1 Trillion …
During College GameDay, Nick Saban didn’t just say what was about to happen to Florida QB DJ Lagway later Saturday night at LSU, he broke it down with such precision and quickness that he left Kirk Herbstreit gasping for air, trying to call timeout so viewers at home might have a chance to understand the mad genius at work.
Saban, pointer in hand, was breaking down film of LSU’s multi-look defense and all of the ways DC Blake Baker disguises coverages and concepts to trick quarterbacks into seeing opportunities that simply don’t exist.
It was fascinating TV, a glimpse into what it must have been like to be Minkah Fitzpatrick in one of Alabama’s film studies.
It was also a foreign language to 99% of the viewers — which Herbstreit quickly realized as Saban’s breakdown became more nuanced.
No matter the words that Saban used, his message was unmistakable: LSU was about to make life miserable for Lagway, who’s still very much learning on the job.
There’s analysis, and then there’s the best defensive mind in the game explaining, frame by frame, what’s about to happen, and why.
“He’s going to have a hard time,” Saban concluded.
Fast forward to Saturday night in Death Valley: LSU fooled and forced Lagway into a career-worst 5 interceptions, including a dagger pick-6 that Saban saw coming 12 hours earlier.
LSU’s defense is good enough to win it all. It’s so good that LSU hasn’t even need Garrett Nussmeier to get out of cruise control.
7. Nobody beats Vandy 17 times in a row!
South Carolina fans, let me stop you before you start making excuses about LaNorris Sellers’ unfortunate game-ending injury: Ole Miss backup quarterback Trinidad Chambliss threw for 353 yards and accounted for 3 TDs in his first career FBS start to keep the Rebels’ Playoff hopes alive in a gutsy win vs. Arkansas. And your backup, Luke Doty, is a guy many of you once thought would be The Guy.
So instead of playing the what-if game, let’s give (more) credit to Diego Pavia and perennially overlooked Vanderbilt for emphatically ending the ‘Dores’ 16-game losing streak to South Carolina.
Obviously, Sellers’ head injury had an impact, but Vanderbilt already was ahead when he went out.
The fact is, after South Carolina scored to tie the score at 7, Vandy reeled off 24 consecutive points to end the skid, move to 3-0 … and likely into the AP Top 25 on Sunday.
Cue the fine folks at SEC Shorts … the King is coming.
6. Is Alabama back? No, Paaawwwl!
Disclaimer: Blasting a mid Wisconsin team certainly is better than not blasting a mid Wisconsin team.
However, for the love of Finebaum, the biggest takeaway from Alabama’s beatdown Saturday had more to do with how far Wisconsin has fallen, not how much Ty Simpson and the Tide have improved since the FSU debacle.
Simpson is making strides, no doubt. Nobody can discredit a career day: 24-for-29 for 382 yards and 4 TDs. That’s Tua-like efficiency. But remember when beating Wisconsin used to signify something significant? Remember the hype surrounding the 2015 season-opener? No. 3 Bama vs. No. 20 Wisconsin … Alabama dominated that game en route to winning the national championship. The Badgers began a slow but steady drift into the wilderness. They haven’t finished a season ranked in the AP Top 25 since 2019. They weren’t ranked at all in 2024.
Without question, Alabama players, fans and Kalen DeBoer’s family have to feel a lot better about their pending trip to Georgia in Week 5, but unless you actually believe Simpson can do that against an incredibly angry Georgia defense (and I don’t), nothing that happened Saturday against Wisconsin is plug-and-play ready to take down the Dawgs. (Unless, of course, it involves throwing more passes to Ryan Williams, now the best 18-year-old in the country.)
My advice? Enjoy the victory and bye week because there still is a very real possibility that the Tide wake up on a Sunday morning in October with a losing record.
5. Predicting the 5 automatic Playoff bids
The 5 highest-ranked conference champions receive an automatic bid into the 2025 College Football Playoff. After 3 weeks of evidence, here are the teams earning those bids:
ACC: Miami. It’s been a minute since Miami-FSU kicked off as a top-10 battle — 2013, to be exact. But history could be revisited in Week 6 at Doak. FSU is the only currently ranked ACC team remaining on Miami’s schedule. The ‘Noles also face Clemson, but the Tigers might have checked out after Saturday’s shocking loss to Georgia Tech dropped them to 1-2. Miami QB Carson Beck is a Heisman contender, but the Canes’ friendly conference schedule is the biggest reason Miami’s ACC Championship odds are so favorable.
Big 12: Texas Tech. Iowa State has the easiest conference schedule. But Iowa State can’t score like Texas Tech and Baylor can. The Utah-Texas Tech winner in Week 4 has the inside track to advance to the Big 12 Championship Game. I wish TCU had an easier schedule. No idea why the Horned Frogs had a bye in Week 2 after blasting Bill Belichick and UNC in Week 1, but they were back to business in Week 3. The schedule is more difficult than it appears (including a Week 5 Friday night tilt at Arizona State), but TCU has the offensive talent to at least spoil some title hopes in the Big 12.
Big Ten: Oregon. Why? I trust Dante Moore more than I trust Drew Allar or Julian Sayin. I like Penn State, but, besides the whole “Little Game James” thing, the Nittany Lions are the only B1G contender that plays Oregon and Ohio State in the regular season. That basically means they’d have to go at least 2-1 against those 2 to win the B1G Championship and secure the automatic bid.
SEC: Georgia. If the Dawgs can survive Knoxville on a day the defense didn’t show up, nobody’s taking them down in their backyard in Atlanta. If nothing else happens this season, Kirby Smart will fix that defense.
Group of 5: USF. Forget the Miami game. It’s irrelevant. No other Group of 5 team will finish the year with 2 nonconference wins over AP Top 25 teams. USF controls its fate: Just run the table from here out, and the G5 Playoff bid is yours.
4. 4 coaches who should have stayed where they were …
USF coach Alex Golesh became the next big thing immediately after his Bulls rallied to knock off Florida in Week 2. GameDay told his remarkable life story on Saturday. He’s on every P4 AD’s up-and-coming list.
From a world-class city and prestigious AAU academics to a new, on-campus stadium on the way and favorable Playoff path as a Group of 5 program, USF has so many more advantages than most Power conference programs. The only thing USF can’t offer Golesh is a top-40 coaching salary. Golesh makes $2.5 million in 2025. Nice work if you can get it, obviously, but that’s coordinator money in the SEC or B1G.
So, of course, he’ll be tempted to leave when the offers pour in during Firing SZN. He doesn’t have to look far or long to realize leaving a good thing isn’t always the best thing. Here are 4 (among dozens of candidates) coaches who should have stayed where they were.
1. Willie Taggart: Speaking of USF, Taggart started his rise to Power 5 paychecks by leading the Bulls to a 10-win season in 2016. He rebuilt the program, improving his win total each of his 4 seasons before cashing in when Oregon came calling. A year later, he left for Florida State, where he went 9-12 before being fired. Taggart resurfaced as FAU’s head coach, but was fired after 3 unsuccessful seasons. He’s an assistant coach in the NFL now.
2. Scott Frost: Frost led UCF to its undefeated season in 2017, then went home to Nebraska. You can’t blame that decision, but he won more games in 2 seasons at UCF (19) than he did in 4+ years as the ‘Skers’ head coach (16). All’s well that ends well; Frost returned to his home-away-from-home and is the head coach at UCF, which is now in the Big 12.
3. Jimbo Fisher: Fisher won a national championship at FSU but left for Texas A&M oil money. He got a record amount of it — but he hasn’t been able to land another head coaching job since.
4. Billy Napier: The buyout will be the best part about his Florida tenure.
3. Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate for a Playoff spot?
Georgia Tech didn’t just stun Dabo Swinney and Clemson on Saturday. The Rambling Wreck served notice that they very much belong in the Playoff picture instead of Clemson.
Georgia Tech is 3-0. It hasn’t even been ranked, but that will change Sunday. That in itself is noteworthy: Georgia Tech has spent exactly 1 week in the AP Top 25 since the 2015 season ended.
Brent Key’s team might stay awhile this season because its ACC schedule could not be set up any better. Tech avoids Miami and FSU, and doesn’t face another currently-ranked team until Thanksgiving weekend.
Speaking of which …
There’s forever to go, but it’s never too early to think ahead, especially when the dream scenario includes a hated rival.
Georgia Tech’s hot start has set the stage for one of the most epic encounters in the annals of the Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate rivalry.
You have to go all the way back to 1966 to find the last time Georgia Tech and Georgia were both ranked in the top 10 at kickoff.
Can you imagine this top-10 showdown stealing the stage on Rivalry Weekend?
P.S: If Brent Key really is Florida’s top choice should it move on from Billy Napier, the price just went up.
2. Rejection of the weak
Poor UCLA. Poor Nico Iamaleava. Living in LA is so expensive that his reported $2 million NIL deal can’t even buy him a lead at any point during UCLA’s 0-3 start. That includes 2 games against Mountain West teams.
Friday night, Iamaleava and the Bruins lost 35-10 to New Mexico.
It’s not all Nico’s fault, of course. But it’s not not his fault, either. Through 3 games, Iamaleava has thrown 3 TD passes with 3 interceptions. It’s not for lack of trying, either. Iamaleava is averaging 32.3 passes per game, top 5 among B1G QBs and nearly 7 more per game than he tossed last season for Tennessee. He just doesn’t have much to show for it. His 6.3 yards-per-attempt ranks above only Iowa and Northwestern’s QBs. And, again, this is mostly against Mountain West Conference defenses.
At any rate, when things are going this poorly at John Wooden’s School of Champions, you end up with tweets like this:
1. Could be worse: AP voters used to determine national champions …
Some of y’all like to overreact every week to the AP Top 25.
I’m all for overreacting, clearly, and I also check out Reddit’s weekly voting breakdown. But I’d caution you against taking this ranking too seriously. The AP poll’s dirty little secret is that these 95% of voters don’t have the time to watch any team other than the ones they are paid to cover.
That’s how you get a reporter in California slotting Florida at No. 15 and not ranking USF at all — hours after USF beat Florida on Florida’s home field to improve to 2-0 against ranked teams. That’s how you get 2 other voters ranking Florida ahead of USF. Even more voters slotted SMU ahead of Baylor … hours after Baylor beat SMU at SMU. (You know who didn’t? The same woman y’all have been blasting all week.)
Of course that makes no sense.
Every week you can scan the voting breakdown and find at least 10 ballots that make you ask: Did you even watch the games?
The answer is: No. And how could they? It’s all I can do to watch every SEC game every weekend. I haven’t seen USC play a single series in 3 weeks — and I enjoy watching Lincoln Riley’s offense. But I’m not paid to watch West Coast football, and that’s the point. So I only see highlights.
The good news, of course, is this group of voters no longer crowns a national champion.
The fact that they used to, for generations — and y’all accepted that as gospel! — still boggles the mind.
Almost as much as Danny Kanell and I agreeing on … anything.
Managing Editor
A 30-time APSE award-winning editor with previous stints at the Miami Herald, The Indianapolis Star and News & Observer, Executive Editor Chris Wright oversees editorial operations for Saturday Down South.
