10 things I’m absolutely overreacting to after Week 4 in the SEC
By Chris Wright
Published:
Brian Kelly got mad a reporter. Big deal.
You know who should be angry? Arkansas fans, Auburn QB Jackson Arnold and whoever is in charge of training these referees. Sir, all due respect, peace and love, but your boys had quite the day …
Those are just some of the 10 things I’m absolutely overreacting to after Week 4 in and around the SEC.
10. 10 sacks? Auburn’s O-line was worse than the refs
Let’s just get this out of the way: If Auburn fans want to call Paawwwwlllll on Monday and scream for 3 hours about the home-cooking Oklahoma received … no complaints. It was horrific and, at minimum, game-altering, beginning with an overturned scoop-and-score in the first quarter that cost Auburn a TD and including another botched no-call that resulted in an Oklahoma TD (at least the SEC apologized for that one).
However, when your quarterback gets sacked 10 times — including on 3 consecutive plays on your last-ditch comeback effort — all of those complaints just come off as whining.
Auburn’s final possession ended like this:
- 1st-and-10: Jackson Arnold scrambles for no gain.
- 2nd-and-10: Holding on o-line.
- 2nd-and-20: False start on o-line.
- 2nd-and-25: Arnold scrambles again, no gain.
- 3rd-and-25: Arnold sacked.
- 4th-and-29: Arnold sacked for a safety.
Say it ain’t so, Cole Cubelic.
Oklahoma set a program record with 10 sacks. It also sent a stern message to the rest of the country.
I’ve said for 3 weeks that I wish this Oklahoma team had an easier SEC slate because then all of that Playoff talk would sound a lot more realistic. Same for John Mateer’s Heisman bid. He showed again on Saturday why he has the best Heisman odds, and delivered a signature game-winning TD drive with his arms, legs and heart.
If the Sooners finish 10-2, they’ll have the best resume in the country and it won’t be close. That’s how difficult the road ahead is.
If they finish 9-3, they still will have better wins over ranked teams than just about everybody else, too, but it won’t be enough.
9. So long, Sam Pittman
At some point, no matter how nice the guy is, the scoreboard has to matter.
The day of (w)reckoning arrived Saturday, Sept. 20, for beloved Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman.
Arkansas had blown yet another lead, this time 28-10, yet had another opportunity to steal a win late. Even after a disastrous fumble wiped out the opportunity to kick a go-ahead field goal in the final minute, the Hogs quickly forced Memphis into a 3rd-and-8 from its own 9-yard line.
A stop and a punt would give the Hogs 1 final chance to kick a winning field goal.
Instead? Disaster. A play that likely will be remembered as the one that ended Pittman’s up-and-down tenure on The Hill.
Memphis backup QB Arrington Maiden, initially hit at the line of scrimmage on a designed run, seemingly carried half of Arkansas’ defensive front for 11 yards and the game-sealing first down. The final 7 yards played out almost in slow-motion, if only to dramatize the pending end of the Pittman era.
The late loss in Week 3 at Ole Miss (and its backup QB) was brutal. This, somehow, was worse than that.
And, yet, was anybody really surprised at the outcome? Arkansas is 3-14 in 1-possession games since the 2021 season ended.
The loss dropped Pittman’s record at Arkansas to 32-33. Which also seemed fitting.
Usually close, but not quite good enough to get it done.
8. What is targeting? What’s a catch? Better question: Who hires these guys?
Everybody wants to keep players safe. Just like everybody wants consistency with the way targeting is officiated.
This supposedly was targeting. I didn’t think it was — in real-time or on review. On review, it was even clearer that the Illinois defensive player led with his shoulder. Was it violent? Yes. It’s a violent game.
Flipping channels to the Mizzou-South Carolina game, there were 2 calls that could have been targeting — including 1 that I can only assume is in the textbook definition of “This Is Targeting” — that were reviewed and not called targeting.
I give up.
Nobody — and I mean nobody, not officials, not players, not coaches, not analysts and not even the rules experts on TV — can identify targeting with any level of proficiency.
It’s like everybody sees what they want to see.
It’s time to change the rule. Penalize them 15 yards if you must, but unless it is crystal clear that a player delivered a head-to-head blow on a blowup type hit, keep the player in the game.
These calls are impacting not just the current game — but in many cases the next game.
But, wait: There’s more!
When referees weren’t messing up targeting calls, they were blowing plays dead for no apparent reason, wiping out a touchdown in the process …
Or trying to determine what is a catch and what is not a catch. Actually, listening to Gus Johnson and Joel Klatt bet on catches being reviewed was comical. The review booth almost always disagreed with Klatt and their rules expert.
Credit the SEC for calling out one of the many mistakes its crews made Saturday.
Now, what about this one? An obvious pass interference that wasn’t called. In fairness, the back judge can only call what he can see, and he clearly could not see pass interference.
7. Trinidad Chambliss or Austin Simmons? Decisions, decisions for Lane Kiffin
It’s tough to upstage Alabama vs. Georgia, but Ole Miss vs. LSU is about to do that in Week 5.
You could make the case that this is the biggest home game of Lane Kiffin’s tenure at Ole Miss — if only because this Rebels team seems better equipped to capitalize on what a victory would bring.
Those stakes are enough to fill notebooks all week, but that’s not even the biggest story involving the Rebels.
Backup-turned-starter Trinidad Chambliss rescued the Rebels in a tight win in Week 3 against Arkansas, then showed out in a blowout of Tulane in Week 4.
Assuming original starter Austin Simmons is ready to go after reaggravating an ankle injury suffered in Week 2, will Kiffin go back to Simmons? Or will he stay with the hot hand in the far more experienced Chambliss, knowing he has Simmons in reserve?
Ole Miss fans already are choosing sides in a looming QB controversy — some going so far as to say there is no controversy: In Chambliss They Trust.
It’ll be fun to watch Kiffin dodge the QB Controversy topic all week, but he better get the answer right on Saturday.
6. Miami almost Miami-ed …
Admit it, Canes fans. Early in the 4th quarter, after officials wiped out a TD with a bad call and then Carson Beck coughed up an interception, you were nervous.
Miami still led Florida 13-7, but after the opening drive, this was anything but the beatdown you promised before Pat McAfee turned into Thornton Melon and jumped from the high dive into the water on College GameDay.
This was starting to look all too familiar. Another inexplicable loss to an overmatched squad was just 1 play from reality. Worse, this time, it would have been hated rival Florida delivering the stunning blow.
Now, exhale. Miami’s defense is title-worthy, nasty, fast and physical.
Instead of crumbling, like they did last year against Georgia Tech and Syracuse, they responded.
Their 26-7 victory on a wet, sloppy track won’t impress anybody who actually watched it unfold, but it won’t matter, either. In 2 weeks, the Canes will meet FSU in a top-10 showdown. State title and so much more on the line. Just like Bobby Bowden intended.
5. Is it safe to believe in Texas A&M … this time?
Texas A&M rose to No. 10 in the Week 4 AP Top 25 poll. That marked the 11th season since 2010 that the Aggies have cracked the top 10. During that stretch (2010-2025), only 4 SEC teams have reached the top 10 in more seasons.
Now comes the challenging/terrifying part: Staying there.
In those previous 10 seasons in which the Aggies reached the top 10, they finished the season unranked — yes, unranked — 7 times. Only twice did they finish in the top 10 — and one of those seasons was the COVID-altered 2020 campaign.
No other fan base in the country, much less the SEC, has had the turf pulled out from underneath them more frequently, more painfully or more dramatically.
Seriously, A&M’s rate of freefalling is almost impossible to believe — except it happened last year, too. The Aggies were 7-1, 5-0 in the SEC with a pair of top-10 wins … and promptly dropped their final 3 SEC games.
All of which leads to Week 5’s critical visit from Auburn and beyond: Any SEC team that finishes 10-2 will be in the mix for an at-large Playoff spot. A&M’s schedule is challenging enough that it can’t be picked apart, yet it doesn’t morph into a full-on gauntlet like, say, Oklahoma’s. The Aggies are set up perfectly for a 10-2 finish and Playoff run, but … well, you know. Aggies fans don’t need to be reminded — again — about what happened in 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016 … or 2021, 2022 and 2024.
Even after the dramatic comeback, last-minute win at Notre Dame in Week 3 and a full stress-free bye week, you can understand why Aggies fans are cautiously optimistic but also beyond apprehensive to utter the “P” word. Whatever could be possibly said about this team — explosive playmakers, electric quarterback, opportunistic defense, etc. — could have been said about the ghosts of Aggies past, too.
The biggest difference in 2025 might be Mike Elko. Yes, he obviously was part of last year’s collapse, too, but he’s no longer babysitting Jimbo Fisher’s players and deciding who has to go, who gets to stay.
This is his team, his vision, his culture.
Is it finally A&M’s time?
We’re about to find out. And if it is? That record buyout will look like a bargain.
4. The battle for the 12th Playoff spot will be epic
I can make the case that the SEC deserves 5 teams in the Playoff. That’s not going to happen, however, not until the Playoff expands to 16 teams. After Week 4, the most logical breakdown looks like this:
- SEC: 4 (Georgia, LSU, Texas A&M … and absolute chaos for the final spot.)
- Big Ten: 4 (Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State, Michigan. You like Indiana? Fine. Talk to me after they lose at Oregon and at Penn State. If blasting a clearly overrated Illinois team at home is your rallying cry for a Playoff bid …)
- ACC: 2 (Miami, FSU; Round 1 will be in Week 6 at Doak, but the ACC Championship odds suggest a rematch is all but certain.)
- Big 12: 1 (Texas Tech; I liked the Red Raiders before their emphatic victory at Utah. I like them even more now after they overcame key injuries, seemingly 50 false-starts and one of the better homefield advantages in the sport.)
- Group of 5: 1 (American champion; it’s worth noting that Memphis gets to host USF and Tulane in the regular season, and USF and Tulane don’t play each other. There could be 3 or 4 American teams with 1 conference loss.)
That projection doesn’t include Notre Dame, primarily because I think the Irish suffer a 3rd (and potentially 4th) loss.
If the Irish get it together and finish 10-2, it’ll make an already fascinating race for the 12th spot even more so.
What makes this so potentially riveting is that we could 4 or 5 of the biggest brands in the sport batting for that final at-large spot: Michigan, Alabama, Texas, Notre Dame. In theory, Oklahoma and USC could join the fray, too, but their schedules are anything but Playoff-friendly.
My only hope is we don’t have to sit through another Selection Sunday reveal that gives us a scheduled-enhanced Indiana-type and an SMU-type darling, Part 2.
3. Are there even 3 QBs you trust to win the national title?
The updated Heisman odds are led by quarterbacks. Zero surprise there. Since 2000, quarterbacks have won the most Heismans.
But here’s the question: Do you trust any of the 2025 Heisman contenders to actually win a national championship?
After 4 weeks of evidence, I’m not convinced that there are 3 QBs capable of legitimately leading a championship drive, as in, being the guy the other team must stop.
Just when you think Miami’s Carson Beck might be the closest thing to being the best offensive player on a national championship contender, he lays another egg against Florida. Wet field, rival, a win’s a win. I get it.
LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier has the tools and mindset to dominate, but his playmaking has regressed from 2024 standards. Just don’t mention that to Brian Kelly.
Ohio State’s Julian Sayin? TBD. Penn State’s Drew Allar? He’s been searching for that cape for 3 years.
Oregon’s Dante Moore is basically the West Coast version of Arch Manning: The tools exceed the results thus far.
Michigan’s Bryce Underwood? Are we talking this year or the next 2 years?
The good news if you’re a contender: Michigan’s JJ McCarthy is the only recent national champion QB who also was selected in the first round of the subsequent NFL Draft — and even McCarthy wasn’t viewed as a game-changer in college.
In some cases, good enough is good enough, and 2025 is shaping up to be another one of those years.
2. Why did Brian Kelly apologize?
In case you missed it, Brian Kelly didn’t like the tone of a reporter’s opening question following LSU’s tough 20-10 victory over Florida in Week 3.
To be honest, I didn’t like the question, either. It’s fine to ask about the state of LSU’s offense, but the actual question, tone, timing and delivery have to be better.
That’s not the first question you ask after a defense picks off 5 passes and controls a rivalry game anthem to handshake — and that’s certainly not how you ask that question.
Obviously I speak from experience. Coaches frequently overreact and invent slights, making press conferences personal and confrontational. I’ve been on the receiving end several times. I’ve had far more heated interactions than this one.
As such, I usually side with reporters in these instances, brotherhood and all, but not this time. I saw nothing wrong with how Kelly responded, other than finishing his critique by saying the question was “so out of line.” It wasn’t out of line; it was poorly worded.
Most in the media overreacted to Kelly’s reaction. I’m overreacting to their overreaction. When did we get this sensitive? That exchange wouldn’t make the top 1,000 “quarrels” in Coach K’s career.
Monday, of course, Kelly made the rounds and issued a public apology. There was no need.
Total play on. Just another day in the life of the coach-reporter working relationship.
1. Dabo to Alabama … it’s actually going to happen
“If Clemson’s tired of winning, they can send me on my way. But I’m going to go somewhere else and coach. …”
After losing to Syracuse and falling to 1-3 for the first time under Dabo, they’re probably more tired of losing.
Don’t wait for Tyler from Spartanburg to call. Start the clock. Dabo leaving Clemson — on his terms, by the way, and only on his terms — has never looked more realistic. Which means, neither has the fairytale ending.
Dabo’s eventually coming home.
Unless, of course, Arkansas or Florida boosters get to him first.
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.
