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Holy cow.
Week 13 used to be known as “Cupcake Week” in the SEC. While the 6 conference matchups suggested it would have a different feel in this new era of the SEC, nobody could’ve anticipated how painful of a death “Cupcake Week” would die in 2024.
No. 7 Alabama, No. 9 Ole Miss and No. 15 Texas A&M all fell to unranked SEC teams that were just fighting for bowl eligibility.
It was an unforgettable day of chaos in the SEC.
Here were the biggest takeaways from the day that was:
Oklahoma did THAT to a Playoff-hopeful Alabama?!?
First, give a ton of praise to Danny Stutsman and those Oklahoma seniors. Those guys played their tails off on Senior Night and didn’t act like a team that was in the midst of a historically dreadful season in Norman. Brent Venables showed that his team was still competing, which was a fair thing to question with how many brutal injury/performance-related issues the Sooners had in their first season in the SEC. They’re going bowling because they got that coveted marquee SEC win.
But holy cow, Alabama. With the season hanging in the balance … that was the showing? Alabama didn’t just lose to an unranked team for the second time in Year 1 of the Kalen DeBoer era (that happened once from 2008-23). It got walloped.
Instead of setting the tone with a surging offense, Jalen Milroe and the Tide turtled. Milroe made unforgivable decisions, an improving offensive line couldn’t create running lanes and Alabama couldn’t make anything happen in the passing game outside of a called-off Ryan Williams touchdown (it was somehow flagged for an alignment penalty well after the snap).
On top of that, Alabama’s 5-game defensive stretch was a distant memory by night’s end after Jackson Arnold and the Sooners ran wild. Yes, losing Deontae Lawson was a tough development. But Oklahoma was down 4 offensive linemen and its top 5 receivers. Even if Alabama was missing Lawson and a couple of other impact players on defense, that wasn’t an excuse for allowing 257 (!) rushing yards.
DeBoer might’ve beaten Kirby Smart and kept the Tide in the SEC race late into the season, but it’s hard to imagine he gained support in his first season in Tuscaloosa. Replacing the best coach of all time was always going to be a challenge. We just didn’t know how many ups and downs would be in store so soon.
Texas A&M rallied, but fell victim to the still-present Jordan-Hare ghosts and sent Georgia to the SEC Championship
I realize that “Georgia is going to the SEC Championship” wasn’t the major takeaway from that 4-overtime marathon at Jordan-Hare, but we need to bring that up. By A&M losing, that meant the Dawgs will be playing for an SEC Championship for the 4th consecutive season. They’ll have a chance to clinch a first-round bye if they can beat the winner of Texas-Texas A&M, who’ll face off for the first time in 13 years.
OK, now that we’ve got that out of the way … A&M was the victim of some long overdue Jordan-Hare magic. It didn’t matter that Auburn blew a 21-0 lead and Marcel Reed led the Aggies back on a furious comeback. A&M still suffered a brutal drop on a misdirection play in overtime, and Auburn finally got its first ranked win of the Hugh Freeze era.
Auburn’s bowl hopes stayed alive thanks to Jarquez Hunter and a brilliant showing from true freshman Cam Coleman. The Tigers’ postseason chances will now come down to the Iron Bowl. Go figure that A&M’s SEC Championship and Playoff hopes are both still alive. How? The Aggies can get to Atlanta by beating Texas. Sure, their at-large chances are gone, but loss No. 3 technically wasn’t a season-killer for Mike Elko’s squad and they’ll face Texas in an all-or-nothing showdown.
What a time to be alive.
Ole Miss’ Playoff path is over and Lane Kiffin has nobody to blame but himself
Over. Done. Adios.
Beating Georgia wasn’t the turning point that we were led to believe it was. As it turned out, this Ole Miss team wasn’t ready for the big stage. It couldn’t find the answers late to get past an improved Florida team (more on that in a second) and instead, it’ll forever be faced with a frustrating question.
Why couldn’t this team break through?
You could point to a variety of factors. In all 3 losses — all of which came to teams who now have at least 4 losses — Jaxson Dart and the Ole Miss offensive line struggled mightily down the stretch. In 2 of Ole Miss’ 3 losses, it endured a mid-game groin injury to Tre Harris. It didn’t get the help it needed from those non-Harris options.
Go figure that Ole Miss’ defense was mostly dominant this year. Sure, it could’ve taken DJ Lagway down instead of letting him fight off some of that pressure, but Ole Miss allowed no more than 24 regulation points in its losses this season. The defense was the hot topic all offseason because it was the thing that was supposed to get Ole Miss over the hump. I’d argue that unit did the heavy lifting and was the most consistent unit on Kiffin’s squad.
Let’s call it what it is — Kiffin blew it. He blew a golden opportunity with a favorable schedule. He blew a chance to have that Georgia game be the launching point for him and Ole Miss’ national reputation. Instead, he became a punching bag.
That’s a brutal pill to swallow.
Billy Napier has something cookin’
The Florida team we saw in the first month of the season is a distant memory. That’s not just a DJ Lagway thing, though watching the true freshman make throws like this while not having his full mobility is truly insane:
DJ Lagway is already special, man pic.twitter.com/1wJuBmBRix
— Connor O’Gara (@cjogara) November 23, 2024
How do you defend that? Lagway’s presence is going to bring in plenty of players via the transfer portal. Who wouldn’t want to catch passes from a guy that can do things like that? It’s been everything Florida fans hoped for and then some.
What’s taken Florida to a different level recently — it beat AP Top 25 teams in consecutive weeks for the first time since 2018 — is the defensive improvement.
Florida did much more than just intercept an overwhelmed Jaxson Dart twice in the final 2 minutes, though Bryce Thornton’s 2 picks and 14 tackles likely earned him SEC Defensive Player of the Week honors. Three times, it stuffed JJ Pegues, who was 12-for-12 on conversion attempts entering the day. Caleb Banks and Tyreak Sapp have been phenomenal up front for a group that did a total 180 in the second half of the season.
Eight days ago, the odds suggested that Florida could miss a bowl game. Now, more likely is that Florida will finish 7-5 with potential for an 8th win in a bowl game. Billy Napier deserves a ton of credit for righting the ship. He was even mocked by the masses after Scott Stricklin’s vote of confidence was followed by the Texas blowout.
Napier and the Gators are getting the last laugh.
Tennessee LOVED all that chaos
I want zero context provided while watching this:
Hell has officially frozen over… https://t.co/FNoVSsrNll pic.twitter.com/rLQ4Q4onUL
— Chris Doering (@ChrisDoering) November 23, 2024
Welcome to the new age of college football, wherein anything is possible. Even that.
Tennessee fans chomped because Ole Miss losing to Florida and suffering loss No. 3 opened the door for the Vols to move up in the Playoff rankings, as did Indiana losing to Ohio State in convincing fashion. Of course, Gator chomps in Neyland were much more noteworthy than any potential chants of “O-H!”
I mean, what a day it was for the Vols. Indiana, Ole Miss, Texas A&M and Alabama all lost. Shoot, even 1-loss BYU lost. In total, 7 teams in the top 20 lost. Nobody smiled bigger amid a wild Saturday more than Tennessee, who casually strolled past UTEP.
Conventional wisdom suggests that if Tennessee can take care of Vanderbilt next week, it’ll earn a Playoff spot. That’s about all the Vols could’ve hoped for entering the season.
Quinn Ewers’ day was … eventful
Let’s start with the obvious. He took part in Senior Day, which suggests that this season will be his last and that 2025 will be the true start of the Arch Manning era in Austin. That might’ve felt obvious, but it was still noteworthy.
More noteworthy in the short term was the injury that Ewers suffered in the middle of Saturday’s up-and-down showing against Kentucky. After a solid start with a pair of touchdown passes to Gunnar Helm, the Texas quarterback appeared to hurt his leg after an awkward hit, and his mobility was limited throughout the second half. As a result, Texas passing game struggled. Fortunately for the Longhorns, Jaydon Blue and Tre Wisner combined for 254 yards and a couple scores.
Unfortunately for the Longhorns, Ewers will obviously travel to Texas A&M to face a loaded defensive line. Texas’ SEC Championship hopes could depend on how healthy Ewers is.
That’ll be a popular topic of conversation in The Lone Star State this week.
Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Down South. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.
