Another week of the 2025 college football season is in the books, and although the action in the SEC didn’t produce the sort of fireworks it has so far this season, there’s still plenty to talk about and a handful of awards to give out to some of the SEC’s best and most notable performers of the weekend.
Let’s dive in!
Biggest Winner of the Weekend: The Undefeated Middle Class of the SEC
More specifically, I’m talking about the Vanderbilt Commodores, the Missouri Tigers and the Mississippi State Bulldogs, a trio of teams that are ranked outside of the top 15 in the latest AP Poll, but are collectively a perfect 12-0 through the first 4 weeks of the season after wins over Georgia State, South Carolina and Northern Illinois, respectively, this week.
I’m not here to tell you that Vandy, Mizzou or Mississippi State will remain major players in the Southeastern Conference into the month of November, but because the middle class of the SEC has been incredibly competitive early on this season, that makes some of the midseason matchups that looked like they lacked juice back in early August now appear a little juicier, like Saturday’s showdown in Starkville between the Bulldogs and the Tennessee Volunteers. And if you don’t think that Davis Wade Stadium is gonna be electric when the Vols come to town, just ask Kenny Dillingham and the Arizona State Sun Devils how tough it is to play there.
Now, with that said, I do like the outlook better for both Missouri and Vanderbilt than I do Mississippi State, and that will be reflected in my end-of-column SEC Power Poll, where the Bulldogs remain outside of the top 10. However, if Mississippi State can upset Tennessee this Saturday, maybe we’ll need to revisit that conversation in next weekend’s awards column.
Vanderbilt and Missouri both already have an SEC win under their belt… poor South Carolina. I had high hopes and the Gamecocks’ season is already off the rails. And they (Vanderbilt and Mizzou) have nonconference walkovers coming to town this Saturday before diving back into the deep end of the SEC pool starting in October. At that point, we’ll see if Diego Pavia and Ahmad Hardy can maintain their standing as 2 of the conference’s best players.
Biggest Loser of the Weekend: Dabo Swinney and the Clemson Tigers
I know, I know. This is supposed to be an SEC-only column, but Clemson is right smack dab in the middle of SEC country, and the potential, if not likely, demise of this ACC powerhouse is a story worth hitting here, even if it means bending a rule that only I would enforce. Well, I suppose my editors would have something to say about that, too.
Right now, to borrow a line from Ted Lasso, Dabo Swinney departs Week 4 looking like a bigger loser than the biggest loser from The Biggest Loser. Clemson is 1-3 for the first time since Swinney took over as head coach and could be heading toward a full-blown 2024 Florida State Seminoles sort of season if it’s not careful. Losses to LSU and Georgia Tech are perfectly justified, but getting out of the gate so slowly against Troy in Week 2 and then getting absolutely stomped by Syracuse on their home field this past weekend? Well, that’s just unacceptable, and Dabo knows it.
“This is a bad, bad feeling. Terrible,” Swinney said after the Week 4 loss, per Heather Dinich of ESPN. “This is what we do. This is our passion. We work incredibly hard to get results that we want to get, and when we don’t get them, it’s a pain that’s hard to describe. But it comes with the territory. So we got to flush it. That’s all we can do. There’s no hope for a better yesterday.”
Now just so it doesn’t sound like I’m unfairly bashing Clemson or kicking Dabo Swinney while he’s down, I should admit that I picked Clemson to win the national championship before the season began. Oops.
Overreaction of the Weekend: Arch Manning Got His Swagger Back!
I was perfectly content to end the weekly bit where we’re overreacting to everything Arch Manning does, but then the Longhorns quarterback played his cleanest and most productive game of the season and we learned he got his swagger back, and now it’s time for another overreaction, baby!
“He got his swagger back,” Texas senior safety Michael Taaffe said after the win. “Everybody knew that it was in there. What he showed tonight is what we expect.”
Yeah, I expected Arch Manning to look like a superstar against Sam Houston, too. What I didn’t expect was that Arch mean-mugging a Bearkats defender after running him over would become one of the biggest talking points of the weekend. For the record, I’m not going to overreact to that.
Let’s put that behind us now. The Longhorns have a bye before heading to Gainesville to face the reeling Florida Gators, but after that, the Red River Rivalry looms, and that’s where I need to see that Arch Manning has his swagger.
Most Impressive Player I Saw This Weekend: Trinidad Chambliss
Trinidad Chambliss is also the winner of The My God, His Name Just Sounds Like He’d Be An Incredible Athlete Award. Seriously, “Trinidad Chambliss” could be the name of an elite 2-way shooting guard, a rangy left-fielder who can hit with power, a world-class striker on the soccer pitch, a record-setter in the 200m dash, or the greatest middleweight boxer who ever lived. Instead, he’s playing quarterback for Ole Miss, and this weekend he was giving the Tulane defense fits with a dominant dual-threat performance that is going to force Lane Kiffin to make a really difficult decision… should it be Chambliss or Austin Simmons who is starting for the Rebels moving forward?
Against Tulane, Chambliss completed 17-of-27 pass attempts for 307 yards and 2 touchdowns, adding 112 rushing yards on 14 carries for good measure. By the numbers, he’s been better than Simmons, and again, the name… it’s the name of a once-in-a-generation athlete.
Play of the Weekend: Oklahoma’s ‘Hide-Out’ Touchdown
Okay, so technically, this play was illegal, but also technically, it’s only illegal if you get caught, and lucky for the Sooners, they didn’t get caught until after the game. Therefore, the play stands and so does my selection.
Honestly, I just hope this play doesn’t in any way take away from the fact that Oklahoma’s front 7 delivered a record-setting performance against former Sooners quarterback Jackson Arnold on Saturday afternoon. Oklahoma got to Arnold 10 times in the 24-17 win, including a safety that clinched the game late in the 4th quarter.
Combine a defense playing as well as Oklahoma’s with a Heisman candidate at quarterback (John Mateer), and we need to start thinking long and hard about where the Sooners rank among the SEC’s best. Speaking of which…
SEC Power Poll of the Week
A friendly reminder… these rankings are based on which teams I believe have the best chance of winning the national title on January 19.
1. LSU
2. Texas A&M
3. Georgia
4. Oklahoma
5. Texas
6. Ole Miss
7. Tennessee
8. Alabama
9. Vanderbilt
10. Missouri
One Big Question Heading Into Week 5: Can LSU’s offense get it going at Ole Miss this Saturday?
I know the LSU Tigers hung 56 points on SE Louisiana in Week 4, but if that’s all the proof you can provide that LSU’s offense is in good shape as the Tigers resume SEC play, I think you might wanna reevaluate how we’re looking at wins over FCS opponents.
Against FBS opponents, LSU has mustered just 20 points per game, scoring 17 against Clemson, 23 against Louisiana Tech and 20 against the Florida Gators. And hey, speaking of that game against Florida, let’s not forget that LSU’s defense intercepted DJ Lagway 5 times, and this is what they got out of those 5 turnovers:
- LSU offense after 1st Lagway interception — 3 plays, 1 yard, punt
- LSU offense after 2nd Lagway interception — 3 plays, 12 yards, field goal
- Third Lagway Interception — Pick-6
- LSU offense after 4th Lagway interception — 3 plays, 7 yards, punt
- LSU offense after 5th Lagway interception — 6 plays, 54 yards, end of game
In summary, that’s 74 yards of total offense and a field goal that Garrett Nussmeier and company added against the Gators following the 4 interceptions of DJ Lagway that weren’t returned for a touchdown. In total, the Tigers offense was out-gained, they lost the time of possession battle, and they were only 4-for-14 on 3rd downs against Florida.
That isn’t going to cut it at Ole Miss. I know LSU’s defense has been spectacular so far, but the Tigers are going to have to score more than 20 in order to keep up with the Rebels, regardless of whether it’s Trinidad Chambliss or Austin Simmons under center.
They better hope it’s not Trinidad.
