With 2 top-20 matchups and a handful of other consequential inter-conference tilts on the slate coming down to the final possession of the game, Week 5 in the SEC certainly did not disappoint. There’s plenty to unwrap, so let’s not waste any more time.
Here are our superlatives and awards following Week 5 of the SEC football season:
Biggest Winner of the Weekend: Kalen DeBoer and the Alabama Crimson Tide
I know the first 18 months of the Kalen DeBoer era in Tuscaloosa has had some rocky moments, but let’s give credit where credit is due… just as Nick Saban did, DeBoer seemingly has the number of Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs. For the second straight year, the Crimson Tide scored an upset over the Bulldogs, and this time around in front of 90,000 strong at Sanford Stadium.
I don’t know what the immediate or long-term future holds for the Crimson Tide, but I do know that if Kalen DeBoer continues to get the better of Kirby Smart, his leash will remain relatively long for the time being. Bama fans just need to hope that DeBoer doesn’t end up having a Clark Lea problem.
Overreaction of the Weekend: Kirby Smart’s run atop the SEC is officially over!
With the Texas Longhorns on a bye this week, there’s no Arch Manning overreaction to be had. That means we have to venture elsewhere for our overreaction of the week, and since we were just talking about what was happening in Athens, Georgia, last night, we may as well stay there and have a level-headed discussion about Kirby Smart and the Bulldogs, because I’m certain talking heads will be eager to fire off their hot takes regarding Georgia’s standing in the SEC this week.
Let’s start here… I did feel as though this was going to be a down season for the Bulldogs this year. I picked the Tennessee Volunteers to beat Georgia a couple of weeks back, and that’s a pick that I stand by. I did pick Georgia to beat Alabama, and to be honest, I stand by that pick, too. But with all of that said, this clearly isn’t the caliber of team that Smart had playing for him just a few seasons ago.
That doesn’t mean that Georgia is going to soon be relegated to the middle of the pack in the Southeastern Conference, similar to post-dominance phases that Florida, LSU and Auburn all had to endure in the last decade and a half after stints at the top of the conference.
Take away Kirby Smart’s first season as the head coach at Georgia – a season in which the Bulldogs went a pedestrian 8-5 – and his record is 100-15 since 2017. He hasn’t lost more than 3 games in a season since then. I just don’t believe this is the year that it all unravels to the extent that Georgia can’t get it back.
Biggest Loser of the Weekend: John Mateer
I feel terrible for John Mateer. The Washington State transfer was arguably the best player in the SEC and one of the Heisman Trophy favorites through the first few weeks of the season, but thanks to a hand injury suffered versus Auburn that required surgery earlier this week, Mateer’s outlook is now something of a mystery.
There is reportedly an outside chance that the junior quarterback ends up missing just 1 game – this Saturday’s nonconference tilt versus Kent State – and is able to return to the field for the Red River Shootout on October 11, but this seems like a stretch since the recovery from the surgery on his broken right hand was supposed to sideline Mateer for up to a month. And with the current college football landscape allowing for a loss or 2 on the schedule, the Sooners may be better suited to let Mateer fully recover and get ready for the long haul rather than rushing him back for a big game versus Texas.
Regardless, it’s just a bummer to see such a promising season – one that could’ve potentially ended with John Mateer becoming the 5th Oklahoma quarterback since 2003 to win the Heisman Trophy – hit such an unfortunate roadblock.
SEC Player of the Year Ballot
With Mateer out for at least 1 game – and again, I wouldn’t count on him to return on October 11 — it’s opened the door for another SEC star to grab hold of the top spot on the SEC Offensive Player of the Year ballot. Starting this week and moving forward, I’ll be ranking my top 5 SEC Offensive Player of the Year candidates, in addition to ranking my top 10 teams in the conference.
With all due respect to Mateer, Chris Brazzell II, Kewan Lacy and Mario Craver, here are my top 5 candidates to be named SEC Offensive Player of the Year at season’s end.
1. Diego Pavia (QB, Vanderbilt)
2. Ahmad Hardy (RB, Missouri)
3. Joey Aguilar (QB, Tennessee)
4. Ty Simpson (QB, Alabama)
5. Trinidad Chambliss (QB, Ole Miss)
SEC Power Poll of the Week
1. Ole Miss
2. Texas A&M
3. Alabama
4. Texas
5. Georgia
6. LSU
7. Oklahoma
8. Vanderbilt
9. Tennessee
10. Missouri
Play of the Weekend: Trinidad Chambliss hits Dae’Quan Wright on 4th down to ice the game
Oh Hotty Toddy, Lane Kiffin was in his bag on Saturday afternoon, and you just know that this win over Brian Kelly and the LSU Tigers was extra sweet. The capper was a ballsy and beautifully executed 4th-down call that clinched a 24-19 Ole Miss win late in the 4th quarter.
Dae’Quan Wright was so wide open on this play, he had enough time to sit down on the field after the catch like he was a sleepy Kindergartener taking a seat crisscross applesauce for story time. If you scheme something like that up on a play with such high stakes in arguably the biggest SEC game of the week, and you get Play of the Weekend honors.
One Big Question Heading Into Week 6: Can Vanderbilt Alabama for the second-straight season?
I don’t have an answer for you, but I do know that this is the biggest game for the Vanderbilt Commodores football program in my lifetime. If — and that’s admittedly a Bryant-Denny Stadium sized if — the Commodores come out on top for a second-straight season, it will make Diego Pavia a full-fledged SEC folk hero, and it will also make Clark Lea a whole lot of money. And yes, it will undue much of the good will that Kalen DeBoer created for himself with the second-consecutive win over Georgia.
