SEC Nuggets to Know for Week 10: Stats and historical context

Here’s a look at some eye-popping stats and historical context entering Week 10 for select games. This week, we focus on the four matchups involving ranked SEC teams.

No. 4 LSU at No. 7 Alabama

Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit and Co. are in Tuscaloosa for the huge showdown between LSU and Alabama. The Tide has made 26 appearances on ESPN’s “College GameDay” than any school in the nation since 2007, which was Nick Saban’s first season in Tuscaloosa. That’s five more than the school with the next-most, which is Oregon. Please note that this list includes bowl games.

Alabama faces LSU RB Leonard Fournette, who’s the frontrunner for this year’s Heisman. If any team can slow down the freight train, it’s the Tide, which is 3rd in the FBS in rush defense with 78.5 yards allowed per game. Alabama has only allowed 16 individual 100-yard rushing efforts over the last 10 years, by far the fewest of any school.

LSU’s fortunes have changed in a bad way against Alabama coming off a bye week. Under Les Miles, the Tigers had won their first three games against the Tide, but now they’ve lost each of the last three coming off a break.

Vanderbilt at No. 11 Florida

Florida true freshman WR Antonio Callaway has emerged as the team’s top playmaker. Callaway is one of just three SEC true freshmen wide receivers over the last five seasons (since 2011) with three 100-yard receiving games. Here’s the list:

As if it hasn’t already this season, Homecoming looks like a prime opportunity for Florida to feast in the turnover department. The Gators lead all Power 5 schools in turnover margin (+13), while the Commodores are tied for the second-to-last mark among Power 5 teams (-11).

Here’s a look at the teams thriving in turnovers:

And here’s a look at the teams that aren’t:

Arkansas at No. 19 Ole Miss

This nugget might blow your mind. Alex Collins only needs 40 rushing yards to become just the 3rd SEC player rush for 1,000 yards in a freshman, sophomore and junior campaigns. The only other two players to accomplish that? Herschel Walker and fellow Razorback Darren McFadden.

While Collins has been getting it done on the ground, Ole Miss has been getting it done through the air. Consider this fact for a second: Three of the nine 400-yard passing games in Ole Miss history have occurred in three of the team’s last four games … yeah.

Of course, one of the big reasons for that is WR Laquon Treadwell, who continues to inch closer to two notable school marks: career receptions and career 100-yard receiving games. He’s only 18 catches away from surpassing Chris Collins for the Rebels’ all-time receptions mark, and one would figure he’ll pass that by the end of the season.

Talal Elmasry

Born and raised in Gainesville, Talal joined SDS in 2015 after spending 2 years in Bristol as an ESPN researcher. Previously, Talal worked at The Gainesville Sun.