Ad Disclosure
Sacks and Sacked: Missouri reclaims SEC’s top pass rush with win over Florida
By Ethan Levine
Published:
Missouri climbed back into the top spot among the SEC’s leaders in sacks with five in a win over Florida, raising its total to 24 sacks in seven games this season. The Tigers moved past Texas A&M and Mississippi State, which were tied for first last week.
The Aggies recorded just one sack of Blake Sims in a disastrous 59-0 loss to Alabama last weekend, while Mississippi State enjoyed a bye week, staying put at 21 sacks in six games this season. Texas A&M has played eight games this year, putting it well behind the Tigers and Bulldogs in sacks per game in 2014.
Ole Miss is tied for fifth in the SEC in sacks with 18 in seven games, including seven in last week’s win over Tennessee. The Vols’ have the SEC’s worst offensive line, statistically speaking, allowing Ole Miss to jump from 11th in the SEC in sack total prior to last weekend’s action. The Rebels also lead the SEC in tackles for loss with 53 on the year. They had a whopping 14 tackles for loss against Tennessee.
South Carolina continues to trail the rest of the SEC in sacks, even after a 41-10 win over lowly Furman. The Gamecocks questionable defensive front mustered just one sack against the Paladins, and it now has just eight sacks in seven games this season. The Gamecocks have also recorded 16 fewer tackles for loss than anyone else in the conference, registering just two in the win over Furman.
| Team | Sacks | Sack Yards | Tackles For Loss |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Missouri | 24 | 185 | 52 |
| 2. Texas A&M | 22 | 113 | 44 |
| 3. Mississippi State | 21 | 129 | 48 |
| 4. Alabama | 19 | 115 | 47 |
| T5. Georgia | 18 | 166 | 45 |
| T5. Ole Miss | 18 | 158 | 53 |
| T5. Kentucky | 18 | 107 | 39 |
| T8. Florida | 17 | 135 | 46 |
| T8. Tennessee | 17 | 89 | 58 |
| 10. LSU | 13 | 79 | 44 |
| T11. Vanderbilt | 12 | 86 | 39 |
| T11. Arkansas | 12 | 83 | 42 |
| T11. Auburn | 12 | 74 | 39 |
| 14. South Carolina | 8 | 74 | 23 |
Auburn was off last weekend, and thus maintained the fewest sacks allowed in 2014 with just six allowed in six games. The Tigers also remain the only SEC team to allow fewer than 30 tackles for loss this year.
Ole Miss victimized the Tennessee offensive line in a 34-3 win last week, but Tennessee returned the favor by sacking the Rebels’ quarterbacks five times in a losing effort. The Rebels have now allowed 16 sacks on the season, tied for the second-most allowed by any SEC team this year.
LSU and Kentucky have also allowed 16 sacks. The two teams met last weekend in Baton Rouge, and both actually protected their respective quarterbacks rather well — Kentucky sacked LSU’s Anthony Jennings just one time, and LSU sacked Kentucky’s Patrick Towles only twice.
As previously stated, the Volunteers have the worst offensive line in the SEC, and the numbers back up that claim. Tennessee has allowed 30 sacks and 60 tackles for loss this season; no other SEC team has allowed more than 16 sacks or 50 tackles for loss. The Vols have also forfeited 92 more yards of sack yardage than any other team in the SEC, proving it’s not just the number of sacks that’s killing UT’s chances in the SEC East but also the immense amount of lost yardage on those sacks.
| Team | Sacks Allowed | Sack Yards Allowed | Tackles For Loss Allowed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Auburn | 6 | 31 | 29 |
| 2. Alabama | 7 | 50 | 34 |
| 3. Arkansas | 8 | 61 | 31 |
| T4. Georgia | 10 | 61 | 39 |
| T4. Florida | 10 | 66 | 36 |
| 6. Missouri | 11 | 94 | 43 |
| 7. Mississippi State | 12 | 90 | 23 |
| T8. Vanderbilt | 13 | 92 | 29 |
| T8. South Carolina | 13 | 120 | 28 |
| 10. Texas A&M | 15 | 114 | 39 |
| T11. Ole Miss | 16 | 79 | 50 |
| T11. LSU | 16 | 116 | 39 |
| T11. Kentucky | 16 | 123 | 47 |
| 14. Tennessee | 30 | 215 | 60 |
Shane Ray moved back in front of Myles Garrett as the SEC’s sack leader with 1.5 sacks in the win over Florida. Ray now has 8.5 sacks on the season, one better than Garrett’s 7.5 sacks. Garrett remains just 0.5 sacks shy of tying Jadeveon Clowney’s freshman record of 8 sacks in a season, and he has four games left to break that record following this week’s bye.
Ole Miss defensive end Marquis Haynes is new to the top five this week following a 2.5 sack performance in a win over Tennessee. Haynes, like Garrett, is a freshman with a ton of upside, although he is not nearly as polished an all-around player as Garrett at this point in their careers. Nevertheless, Haynes was named the SEC’s Freshman of the Week following his huge performance against UT, and he appears to be an emerging pass-rushing threat on an already dangerous Ole Miss defense.
Georgia’s Leonard Floyd is also new to the top 5 this week after recording his fifth sack of the year in a win over Arkansas last week. Alabama’s Xzavier Dickson added 0.5 sacks to his season total in the win over A&M, sliding down from No. 3 to No. 4 following Haynes’ brilliant performance.
| Name | Team | Position | Sacks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Shane Ray | Missouri | DL | 8.5 |
| 2. Myles Garrett | Texas A&M | DL | 7.5 |
| 3. Marquis Haynes | Ole Miss | DL | 6.5 |
| 4. Xzavier Dickson | Alabama | LB | 5.5 |
| 5. Leonard Floyd | Georgia | LB | 5.0 |
Ray also leads the SEC in tackles for loss with 14 in seven games. He’s led the SEC in this category for most of the season, but his 4.5 tackles for loss advantage is the widest margin between him and the next closest player this season.
Tennessee’s Derek Barnett came out of nowhere to climb to No. 2 in the conference in tackles for loss, recording four of them against Tennessee last week. Barnett passed Garrett for No. 2 after Garrett failed to record a tackle for loss against Alabama.
Darius Philon and Markus Golden are tied with three other players (LSU’s Danielle Hunter, Tennessee’s A.J. Johnson and Dickson) with 8 tackles for loss, but Philon and Golden have caused the most lost yardage among those five players. Philon’s tackles for loss have cost opposing offenses 39 yards, while Golden’s have cost them 37.
Ray and Golden remain the SEC’s best defensive end tandem with 12.5 combined sacks and 22 combined tackles for loss.
| Name | Team | Position | Tackles For Loss |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Shane Ray | Missouri | DL | 14.0 |
| 2. Derek Barnett | Tennessee | DL | 9.5 |
| 3. Myles Garrett | Texas A&M | DL | 9.0 |
| T4. Darius Philon | Arkansas | LB | 8.0 |
| T4. Markus Golden | Missouri | DL | 8.0 |
A former newspaper reporter who has roamed the southeastern United States for years covering football and eating way too many barbecue ribs, if there is such a thing.
