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Of the six games featuring SEC teams in Week 8, five were decided by 29 or more points. The sixth (a 13-point Georgia win over Arkansas) was a 32-point margin at halftime. As a result of the non-competitive games, there were plenty of studs leading teams to big victories, and plenty of duds on teams suffering devastating losses.
Who made our list of SEC studs and duds in Week 8? Let’s find out.
STUDS
1. Nick Chubb: Georgia lost three of its top four tailbacks since the start of the season (Todd Gurley, Keith Marshall and Sony Michel), but Chubb has stepped up to carry the load himself during back to back road wins over Missouri and Arkansas the last two weeks. The freshman carried the ball 30 times for more than 200 yards against Arkansas in Week 8, marking his second straight game with at least 30 carries and 140 yards. The offense never skipped a beat implementing Chubb into the starting lineup, as the Bulldogs scored 79 points the last two weeks with Chubb as the workhorse in the backfield. For a freshman lost in a crowd of talented tailbacks at the start of the year, Chubb has proven himself to be one of the most talented backs in the SEC and one of the most talented freshmen in the entire country.
2. Amari Cooper: Prior to a Week 8 win over Texas A&M, Cooper had posted back to back sub-100 yard games following five straight 100-yard performances to begin the 2014 season. He reminded fans of his dynamic abilities with eight receptions for 140 yards and two touchdowns in a 59-0 rout of A&M, returning to form as the best wideout in the SEC. He has already amassed 908 yards and seven touchdowns in just seven games this season, and could work his way back into the Heisman discussion if Saturday’s win was the start of another streak of 100-yard outings. When Cooper is at his best, so is the Alabama offense. Plenty of Alabama players had career days in the victory, but Cooper’s resurgent performance was not only the most convincing, but the most impactful to the rest of the Tide’s season.
3. Shane Ray: Ray furthered his case for the SEC’s Defensive Player of the Year honor with six tackles, 2 sacks, 1.5 tackles for loss, a forced fumble and a quarterback hurry in a 42-13 win over Florida in the Swamp. He leads the SEC in sacks and tackles for loss on the season, and helped the Tigers defeat the Gators by 29 points in a game in which Mizzou managed just 119 yards of total offense. Ray has been Missouri’s most impactful defender all season, and he was the defense’s best playmaker in Week 8, causing one turnover himself while creating opportunities for his teammates to force turnovers on a handful of other plays. Ray always has a knack for filling up a stat line, but it’s the opportunities he creates for his teammates around him that makes him one of the studs of Week 8.
DUDS
1. Jeff Driskel: It’s well documented how rocky Driskel’s 2014 season has been, so rather than pile on let’s just take a look at his stat line in a 42-13 loss and allow it to speak for itself. Driskel’s stats against Missouri were as follows: 7 of 19 passing (36.8 percent) for 50 yards with zero touchdowns, two interceptions and an adjusted QBR of 4.4. It’s the second time this year he’s completed fewer than 40 percent of his passes and the third time this year he’s thrown for fewer than 100 yards in a game. Needless to say, Driskel was a dud in Week 8 just as he’s been for much of the season.
2. Maty Mauk: Although Mauk’s team won by 29 points, he’s not off the hook as one of the duds of Week 8. Mauk was atrocious under center for the Tigers, completing just 6 of 18 passes for a measly 20 yard in the win in the Swamp. You didn’t misread that; Mauk actually completed a game with 20 yards passing, and he completed fewer than 45 percent of his passes for a third straight game. Had Missouri’s defense and special teams not dominated Florida from start to finish, his outing would be considered among the worst by any player at any position in the SEC in Week 8. Mauk only turned the ball over one time, allowing the defense and special teams to carry the Tigers, but he was just as much a dud as Driskel in a hideous game in Gainesville.
3. Texas A&M’s entire defense: Why single out one player when every member of the A&M defense could be considered a dud following a 59-0 loss to Alabama? The Aggies allowed ‘Bama to run up more than 600 yards of total offense, including 304 through the air and 298 on the ground. That balance shows the Tide did whatever it wanted on offense, and the Aggies appeared helpless the entire game. As the game on the field got out of hand, a new game within the game emerged in living rooms across America — count the Aggies’ missed tackles on the play. Texas A&M missed at least one tackle on seemingly every play, proving the Aggies were not only overmatched but also as undisciplined as any defense in the SEC this season. Texas A&M is going to have a hard time moving past this loss, and the defense may not recover before the end of the season.
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.
