We did it, friends. Another SEC regular season is in the books. This one was every bit as thrilling/weird/electric as any in recent memory.
Rivalry Week was loaded with intrigue, and not just because of Lane Kiffin. We had questions galore to answer in the final weekend of the regular season.
Would we have any more SEC coaching changes? Would Ole Miss, Oklahoma and Alabama avoid disaster and lock in Playoff berths? Would Diego Pavia lock in a Heisman Trophy berth? Oh, and who would get to Atlanta?
That’s just the beginning of what was an eventful weekend in the SEC. Here were the biggest takeaways:
Lane Kiffin’s destination is still … not official
At this point, Kiffin not going to LSU would be a stunner. After reportedly meeting with Ole Miss AD Keith Carter for several hours, Marty Smith (bless him for the hours spent in Oxford on “Kiffin watch”) reported that “the overwhelming sentiment” is that Kiffin is off to Baton Rouge. What’s the hold-up then? Coaching in the Playoff. That’s messy now with Ole Miss slated for an imminent Playoff berth after it took care of business with a dominant Egg Bowl victory.
Will Ole Miss let him coach in the Playoff if he leaves? Should it? It feels like if that answer were a definitive “yes,” we would’ve seen a resolution on Saturday, as originally expected. But as of this writing, nothing is official, but multiple outlets reported that Kiffin has a team meeting tomorrow at 9 a.m. CT.
The watch continues.
Kalen DeBoer didn’t coach like someone who earned a giant exhale, and now, he gets a Georgia rematch (and likely a Playoff berth)
In non-Kiffin news, the SEC Championship is set. Don’t ya know it, it’s the same Alabama-Georgia matchup we’ve had 3 times in the previous 7 seasons. But it’ll be the first SEC Championship appearance for Kalen DeBoer, who had to survive haunted Jordan-Hare to punch Alabama’s ticket. Instead of turtling like DeBoer has against unranked foes 4 times during his 2 years in Tuscaloosa, he coached like someone with nothing to lose. The 4th-and-2 decision to go for it in a tie game with 4 minutes to play might’ve been the ultimate sliding doors for the DeBoer era.
No big deal. Just another Ty Simpson-to-Isaiah Horton touchdown.
DeBoer didn’t flinch even though Auburn overcame a 17-0 deficit and had seemingly all the momentum late. Simpson was 3-for-3 on 4th down, which included a pair of runs and that go-ahead score with 4 minutes to play. DeBoer’s credentials for the Alabama job have been questioned at various points, but what can’t be questioned is his faith in his team to win close games. The Tide have a trio of 1-score wins in true road games this season. Perhaps that’ll come in handy in the event that Alabama is the last at-large team into the Playoff field, and it has a road game in Round 1.
Alternatively, DeBoer can beat Kirby Smart for the 3rd time and add another impressive notch to his growing belt by leading the Tide to a Round 1 bye. Both are much more optimistic projections than what would’ve faced DeBoer and the Tide had they blown that one at Auburn.
Texas still owns Texas A&M, but it doesn’t own a Playoff path
Sorry, Steve Sarkisian. As impressive as it was that your team handed Texas A&M its first loss en route to a third top-10 victory this season — something no team accomplished in the 2020s — it wouldn’t be a “disservice” to leave Texas out of the Playoff. As much as Sarkisian has tried convincing the masses that Texas played at a championship level and that it was being punished for scheduling Ohio State, it didn’t take advantage of its opportunities.
The Longhorns were given grace for that 7-point loss to Ohio State. They were given less grace for losing to free-falling Florida, and then getting blown out at Georgia. If this were the 2024 field all over again, sure, Texas would have a legitimate case. But there are much cleaner résumés for 1- and 2-loss teams that don’t include disastrous losses like Texas experienced at Florida. It’s tougher knowing that loss was sandwiched between USF and Tennessee both earning historic wins in The Swamp.
The Longhorns also had overtime wins at lowly Mississippi State and Kentucky, both of whom missed bowl games. This wasn’t a team that played at a championship level who simply got a bad break here and there. Most of that was on the offense, but even the defense fell off down the stretch with 4 consecutive games of allowing at least 31 points, including 37 in a 500-yard showing from 2-win Arkansas a week earlier.
Texas finally looked the part in the second half against Texas A&M, and that should be celebrated. It just shouldn’t be rewarded with a Playoff berth.
Not all is lost, but Texas A&M blew a golden opportunity
That mattered. A lot. It mattered that A&M had a chance to go 12-0 with a win against Texas, which could’ve produced the program’s first conference championship appearance since 1998. Marcel Reed’s ankle and Heisman Trophy hopes took an unfortunate turn, and instead of being in ideal position to earn a Round 1 bye, 11-1 A&M will now likely have to host a Round 1 Playoff game.
Yes, that’s a scenario that any A&M fan would’ve signed up for back in August. Shoot, any A&M fan would’ve signed up for that after Notre Dame. Mike Elko deserves a ton of credit for that.
If you’re Elko, you can spin this in a couple of different ways. One is that you can now get your quarterback some extra rest on that ankle. You can perhaps get Le’Veon Moss back the next time that you step on the field. You can also figure out those run-game issues that surfaced in the form of allowing Texas to have a 100-yard rusher for the first time this year. We’ve seen teams like 2017 Alabama, 2021 Georgia and most recently, 2024 Ohio State, all suffer late-season losses, and then become the best versions of themselves en route to a national championship.
Perhaps it’s not realistic to assume that A&M will shift into overdrive after the Texas loss, but Elko can turn that loss into a postseason spark if he plays his cards right.
Diego Pavia and Co., you’re heading to New York
Yeah, Pavia had already led Vanderbilt to its first 9-win regular season since the Woodrow Wilson administration, but think about the optics if Vandy had been blown out in Knoxville. His “run the state” comments would’ve been used against him and Vandy’s Playoff aspirations would’ve died well before Selection Sunday.
Yeah, about that.
All Pavia did was walk into Neyland Stadium like he owned it. His 433 total yards (268 passing and 165 rushing) and 4 touchdowns fueled a dominant second half in which Vandy outscored Tennessee 24-3. Mind you, that was after Pavia threw a pair of interceptions for the first time in over a year. He was in total control. Again. Pavia might’ve gotten some help from Sedrick Alexander and future Mackey Award winner Eli Stowers, but he reminded everyone that he’s the straw that stirs the drink.
It’ll be hard to imagine a scenario in which Pavia isn’t 1 of the 4 Heisman Trophy finalists, which Vandy has never had. Jeremiyah Love won’t get a conference championship showcase, either, but guys like Julian Sayin and Fernando Mendoza could be battling for the award in Indianapolis next week. Still, though. What Pavia did to at least put Vandy in the Playoff discussion is the stuff of legend.
Get ready for Pavia’s family to get the full Heisman spotlight.
Oklahoma, you’re in. Offense, you’re out.
It’s bad. Like, real bad. You could argue that after John Mateer’s 3-interception disaster against LSU, Oklahoma has the worst offense to ever earn a Playoff berth.
You know what, though? Any Oklahoma fan would’ve taken that at any point in the last year if it meant reaching the Playoff. Thanks to a busted coverage on that Isaiah Sategna go-ahead touchdown with 4 minutes left, Brent Venables avoided disaster. Well, his defense also had something to do with that. LSU didn’t even hit 200 yards of offense, and Michael Van Buren was out of sorts all day. For the fifth time this year, Oklahoma won while scoring 24 or less.
This is the Venables experience. Once again, it was without R Mason Thomas, and once again, that defense did all the heavy lifting. Peyton Bowen continued his All-SEC season with a remarkable interception in the end zone, as well as the game-sealing batted pass on 4th down. And as bad as Mateer was for the majority of that game, he stayed mentally locked in to recognize that the closest defender to Sategna was in Tulsa.
OU now will be in good position to host a home Playoff game. It’s possible that this team’s upside is going to be limited by an offense that hasn’t hit 360 yards since Week 3, but for now, Venables and Co. have earned the right to celebrate what’ll likely be their first Playoff berth of the post-Lincoln Riley era. Riley, meanwhile, is still in search of his first trip back.
Sooner fans can sleep well knowing that.
Georgia getting to yet another SEC Championship might not have been universally celebrated, but it should be universally appreciated
First-world problems? That’s what it felt like for Georgia to watch Texas beat Texas A&M and ultimately punch the Dawgs’ ticket to Atlanta. Plenty of Georgia fans would’ve preferred to stay at home and perhaps still get a Round 1 bye during a rare idle conference championship weekend. Instead, they’ll have to earn that in Atlanta. Given Georgia’s key injuries with the likes of Drew Bobo and CJ Allen, that might’ve been met with a bit of a groan.
But let’s put that aside for a second. Lost in the shuffle of what turned out to be an ugly win against ever-gritty Georgia Tech, Georgia earned its 8th SEC Championship berth in the last 9 years. Think about that. Teams like aforementioned A&M haven’t played in a conference title game in the 21st century. UGA also earned its 33 win vs. an AP Top 25 team under Kirby Smart. That passed Nick Saban for the most in that stretch.
Georgia has earned the right to think there are bigger things worth chasing than SEC Championship berths. But another 11-1 season that’s now ticketed for, at the very least, a home Playoff game, is absolutely worth appreciating.
These are the golden years.
Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Down South. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.
