You thought that 3 SEC games involving Power Conference teams would mean a lack of takeaways? Nah. That’s not how this works.
After all, this is the SEC. Nothing about this sport is truly predictable.
Don’t believe that? Go back and tell someone in Week 4 of 2024 that this would be the Week 4 slate of 2025:
- A) Jackson Arnold would lead Auburn at Oklahoma
- B) Carson Beck would lead Miami vs. 1-2 DJ Lagway
- C) Bryce Underwood would lead Michigan at Nebraska
- D) Bill Belichick would lead UNC at Scott Frost’s UCF?!?!
- E) All the above
It’s “E.” It’s always “E.”
Yeah, this sport always keeps us guessing. Well, I suppose the only thing that’s inevitable is that Clemson-ing is back. What a time to be alive.
Here were the biggest SEC takeaways from an eventful Week 4:
Beating Jackson Arnold didn’t define what the Brent Venables legacy will be, but a loss would’ve
That’s reality, whether Venables would’ve admitted it or not. I sounded like a broken record all week, but that game more than any other was the one that Venables could not afford to lose. If his former quarterback — the one that he benched in the exact same Week 4 a year ago — came into Norman and pulled out a victory against this stacked Oklahoma defense, it would’ve been an indictment on Venables in every way.
But instead, it turned into a testament to Venables and why he’s got one of the scariest teams in the sport.
It’s not just John Mateer, who played a good, but not great game that ended with a go-ahead drive late to answer Arnold. It was instead what Venables and that defense did to Arnold. That included R Mason Thomas closing the game with a safety for Oklahoma’s program-record 10th sack of the day. It was a remarkable defensive showing by the Sooners, who overcame some impressive Cam Coleman grabs — having true freshman Courtland Guillory lined up on him proved to be a significant advantage for the Tigers — and battled back late.
Yes, the officiating had a massive impact on this game (we’ll get to that in a second). But for Oklahoma, and specifically Venables, Saturday was all about imposing its will against Arnold. If he had looked like a new-and-improved version of himself, that would’ve hung over Venables like a mid-summer cloud. But he gets to move past that and likely go into the Red River Rivalry at 5-0 with a top-10 ranking and perhaps the Heisman Trophy favorite in Mateer.
That’s all he could’ve asked for in Arnold’s Oklahoma reunion.
Auburn’s offensive line (and some horrific officiating) spoiled a gritty Jackson Arnold performance
Did I mention yet that Auburn allowed 10 sacks? Yeah, that was the byproduct of a loaded Oklahoma defensive front and Arnold thinking he had running lanes that closed up in a hurry. You got the feeling that the game was only going to end on a sack, and sure enough, it did. But it shouldn’t have erased that 14-play, 75-yard drive that Arnold delivered to take the lead early in the 4th quarter. It included an impressive 4th-and-11 conversion with his legs to set up the go-ahead touchdown.
But did I mention that we were going to bring up the officiating? OK. Auburn’s fumble return that was waved off seemed debatable, the pass interference that wasn’t called became an afterthought because Auburn scored a touchdown that drive and the Isaiah Sategna catch to set up OU’s go-ahead drive did feel like a catch in the moment. But the first touchdown of the day that Oklahoma scored? It was illegal.
That was a deception play, wherein Sategna used “unfair tactics” to make it appear that he was leaving the game, only to stay on the far sideline and line up for a wide-open touchdown catch.
That’s a horrendous look for the officiating crew to miss that call in a game that was decided by a 24-17 result. Can’t have it. Auburn fans have every reason to be upset with that admitted missed call.
Could Auburn have done more to win that game? Sure. Protecting Arnold and properly punting the football instead of giving OU that aforementioned opportunity in plus territory would’ve helped.
But that’ll sting even more knowing that the SEC admitted such a mistake just hours after the fact.
Sam Pittman’s time appears to have run out at Arkansas
When you blow an 18-point lead to Memphis in the fashion that Arkansas did — with multiple turnovers deep in Memphis territory and an inexplicable Taylen Green sack that pushed the Hogs out of field-goal range — it puts everything into question. Unfortunately for Pittman, the only question is whether he’ll be able to coach the remainder of the season or if Hunter Yurachek will pull the plug on Pittman altogether. Time will tell what happens there, especially with a schedule that’ll pit Arkansas against ranked foes in 7 of the last 8 games.
Two things can be true at the same time. One is that Pittman provided a shot of life to a program that it desperately needed it back in 2019 on the heels of the Chad Morris era. The other is that Pittman had a great 2021, and then followed that by going 4-14 in 1-score games since the start of 2022 and 2-10 in those games since the start of 2023. At a certain point, it stopped feeling like bad luck and started feeling inevitable.
That’s the problem. The solution will inevitably be a new coach at season’s end who’ll be tasked with retaining talent at a better rate, and being more successful in close games. Who attempts to check those all-important boxes remains to be seen.
The only safe bet is that Pittman’s path to a Year 7 ended in Memphis.
Ahmad Hardy is the best running back in the sport right now, and it might not be close
Hardy came into Saturday night having the nation’s lead with 29 forced missed tackles (5 more than any other FBS player), and he was No. 2 in FBS in rushing. Then all the Mizzou tailback did was rack up 138 more rushing yards, including a touchdown run wherein he had his back to the entire South Carolina defense at the 4 yard-line and still found a way into the end zone.
Hardy looks every bit the star that he was advertised as when he came over from Louisiana-Monroe as a 1,300-yard rusher. Mind you, that was in his true freshman season. What Hardy and this Mizzou rushing game is doing right now is noteworthy. Along with 76 rushing yards from Jamal Roberts and another 72 from Beau Pribula, Mizzou had a 285-(-9) rushing advantage. On a night in which LaNorris Sellers played well coming off a slow start to his Heisman hopeful season, the difference in that game was Hardy and the ground attack.
Mizzou has found another elite back in Hardy. All signs point to him running away with the SEC rushing attack like Cody Schrader did in 2023. Since the start of that season, Eli Drinkwitz is 25-5 with a 17-1 mark at home. It’s easy to see why that’s the case when you can run the ball like Mizzou does.
The better question? Whether or not a soon-to-be 5-0 Mizzou — UMass is up next — can run past Alabama in Week 7 and really establish itself as a legitimate Playoff contender.
DJ Lagway and the Florida offense is just a bummer in every way
Yes, if TJ Abrams runs his route to the sticks on 4th and 3, we’re probably talking about a different ballgame. That play happened in Miami territory when Florida stole momentum back with a gritty drive and an interception of Carson Beck to make it a 13-7 game early in the 4th quarter.
But yeah, it’s still the same depressing Florida offense.
Billy Napier and Lagway, whether he’s healthy or not, are at the center of that. Recording 32 yards of offense in a half is embarrassing on every level, as is posting an 0-for-13 mark on 3rd down (that hadn’t happened since 1998 at FSU). Florida’s 141 yards of offense were the worst of any game in the 21st century. That’s never going to be good enough to beat a decent team, much less a top-5 team on the road. Credit the Florida defense, which held on as long as it could. Eventually, the dam broke and Miami made that game seem more lopsided than it actually was.
What’s clear is that there’s nothing Florida does that fools anybody. That’s a problem. Florida essentially had 1 real drive in this game and was bottled up outside of that. Jadan Baugh still didn’t get the football enough and Florida’s offense had zero juice. There was no indication that Lagway was the decorated savior. This instead felt like another reminder that the Gators are stuck in neutral.
Florida’s first time scoring 10 points or less in consecutive games since 1989 couldn’t have come at a worse time. On the bright side, at least the bye week is here. On the not-so-bright side, Texas and perhaps the best defense in America will come to The Swamp on the other side of the bye.
This could go from bad to worse. Somehow.
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.
