You knew that we were going to learn a lot from Week 8.
We didn’t have a single SEC team on bye, and we didn’t have any nonconference matchups. That’s the type of stacked slate that we usually only get a couple times a year, and with 10 SEC teams in the AP Top 25, Saturday was monumental as we pass the midway point of the season.
Shoot, we had Vanderbilt hosting a top-10 team as a favorite. If that didn’t illustrate how massive this Saturday was, I’m not sure what could.
These were the biggest takeaways from Week 8 in the SEC:
Is Georgia “the most resilient team in college football?” It’s hard to quantify that nationally, but it’s tough to argue
For the 4th time in 5 SEC games, Georgia fell behind by multiple scores. That’s just not a sentence you say about teams who are 4-1 in SEC play. This time, UGA trailed by 2 scores in the 4th quarter against an Ole Miss team who had won 4 1-score games. Didn’t matter. It didn’t even matter that Ole Miss didn’t even punt until the 4th quarter. UGA just found a way. Once again.
That prompted Kirk Herbstreit to call Georgia “the most resilient team in college football.” One could point out that Georgia was a dropped touchdown pass vs. Alabama from making it a 5-0 mark in SEC play, though you could say a shanked field goal from Tennessee went UGA’s way. Whatever the case, Georgia hasn’t flinched. Gunner Stockton is at the center of that. He played through an oblique injury and missed significant practice time, yet you wouldn’t have known it from what the first-year starter delivered in a shootout with Trinidad Chambliss.
Is Georgia flawed? Absolutely. The defensive struggles to start games is baffling. Even coming out of the break, Ole Miss hit a big 75-yard catch and score in which Georgia’s defensive backfield just took horrible angles. That’s not even mentioning the lack of a pass rush for the vast majority of SEC play so far.
But in a year in which top-10 teams are dropping like flies and there appear to be a lack of invincible teams, is Georgia’s flaw something that could be overcome on that stage? Time will tell. For now, though, a path to the 8th SEC Championship Game berth in the last 9 seasons is wide open.
It’s not just Diego Pavia’s world; it’s Vandy’s world and we’re just living in it
We’re running out of words to praise what Pavia and Vandy are doing. Yes, that was active tense because after beating a top-10 LSU team as a home favorite, we need to have active conversations about what the Dores are capable of in 2025. After all, Pavia converts seemingly every meaningful 3rd or 4th down. And if he doesn’t, he drops one in a bucket or he miraculously escapes a sack to at least give his team a chance. He hit the Heisman Trophy pose after a touchdown on Saturday, and it’s fair to wonder what more he has to do to move into those conversations.
Let’s also not discount how difficult Vandy made life on Garrett Nussmeier, who made plays, but many of them felt like they were highlight-reel throws. That unit needs to get more praise for how improved it is with Steve Gregory as Clark Lea’s defensive coordinator. Even Ty Simpson had some tough moments against that group with the pressure it dialed up.
So let’s acknowledge that at 6-1 for the first time since 1950, Vandy has legitimate Playoff life with 5 games to play. This is what the Dores are looking at:
- vs. Mizzou
- at Texas
- vs. Auburn
- vs. Kentucky
- at Tennessee
Yes, the road trips to Texas and Tennessee stand out. But is it crazy to think that Vandy can earn a split in those games? It shouldn’t be.
LSU’s Playoff hopes aren’t dashed, but they might as well be
You could see it all over Nussmeier’s face in the closing seconds. He knew what type of opportunity LSU left in Nashville. And yes, while Vandy absolutely outplayed LSU, there were opportunities on the board when the defense finally got a couple of stops late. But loss No. 2 might as well have come with a “no need apply” letter from the selection committee.
Without Whit Weeks, the defense picked the worst time to have its worst game of the year. Instead of showing up desperate knowing what was at stake in a top-25 matchup, LSU lacked discipline and failed to get off the field far too often. Nussmeier didn’t even have one of those horrendous, costly mistakes and it still didn’t matter. The Tigers couldn’t get that breakthrough score-and-stop sequence to flip the momentum, which feels like a microcosm of this season.
We’ve yet to see LSU score more than 24 points vs. FBS competition this year, and it’s tough to see that changing with how banged up LSU looked on the offensive line. Nussmeier might be over that oblique injury, but you just expect him to limp down the field after every big-time throw he makes. It’s a rough watch.
And now, LSU will go into a pair of matchups vs. Texas A&M and at Alabama, both of whom are capable of ending its Playoff hopes for good. It’s not hyperbole to suggest that Saturday was the most devastating loss of the Brian Kelly era.
Alabama just did something that had never been done in SEC history
That is, win 4 consecutive games vs. AP Top 25 teams without any bye weeks or extra rest. Insane. Here’s perhaps the even more impressive thought. The 4 teams that Alabama beat are 23-1 in non-Alabama games this year, and the loss was Tennessee losing to Georgia in overtime. Yeah, that résumé will give Alabama a whole lot of grace with the selection committee, not that it looks like a team in need of it.
Kalen DeBoer is 19-3 vs. AP Top 25 foes and in home games as a Power Conference head coach, he’s 25-0. Sooner or later, his skeptics will turn into believers. Until then, they can watch a clear path to Atlanta that’s opened up for the Tide without a loss in conference play. Also key is that Oklahoma is the lone remaining SEC opponent who has just 1 conference loss. Alabama will have the head-to-head with Mizzou, Georgia and Vandy if it should come down to that.
Considering where DeBoer and the Tide were after Week 1, that’s hard to fathom.
Billy Napier’s job is __________.
“Uh, TBD?”
After Matt Hayes reported for USA Today that Napier could be fired regardless of the result on Saturday, Florida got a down-to-the-wire game that needed a Machai Boireau big-man interception to close out a Mississippi State team who hadn’t won an SEC game in 2 years. Make of that what you will. If that gave Napier another game to keep his job, that’s a strange basis for a long-term decision. After all, his 3rd-and-1 decision to pass could’ve easily been the difference in that game. It wasn’t.
Napier certainly celebrated like someone who looked like he earned another game in his role, as he should. What’s he supposed to say as his team pulls out an emotional victory?
“Hey, I know I’m cooked. How much is my buyout again?”
That’s not how this works. I can hardly imagine that a 2-point home win vs. Mississippi State changed minds behind closed doors. The hay might be in the barn with someone who has an 0-14 mark vs. AP Top 25 teams away from home. Improving to 3-4 beat the alternative, though. Time will tell if it truly matters.
Hugh Freeze’s job is __________.
“Over.”
That’s my belief after his 3rd consecutive 0-4 start to SEC play. Another game slipped away from Freeze. Imagine that. Fittingly, the game ended in double overtime with his hand-picked quarterback throwing to his own lineman to avoid a sack. It was that kind of night for Jackson Arnold, though at least he finally threw an interception. Unfortunately for Auburn, untimely sacks taken, missed kicks and a failed stand late were at the root of yet another heartbreaker.
It felt like the type of loss that you just can’t suffer in Year 3. Not after the way that Auburn imploded late in SEC play. It’s a team that can’t get out of its own way and simply doesn’t know how to win games. At some point, that’s an indictment on the head coach. Freeze knows it. If that was his last game, he’ll look back on a 2-12 mark in games decided by 10 points or less with just 1 win vs. an AP Top 25 team.
All signs point to Auburn beginning its 3rd coaching search of the 2020s. It’s just a matter of when that’ll be.
Your last remaining SEC unbeaten is … Texas A&M? You bet.
For the second consecutive year, A&M has set itself up with an ideal path to Atlanta. Unlike last year when A&M lost the season opener, though, it’ll take a 7-0 record into the last Saturday of October. The Aggies didn’t play disciplined defensive football, but as we’ve seen for the majority of the year, the offensive line set the tone and Marcel Reed was excellent. Reed wasn’t sacked and the Aggies had 217 rushing yards without Le’Veon Moss, who suffered a significant injury (again) last week. Rueben Owens and the emerging EJ Smith looked the part. A&M just continues to find a way to close games with a multi-faceted attack.
Mike Elko wasn’t pleased with that defensive performance, nor should he be. You know what he should be pleased with, though? A&M is 7-0 for the first time since 1994, and his squad is 4-0 in SEC play for the second consecutive season. In other words, this squad has the makings to do more than avoid 8-4 jokes.
A&M will be a top-3 team heading into Baton Rouge. That’s all any Aggie fan could’ve hoped for 2 months ago.
It’s maddening how casual Texas is
I’ll say it. Texas deserved to lose that football game at Kentucky, and it had been a game against any non-Kentucky SEC team, it would’ve suffered loss No. 3. Yes, that takes into account the defense and special teams that bailed them out. Even the Longhorns’ defense, which stood tall in overtime with that huge goal-line stand, let Cutter Boley bounce back in several key spots.
But above all else, it was maddening to watch this Texas offense operate. A week after a potential breakthrough win vs. Oklahoma, Arch Manning looked like the guy who took the field vs. Ohio State, the offensive line couldn’t get any push and it lacked urgency in key moments. DeAndre Moore got out of bounds when he shouldn’t have, which led to Kentucky having enough time to tie the game on a field goal at the end of regulation. And even after that goal-line stand in overtime, Texas had a holding penalty in overtime to make the kick more difficult.
Yes, Texas is in survive-and-advance mode right now as a 2-loss team. But even Steve Sarkisian has to be beside himself trying to figure out this team. The offense is still stuck in the mud heading into late-October. Sooner or later, this offense needs to find a pulse against SEC competition.
Tory Blaylock fueled a much-needed Oklahoma bounce-back win
With John Mateer still working his way back after the thumb surgery, you knew that Brent Venables wanted to feed his tailback in a matchup like that against a vulnerable South Carolina run defense Saturday. You heard the Oklahoma coach turn a question about the mysterious lack of touches for decorated transfer Jaydn Ott into a reason why he loves Blaylock. The true freshman rewarded his coach with a career-high 101 rushing yards on 19 carries while Xavier Robinson had 11 carries for 58 yards.
That was a welcome sight after the Sooners had struggled to find any sort of backfield identity outside of Mateer. On Saturday, he carried the rock 19 times, which 4 more than the most carries by an OU running back this season. Perhaps of equal importance, the Sooners rolled while Mateer only had 7 rushing attempts. The hope was that he wouldn’t be subjected to unnecessary hits as he continues to work his way back from injury. While Mateer wasn’t perfect throwing the ball — he could’ve been picked off multiple times — he still made enough plays with the elusive Isaiah Sategna to keep the Sooners out of a deficit on the road.
The remaining schedule is nothing but ranked foes, but watching a bell-cow back of sorts emerge felt like an important step for the OU offense.
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.
