October.
Spooky season for many.
Separation season in the SEC.
I don’t know about you, but the beauty of college football that keeps your rambling raconteur coming back for more year after year, no matter how much money and grownups try to spoil the sport off the field, are the Saturdays that stun you.
Take last weekend, for example.
Alabama, flattened by Tommy Castellanos and Florida State in Week 1 (who naturally built on the momentum of beating Alabama by losing to the Fighting Tommy Jeffersons in Charlottesville this week!), storms into Athens and grabs the season’s best win, snapping Georgia’s home win streak at 33 and perhaps safely announcing the arrival of both quarterback Ty Simpson and head coach Kalen DeBoer, the subject of much early September scorn in the State of Alabama. Stars fell on Alabama, or so Ella Fitzgerald sang, but she could have also sang that stars are born at Alabama on autumn Saturdays, and the song would still be an old standard. Welcome to “The List,” Ty Simpson. May your stay last longer than Jalen Milroe’s.
Meanwhile, as the first chilly mornings of fall descended on Oxford, Mississippi, perhaps the ghost of William Faulkner was whispering in Brian Kelly’s ear as he shook hands with Lane Kiffin after Ole Miss spoiled Kelly’s guarantee that LSU would retain the Magnolia Trophy.
“The next time you try to seduce anyone, don’t do it with talk, with words,” Faulkner wrote. Kelly should listen, lest his decision to move his fam-uh-lee to Baton Rouge conclude Year 4 with yet another missed College Football Playoff.
Lane Kiffin’s reaction on social media was less surprising, but you have to respect how he managed to also troll Florida’s Billy Napier (and all the Florida fans whose longing for Lane has gotten steamy and to be quite frank, a little awkward) after beating LSU, something Napier failed to do earlier this month.
As for Kiffin’s team, I’m not ready to put Trinidad Chambliss on “The List” yet but it’s amazing that a guy who played at Ferris State a year ago and was headed for Temple until Lane needed an insurance policy is potentially going to lead Ole Miss to the College Football Playoff. I’m not sure even Faulkner could dream that up.
In “ho-hum,” what was once unusual has suddenly become ordinary, news, Vanderbilt won again.
We don’t talk enough about Diego Pavia being one of the most consistent players in the SEC over the past 2 seasons. That’s almost entirely because he plays at Vanderbilt, long an SEC afterthought in every sport not played on a diamond. Pavia accounted for 6 touchdowns in Vanderbilt’s rout of Utah State on Saturday. Clark Lea now gets a chance to beat Alabama twice in a row, something the Dores haven’t done in the modern, post-integration era of SEC football (1971).
We also don’t talk enough about how awesome it is when fat men get the football. If there’s a play more glorious than what Kadyn Proctor did against Georgia on Saturday this season, send me a DM and I’ll feature it with accreditation next week.
Finally, “The List” bids farewell to Sam Pittman. Fired by an athletic director who then openly admitted Pittman lacked the resources to compete in the modern, NIL SEC, Pittman lost his final game with the Hogs 56-13 to Notre Dame. Still, Pittman went 32-34 in 5-plus seasons in Fayetteville, posting 3 winning seasons, which is 2 more than William Hall Napier has at Florida, if you are scoring at home.
Last week’s “List” is here.
There’s no new No. 1 this week for the first time this season, but there is movement and attrition. October, naturally, will bring separation.
As always, we start with Honorable Mentions, limited to 2 per program.
Honorable Mention: Alabama: Germie Bernard, WR; Kadyn Proctor, OT. Auburn: Jeremiah Cobb, RB; Keyron Crawford, DE. Arkansas: Corey Robinson II, OT. Florida: Myles Graham, LB. Georgia: CJ Allen, LB; Drew Bobo, C,. Kentucky: Alex Afari Jr., LB; Seth McGowan, RB. LSU: AJ Haulcy, S; Harold Perkins Jr., LB. Mississippi State: Blake Shapen, QB; Isaac Smith, S. Missouri: Cayden Green, OT; Chris McLellan, DT. Oklahoma: Kip Lewis, LB; Grayson Miller, P. Ole Miss: Jayden Williams, OT; Patrick Kutas, OG. South Carolina: Brandon Cisse, CB; Vicari Swain, Return/DB. Tennessee: Arion Carter, LB; Joshua Josephs, DE. Texas: Jelani McDonald, DB; Michael Taaffe, S. Texas A&M: Mario Craver, WR; Ar’maj Reed-Adams, Texas A&M. Vanderbilt: Nick Rinaldi, LB; Brock Taylor, K.
10. Cashius Howell, Edge (Texas A&M)
Howell notched a game-high 6 pressures, 4 quarterback hurries, and a sack in Texas A&M’s 16-10 rock-fight win over Auburn at Kyle Field. The Bowling Green transfer has made the most of the move to the SEC, ranking in the top 3 in the SEC this season in hurries, pressures, and sacks. He’s also been perfect in run support on the edge, missing 0 tackles through the Aggies’ first 4 games. Thanks to Howell and a big play defense, the Aggies have College Football Playoff potential even when their offense struggles, as it did against Auburn.
9. Anthony Hill Jr., LB (Texas)
The Texas Butkus Award candidate had the week off but has to be licking his lips ahead of a trip to Gainesville to face the Gators, who rank dead last in the SEC in explosive plays, success rate offense, and yards per play and second to last in the SEC in total offense (South Carolina). Hill leads a defense that ranks 4th nationally in total defense, second in success rate defense, and first in yards allowed per play. It could be a long day for Florida and a big day for Hill.
8. Ty Simpson, QB (Alabama)
“The List” thinks that in a year full of high-profile duds at QB (looking at you LaNorris Sellers, Arch Manning and DJ Lagway!), Alabama appears to have found another Dude. Ty Simpson, much maligned for appearing timid and statuesque in the pocket in the Crimson Tide’s stunning Week 1 loss at Florida State, was magnificent on Saturday night in Athens. He threw for 276 yards, accounted for 3 touchdowns (2 passing, 1 rushing), and protected the football when both defenses stiffened after halftime. Sure, Georgia made its own bed, dropping a potential game-winning touchdown pass in the fourth quarter, declining to take a tie at home, and mismanaging its timeouts in one of the worst games Kirby Smart has ever coached at Georgia. But Ty Simpson still went to Athens and helped his offense convert 13 — no, really, 13 — first downs on 19 tries, the best any offense has ever done against Georgia in the Smart era. Simpson has now thrown 11 touchdowns this season, is averaging 9 yards per attempt, and has yet to throw an interception. He’s a Dude. And Alabama is a Playoff team and title contender. Same as it ever was.
7. R Mason Thomas, DE (Oklahoma)
Thomas and the Oklahoma Sooners had a bye last week but return to action this week with a Red River Rivalry tuneup game against Kent State. Thomas and the Sooners defense enter October ranked 4th nationally in SP+ defense, 5th in success rate defense, 4th in yards allowed per play and 3rd in scoring defense. They’ll have to hold down the fort until John Mateer returns to the field, but Thomas, a near certainty to appear on All-American lists, has the talent to help them pull it off.
6. Dylan Stewart, Edge (South Carolina)
Stewart was dominant in South Carolina’s 35-13 rout of Kentucky, collecting 3 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks in the victory. Stewart also graded out among the best defenders in the country on Saturday, posting a 90.6 grade, per PFF. Stewart also forced 2 fumbles, one of which teammate Jatius Geer took 41 yards to the house for a touchdown.
Stewart’s 18 pressures and 14 hurries on the season rank in the top 3 in the SEC.
5. Kewan Lacy, RB (Ole Miss)
Lacy piled up 108 total yards and a touchdown in the Ole Miss’s 24-19 upset of LSU, remaining option number 1 for Lane Kiffin’s offense as the unbeaten Rebels march into a well-deserved bye week. On the season, Lacy ranks second in the SEC in yards (445) and touchdowns (8). With defenses keying on Lacy, the Ole Miss offense continues to hum along, ranking 8th in SP+ efficiency and 13th nationally in success rate offense.
4. Chris Brazzell II, WR (Tennessee)
The Tennessee Volunteers escaped Starkville with a 41-34 overtime victory that featured yet another Chris Brazzell II touchdown, his SEC leading 7th of the season. Brazzell now leads the SEC in receiving yards as well with 531 in just 5 games. Defenses are starting to scheme him, too, meaning he’s now opening things up for teammates. Brazzell faced safety help or double coverage on 40% of Tennessee’s offensive snaps in Saturday’s game. That’s how you impact winning.
3. Mansoor Delane, CB (LSU)
Delane racked up 11 tackles in LSU’s 24-19 loss at Ole Miss. Delane still grades out as the SEC’s best corner (second in the Power 4), per PFF. Ole Miss didn’t target Delane much, but they did complete both attempts when they attacked him, racking up 41 yards on those passes. Still, no corner in the SEC has been better in coverage this year, as Delane has allowed just 6 receptions on 20 targets against as an anchor for one of the nation’s best secondaries.
2. Diego Pavia, QB (Vanderbilt)
The man whose college football career began when James Franklin was losing big games at Vanderbilt is now a Heisman dark horse, thanks to a monster September where Pavia threw for 1,211 yards and ran for 294 more — both tops on the Commodores. Pavia has accounted for an SEC-high 15 touchdowns (13 passing, 2 rushing), is averaging a career-high 9.6 yards per attempt, and continues to make mind-boggling plays with his feet, extending plays and yes, throwing bone-crushing blocks.
Next up? The Crimson Tide, who will have revenge on their mind after getting Pavia’d last season in Nashville.
1. Ahmad Hardy, RB (Missouri)
Hardy stays in the top spot after slicing his way to 130 yards and 3 touchdowns in Missouri’s 42-6 win over UMass. The sophomore from Mississippi leads the SEC and the nation in rushing yards, with 735, and in rushing touchdowns, with 9. Missouri heads into its open week ranked 3rd nationally in rushing offense and 10th in success rate, both best in the SEC.
Neil Blackmon covers SEC football and basketball for SaturdayDownSouth.com. An attorney, he is also a member of the Football and Basketball Writers Associations of America. He also coaches basketball.
