Week 13 SEC report card: Auburn aces final regular-season exam, earns A+

The regular season is over, so for five schools, this is the final report card of the season. The nine bowl-eligible teams will be back, and who knows, a team or two might be amassing grades for even three more games. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. It’s report card time, which means we grade every team (and break down their season GPA), then single out the best and worst of the class for the final regular-season games of 2017.

WEST

Auburn: A+

Tempted to give the Tigers a Ralphie from A Christmas Story grade of A+++++++, but we’ll stick to real marks. They didn’t just beat Alabama, they didn’t need a flukish play like the Kick Six to do it. They lined up, ran their offense, and were the superior team. Going 9-for-18 on third down tells much of the story of the game. Well, that or holding Bama to 4-for-15 on third and fourth down.

GPA: 3.250 (↑0.901)
YTD: A- ¦ C ¦ C ¦ A- ¦ A- ¦ A- ¦ D ¦ A ¦ I ¦ B+ ¦ A+ ¦ B+ ¦ A+

Ole Miss: A

The Rebels gave up almost 300 yards rushing and over 500 total … and won the Egg Bowl anyway. They used a combination of timely offense and turnover-forcing defense to win this despite picking up just 11 first downs. This may be the only time a winning team had more penalties (13) than first downs.

GPA: 2.333 (↑0.151)
YTD: C+ ¦ C+ ¦ C- ¦ I ¦ D+ ¦ C+ ¦ B+ ¦ C ¦ D- ¦ B+ ¦ B ¦ C ¦ A

LSU: A

The Tigers absolutely blasted A&M, owning the game in all phases. Sure, the Aggies didn’t show much urgency, but LSU buried them in a hurry when they did.

GPA: 3.000 (↑0.091)
YTD: A ¦ A- ¦ D+ ¦ B- ¦ F ¦ A ¦ A ¦ B+ ¦ I ¦ B- ¦ B+ ¦ B ¦ A

Alabama: C-

Sure, they are banged up, and sure, it was a great run. But the bottom line is that in the game in which they needed something extra, they didn’t find it. The Tide ran for 209 yards via 5.6 yards per carry, had just one turnover, and still lost the Iron Bowl by the biggest margin in 48 years.

GPA: 3.438 (↓0.153)
YTD: A ¦ A- ¦ B ¦ A ¦ A ¦ B- ¦ A- ¦ A- ¦ I ¦ B+ ¦ B+ ¦ A ¦ C-

Mississippi State: C-

It wasn’t their fault. When Nick Fitzgerald went down in the first quarter, so did much of what made State a special team. Still, a sloppy five-turnover game in which the Bulldogs managed to basically negate rushing for 294 yards has to stand as a disappointment.

GPA: 2.938 (↓0.107)
YTD: A- ¦ B+ ¦ A ¦ C- ¦ C- ¦ I ¦ B+ ¦ A ¦ A ¦ C- ¦ A- ¦ C+ ¦ C-

Arkansas: D+

Such a glass-half-full kind of game. For the second straight week, Arkansas took a superior SEC opponent down to the bitter end. That said, they gave up 696 yards and 35 first downs. Missouri ran 102 plays. Oh well, it’s a new coach’s mess to fix.

GPA: 1.542 (↓0.026)
YTD: B- ¦ D ¦ I ¦ D ¦ C+ ¦ F ¦ C- ¦ F ¦ B+ ¦ D- ¦ C- ¦ B- ¦ D+

Texas A&M: D-

The Aggies played like a team with a dead coach walking. Pretty much every facet of the A&M squad looked deficient, and they played like a team that couldn’t wait to get this game finished.

GPA: 2.271 (↓0.138)
YTD: F ¦ D- ¦ C- ¦ B+ ¦ B ¦ A- ¦ B+ ¦ I ¦ C ¦ C+ ¦ B+ ¦ B+ ¦ D-

EAST

Missouri: A-

That offense. Wow. A passer throws for well over 400 yards, the top rusher goes for 170 on the ground, and they ran A HUNDRED AND TWO PLAYS. They did cough up over 300 yards passing on defense, and kept Arkansas in the game, but the offense (as it has been for most of the season) was the story.

GPA: 2.333 (↑0.128)
YTD: C ¦ D+ ¦ F ¦ F ¦ I ¦ C ¦ D ¦ B+ ¦ B ¦ A ¦ A ¦ A- ¦ A-

Georgia: A-

It wasn’t always the prettiest performance, but it was dominating. The Bulldogs couldn’t sleep on Tech’s weird triple-option offense, and they didn’t, dispatching the Wreck easily. Next comes the rematch with Auburn.

GPA: 3.542 (↑0.019)
YTD: B+ ¦ B+ ¦ B+ ¦ A ¦ A ¦ A ¦ A- ¦ I ¦ A ¦ A- ¦ C- ¦ A- ¦ A-

Vanderbilt: A-

Anytime you go to your state rival and thump them in their own house, you had a good day. The bad news is that Tennessee is clearly the worst team in the SEC. The good news is that Vandy wasted little time in putting the Vols out of their misery.

GPA: 2.250 (↑0.136)
YTD: B+ ¦ B ¦ A- ¦ D ¦ C- ¦ D ¦ D+ ¦ I ¦ C- ¦ A- ¦ C ¦ D- ¦ A-

South Carolina: C-

The Gamecocks were outmanned, but did a good job scrapping enough to avoid embarrassment. Their offense, with just 207 total yards, just didn’t have the playmakers to tangle with Clemson. That’s understandable — after all, Clemson made Auburn look pretty foolish earlier this season.

GPA: 2.708 (↓0.087)
YTD: C+ ¦ B+ ¦ C- ¦ C+ ¦ C- ¦ A ¦ A- ¦ I ¦ B+ ¦ C+ ¦ B+ ¦ B ¦ C-

Kentucky: D-

Just not the look the Wildcats wanted, either on the field, where they were rocked by Louisville 44-17, or otherwise. A senior lineman took to Twitter the day before Senior Day to blast the coaching staff, and a defensive team leader looked like he was auditioning for the WWE during the game. Not a good week.

GPA: 2.146 (↓0.127)
YTD: C+ ¦ C- ¦ A- ¦ C ¦ C ¦ C+ ¦ I ¦ F ¦ A- ¦ C- ¦ A- ¦ C- ¦ D-

Florida: D-

An embarrassment, as their offense gave away two scores and helped a punchless Florida State team likely achieve bowl eligbility at the Gators’ expense.

GPA: 1.727 (↓0.098)
YTD: D ¦ I ¦ C+ ¦ B+ ¦ A- ¦ C+ ¦ C- ¦ I ¦ F ¦ F ¦ D- ¦ B+ ¦ D-

Tennessee: F

Nowhere to go but up.

GPA: 1.104 (↓0.101)
YTD: C ¦ B ¦ D ¦ C- ¦ F ¦ I ¦ F ¦ C- ¦ F ¦ B- ¦ F ¦ D ¦ F

Final regular-season class ranking

GPA calculation: On a 4.0 scale, A=4, B=3, C=2, D=1, F=0. We add or subtract a quarter point (0.25) for pluses/minuses, tally up the season-to-date points and divide by the number of games.

Hall passes

OFFENSE

Auburn: Balance has been a buzzword, and while 168 yards rushing doesn’t quite equal the 240 yards passing that Jarrett Stidham put up, it kept the chains moving enough for a season-defining win.

Missouri: Racking up 696 yards of total offense and 35 first downs gets you some extra credit with us.

DEFENSE

Georgia: Tech isn’t conventional in any sense of the word, and holding it to 188 yards rushing was some deceptively good work. Winning time of possession against the Yellow Jackets almost never happens, but it did on Saturday.

LSU: The Tigers held A&M to 282 total yards and also forced four turnovers. The Aggies had a long rushing play of seven yards.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Mississippi State: An excellent day of kicking and a blocked punt gets the Bulldogs the nod. Unfortunately, it didn’t get them a win.

South Carolina: Again, not a winning effort, but an inconsistent kicking game played well and punter Joseph Charlton had a great game.

Detention

OFFENSE

Florida: Surprise, surprise. The 280 total yards outranked Florida State, but four turnovers, two of which were returned for scores, gets the Gators into detention. What a year.

Tennessee: The East’s two underachievers together again in detention. The Vols’ 238 total yards and 55 yards rushing tell the tale of a UT offense that was once again woefully unable to do much of anything.

DEFENSE

Kentucky: Allowing 562 yards against Lamar Jackson will happen. A game with zero defensive stops won’t. Not a single punt, turnover or stop on downs.

Tennessee: It wasn’t all on the offense. Vandy put up 283 yards passing and 246 rushing in a game when they absolutely picked their poison on the UT defense. Vandy went 11-for-15 on third down.

SPECIAL TEAMS

LSU: Two more missed field goals. The Tigers finished the year 12^th in the SEC in field goal percentage and 13^th in extra-point percentage.

Joe Cox

Joe Cox is a columnist for Saturday Down South. He has also written or assisted in writing five books, and his most recent, Almost Perfect (a study of baseball pitchers’ near-miss attempts at perfect games), is available on Amazon or at many local bookstores.