On Halloween weekend (sort of), I questioned how scary things would get.

Would Florida play with nothing to lose and give Georgia a fright in Jacksonville? Could Kentucky creep up on Tennessee and spook the Vols on Saturday night? Or better yet, would the Vols’ offense look even scarier than ever with Cedric Tillman back?

We got answers to all of those things (and more) on Saturday.

Here’s 1 thing I learned from every SEC team in Week 9:

Arkansas — KJ Jefferson looks healthier than ever, and mercy, this Arkansas offense is fun

Coming off the head injury, we saw Jefferson truly take over against BYU. With a week off, Jefferson looked totally fresh. He was calm and poised in the pocket when he needed to be, he was decisive in the run game when he needed to be and when the Hogs were in need of a big 3rd-down conversion, it always felt like Jefferson made the right decision. Jefferson is at his best when he’s a true dual threat, which he was against a somewhat lifeless Auburn defense.

When Jefferson’s full arsenal is available, he keeps that defensive line guessing and we see Rocket Sanders at his best. Sanders had that 76-yard run to bust things open in the 3rd quarter, which was huge after he briefly left the game with a knee injury. A 286-234 run-pass yardage split is exactly the way Kendal Briles drew it up. If this is the version of Jefferson that we’re gonna see for the rest of the year, the Hogs could be on their way to a 9-win season after all.

Auburn — Oh, a bye week absolutely did nothing to recharge that defense

You know how you know you’re having a rough year? When even your bye week feels like a setback. Specifically, the timing of it. Auburn showed significant progress offensively in that 2nd half against Ole Miss, and it probably overshadowed the fact that the Tigers surrendered 448 rushing yards. The question was whether an Auburn defense that entered Saturday having allowed an average of 204 rushing yards would have a pulse against the run.

Yeah, about that.

Arkansas had 153 rushing yards … in the 3rd quarter (H/T Steve Sullivan). That’s all you need to know about this depleted Auburn front 7. There’s only so much Derick Hall and Owen Pappoe can do. A lack of depth and injuries have clearly caught up to this group, which now looks like it could be even worse than the 2012 Auburn defense that surrendered 198 rushing yards per game. That, even more than an offense that lacks an identity, is why Auburn is now 1-9 in its past 10 games against Power 5 competition.

Florida — We saw the year-to-year difference between the Dan Mullen era and the Billy Napier era

Fight. There was a lot of it from that Florida sideline. Down 28-3 to the No. 1 team in America, Florida could’ve easily checked out, and nobody would’ve been particularly surprised. But similar to what we saw against Tennessee in Knoxville, the Gators seemed to find their rhythm on both sides of the ball. Amari Burney forced a pair of turnovers, Trevor Etienne was excellent and Xzavier Henderson took advantage of Georgia taking an unnecessary risk in the secondary.

Nobody would’ve expected Florida to be in a 1-score game late in the 3rd quarter. And while Georgia flexed its muscles with 2 scoring drives to put the game out of reach, think of the alternative. We saw Anthony Richardson fight through a leg injury he suffered on the 1st play, and Florida actually won the turnover battle, 3-0. Considering this was the biggest spread we’ve seen in this rivalry since that data was 1st tracked back in 1995, I came away encouraged for the long-term upside of Napier’s squad. It just needs defensive depth.

Georgia — The passing game (and Brock Bowers) are back to making splash plays

Since the South Carolina game, the only touchdowns we had seen from Stetson Bennett IV came against Vandy, which had the 2nd-worst passing defense in America and hasn’t won an SEC game in the 2020s. Bennett’s efficiency was an issue in the 3 pre-Vandy games, none of which saw him average more than 7.6 yards per attempt. So yeah, it was fair to wonder if Bennett and the UGA passing game would get its mojo back against Florida after such a promising start.

Bennett and Bowers were so in sync that even when they weren’t on the same page, Bowers made the play of the day with a tip drill long touchdown. Even though Bennett had the 2 interceptions — he could’ve had 3 if Rashad Torrence II had been able to hold on to an overthrow in the 1st quarter — it was still a relief to see him connect with Bowers in single coverage so well. That 4th-and-7 free play was the true dagger late. Six different Georgia players had multiple receptions, 3 of whom had catches of 20 yards. Heading into the highly anticipated Tennessee showdown, that feels important.

Kentucky — Even at (close) to full strength, these Cats aren’t on that level

You couldn’t say Kentucky lost on Saturday because of a missed call or an injured player. Well, losing DeAndre Square wasn’t ideal. He’s the Cats’ defensive captain who gets everyone lined up. But against that Tennessee team? Nah, that didn’t make or break that one. Not only did Kentucky somehow have multiple busts to allow all-everything Jalin Hyatt to break free, but it also couldn’t tackle Jaylen Wright.

We got a side-by-side of Kentucky’s offense compared to Tennessee’s, both of which has an NFL quarterback with 3 solid receivers. But man, was there any comparison? Alex Golesh and Josh Heupel completely outschemed Rich Scangarello, and Kentucky wasn’t able to take advantage of one of the nation’s worst pass defenses. That was a total beatdown. The only time Kentucky suffered a more lopsided loss in the Playoff era was the 2020 Alabama game with a depleted roster. Yikes.

Mizzou — Blake Baker’s defense has earned your respect (and mine)

OK, so this isn’t necessarily new to this column. I’ll admit that. But I do feel like we need to be talking about the Mizzou defense as one of the more underappreciated, improved units in the conference. On Saturday against a South Carolina team that was riding a 4-game winning streak, Mizzou:

  • A) Allowed 207 total yards
  • B) Held South Carolina to 3.8 yards/play
  • C) Had 11 tackles for loss
  • D) Allowed only 1 red-zone trip
  • E) All the above

It’s “E.” It’s always “E.”

Mizzou had so much defensive swagger that Martez Manuel took Spencer Rattler’s towel after a sack and mimicked the “Sandstorm” wave. He and Isaiah McGuire were everywhere for Baker’s defense, which has now held every SEC team to 26 points or less. It once again bailed out a stagnant offense, which has become the identity of this team. Mizzou’s bowl chances just got a whole lot better.

Ole Miss — Zach Evans is back and (mostly) healthy … but Quinshon Judkins is still that dude

It was great to see Evans back out there after he missed last week’s game as a late scratch with the knee injury. On Saturday, we saw Evans briefly leave the game to get the sleeve that he operated with in the pregame, but the TCU transfer looked like his old self. He had 75 of Ole Miss’ 390 (!) rushing yards in the bounceback victory. By the way, 205 of those came from Judkins, who turned just 19 years old on Saturday. He also set the Ole Miss true freshman record with 13 rushing touchdowns. He’s 1 away from matching Nick Chubb for the most by an SEC true freshman in the Playoff era.

Judkins wasn’t supposed to get 30-plus carries, but when he got rolling, it was impossible for Lane Kiffin and Charlie Weis Jr. not to give him the rock. He’s such a difference-maker between the tackles with the physicality and burst that he runs with. That’s why he’s already over 1,000 yards on the season. He’ll have some much-needed rest with Ole Miss on a bye next week.

South Carolina — Those offensive issues were indeed a concern

So as it turns out, the Gamecocks’ offense without a healthy MarShawn Lloyd was … helpless. That’s really the only way to describe it. Far too often, it felt like the Gamecocks were fighting an uphill battle. Whether that was Jaheim Bell somehow not being targeted — his mom wasn’t pleased — or Spencer Rattler attempting to complete a low-percentage pass, South Carolina had nothing doing offensively. Mizzou deserved credit for that, because it totally dominated South Carolina’s offensive line. Eleven tackles for loss told the story.

This felt like such a setback game for Marcus Satterfield. He had a prime opportunity to quiet the noise about his future by dialing up some favorable looks at home coming off a nice win. Instead, he put himself firmly back on the hot seat.

Tennessee — Even with Tillman back, the Hyatt show goes on

I know, I know. I should write something about the defense and how it played like it had a chip on its shoulder (Doneiko Slaughter wins SEC Defensive Player of the Week or we riot). That was indeed a revelation. But I was curious how this passing attack was gonna look with Tillman back in the lineup. As in, Hendon Hooker’s favorite target. Would Hyatt still be the preferred target? And would he still be the guy ripping off chunk plays on command? Yes and yes. Tillman was involved early, but it was Hyatt who capitalized on the busts in Kentucky’s secondary. Hyatt had 5 catches for 138 yards, 55 of which came on a touchdown on the 1st drive.

Hyatt’s 4-game stretch is just silly:

  • at LSU: 4 catches, 64 yards, 2 TDs
  • vs. Alabama: 6 catches, 207 yards, 5 TDs
  • vs. UT-Martin: 7 catches, 174 yards, 2 TDs
  • vs. Kentucky: 5 catches, 138 yards, 2 TDs

That’s a month of football in which Hyatt had 22 catches for 583 yards and 11 touchdowns. Three of those games were without Tillman, who was on a limited snap count against Kentucky. Still, though. Hyatt’s brilliance out of the slot wasn’t just the byproduct of Tillman’s absence. His ability to get separation and take advantage of the pre-snap mismatches that are dialed up is clearly the backbone of this Tennessee passing attack.

Texas A&M — Conner Weigman’s first career start was ___________

“Slightly better than expected.”

The game script was excellent for the true freshman in his 1st career start. We saw A&M work some tempo, Devon Achane was heavily featured and Weigman got a nice confidence boost with the coaching staff letting him throw the ball on 4th and 1. But after that promising start, it took far too long to get anything going. Evan Stewart was invisible for a significant chunk of that game, and the chunk plays disappeared. Credit Ole Miss for making defensive adjustments, but A&M got away from the tempo until it was too late.

The good news was that Weigman helped A&M exceed 24 points against FBS competition for the 1st time since Oct. 23, 2021. He had 338 passing yards and 4 touchdown passes on a night in which he looked every bit like the 5-star, elite quarterback prospect he was billed to be. The bad news was that once again, we saw A&M go 40 minutes without a point. That just can’t happen in the year 2022. But Weigman will have a chance to develop and become more comfortable with the speed of the conference. Jimbo Fisher named him QB1 moving forward. In other words, it’s up to the true freshman to salvage bowl eligibility.