Who knew Cupcake Week could be so revealing?

Here is 1 thing I learned about every SEC team in Week 12.

Alabama: It’s a good thing Auburn doesn’t run Triple Option

If you want to have success against the Tide’s defense, running the triple option might be the way to go.

That seems to be the only thing that can be effective against Alabama’s defense.

Despite throwing two passes and completing zero, The Citadel scored more points against Alabama than LSU, Mississippi State and Ole Miss did combined. Lucky for Alabama, it won’t see the triple option again. It’s a wonder powerhouse teams schedule programs like The Citadel. Even Nick Saban said it: The Citadel had nothing to lose and everything to gain, while Alabama really had nothing to gain.

Arkansas: Chad Morris’ basement-to-penthouse rebuild has a long way to go

It’s not just the offense, though that’s what most have focused on simply because of Morris’ background and reputation as a Touchdown Whisperer.

This defense is even more problematic. It’s been that way for 3 years. It doesn’t matter how many you score if you give up 50. Ask Ole Miss.

Auburn: 1,000-yard streak is going to end at 9

JaTarvious Whitlow entered Cupcake Week with 668 yards. There was a chance, if he went off for 150 or so yards against Liberty, that he could extend Auburn’s streak of producing a 1,000-yard rusher to 10 years.

Instead, Kam Martin had the big game Saturday. Whitlow gained just 48 and now has 716 with Alabama and a bowl game remaining.

It’s not going to happen.

Florida: Feleipe Franks can spin it

Franks might be the conference’s most hard-to-figure quarterback. The raw skills are unmistakable. The arm strength screams next level. Best-case scenario, clean pocket? You like your chances a lot.

Saturday was more of that. His first TD pass was more of the simple throws that Jake Fromm makes, but his third TD pass was an effortless rip to Tyrie Cleveland. There’s no arc in a ball that travels 40 yards, meaning there’s no chance for a DB to make up ground. The coverage was good. The throw was better. Makes you wonder why this can’t be the norm.

Georgia: Justin Fields throws a beautiful deep ball

We figured we would get a big dose of Justin Fields against UMass, and he didn’t disappoint. The freshman sensation threw fore more than 100 yards and ran for 100 as well. There was no need to play the starters long in the 66-27 blowout, so it was good to see Fields out there doing big things. He hasn’t played much in the last month with bigger games against ranked teams, but he showed enough Saturday to remind us how much he’s going to be great down the road.

He had 2 long throws, a 54-yarder to Isaac Nauta and a 57-yard TD to Mecole Hardman. And he nearly had another on a beautiful ball that Demetris Robertson dropped in the end zone.

Kentucky: OK, so the Wildcats were a bit overrated

It has been a great year. But this isn’t exactly a great team. It’s a good team with a few great players, but it’s hard to justify a former Top 10 team getting that kind of a scare from an average Conference USA outfit.

Vanderbilt, remember, blasted MTSU 35-7 in Week 1. Georgia crushed the Blue Raiders 49-7 two weeks later.

But Kentucky won and kept alive its hopes of finishing with 10 wins.

LSU: The receiving corps is still a big question mark

Stephen Sullivan had a nice game (4-94-1), but after 11 games the Tigers have one consistently reliable receiver in Justin Jefferson. This was supposed a deep and talented unit that would be a team strength. But it hasn’t been. Two of them are true freshmen and might need time, but four are juniors running out of time. As we head into Thanksgiving the LSU receiving corps isn’t appreciably less of a mystery than it was going into Labor Day.

Mississippi State: If only the offense could have been like this all year

The Bulldogs’ defense is as good as any defense in the country, and after allowing just 2 field goals to Arkansas, are giving up just 12.8 points per game. What does that mean? On an average week, the Bulldogs offense needs to score just 13 points to win a game, and yet they have 4 losses, due to a wildly inconsistent offense. One week they get shut out, the next week they score 52. Where would this team be if the offense played like they did on Saturday all season long? You’d be looking at a legitimate national title contender.

Missouri: Derek Dooley can call plays

How sweet must Saturday have been for the former UT head coach?

Going back to Knoxville and hanging 50 on the Vols?

Drew Lock, in particular, relished it. He told reporters afterward that Vols fans mocked him on social media after Mizzou hired Dooley, warning him of dark days.

Saturday was anything but.

“That feels really good,” Lock told reporters. “That is definitely really cool, especially to be able to do it here with coach Dooley.”

Two strange losses — by a combined 3 points to South Carolina and Kentucky — completely corrupted our opinion of Barry Odom and the Tigers.

But Missouri was that close to a 10-win season.

Ole Miss: Friday might as well be New Year’s Day

For the Rebels and their fans, Friday can’t come soon enough – This has been a brutal year for the Rebels. With their overtime loss to Vanderbilt on Saturday night, the Rebels have now lost 4 games in a row and held a lead in each of them. Assuming they lose to Mississippi State this Thursday on Thanksgiving, they’ll finish the year a dismal 5-7 (1-7).

But on Friday, not only is the 2018 season officially a thing of the past, they’ll also be totally out from NCAA sanctions as well. Friday represents a completely clean slate, which has to be refreshing.

South Carolina: Gamecocks didn’t lose to Florida twice

With the Clemson game on tap, South Carolina needed to erase memories of the disappointing loss to Florida. The Gamecocks accomplished that as they held Chattanooga to 78 yards rushing and got some positives out of younger and less experienced players because of the rash of injuries. The defense also picked up two turnovers, which has been a point of concern in recent weeks, and something it will need to get, to have any hope of an upset against Clemson.

Tennessee: Keller Chryst isn’t the answer

Jarrett Guarantano has his doubters, but any hope Tennessee had Saturday disappeared after Guarantano took a hard shot early in the game. He returned briefly but then gave way to Chryst, the grad transfer.

That didn’t go well. Chryst threw 2 interceptions — which was notable because Guarantano hasn’t thrown an interception since Sept. 22.

Their bowl hopes at stake, the Vols need him healthy and upright Saturday at Vandy.

Texas A&M: Some stats don’t mean as much as we think

The Aggies have prided themselves on dominating time of possession and an ability on defense to get off the field by holding opponents on third down. On Saturday, UAB held the ball for more than 34 minutes and converted on 10-of-16 third-down situations. The Aggies possessed it just under 26 minutes, well below their 35-plus minute mark, which ranks second in the nation to Army (39:15). No matter, the Aggies were an efficient with the football, scoring on 6 of 11 drives.

Vanderbilt: ‘Dores want to go bowling

What an effort from the Commodores, to keep pace with Ole Miss on a night Jordan Ta’amu threw for 457 yards and keep their bowl hopes alive.

Kyle Shurmur wasn’t as productive (191 yards), but he threw 3 TD passes and was more protective. Vandy picked off Ta’amu twice, both times preventing points. In a game Vandy won in overtime, that was the difference. (Well, that and a really, really bad call that negated a A.J. Brown’s tying TD catch in overtime.)

Vandy’s victory sets up a winner-goes-bowling showdown against Tennessee Saturday in Nashville. Sign me up for every bit of that.