Halloween was a scary time for many an SEC team.

We saw weaknesses revealed, injuries suffered and a handful of head-scratching letdowns. For some, it was a downright terrifying week in the SEC (hello, LSU defense).

So what did we learn Saturday? Well, a lot. For starters, it’s actually “Daylight Saving Time” and not “Daylight Savings Time.” True story.

Oh. What did we learn about each SEC team?

These things:

Alabama — The defense is capable of a throwback performance

Pitching a shutout? Alabama went 2 years in between shutouts. Go figure that the last one also came against MSU. While the Bulldogs’ offensive ineptitude was on display yet again, let’s not discredit an Alabama defense that got after it for the 3rd consecutive game. We saw the takeaways, the open-field tackling and the lack of coverage busts. That’s exactly what Nick Saban and Pete Golding could’ve asked for against that struggling MSU offense. It wasn’t always rushing 3, though Alabama had success doing that.

Dating back to halftime against Georgia, that’s 17 points allowed in the last 10 quarters. Dylan Moses is starting to return to form, and Patrick Surtain continued his stellar season with a pick-6 in garbage time.

Arkansas — Barry Odom’s defense isn’t quite ready to beat talent like that

For the first time all year, we saw Barry Odom’s defense look like it was truly overmatched. There weren’t answers for Ainias Smith or Jalen Wydermyer, who made a handful of big-time plays for Kellen Mond. We’ve seen Arkansas play much better in the trenches than what was initially expected. Against the A&M offensive line, AKA the maroon goons, Arkansas really couldn’t get much of a push. Mond’s jersey stayed clean and A&M finished the night with 182 rushing yards.

It was a bit of a setback for a group that’s been able to thrive on takeaways. Those weren’t there, or when they were, Arkansas wasn’t able to capitalize. This is still an extremely promising group who plays hard for 60 minutes. If you’re a Razorback fan looking for a positive, I’d say that still qualifies.

Auburn — Kevin Steele’s K.J. Britt-less defense can indeed take over a game

I don’t want to totally discredit the Auburn offense because I’ve been critical of them. I’ve also watched this LSU defense let up 40-plus to MSU and Mizzou. Saturday’s showing was still progress for the Auburn offense with Chad Morris. But I was more impressed with how Kevin Steele’s defense, who had been banged up and mediocre at times in 2020, harassed a true freshman quarterback. The 3 turnovers forced against him made the Finley honeymoon a short one. Against an LSU offense that came in No. 12 in FBS, Auburn’s defense forced these possessions in the first half:

  • Punt
  • Punt
  • Missed FG
  • Interception
  • Punt
  • Fumble return for TD
  • Punt
  • FG

Mercy. Even without K.J. Britt, Auburn delivered what was easily its best performance of the year. Owen Pappoe chased down LSU quarterbacks, Big Kat Bryant had a back-breaking interception and Smoke Monday was all over ball-carriers. Auburn’s best defensive players — sans Britt — were at their best. That was the type of game that made you realize why Steele is the highest-paid defensive coordinator in America.

Auburn is worthy of being the No. 2 team in the West when in plays like that.

Florida — The Gators have a little fight in them

Get it? Because of the brawl? Yowza. That was bizarre. The late hit on Kyle Trask and subsequent Dan Mullen reaction fueled what turned into a wild scene heading into halftime on Saturday night.

Did that spark the Gators? Eh, I don’t know. What I thought was significant was how well that defense played after the awful start to 2020 and long layoff. The Gators were without 8 total defensive backs, including starters Marco Wilson, Shawn Davis and Donovan Stiner. That was before Trey Dean went down.

For 57 minutes, Florida’s defense didn’t allow a touchdown. That’s a massive win for Todd Grantham. With the heat he was facing after the first 3 games, he needed that type of showing. That was a totally different Florida defense. Getting Kyree Campbell back up front proved beneficial, but Florida somehow stopped missing tackles after having 2 weeks without football activities. Does that make sense? Probably not. Will Florida fans complain about that? Absolutely not.

Now, they might have a reason to believe that they can overtake Georgia, who is dealing with its own issues …

Georgia — Kirby Smart’s defense is suddenly all sorts of banged up

Here’s the good news. Georgia has more defensive depth than any team in America. The amount of defensive studs that Kirby Smart has to turn to, especially in the front 7, is every coach’s dream. Malik Herring and Nakobe Dean were phenomenal. The bad news? Even after a bye week, Georgia is suddenly dealing with a bunch of injuries heading into the Florida game.

And that didn’t include Tyrique Stevenson, who went down with an apparent head injury late in the game. It also didn’t include the post-game injury to Richard LeCounte, who was reportedly involved in a traffic accident. Just brutal.

That’s not how Georgia was hoping to get out of Lexington. That’s sort of a casualty of that shuffled COVID schedule with Georgia not getting a bye week before Florida. The Dawgs might have an exceptional defense, but against that high-powered Florida offense, they need to play their best game of the year to keep those Playoff hopes alive.

Kentucky — Joey Gatewood isn’t the answer to Kentucky’s offensive woes

For Kentucky fans who were hoping to catch lightning in a bottle with Gatewood, that hope vanished on Saturday. Zero touchdowns won’t exactly fire up the masses. Getting your first career start against that Georgia defense isn’t ideal, but the Auburn transfer didn’t really get any chances to stretch the field. It seemed like Eddie Gran didn’t really want to put Gatewood in those spots, even during the latter half of the 4th quarter when Kentucky was down 11.

Mark Stoops said during the week that Terry Wilson, who was out Saturday with a hand injury, is still the guy moving forward. I’d say Gatewood’s 3.6 yards per attempt probably wasn’t enough to convince the coaching staff (or Kentucky fans) that a change needs to be made. The change that might need to be made is at the offensive coordinator spot.

LSU — No corner was turned against South Carolina

That’s a broad statement, I realize. But when you get beat like that, it makes you rethink everything. It’s definitely worth rethinking any notion that T.J. Finley was worthy of being the unquestioned starting quarterback. He was yanked after 3 costly turnovers. Myles Brennan will be the guy when healthy.

Those turnovers spoiled a great start for the LSU defense, who completely fell apart in the final 40 minutes. The run game defense issues were still there, and against Chad Morris’ offense, Bo Pelini couldn’t make the right adjustments. If there’s a sentence that suggests Pelini won’t be back in 2021, that’s it. All of that progress against South Carolina was an afterthought by halftime on Saturday.

It’s hard to envision anything but a losing 2020 record for this LSU squad.

MSU — Oh, it can get worse?

Imagine having 2 weeks to prepare for a game and looking that bad offensively. After 3 consecutive duds, Mike Leach was shut out for the first time as a head coach. Granted, his offense was shut out against Kentucky but the poor MSU defense recorded a safety in that one. It’s baffling that MSU had just 38 total yards and 1.7 yards per play in the first half. How is it that Leach’s scripted plays performed that horribly?

MSU has 30 points since scoring 44 in the opener against LSU. That’s 7.5 points per game. That’s for the offense that was supposed to take over the SEC. The SEC has since taken over the Air Raid, which continues to look like it simply doesn’t have the right personnel to run it. As long as defenses continue to drop 8 into coverage — Alabama did a lot of that but it didn’t drop 8 exclusively — then it’s hard to see a light at the end of the tunnel

A date with Vanderbilt could be the only thing to spark this disastrous offense.

Mizzou — The offensive identity still needs works

I fully expected Mizzou to come out and try to run right at Florida. I expected a similar game plan to what we saw against Kentucky, especially considering Florida went 2 weeks without practicing and was probably in rough shape from a conditioning standpoint. That didn’t really happen, though. It wasn’t necessarily from a lack of effort. Larry Rountree III had 14 carries, but he only had 36 yards. It was a bit surprising that we didn’t see more designed runs for Tyler Badie and Connor Bazelak.

Florida’s defense had been a train wreck all year. The fact that Mizzou couldn’t really find the right looks to take advantage of that depleted secondary, who was missing 8 defensive backs, was surprising. There were no Tigers running free like they did against LSU. Mizzou’s offense is still a week-to-week mystery that seems like a work in progress.

Ole Miss — There’s no quarterback controversy

I don’t just say that because Matt Corral balled against Vandy. That was to be expected. I can’t say I saw 31-of-34 for 412 yards and 6 touchdown passes coming, and I didn’t pencil him in to break Eli Manning’s consecutive completions record. I’ll admit that.

But even in an extremely favorable matchup, Corral built on a bounce-back performance that he had against Auburn. Since Corral had the 6-interception debacle against Arkansas, he had a combined 9 touchdowns compared to just 2 interceptions, though 1 of those came on that weird Hail Mary attempt at the end of the Auburn game.

More telling was that John Rhys Plumlee didn’t register a carry or pass until the game was well in hand. Lane Kiffin clearly didn’t want to take Corral out of the game when he was cooking like that. It worked. Corral’s confidence is high once again. If he’s that locked in, Ole Miss is going to score a whole lot of points against a favorable slate to finish 2020.

Texas A&M — The Aggies are absolutely in the hunt

It’s about time I start giving the Aggies the credit they deserve. It’s weird. I had a 4-1 start predicted, yet they’ve surpassed my expectations. Why? They actually have an offensive identity. Kellen Mond is playing at an All-SEC level, and he’s got 3 unique skill players in Ainias Smith, Isaiah Spiller and Jalen Wydermyer. That was a solid Arkansas defense who had extra time to prepare, and the Aggies had a balanced, efficient attack.

This offensive line is now at the level that they should be in Year 3 of the Jimbo Fisher era. Or, my bad. The “maroon goons.” That’s what’s going to keep this group in any game it plays the rest of the season. The defense has some work to do, especially on the back end. But I find myself becoming more and more intrigued by A&M. Maybe that 7-1 start isn’t so crazy after all.

Vanderbilt — The defense doesn’t have a prayer

I just feel bad for Derek Mason’s group. Depth has been an issue all year. On Saturday, Vandy still only had 66 players dressed, which was 13 more than the 53-player threshold needed to have a game. I’m not sure Mason would’ve slowed down Ole Miss with a full roster. With a depleted group, a record-setting Ole Miss day ensued. Matt Corral tied the program’s single-game record with 6 touchdowns, and Elijah Moore tied the program’s single-game record with 14 catches. Yikes. Two weekends off couldn’t fix Vandy’s defense, who allowed an average of 45 points since that promising opening game against Texas A&M.

On the bright side, MSU and Kentucky are on deck.