10 things I'm absolutely overreacting to after Week 6 in the SEC
Auburn, you got me again.
Gus, are you really sure Lamical Perine is too slow to play in the SEC? I don’t want to overreact, but I’m not so sure …. In fairness, I suppose I could say the same thing about your QB, too.
I’m not wondering about Tennessee or Ole Miss’ QB situations, though.
Here are 10 things I’m absolutely overreacting to after a better than expected Week 6 in and around the SEC.
10. Tennessee has a QB. And we’re all better for it
SEC football is more fun when Tennessee is relevant. The Vols have a national championship pedigree and one of the best fan bases in the country.
Taking shots at the Vols when they’re down is what rival fans do. I get it. But the days are a little sunnier when the Vols are a threat.
Credit Georgia for handling its business Saturday. But I could have sworn I saw a few silver linings in a Tennessee season with far too few of them.
Brian Maurer made some plays. He generated some buzz with his arm and created some hope in the huddle.
I haven’t been this excited about a Vols QB since Josh Dobbs. I never understood the love-hate relationship some fans had with him.
Maurer showed Saturday he is more than a breath of fresh air. He’s a much-needed oxygen mask.
Here’s to better days ahead.
9. Stop the Ohio State nonsense, now
It’s already started. You knew it would. Last Sunday, the Maniacal Midwest Media Mafia started banging the drum for Ohio State to be No. 1 in the country.
That was after beating an unranked Nebraska team that the MMMM propped up to be back, baby! The same Nebraska team that already lost to a Pac-12 team that turned around and lost to Air Force.
I tossed my boots in the trash when we moved from Indianapolis back to Florida 8 years ago, but I almost bought a pair Friday night to protect myself from the slop I knew I’d hear all day Saturday.
The MMMM didn’t disappoint, either.
Michigan State was ranked! (Ahem, No. 25.) Keep in mind, this was the same Michigan State team that already lost to a different Pac-12 team (at home, no less, which leads one to wonder how bad is the Big Ten if its alleged good teams can’t even beat Pac-12 teams). No matter!
Count it is a résumé builder for the Buckeyes. Do more than that. Count a home victory over a No. 25 team the same as a victory over a top 10 team. (Granted, it’s Ohio State’s 1st victory over a “ranked” team this season.) No matter!
I said it at the beginning of the season and I’m not changing my mind. Ohio State didn’t schedule anybody and it plays in a weak Power 5 conference. OK? The Buckeyes don’t get the benefit of a doubt because, yes, precedent matters. A 5-point bowl victory over a 4-loss Pac-12 team isn’t changing the narrative, OK? You know who else beat that Washington team by 5 points on a neutral field last year? Auburn.
I like Justin Fields a lot, and he played very well again Saturday. But the fact is he still hasn’t faced a quality team.
The Buckeyes will get their chance to impress in Week 9 — again at home — against Wisconsin. Win that game, then we’ll talk.
Until then, where’s the remote? I can’t take any more of this MMMM nonsense.
8. Clemson is not 2014 FSU
I edit words and topics, but I don’t legislate opinion, so when our columnist suggested connecting 2019 Clemson to 2014 FSU, I cautioned him but didn’t stop him.
Here are the 2 biggest flaws in the comparison.
1. The 2014 FSU team lost its top 2 running backs and Jameis Winston’s play-making wideout to the NFL. You know their names: Devonta Freeman is a 2-time Pro Bowler. (Dalvin Cook was solid as a freshman in 2014, but he was not Devonta Freeman.) And one of the reasons the Carolina Panthers took 6-5 wideout Kelvin Benjamin in the 1st round was they’d seen him use his length, vertical and catch radius to bail out an inaccurate Winston time and again in 2013. They figured he would be the perfect target for equally inaccurate Cam Newton in the NFL. So FSU’s offense, while it returned Winston, was nowhere near as dynamic as the 2013 version. That 2014 team wasn’t going through the motions. That team just wasn’t nearly as good.
The 2013 defense featured 8 starters who were drafted in April of 2014 (after the title) or April 2015 (after the 2014 season). The 2014 defense featured 5 who were drafted in 2015 or 2016.
It is an insult to the 2013 team to even suggest the 2014 team was on their level. The 2013 team set ACC records for most points (723), scoring average (51.6) and victory margin (31.5). The 2014 version scored 472, averaged 33.7 and not even including its loss, won its 13 games by an average of 11.7 points per game.
The numbers verified what we were seeing each week. The 2014 team only topped 40 points 3 times that year. The 2013 team topped 50 7 times and was only held below 40 2 times. That 2013 FSU offense was one of the most unstoppable in college football history. The 2014 team had too many replacement parts and simply lived on the reputation of the 2013 team.
2. Clemson returned its offensive studs and has employed the plug-and-play method to rebuild its defense overnight. The Tigers lost 1 offensive player — Hunter Renfrow — to the NFL.
This group, which is 5-0, by the way, has gone through the motions. They’ve looked bored. There is no way Dabo Swinney could convince them that a 2-win UNC team from a year ago would pose any kind of threat, and yet some want to use that game to suggest they’re not deserving of a Playoff spot?
Please, people. I know you have air time to fill, but, please, people.
Here’s all you need to know about Clemson. All offseason, the Tigers heard 2 things: How they were the greatest college football team in history in 2018 … and how Syracuse was going to get them again in Week 3.
What happened? Clemson obliterated the Orange 41-6 at Syracuse. Trevor Lawrence threw for 395 yards and 3 TDs.
You poke the Tiger, you’re going to get mauled. That team is still the biggest threat to the SEC’s title parade plans.
7. Targeting or unnecessary roughness?
FINAL:
Cincinnati 27
#18 Central Florida 24 pic.twitter.com/pGxu42SvqB— Cincinnati Bearcats (@GoBEARCATS) October 5, 2019
Sorry @UCF_Football…
this tweet is real.#Bearcats pic.twitter.com/XvkbHluKEf— Cincinnati Football (@GoBearcatsFB) October 5, 2019
UCF can’t even be mad. The Knights brought every single bit of this on themselves.
They wanted attention. They have it.
The Knights have now lost 3 of the past 7 games, by the way. Is it too late for them to beg their way into a 2-for-1 with the Gators?
6. Eliminating divisions most definitely is not the answer
Auburn played Florida on Saturday for the first time since 2011. That’s a lot of graduating classes that missed out on the once-historic rivalry.
So naturally, the keyboard warriors used this game as the perfect opportunity to suggest the SEC get rid of divisions.
Math is hard. But it’s not as hard as some of y’all make it.
There are 14 teams and 12 regular season games. You’re not going to play everybody. It’s not the end of the world.
If you really want to see Florida and Auburn play each other more often, the ACC handed you the perfect solution: schedule it as a nonconference game, just like former rivals Wake Forest and UNC did. That’s ingenious, actually.
Every year we hear the big boys complain that they end up playing FCS Directional State because no other Power 5 team would dare visit their place.
Again, the ACC provided the perfect solution. If you can’t get another ACC or Big 12 team to visit, find somebody in the other division.
Auburn and Florida could play every year if both programs really wanted to.
5. Bottom 5 of Power 5
The worst of the weak, in order of ineptitude, because alphabetical order is far too forgiving:
1. Iowa (Big Ten): A 10-3 loss to Michigan? Let’s just say this was not Alabama-LSU’s Game of the Century. (Maybe a throwback to the 20th Century?) Y’all told me this was the new Iowa. I told you it’s the same Iowa from the same Big Ten West.
2. Auburn’s offense (SEC): More specifically, Bo Nix. I hate to pile on a freshman, but Auburn left 21 points on the field Saturday. The kid has to play better or this championship-worthy defense is all for naught. His performance was the difference Saturday against Florida. He owned it, afterward.
3. Purdue coach Jeff Brohm (Big Ten): Remember when he was the most coveted offseason upgrade target? The team he is paid to coach is 1-4 in Year 3.
4. Vanderbilt (SEC): Specifically the rushing defense. Give Ole Miss a lot of credit. Three Rebels ripped off runs of at least 54 yards. That didn’t even include QB John Rhys Plumlee’s 33-yard TD run. Jerrion Ealy had a 78-yard TD run. Snoop Conner added an 84-yard score. Plumlee had a 54-yard run. Each time, some of the yards came after contact. Plumlee finished with 165 of Ole Miss’ 415 rushing yards. Good grief, Scottie Phillips (62 yards) was the Rebels’ 4th-leading rusher. So, again, give the Rebels credit. But Vandy, could you break down and wrap up?
5. Miami (ACC): Jarren Williams threw 3 INTs — in the 1st quarter against Virginia Tech. Not what you want to see, ever, but especially not coming out of a bye week. Those picks led to a 21-0 hole. The Canes didn’t quit, but the hole was too deep to overcome. Silver lining? After Williams was benched, the Canes might have discovered a QB in the comeback bid.
4. The 4 Playoff teams are …
- No. 1 Oklahoma
- No. 2 LSU
- No. 3 Alabama
- No. 4 Clemson
No change from last week. No reason to. Georgia is sitting there at 5. Ohio State’s day is coming. Florida and LSU will meet next week, with the winner claiming 1 of the 4 spots.
3. That was dirty
Dan Mullen took exception when Marlon Davidson crashed into Kyle Trask’s knee, leaving his QB writhing in pain. That play wasn’t dirty. Davidson was being held and dragged down as he delivered the hit. It was an unintended consequence of playing QB.
However, there was a dirty hit against an SEC QB on Saturday.
Kelly Bryant just threw a TD to put Mizzou up 42-7 on Troy and this happened to his left knee as he got hit late.
He’s gone to the locker room. pic.twitter.com/wljIgprTdE
— Yahoo Sports College Football (@YahooSportsCFB) October 5, 2019
The play resulted in Kelly Bryant’s 3 TD pass and a 42-7 1st-half lead. Maybe the Troy defender was angry. Maybe he was more than that.
Whatever. That was intentional and despicable. It ended Bryant’s night and potentially his college career.
2. Lamical Perine gets last laugh
Florida’s outstanding tailback grew up in Alabama. He wanted to go to Auburn. Auburn didn’t want him.
Too slow.
“I’m not an Auburn fan at all,” Perine said at SEC Media Days. “They recruited me a little bit. But I didn’t have an offer from them. They told me I was too slow. You can tell on my film, you can tell I’m not that slow. They had their opinion.”
Saturday, he might have changed it a bit, too.
Sure, his 88-yard TD run started as a standard Perine 6-yarder, but after he bulldozed one Auburn linebacker, he outran every other eligible defender for a game-sealing TD.
LAMICAL PERINE 88 YARDS TO THE HOUSE.
THE SWAMP IS ROCKING. pic.twitter.com/ZkbQ30mtsd— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) October 5, 2019
1. Having fun yet, Gators?
Dan Mullen promised he was going to make Florida football fun again.
Goodness, did he deliver Saturday.
Kyle Trask continues to play like an orange-and-blue version of Jake Fromm, and that Gators defense is just nasty.
I’d say live it up, but don’t indulge too long. Joe Burrow and LSU await next week in another winner-take-all showdown.
One thing the SEC can do is to stop the cross division permanent game, and rotate 2 games a year!! I never thought Auburn was that good, and it was all hype, with a novelty offense, lot more L’s for them this year!!
Can’t wait for Satan to retire and the L’s start piling up again at the Crapstone.
Then we would be getting Dabo
I wouldn’t be so sure of that if I were you..
He is probably glad that he is not you…
Can always count on an insult from you BT
Yeah, I don’t like the cross-division permanent game. I’d rather it be rotational.
Doing so would eliminate some historical rivalries that provide excellent viewership year in and year out, like UF-LSU and UGA-AU.
Why should I care about those rivalries if my team is not one of them ?
Does your team even have rivals? The way SC plays, I’m surprised their fans are more excited to watch good games from other teams.
It is unfair, misleading, backwards, illogical, and just plain crazy to have a conference championship game between two division champions…. that were decided by counting games played outside their division.
The conference shouldn’t stop anyone from playing a rival outside the division every year. They just shouldn’t count the game toward the division championship. It’s also a great idea to have at least 2 rotating cross division games in a 12 game schedule, but once again there is no logical reason to count the games toward the division championship. One more thing, if a team wants to play a rival in the conference every year, great, but don’t let them use that game to dodge playing every team in the cross division as often as the rest of the conference rotation. This is not a mind taxing concept. In fact nothing else make an ant-hill of sense.
But that would mean Bama v Tenn nor Ga v Aub would be annual games any longer.
I’m old enough to have seen the streak go the other way and would still rather beat Bama than any of the rest of the conf; however, this isn’t close to a rivalry anymore and likely won’t be until 2030 or later. I’m ok with ditching the game at this point.
One of the highlights of the season so far, UCF’s two losses.
^^^
Remember when they said they wouldn’t play UF, or any other SEC team in a 2 for 1 because they were better than that….?
Hard to imagine OSU losing a regular season game. You can pencil them, Clemson and Oklahoma into the playoffs. The SEC slot is wide open at this point.
Florida’s defense is nasty. It always is, even in their down years. Florida is going to be a tough out for LSU, as usual, but I have to believe, with this offense, LSU should be able to outscore Florida. Jacob Hester got it right when he said Florida is LSU’s main rival. It’s my favorite game of the year. Looking forward to another good one.
On a neutral field (or at home) I’d pick us to win this game, but winning a night game in Death Valley is about as tall an order as it gets in college football. Trask has been strip sacked 5 times in the past 2 games, and that’s probably not getting better with his MCL now sprained and the noise he’s going to have to deal with. At least it won’t be 95 degrees at kickoff.
I’m worried we won’t have much left in the tank. Trask and Greenard both got nicked yesterday. We’ll show up but this is going to be a tough game. I’m sure LSU is still upset about the goal line stand from 2016. One thing I feel comfortable in saying…this game will be tight. Every time LSU and UF play whether football, baseball or basketball, the games seem to be down to the wire classics.
Hester played at LSU and was gone in 2007. A time before Bama turned the series around in their favor. I know and speak to a lot of Cajun fans, they too, don’t share Hester’s sentiments.
I never imagined that after week 6 we would have four new QB’s starting for the SEC East. Possibly five depending on Kelly Bryant’s injury.
Kelly was also hit twice out of bounds, once helmet to helmet. No flag either time, despite coach’s complaint. TE Albert O was hit helmet to helmet and got a flag but not targeting. Then this blow the knee — grab, wrap and pull thing happens to Bryant.
The whole game was dirty; Troy got mad and embarrassed. Plenty of flags in the game; but none that mattered.
And this loss of QBs is a side-effect of scheduling uneven teams early in the season. “Take out their stars” becomes the unwritten, unspoken defense solution to the imbalance. Ask the 90s Saints about how that worked out. Directional-U ends a career over a game that’s forgotten in 10 minutes.
How does getting smoked by UGA make the Vols a ‘threat’? That is a laughable take.
That QB was the reason the Vols had the lead at one point in the 2nd qtr., they just don’t have the talent to keep up with the Dawgs. I think the point is, it looks like they have a guy to build around, so if they get a few good recruiting classes around him then they will be a threat.
They punched us in the face. Was it mostly our fault? Yes, but they didn’t look like a team which would lose to Georgia State.
It doesn’t it’s kind of like when Florida put in their 3rd stringer for a while and he did good for half a quarter. Every person watching on Reddit acted like Florida was crazy not to start that guy. When you change QB’s, especially with no/little game tape on them, it really changes the offenses play calling and tempo. Georgia just needed a half to adjust to what Tennessee was doing. And every other team will now have that chance. Did he do good? Sure. But he was an unknown against a team that hadn’t played in two weeks and was a little rusty to start.
This guy goes on a long rant about Ohio State not playing anybody and playing in a weak conference – and then goes on to write a long defense of Clemson and ranks Oklahoma #1. Simply amazing.
Colorado guy, you said it. I have noticed a trend that you and I think a lot a like. Ohio State has not played an elite team but I compare Mich State to a South Carolina. Tough little team but not great. However, Ohio State beat them soundly. Clemson plays two decent(as in maybe a bowl eligible team) in UNC and Texas A&M. A&M has shown they are not who we thought they could be and still Clemson only best them by 14 AT HOME. Then you play Mack’s UNC team and win by 1 point. UNC actually looked better too. So to me it’s an outrage. If folks ranked according to what they “claim” let’s define what claim means here first. They say 1. Last years doesnt matter. Okay. 2. Wins against quality opponents 3. SOS 4. How bad are you beating teams you should beat
Rankings according to that should be:
1.) UGA: cause they have beat an actual top 10 caliber team in ND. They have best every other team on their schedule soundly. They may not put up 700 yards a game but their style is kinda like “let’s suffocate you” unlike Bama, OU, etc which is like “let’s leave you behind” personally I think. UGA is getting dumped on by media. They are for real.
2. Ohio State..they have beat everyone they have played and no game gas been close. They are insanely talented. I would say they could jump to #1 if they were to annihalte WISC or Penn State. Those are their only two real games remaining.
3. LSU: their D is questionable right now but their O makes up for it. Much like Bama but LSU beat a good team in Texas away from home. I think you could toss up #2 and #3 here cause LSU has a much better win than Ohio State thus far.
4. Florida: you dont look elite but the D is great. You found a way to win but the home field advantage seemed to be the overall difference maker. If that game was at Jordan-Hare it may have been a different story however the gators should jump ahead of Bama with that big win against a top 5(to me, up until that game) Auburn team.
5.) BAMA/OU…Bama has played slightly better competition and OU looked a little sloppy against KU, yea Kansas.
6.) Clemson…dont play anyone and dont look great. Should not make playoff if OU, Ohio State are undefeated..I would put two SEC in playoff before this underachieving Clemson team. Clemson looks about like Baylor or Minnesota right now a d yes those teams are 5-0 too and they are ranked #2 according to polls. Yet they havent had a close game like UNC.
*Minnesota and Baylor are NOT
Also I would have Auburn and ND right behind the heels of Clemson because you should not punish Auburn and ND for losing to top 10 teams if they competed well. At least they play for real competition. Clemson right now to me, is not better than ND. Yes ND lost but I think Clemson would have lost to LSU if they were in Texas shoes, i believe they would have lost in Athens if they were in NDs shoes and i think they even would have lost at the Swamp if they were in Auburns shoes cause let’s face it UNC is average and face it Chapel Hill is not a tough place to play
I dunno…I don’t see us as the #1 team right now–the run game hasn’t exploded yet and in the past 2 games the open-field tackling in the second level has shown susceptibility. Pass rush is still mediocre as well. I can honestly say I’ll take Jake over anybody else right now, though. He is playing lights out, recognizes blitzes, and is throwing beautiful passes.
Well I am ranking the Dawgs #1 because of what they have done. If I was ranking based off of potential that’s different. But that’s the point I am making. Clemson is being favored over LSU, UGA, UF, OU and they have looked about as good as Minnesota, Baylor…so potential does matter but Bama in 2011 had Ingram, Trent Richardson, Julio Jones, Donta Hightower, Mark Barron, Dre Kirkpatrick, Marcell Dareus, etc and we lost three games. Our potential was possibly to be one of the best teams ever! So rankings should not be based off potential
Kirby, I like you, your always level headed. Remeber this. If I am wrong then I am wrong but UGA presents the most problems to defenses today. Everybody is shifting to smaller, undersized players to stop the spread and UGA has a literal mountain for a o-line and they have elite run D. They will win it all if coaching uses those benefits. Kirby better not abandon the run, or start getting pretty against a Bama or LSU or they will lose. However, my prediction is only on the basis that UGA remains true to their identity. Run and play action. That combo will beat Bama, much to my dismay. Bama doesnt have the guys to stop the run this year. Well if they do they sure arent visible yet
Technically LSU and UF have wins just as impressive as ours.
Our o-line’s biggest strength is its long-term ability to wear defenses down, which allows the run-game to shred the clock in the 2nd half with those 5-12 yard runs. However, the o-line has failed to convert on the majority of our short-yardage, 3rd&1 type situations this year, which somewhat points to the playcalling that every defense fully expects us to run the ball.
While disputable, your ranking makes a lot more sense than the AP which heavily favors last year and has a large media bias.
I would like the SEC to add one more rotating cross conference game and drop one of the scrub games.
That’s not going to happen because it makes to much sense.