6 takeaways from Week 4 in the SEC
Week 4 in the SEC saw the continued struggles of Auburn and Ole Miss, but it also saw some dominating performances…think Leonard Fournette. Here’s a look at some takeaways from the weekend that was in the conference:
Heisman Among Boys: With all due respect to Georgia running back Nick Chubb, Leonard Fournette is the best player in the SEC — quite possibly the nation. It appears that only an injury can slow the LSU running back at this point. Fournette rushed for more than 200 yards for the second consecutive week, this time torching a very capable Syracuse run defense for 244 yards and 2 touchdowns. The sophomore’s 631 rushing yards this season are more than the team rushing totals for Kentucky (620 team rushing yards), Florida (619), Mississippi State (579), Vanderbilt (548) and Missouri (428). It appears that we’ll just have to wait and see who joins the sophomore among the other Heisman candidates in December.
RELATED: Fournette torches Syracuse
Run, Lorenzo, Run: Sure it was against a reeling Central Florida (0-4) team, but it appears Lorenzo Nunez has earned another start for South Carolina. Just the second true freshman to start a game in Steve Spurrier’s 26-year coaching career, Nunez threw for 184 yards and 2 touchdowns, as well as rushing for another 123 yards in South Carolina’s 31-14 win over the Knights. Nunez’ biggest accomplishment in his starting debut for the Gamecocks might be incorporating Pharoh Cooper back into the offense. Cooper caught a touchdown and went for 68 yards in the air, as well as 27 yards and another score on the ground. Nunez provided the spark the stagnant South Carolina offense needed. If Nunez is back under center come next week, he’ll get a road matchup against Missouri.
RELATED: Nunez better than expected in debut
Rocky Bottom: Butch Jones might be in trouble in Knoxville. Volunteer Nation is calling for the Tennessee coach’s head after Tennessee experience another late-game collapse in a contest they should have won. First it was Oklahoma leading the charge. OK, Baker Mayfield is a special player. But coughing up a late-lead to Florida in a game they essentially controlled for 57 minutes, doesn’t bode well for a coach who needed a big year to live up to the preseason hype surrounding his squad. Here’s a sobering thought for Volunteer fans: Jones’ 14-15 record after 29 games is identical to the much-maligned Derek Dooley, the man Jones replaced. Once again, play calling is at the center of Jones’ defeat. Jones’ offense fell flat in the second have and has fans yelling “too conservative!” once again. It was Jones decision not to go for a two-point conversion to put the Vols up by 28, that will be second-guessed for ages — along with his decision to kick a field goal on fourth-and-one against Oklahoma on the game’s opening drive. Jones is running out of time to prove that he’s as good as an X’s and O’s coach as he is a recruiter.
RELATED: Tennessee fans not happy with Butch Jones
Hogs Inept or Not: Despite a 1-3 record, perhaps Arkansas isn’t as inept as previously thought. The Razorbacks held their own against Texas A&M, before eventually losing 28-21 in overtime.. With Texas Tech putting TCU on the ropes in Week 4, the loss to the Red Raiders isn’t as much of a blemish. Granted, there’s no excuse or explanation for Arkansas’ loss to Toledo. But whether that was a bad day or the result from an over-hyped team not ready for the big time, will be truly determined with a brutal upcoming slate that includes Alabama, Ole Miss, LSU, Mississippi State and Missouri. Bret Bielema’s squad was strong again (Alex Collins, 151 yards) on the ground behind the staunch offensive line that yielded its first sack of the season in Week 4 against the Aggies. But the key for Arkansas moving forward will be getting consistency from Brandon Allen. After throwing for 720 yards in his first two games, Allen has averaged just 210.5 yards per game in the ensuing two contests. If Arkansas can get out of their own way, perhaps there’s hope yet for this season–but that’s a major “if.”
RELATED: Hogs own worst enemy in loss
Auburn QB Still In The Air: The quarterback situation in Auburn is still tenuous. Sean White made his Tigers debut in Week 4 and was fairly mediocre. The redshirt freshman connected on 20 of 28 passes for 188 yards and his only completion in the end zone went to Mississippi State defensive back Will Redmond. White replaced a wildly ineffective Jeremy Johnson, who averaged 157.7 YPG before being benched. If White is still under center next week, he’ll begin a three-game stretch of winnable games for the Tigers against San Jose State, Kentucky and Arkansas. It could be a nice confidence booster for a program in serious need of one right now — especially with contests against Ole Miss, Texas A&M, Georgia and Alabama in four of their final five weeks.
RELATED: What Gus Malzahn said
Sunshine State Love: It’s time for Florida to get some love. It hasn’t been pretty this year in Gainesville, but Jim McElwain’s squad is 4-0, thanks to an impressive come-from-behind win over Tennessee. While most of the talk is about the Volunteers’ collapse, credit needs to be given to the Gators, who hung tough and capitalized late with touchdowns on their final two drives to pull off the 28-27 shocker. Will Grier (283 passing yards, 2 touchdowns) was composed and in charge when it mattered most. With back-up Treon Harris on the bench due to a suspension, the quarterback platoon is over in Florida and McElwain has his starting quarterback. The win was the second conference game in a row for Florida that came down to the very end, having held off Kentucky with a defensive stand a week prior. You can’t teach late-game poise, and right now Florida has it. They’ll need that experience in the coming weeks as Ole Miss, Missouri, LSU and Georgia are up next on the Gators’ schedule.
RELATED: Florida pulls off miracle finish
“…the continued struggles of Auburn and Olé Miss..”
Yes, Olé Miss struggled but our first of the year..definitely not a continued struggle. That being said, we certainly did not look good. I will eat my helping of crow this week. I didn’t think we’d win by 30 but I certainly didn’t think Vandy would give us this kind of scare
Did he really just say that Ole Miss continues to struggle? So all of a sudden Ole Miss stinks because they played one sloppy game. What an idiot.
You realize Bama’s a better team, right? Hell, I hope Bama spots us 5 turnovers. If they do, we’ll beat them worse than Ole Miss did.
I don’t see LSU getting by Bama. Get ready for LSU’S “first” loss.
Yeah, because we won’t be so lucky. But if Bama spots us 5 turnovers, we beat them by more than 6 points. Your team is overrated, and some of its fans are full of themselves.
Just let the games play out and try to give credit where credit is due. Ole Miss won. Alabama didn’t play a perfect game but who ever does? Ole Miss was a huge reason those turnovers occurred and they capitalized on them. End of story. Play your games. LSU is a team with a lot of potential but they didn’t play their best ball either, especially in the first half. There is a lot of work that all SEC teams need to put in if any of them want to win the national championship or bowl games.
I apologize to you, and I agree with you, to a great extent. But I stand by what I said. Ole Miss is overrated at #3. They have an excellent chance to win the West now, because they’ve already gotten by Bama. I’ll just leave it at that. The whole SEC is a disappointment so far. We’ll see how it goes.
Chubb shares the backfield and touches with 2 other legitimate RB’s. Georgia would probably be in the same position without Chubb. Not so sure about LSU. So MVP of LSU certainly goes to #7. But LSU must continue to win. Heijmans very rarely are awarded to a player on a lousy team.
Fournette shares carries with 3 other backs though he gets the lions share. Both Chubb and Fournette are great backs. But if they were on the same team, Chubb would be the back-up. That’s the most telling truth when comparing the 2………
Also, for the record, Chubb has 71 carries for 599 yds (8.1ypc) and 6 TDs. Four hasv,73;carries for 631 yds (8.3 ypc) and 8 TDs so ur argument on “touches” is mute. Fournettes #s have been vs ALL power 5 tms as well. Just food for thought……
Fournette has….
Georgia also has a legitimate passing game that takes away carries from our backfield. We have a total of 67 completions for 934 yards and 8 TDs as opposed to LSU’s 29 completions for 302 yards and 2 TDs. Being a balanced team has taken a lot of the load off of our running game. UGA is more complete than LSU if you are going off numbers alone.
I find it hard to believe Georgia would be the same team without Chubb.
Have you seen Sony Michele with the football? And , yes I do believe UGA would have won all their games up to this point without Chubb. I don’t think that with Fournette. Sony Michele is better than anybody not wearing #7 in Baton Rouge. Just a fact. And, I don’t think Chubb would back up anybody, Wait maybe Todd Gurley. Opinions are like …..
Yea, “opinions are like,….” Sorta like Michel being better than LSU backups. I don’t agree. More experienced, yes, more talented, no. Opinions, right?
Don’t think the numbers back your assertion. Sony Michelle’s numbers a TD production compared to LSU backups? No comparison.
So then your opinion is that Fournette is better than Chubb based on the numbers? They both get the SAME # of touches BTW. That was what the discussion was about…. Not backups.
Chubb is getting credit in the Heisman race for his 12 consecutive 100-yard games. 8 of those were last year, and irrelevant.
I’ve said it here before, but Richt’s teams will never produce a Heisman winner. He sits his players and is three or four RB’s deep, so Chubb will never get 25+ carries a game.
Keep going to Fournette until he wears out…
If Georgia wants Chubb to win the Heisman, you can spot us at Ole Miss a running back for a couple of weeks. It would be highly appreciated. Chubb or Fournette, both are very good. It almost seems unfair that Georgia has such depth on running backs. With Gurley going out last year then Chubb slipping in like nothing happened, it is admirable.
I disagree. Plan on Chubb getting more than 25 this week against Bama. Probably 25 against Tennessee if needed against their depleted D and definitely against Florida.
I think the reason is is because they do what they are supposed to do against crappy teams. Chubb didn’t run up 220 yards against Southern (like Chubb did against Syracuse) because Georgia rarely plays down to their opponents- outside of UF (sorry guys).
Um, did u just compare an undefeated power 5 team to a FCS team from the SWAC?????? Cuse had the top ranked rushing def going into this game and they’re 10 times better than Southern and was at home.
Your comment on how UGA “does what they are supposed to vs inferior tms” proves u haven’t a clue what ur talking about…….
Because they have played Rhode Island, Wake Forest and Central Michigan in those three games leading up to it. Come on- don’t act like Cuse is a top 25 team. They aren’t. Yes, I compared them to a FCS team from the SWAC, because they are both games that should be won by a long shot. Why else would LSU schedule Syracuse? They didn’t schedule Clemson, FSU or Ga Tech. They scheduled Syracuse. Just because it was a close game, doesn’t mean Syracuse is good.
Gatorguy, let’s not talk about skeds. No one in the SEC has played tougher ooc games than LSU over the past 12 yrs. And for the record, Cuse is a power 5 tm and is in no way comparable to Southern. The fact you think they are proves how little you know.
you’re kidding me. You think a power 5 school can’t be compared to an FCS school? You think every Power 5 team is just extremely outstanding that they can’t possibly be in the realm of an FBS power 5?
Tell that to app state when they beat Michigan. Or GSU when they beat Florida. Surprise surprise, they were both FCS at the time.
No Jay, what I’m saying is Southern is NOT on par with Cuse. If you think those tms are one in the same ur just as clueless as gatorguy……
If Cuse played Southern they’d win by the same margin UGA won by. UGA could have won that game 90- 10 if they were as classless as Oregon in blowing tms out. I follow Southern so trust me on that. …
Just to get back to the original message that Chubb is being slighted due to less carries than Fournette, Chubb has71 to 73 for Fournette. Chubb has 599yds on 8.1ypc to 631 on 8.3ypc for Fournette. And Fournette has played ALL power 5 tms. Both are great but if they were on the same team, Chubb comes off the bench….
Yeah and if he came off of the bench he would fake some Fournette signed memorabilia and get him suspended so he could take the starters spot…
I disagree I think Todd Gurley was ahead in the Heisman race when he was suspended last year. I do believe a Richt coached player can win the Heisman. Ward and Wienke come to mind. But they were QB’s of course.
If Chubb doesn’t win the Heisman, it won’t be due to Richts system. He’s def good enough to win it. So is Fournette. They both have tough games to make their case. I’m not poo pooing Chubb, just wanted to set the record straight on the number of carries being even thus far..
I don’t know if Chubb will win the Heisman?.
I don’t know that Fournette will win it either. I DO know they’re BOTH on the short list……. at the top in fact as it stands. No need to hate on either guy.
I don’t think the Auburn QB is up in the air at all. It’s Sean White. He played fine for a first game, was 20 of 28 against an SEC defense, certainly a big improvement over what happened in first 3 games. He will be the guy from here on out.
Sean White can play. He’s superior and mostly a good decision maker.
No mention of UK-Mizzou? Smh..
What’s to say,Mizzou has a very average Defense and below average Offense.Going to be a long year.
Mizzou has a stout defense, not average. Their offense is awful at best.
Sean White was only mediocre? Not only was It was his FIRST ever start, it was his FIRST time playing in college and it was against a pretty good SEC defense. All he did was throw 20/28 for 188 and rush for something like 60. I’d say he did pretty well considering the circumstances. He made some rookie mistakes, but then again he is a rookie. He moved the ball down the field quite well and once some more playmakers step up he will be able to capitalize. I don’t care that we lost, I’m proud of his performance and look forward to what he can bring once he has more experience.
I watched every play of the game, and I thought he looked pretty good. He got some help from MSU’s tackling issue, but he looked good in the pocket, didn’t get rattled and made mostly good throws.
What gets me is how many people overreact. Last year should have taught us something with the way we basically assumed Ohio State and the Big Ten were out of the playoffs after Miller went down and the loss to Virginia Tech. This year, it seems its worse. Arkansas was over-hyped from the get-go. They’re a good team, but they’re still a lower echelon West team at this point. I thought they would be better than they’ve been, but I still didn’t see them winning the West or finishing in the top 10. The same can be said about Tennessee. We also don’t need to write off a team for a sloppy game. Especially if it ends in a W. Every championship team typically has a sloppy win or two. There’s a lot of football to be played. Ohio State hasn’t dominated anyone yet either. A&M lost to Bama like 59-0. We all thought Bama would be unstoppable. Then they struggled to beat LSU and lost to Ohio State. One game doesn’t define a team. This isn’t a track meet. It comes down to who makes the plays and overcomes adversity. As an LSU fan, I’m ecstatic to see what Fournette has done. But no one is a Heisman after three games. Its a season. We need the defense to get better. We need the passing game to get better. We need the punt and kick coverage to get better. And, we need to cut down on penalties. Every team has a glaring weakness at this point. We’ll just have to see who gets better down the stretch.
Very well said. Let the games play out.