6 takeaways from Week 8 in the SEC

Another week of SEC football is in the books as Week 8 saw Alabama and LSU hang on for victories, while teams such as Texas A&M, Missouri and Kentucky all suffered debilitating losses in games they had the talent to win.

Here’s a look at some of the takeaways from around the SEC in Week 8:

Sorta Kinda Human: We learned on Saturday that Dak Prescott is human after all. The Mississippi State quarterback threw his first interception in 288 passes this season during Week 8’s 42-16 win over Kentucky. Despite his first pick dating back to last season’s Orange Bowl, Prescott continues to set personal and Bulldog records, including 26 program records. Just when you think you’ve seen it all from the senior, he posts season-highs for passing yards (348), and passing (3) and rushing (3) touchdowns. Throw in his 117 rushing yards and Prescott joined Johnny Manziel and Tajh Boyd as the only quarterback to throw and rush for that much, while accounting for the three passing and rushing touchdowns apiece in a single game. Prescott’s finished the game with 2,302 career rushing yards, vaulting him to No. 1 in the program’s annals. Most importantly, the Bulldogs (6-2, 2-2 SEC) have won three straight and are bowl eligible with contests remaining against Missouri, Alabama, Arkansas and Ole Miss. A few more games like that, against some of the better defenses in the conference, and you might hear Prescott sneak back into the Heisman Award conversation.

LSYouth: The LSU Tigers moved to 7-0 on the season with a 48-20 win over Western Kentucky. Les Miles’ squad pulled away from a pesky Hilltoppers squad boasting one of the most prolific passing games in the country. The Tigers made their case as the best team in the country, and did so with NCAA-leading rusher Leonard Fournette having an “off” day (154 yards, TD). When it comes to success, Miles isn’t afraid to ride his young players. When FB David Ducre entered Week 8’s game, the fullback became the 13th true freshman to play for LSU this season. That makes 113 true freshman seeing action during the coach’s 11 seasons in Baton Rouge.

Rock Bottom Nearing: Things are bottoming out in Missouri as the Tigers lost to Vanderbilt in Week 8. The 10-3 loss marks the third straight game that Gary Pinkel’s squad has been held out of the end zone. The Tigers’ last touchdown came in Week 5 against South Carolina. To put the Tigers’ running woes in perspective, Mississippi State quarterback Dak Prescott rushed for more touchdowns (3) in Week 8 than Mizzou has rushed for this entire season. The Tigers are 4-4 on the season with games in hand against Mississippi State, BYU and Tennessee. Two wins will get them bowl eligible, but if the reeling Mizzou makes the postseason, it might take a minor miracle.

Fighting Hogs: Arkansas isn’t going to lay down easy. It would have been simple for Bret Bielema’s squad to roll over and die after losing four of their past five games. If the Razorbacks can compete the way they did against Auburn in Week 8, it’s conceivable that Arkansas could become bowl eligible — a mind boggling thought just two or three weeks ago. The Hogs round out their season with winnable games against Tennessee-Martin and Missouri, which would leave Arkansas needing to beat either Ole Miss, LSU or Mississippi State to pull-off the unthinkable. Quarterback Brandon Allen earned a signature win this week against Auburn. The senior now has five games remaining to earn a sixth game in a bowl somewhere, while boosting any potential draft stock at the same time.

What if: Moral victories don’t earn you bowl berths. But Tennessee missed out on the program’s biggest win in years by about two minutes in Week 8’s 19-14 loss to Alabama. The defeat drops the Vols to 3-4 (1-3 SEC) on the season, but Tennessee’s inability to close out teams has been devastating. Even Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban said it before this week’s matchup, if the ball had bounced a little different or the Vols got a call here or there, it’s conceivable to think that Tennessee could be undefeated at this point in the season. The reality is, however, that for all the talent on Butch Jones’ squad, UT’s youth and inexperience is palpable. The silver lining here is that if Jones can keep his young program intact and add another stellar recruiting class, which he appears poised to accomplish, then these tough, close losses will eventually materialize into victories in 2016. The Vols’ remaining schedule is highly favorable, but a SEC East division run might be too late. Running the table against Kentucky, South Carolina, North Texas, Missouri and Vanderbilt should send Tennessee into the postseason on a high note and create a lot of buzz about Jones’ program heading into next season.

Crashing Down: What happened to Texas A&M? Two weeks ago the Aggies were among the favorites to compete for the SEC West. But consecutive losses — including Week 8’s 23-3 drubbing at the hands of No. 23 Ole Miss — have Kevin Sumlin’s squad looking fairly pedestrian. Officials flagged the Aggies 13 times for 100 yards, making moving the ball difficult in the 23-3 loss to the Rebels. But penalties aren’t the biggest hindrance on offense. The Aggies appear to be entering into a quarterback platoon as Kyle Allen and Jake Hubenak combined for a not-very impressive 18 of 41 for 134 yards, an interception and four sacks-against versus the Ole Miss defense. Texas A&M has some of the most dynamic play-makers in the SEC, in Christian Kirk and Josh Reynolds, as well as Speedy Noil and Ricky Seals-Jones, but if the quarterbacks can’t get the ball to them, then the Aggies will find themselves going from competing for their first SEC West title to simply waiting to see who they’ll play in their non-essential bowl game.