8 SEC games make SI's top 25 games of 2014
Sports Illustrated has released a list of the top 25 college football games of 2014. Eight SEC games are included on the list.
Back in December, we ranked the top ten SEC games of the 2014 season.
Let’s look at how our list compared to SI’s…
Texas A&M 35, Arkansas 28 OT (Sept. 27)
Sports Illustrated Top 25 Rank: No. 21
SDS SEC Rank: No. 9
SDS Said:
Texas A&M entered this game with a 4-0 record and one of the SEC’s most explosive offenses. Arkansas entered the game in the midst of a 13-game SEC losing skid dating back to 2012. None of it mattered when these two met in this year’s Southwest Classic, played at a neutral site in AT&T Stadium in Dallas.
The Razorbacks physical style wore down Texas A&M for the first three quarters of the game, and the Hogs took a 28-14 lead into the fourth quarter as a result. The Aggies had averaged more than 55 points per game entering their showdown with Arkansas, and upon being held to just 14 points through three quarters it appeared A&M’s tear had come to an end, along with the Hogs’ SEC losing streak.
Instead, A&M scored 14 unanswered points, culminating with Josh Reynolds’ 59-yard catch and run for the game-tying touchdown with just two minutes left in regulation. The Aggies completed their comeback in overtime, scoring a touchdown on their first possession before holding the Razorbacks out of the end zone to steal a victory in Dallas and elevate themselves into the top 10 in the national polls.
SI Said:
Arkansas looked poised to capture coach Bret Bielema’s first SEC win when it led Texas A&M 28-14 entering the fourth quarter. But that’s when Aggies quarterback Kenny Hill, then amid the height of Kenny Trill mania, sprung to life. Hill passed for more than 200 yards and the game’s final three touchdowns during the fourth and overtime to help Texas A&M escape in AT&T Stadium. The then-No. 6 Aggies improved to 5-0 for the first time since 2001.
Alabama 20, LSU 13 OT (Nov. 8)
Sports Illustrated Top 25 Rank: No. 19
SDS SEC Rank: No. 2
SDS Said:
The Tide and the Tigers have produced some epic games in recent history, but none were quite as epic as this year’s showdown in Death Valley. LSU led 7-0 through one quarter, but Alabama chipped away at that lead and eventually took a 10-7 advantage into the half.
The Tigers tied the game at 10-apiece in the third quarter, then went ahead 13-10 on a Colby Delahoussaye field goal with just 50 seconds left in regulation. It was assumed at the time that Delahoussaye’s field goal had won the game for the Bayou Bengals, but that assumption was as wrong as 1+1=3.
LSU’s ensuing kickoff went out of bounds, setting Alabama up with possession at its own 35 yard line without taking a second off the clock. Blake Sims completed 4 of 7 passes for 50 yards and added a five yard run to move Alabama into field goal range, and Adam Griffith tied the game in the final seconds of regulation to force an unexpected overtime in Baton Rouge.
Alabama possessed the ball first in overtime and marched right into the end zone for the go-ahead touchdown. LSU threw four straight incompletions on its ensuing possession, and the Tide stole a victory to keep its national title hopes alive against one of its biggest rivals in the 21st century.
SI Said:
The Crimson Tide were dead, and suddenly they weren’t. Star tailback T.J. Yeldon fumbled the ball deep in Alabama territory with the score tied at 10 and less than two minutes remaining, setting the stage for an LSU upset that would’ve prompted pandemonium in Baton Rouge. But the Tigers were forced to settle for a field goal, and Alabama found a way. Quarterback Blake Sims hit O.J. Howard. Then he hit Howard again, and then Christion Jones, and then DeAndrew White. Adam Griffith drilled a 27-yard field goal to force overtime, and offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin dialed up his finest play yet: a 24-yard pass to 304-pounder Brandon Greene that led to the game-winning touchdown. Alabama was pushed to the brink in Death Valley, but emerged very much alive.
LSU 10, Ole Miss 7 (Oct. 25)
Sports Illustrated Top 25 Rank: No. 17
SDS SEC Rank: No. 3
SDS Said:
One week prior to their loss to Auburn, the Rebels put their 7-0 record on the line in a tough road game against the LSU Tigers. Both defenses feasted in this heavyweight showdown, while both offenses looked as inept as they had all year to that point.
Ole Miss scored a touchdown late in the first quarter to go ahead 7-0, and it maintained a 7-3 lead midway through the fourth quarter when the LSU offense finally awoke. The Tigers drove 95 yards on 13 plays to score the go-ahead touchdown with just five minutes left in regulation. LSU ran the ball on all 13 plays, wearing down an Ole Miss defense that spent most of the game on the field covering for a hopeless Rebels offense.
Ole Miss moved the ball from its own 25 yard line to the LSU 30 with nine seconds left on the clock. Rather than try a long field goal, Rebels coach Hugh Freeze elected to throw one more pass to set up an easier kick for his place kicker, Gary Wunderlich.
Wallace had a receiver open along the sideline for what would have been a 10-yard gain, but for whatever reason he chose to throw the ball to the end zone, where it was intercepted by the Tigers defense to put a victory on ice. The loss cost Ole Miss a perfect season and set LSU up for a strong finish to the season.
SI Said:
An SEC title shot hung in the balance for Ole Miss when it trailed LSU 10-7 in late October. With nine seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, Rebels coach Hugh Freeze opted against a game-tying field goal attempt, instead putting the contest squarely in the hands of quarterback Bo Wallace. But Wallace’s last-ditch throw was picked off by LSU safety Ronald Martin at the goal line. The Tigers stole a game in which Ole Miss led for 55 of the 60 minutes.
Texas A&M 41, Auburn 38 (Nov. 8)
Sports Illustrated Top 25 Rank: No. 15
SDS SEC Rank: Not in top ten
SI Said:
Freshman quarterback Kyle Allen burst out of the gate by throwing four first-half touchdown passes against Auburn to stake Texas A&M to a 35-17 lead. The Tigers climbed back to within 38-31 early in the fourth quarter, but consecutive fumbles on their final two possessions gift-wrapped an Aggies’ upset. Texas A&M squashed Auburn’s playoff hopes while handing the program its first home loss of the coach Gus Malzahn era.
Alabama 55, Auburn 44 (Nov. 29)
Sports Illustrated Top 25 Rank: No. 13
SDS SEC Rank: No. 1
SDS Said:
There should be no debate over what the best game in the SEC was this season. It was the Iron Bowl, and by a wide margin. This game had everything you could want in a football game: 99 total points, more than 1,000 yards of total offense, national and conference title implications, superstars galore and the atmosphere only a rivalry like the Iron Bowl can provide.
Oh, and did we mention how the 2013 Iron Bowl ended and what kind of stage that set for this year’s rematch? Seriously, this game was the perfect storm of awesome, and we are all better for it.
Auburn led 26-21 at halftime and extended its lead to 33-21 early in the third quarter. The Tigers already had three losses on the year and had little to play for, but spoiling Alabama’s run to a national title for a second year in a row was plenty of motivation for AU and its fan base. At the time, SEC fans hoping to land a team in the College Football Playoff began to sweat as Alabama faced its demise. The one man who was never sweating? Nick Saban.
Saban and offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin began airing the ball out like a commercial airline, and suddenly the Tide’s offense couldn’t be stopped. Alabama out-scored Auburn 34-3 throughout the next 23 minutes, and a late Tigers touchdown proved futile as Alabama held on to a 55-44 victory in the highest-scoring Iron Bowl ever.
The finish wasn’t nearly as magical as last year’s game, but this year’s Iron Bowl was once again the best game in the SEC at the end of the year.
SI Said:
Forgive the Iron Bowl for not living up to last season’s classic, but Alabama and Auburn certainly didn’t disappoint. They produced a wild shootout complete with an offensive explosion from Auburn (the Tigers’ 383 first-half yards were the most allowed by Alabama in a half under Nick Saban), the death and rebirth of Tide quarterback Sims (after tossing three picks on his first 15 attempts, he bounced back to throw four touchdowns) and an otherworldly performance by Alabama wide receiver Amari Cooper (he set an Iron Bowl record with 224 receiving yards). All in all, it wasn’t a bad encore.
Ole Miss 23, Alabama 17 (Oct. 4)
Sports Illustrated Top 25 Rank: No. 9
SDS SEC Rank: No. 6
SDS Said:
Ole Miss remains the only team to defeat Alabama this season, and it did so in stunning fashion, as most teams that beat Alabama tend to do. The Rebels hosted College GameDay for the first time ever on that Saturday in early October, proving a raucous atmosphere for the game in Oxford between two top 15 teams.
Ole Miss took an early 3-0 lead but fell behind 14-3 by halftime as the explosive Alabama offense began to find its rhythm. However, it was the Rebels’ Landshark defense that took over in the second half, limiting the Crimson Tide to just a third quarter field goal the rest of the way.
Nevertheless, Alabama maintained a 17-10 lead with fewer than six minutes remaining in regulation. Ole Miss needed points, and it needed them in a hurry. It got one quick touchdown on a 34-yard pass from Bo Wallace to Vince Sanders, tying the game with 5:29 remaining. The game was tied at 17-all, and Ole Miss held all the momentum as it kicked off following Sanders’ score.
The momentum continued to favor Ole Miss on the ensuing kickoff, as Alabama’s Christion Jones coughed up the football on his return, setting up Ole Miss with great field position and a chance to win the game in regulation. Five plays and 31 yards later Wallace found Jaylen Walton for a 10-yard touchdown to put Ole Miss up six (the Rebels blew the PAT), giving the Landsharks a chance to cement a victory with one final stop.
Ole Miss got that stop with a Senquez Golson interception in the end zone over top of tight end O.J. Howard, and Ole Miss recorded its first signature win of the year with a coming out party in Oxford against the Crimson Tide.
SI Said:
If the Rebels’ 4-0 start this season was in need of some validation, they got plenty against previously unbeaten Alabama. The Crimson Tide weren’t intimidated early as they built a 14-3 halftime lead. But Ole Miss stormed back behind two fourth-quarter touchdowns from sometimes brilliant, sometimes befuddling quarterback Wallace. Cornerback Senquez Golson sealed the program’s first 5-0 start since 1962 with an interception in the end zone. Then chaos ensued.
Ohio State 42, Alabama 35 (Jan. 1)
Sports Illustrated Top 25 Rank: No. 4
SDS SEC Rank: Not included (rankings done for regular season)
SI Said:
Of all the games in the inaugural College Football Playoff, this showed exactly what the new postseason model brought to the sport. Alabama was the Sugar Bowl favorite, the top-ranked team in the nation that had won three national titles since 2009. Ohio State was the underdog, the traditional powerhouse with a third-string quarterback looking to win its first championship since ’02. The matchup didn’t disappoint. Bama surged to a 21-6 lead. Ohio State roared back thanks to an Evan Spencer-to-Michael Thomas pass just before halftime. Then the Buckeyes pulled away behind a series of memorable plays: a 47-yard bomb to Devin Smith, a 41-yard Steve Miller pick-six and an 85-yard Elliott touchdown sprint, the latter of which seemed to leave a near-decade of recent SEC dominance in its wake. Ohio State moved on, and in the most thrilling way imaginable.
Auburn 35, Ole Miss 31 (Nov. 1)
Sports Illustrated Top 25 Rank: No. 2
SDS SEC Rank: No. 4
SDS Said:
Most fans knew the game between the No. 4 Tigers and the No. 3 Rebels would be an SEC West showdown to remember, and the game lived up to the hype before culminating with one of the most heartbreaking finishes of the season.
The two teams traded scores for most of the game, as Ole Miss took a 24-14 lead in the third quarter only to allow Auburn to reclaim a 28-24 lead in just nine minutes of game time. Ole Miss then went ahead 31-28, but Auburn struck back and took a 35-31 lead in the middle of the fourth quarter in Oxford.
The Rebels had time for one final game-winning drive, and they came within inches of completing the comeback. Wallace found star wideout Laquon Treadwell in Auburn territory, and Treadwell blew past most of the Auburn defense on his way to the end zone. He appeared destined for the go-ahead touchdown with fewer than two minutes remaining, but was pulled down from behind on what turned out to be the play that killed Ole Miss’ title hopes.
Treadwell went down awkwardly when he was grabbed from behind, breaking his leg and fumbling the ball inside the 1 yard line. Auburn recovered the fumble and ran out the clock, stealing a victory and handing Ole Miss its second loss of the season. Treadwell missed the rest of the season after suffering the leg injury, and Ole Miss fans will forever wonder what might have been had he gained six more inches before being hit.
SI Said:
Auburn got the best of Ole Miss’ highly touted defense, snapping its streak of 10 consecutive games allowing 20 points or fewer. But Rebels quarterback Wallace was in Good Bo form, racking up 395 total yards with three touchdowns to match Auburn score for score. After a phenomenal showdown, the ending was equal parts tragic and exceptional: With 1:39 left and Ole Miss down by four, receiver Laquon Treadwell’s leg gruesomely buckled beneath Auburn linebacker Kris Frost, causing Treadwell to fumble inches short of the goal line. The play turned stomachs and deflated Ole Miss, which lost two of its final four.
For the record, SI put the TCU vs. Baylor game as No. 1 on the list.
Do you agree with SI’s rankings of these SEC games?
