When you’re wrong, you’re wrong.

And I, loyal readers, was wrong.

Last week, this space sang the praises of South Carolina.

I pointed to the way the defense held a once-vaunted Missouri offense in check. I complimented the continued progression of sophomore quarterback Jake Bentley. And I cited the Gamecocks’ resilience in overcoming an early 10-0 deficit on the road to defeat the Tigers 31-13. But the biggest mistake I made is what every coach in sports is taught in their “Coach-Speak 101” class: I didn’t “take it one game at a time.”

I looked ahead, noting that an 8-0 record heading into the game at Georgia on Nov. 4 seemed not only a reasonable goal for South Carolina, but eminently doable.

The only problem?

I forgot about Kentucky.

I’ll admit that after the Wildcats struggled to put away in-state foe Eastern Kentucky last week, I had South Carolina as a solid favorite given its play in its first two games and the fact Saturday’s contest would be at Williams-Brice Stadium. I was even more confident in that assessment after it was announced linebacker Jordan Jones wouldn’t be available for the Wildcats. How could Kentucky possibly overcome the loss of the SEC’s leading returning tackler on the road against a team playing its home opener and carrying a tremendous amount of momentum following back-to-back wins over Power 5 teams?

Kentucky wasn’t affected in the slightest.

It fell behind 7-0 after Deebo Samuel scored on a 68-yard touchdown reception on the game’s first play from scrimmage. And then the Wildcats’ first two possessions went thusly: interception, fumble.

But it didn’t matter. Kentucky clawed its way back to take a 14-6 lead into the locker room. Then the Wildcats came out in the second half and held on for a 23-13 victory to improve to 3-0 for the first time since 2010, and most importantly, get off to a 1-0 start in SEC play.

What does it all mean?

For one, South Carolina is, for all intents and purposes, done.

I don’t say this lightly. But that was the verdict as soon as Will Muschamp announced Samuel had broken his leg in the third quarter and would be out the rest of the season. (Samuel later made claims to the contrary and said he would be back within 5-6 weeks, so we’ll have to wait and see whether that comes to fruition or was merely wishful thinking on the part of a determined student-athlete.) In short: No one on the roster can come close to replicating everything Samuel does in both the passing game and on kick returns, where he had scored touchdowns in back-to-back games against North Carolina State and Missouri.

At this point, it’s hard to envision how the Gamecocks get to six wins — the all-important cutoff for bowl eligibility unless the NCAA is forced to dip down for 5-7 teams to fill slots — without Samuel. The one certain victory remaining on the slate is Wofford. Even this week’s game against Louisiana Tech is no guarantee.

Yes, Louisiana Tech was blown out by Mississippi State in Week 2. But judging by Mississippi State’s dominant victory over LSU on Saturday, that might just mean Louisiana Tech simply got beaten by one of the nation’s best teams. Don’t discount Louisiana Tech. All it did Saturday was rally from a nine-point fourth-quarter deficit on the road to beat Western Kentucky and bring the Hilltoppers’ 13-game Conference USA home winning streak to a close. And don’t forget that Louisiana Tech’s head coach is Skip Holtz, who was on the Gamecocks’ staff from 1999-2004.

But enough about South Carolina.

Saturday’s victory showed Kentucky must be taken seriously in the SEC East race until proven otherwise.

The same goes for Vanderbilt, which beat No. 18 Kansas State 14-7.

It’s hard to overstate how big a victory this was for coach Derek Mason and his program. The Commodores are 3-0 for the first time since 2011, the halcyon days of the James Franklin era. (Though that team went on to finish 6-7, focus more on that “3-0 start” part.) Saturday’s victory also pushed Vanderbilt’s home winning streak to five, which includes a victory over in-state rival (and then No. 24) Tennessee in the 2016 regular-season finale.

So for all of you who had Vanderbilt and Kentucky emerging as legitimate contenders for the SEC East crown through Week 3, give yourself a pat on the back. You’ve earned it.

Now let’s take a look at what else is going on around the SEC East:

Florida

Any discussion of Saturday’s game will begin and end with the final play.

So get your fill of Tyrie Cleveland’s last-second, game-winning 63-yard touchdown catch from Feleipe Franks’ by watching it below.

And then read about here. And here. And here. And here. And finally, here.

We’ll also give equal time to someone who wasn’t all that impressed despite the memorable ending.

In non-game-winning-catch news, senior receiver Brandon Powell will forever be the answer to the question, “Who scored Florida’s first offensive touchdown of the 2017 season?”

Georgia

In an article that went live this morning, I addressed this question: Had the Bulldogs accomplished everything they needed in their first three games to get ready for SEC play?

The Telegraph in Macon, Georgia, wrote that the Bulldogs offense got on track in the win over the Bulldogs of Samford as well as detailing defensive back J.R. Reed’s blocked field goal.

Meanwhile, the Athens Banner-Herald focused on the continued maturation of true freshman quarterback Jake Fromm and the play of the defense.

Kentucky

You may have heard this during Saturday’s broadcast, but the win over South Carolina was Kentucky’s fourth straight in the series. It’s the first time the Wildcats have beaten a non-Vanderbilt SEC school four times in a row since Bear Bryant-led Kentucky squads dispatched Florida four straight times from 1948-51. So it’s been a while.

And according to Jen Smith of the Lexington Herald-Leader, the Wildcats got a little extra motivation after a pregame handshake snub from the Gamecocks.

On a somber note, please keep one Kentucky fan in your thought and prayers after she was the victim of a random, senseless shooting Friday night in Columbia.

Missouri

After a pathetic showing Saturday — a 35-3 loss at home that saw Missouri score its only points on a last-second first-half field goal — reporter/columnist Ben Frederickson of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch held nothing back.

Check out his lede:

It’s the single-worst thing you can say about a team, an indictment of every player and the man they call their coach.

It never should be used lightly, and it isn’t in this case.

But, unfortunately for Barry Odom and those who believed the former linebacker would succeed at the alma mater he so dearly loves, it is the only accurate way to describe what played out in front of a thinning crowd on Saturday afternoon on Faurot Field.

And then there’s this:

At this point, it’s obvious the Tigers are going nowhere fast. After coach Barry Odom jettisoned defensive coordinator DeMontie Cross following last week’s home defeat to South Carolina, it’s fair to start speculating whether Odom himself is next — and whether he’ll even make it to the end of the season.

There’s really only one thing we learned Saturday about this game, and it was about Purdue and the rapidly rising stock of first-year coach Jeff Brohm. Louisville, Kentucky-area radio personality Mark Ennis is already ahead of the curve in that regard.

South Carolina

With Samuel out for the foreseeable future, who can the Gamecocks turn to for big plays? David Cloninger of The Post & Courier weighs in.

And Ben Breiner of The State explains how the Wildcats exploited the Gamecocks’ defense Saturday.

Tennessee

Butch Jones is now sitting on a seat comprised of molten lava and the fire of a thousand suns fueled by the hate of Tennessee fans.

Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports gave his take. So did columnist Joe Rexrode of The Tennessean and Wes Rucker, the senior writer at 247Sports’ Tennessee site.

It’s going to be a long, long week for Jones.

Vanderbilt

Does Vanderbilt belong in the top 25 after Saturday’s win over Kansas State? Coach Derek Mason answers just that.

Adam Sparks, the Commodores’ beat writer for The Tennessean, hands out his “best and worst” from Saturday and also previews next week’s home tilt versus top-ranked Alabama.

Tweet of the week

It has to be something relating to Florida’s Hail Mary catch, right?

Well here’s a video from Jesse Simonton — who covers Tennessee for VolQuest.com, a Rivals affiliate — that perfectly encapsulates the emotions in the aftermath of the play from both sides.

Quote of the week

Plenty of great choices this week. It was so hard to choose, I’m calling it a tie.

One is from Mason following Saturday’s victory. He normally allows himself to enjoy a win until midnight Sunday. But given the challenge that awaits with Alabama, he asked whether he might cut his celebration short.

Sparks describes the scene:

“Man, give me my hour and 45 minutes,” said a head-shaking Mason to a room of laughing reporters. “We earned it.”

And then there was this from Tennessee senior offensive lineman Brett Kendrick:

Kendrick, of course, was referring to the play from last season featured in the embedded video below.