Weekly takeaways, trends and technicalities from the weekend’s action.

In this week’s resilient edition of Monday Down South…

  • LSU’s offense hits the break at full throttle
  • Arkansas’ offense hits rock bottom
  • Week 8 superlatives
  • Updated power rankings

…and more! But first:

Alabama’s not going away

For years, those of us in the columnizing business complained that Alabama’s week-in, week-out consistency in the regular season was so easily taken for granted that it was, to be honest, kinda boring. The Tide were too damn good: Always favored to win, never caught with their pants down against the bottom half of the schedule, rarely challenged for 60 minutes by the top half. Week after week. Year after year.

How many ways can there be to sit down on a Sunday morning following the latest perfunctory throttling and make the grim inevitability of Bama’s march to the BCS title game or a Playoff semifinal compelling? The entire operation existed to snuff out any hint of looming drama or suspense at every turn.

So, from that perspective, let’s give the 2023 Crimson Tide their due: Whatever else they are, they are certainly not boring. Flawed? Yes. Frustrating? Relative to the usual Bama standards, sure. Volatile? Obviously. Vulnerable? More than ever. Streaky, stressful, slow out of the gate? All of the above.

Boring? Never. Through 8 games, Alabama’s season has been the stuff of high drama, perpetually careening along the edge of a cliff before veering back on course for another week. Beginning with their Week 2 loss to Texas, 6 of the Tide’s past 7 games have been 1-score affairs in the 4th quarter, including a couple of uncomfortably close shaves against the likes of South Florida and Arkansas. (The exception: A 40-17 win at Mississippi State in Week 5, their least-watched game since the opener against Middle Tennessee.)

Saturday’s come-from-behind, 34-20 win over Tennessee was their 3rd victory in that span after trailing at halftime, following the pattern of successful 2nd-half comebacks against Ole Miss in Week 4 and Texas A&M in Week 6. All things considered, it was also the most satisfying: The 20-7 deficit at the half was the largest Bama has faced in an eventual regular-season win since 2016, and the ensuing 27-0 rally over the final 30 minutes represented its best half of the season, by far — the first sustained glimpse of a talented but mercurial outfit playing up to its potential on both sides of the ball.

It’s been a while since the victory cigars tasted so much like relief. Reliably storming back from the brink of disaster may not count for much as a sustainable identity, especially for a team with championship-or-bust expectations. (Ideally, legitimate contenders tend not to make a habit out of getting pushed to the brink in the first place.) Week by week, though, it is slowly forging a blueprint of what a maxed-out version of the ’23 Tide might look like if/when it finally manages to put together a complete game. Besides salvaging a path to the loftier goals, the comeback against the Vols was another showcase of what this particular version of Bama does best.

The initial spark, as usual, came from Jalen Milroe’s arm, courtesy of a 46-yard touchdown strike to Isaiah Bond just a few seconds into the second half; the connection was Milroe’s 9th TD pass of 30+ yards on the season, 2nd nationally behind only LSU’s Jayden Daniels. The ground game, a sore point over the first half of the season, subsequently fueled 3 more sustained scoring drives behind workhorse Jase McClellan, who set career highs for carries (27) and yards (115) vs. an FBS opponent; Alabama chewed up nearly half of the 4th quarter on its final scoring drive — capped by a 50-yard field goal from Will Reichard, who remains perfect on the year — and finished with a 7-minute advantage in time of possession after halftime.

And the defense, undeniably the strength of the team, rebounded from a shaky first half by putting Tennessee’s offense in a straightjacket in the second; the Vols went 3-and-out on 4 of their first 5 possessions after halftime, culminating in a strip sack by Bama’s Chris Braswell that doubled as the coup de grâce.

The surge also came at an opportune time on the calendar, with an open date on deck and an extra week to marinate in the hype ahead of the next season-defining date, against LSU on Nov. 4.

Is it still possible, in spite of everything, that the Crimson Tide’s best is yet to come? Probably more so as of Saturday night than at any other point over the previous 6 weeks. For all the angst they’ve spawned in the meantime, the Tide find themselves in exactly the same position at the end of October they’ve been in each of the past 2 years: 7-1, in control of their own fate in the SEC West, and with a straight shot to the Playoff if they run the table through the SEC Championship Game.

For whatever it’s worth, ESPN’s Football Power Index gives them the best chance of any team in the conference, including Georgia. (Take that with as many grains of salt as you see fit.) Extend the winning streak against the Tigers, with only Kentucky, Chattanooga and Auburn waiting on the other side, and the opportunity will be there for the taking, right on schedule.

Granted, that arguably says more about the rest of the SEC at the moment than it does about the latent potential of what has plainly been Nick Saban’s least dominant team in 15 years. “Resilience” has never really been a cardinal virtue for a program used to inflicting significantly more adversity than it has ever had to overcome. For his part, Saban seems to be determined to embrace the journey this season rather than obsessing over the destination. He actually described Saturday as a “fun day,” an inconceivable sentiment for the vast majority of his tenure. Maybe he’s mellowed with age; maybe he’s accepted that, stress-wise, this group is not quite championship-or-bust material. He turns 72 on Halloween, and it’s no secret that his remaining Saturdays on the sideline are numbered. For once, maybe it’s enough just to enjoy the ride for as long as it lasts.

LSU: Channeling the champs

LSU’s 62-0 romp over Army was the most lopsided final score in the country in Week 8, and for the sake of our nation’s armed forces is best left at that. Suffice to say that, with Washington sputtering in a 15-7 win over Arizona State, the Tigers are hitting their open date in sole possession of the title of Hottest Offense in America. Through 8 games, they rank No. 1 nationally in all of the following categories:

•  Scoring Offense (47.4 points/game)
•  Total Offense (552.9 yards/game)
•  Yards Per Play (8.1)
•  Pass Efficiency (192.6)
•  First Downs (217)
•  3rd Down Conversions (57.8%)
•  Scrimmage plays of 20+ yards, 30+ yards, and 40+ yards

… along with quite a few more on the individual side between QB Jayden Daniels (total offense, total touchdowns, pass efficiency, EPA), WR Malik Nabers (receiving yards) and WR Brian Thomas Jr. (receiving touchdowns). Second-year offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock isn’t a household name — yet — but his unit is on a blistering pace.

Of course, when you’re talking about face-melting LSU offenses, there’s only one relevant point of reference: The 2019 attack that produced a Heisman Trophy winner, a boatload of next-level talent, a national championship, and the automatic reverence of a generation of fans and scribes alike. Obviously, it’s unfair to compare any offense to that one, in terms of production or personnel or anything else. That said, let’s give it a shot:

All caveats apply here, beginning with the fact that the 2019 Tigers not only sustained that pace throughout the entirety of a 15-game season, but actually improved after the break, averaging more yards and points per game against the business end of the schedule. That team leveled up every step of the way, meeting challenges and dominating stages that the current team, with 2 losses already and a much more porous defense to compensate for, has little or no chance to reach. A snapshot of a season at a certain milepost is just that, and not necessarily a prediction of how it’s going to continue to unfold.

By any measure, though, that’s pretty lofty company to be keeping heading into the home stretch. LSU can still make things difficult for the Playoff committee if it runs the table with wins over Alabama and (presumably) Georgia in the SEC title game; Jayden Daniels can still make a compelling case for the Heisman Trophy over the coming weeks without ascending to the ethereal plane occupied by Joe freakin’ Burrow. But then, at the rate he’s going, Daniels might wind up there, anyway, caveats and all. As always, everything is riding on the trip to Tuscaloosa.

Arkansas: Running on empty

At the opposite end of the spectrum, there are the Razorbacks, who hit bottom with a thud Saturday in a depressing, 7-3 flop against Mississippi State in front of a visibly mortified Homecoming crowd in Fayetteville. Arkansas’ only points came on its first series, as a result of a short field following a takeaway by the defense. From there, it was every bit as ugly as the score implied.

The Hogs only crossed midfield once the rest of the game, on a 2nd-quarter possession that resulted in a punt from MSU 38-yard line. (More on which below.) They finished with 200 yards of total offense, averaged 2.9 yards per play, and absorbed the most radioactive vibes in Razorback Stadium since the final days of Chad Morris. The loss marked the Hogs’ 6th consecutive defeat, effectively ending whatever slim chance they had left of eking out bowl eligibility before Halloween.

The fallout claimed its first casualty on Sunday: Offensive coordinator Dan Enos, whose 8-game tenure is destined to go down in infamy. Enos leaves a unit ranked 121st nationally in total offense and 124th in yards per play, which arguably understates the extent of the collapse over the past 4 games. On the field, the brunt of the blame has fallen on senior QB KJ Jefferson, who passed on the NFL Draft for the promise of improving his stock in Year 5 in a more pro-style system; instead, he’s regressed, declining significantly across the board while taking more sacks (32) than any other FBS quarterback except Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders.

As out of sync as he’s looked over the past month, though, Jefferson is the least of the Razorbacks’ problems. The ground game has been nonexistent in the absence of RB Rocket Sanders, whose injury-plagued junior season (and potentially his college career) is likely finished. The passing game has yet to recover from a season-ending injury to true freshman TE Luke Hasz, whose exit against Texas A&M coincided with the bottom falling out. The top two wideouts to date, Andrew Armstrong and Isaac TeSlaa, are Division II transfers from Texas A&M-Commerce and Hillsdale College, respectively.

Once coordinators start getting thrown overboard, the head coach is usually not far behind. Sam Pittman, who earned so much goodwill in his first 2 years on the job for raising the Hogs out of the depths of the Morris era, is suddenly in danger of the cycle coming full-circle. On top of the dismal results, Pittman has occasionally come across like a coach losing his grip. After Saturday’s loss to Mississippi State, he conceded to reporters that his indecision over whether to send his kicker out for a 50-yard field goal attempt in the second quarter might have cost the team points when the uncertainty led to a delay of game penalty that pushed the Razorbacks out of field goal range:

“I didn’t know what to do to be perfectly honest with you, so I was probably 8 seconds in on the 40-second clock,” Pittman told reporters. “I decided to kick a field goal and we didn’t get it off in time. That’s the truth. I did not want to call a timeout at that point because I wasn’t even sure I wanted to kick a field goal to be perfectly honest with you.

“I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t make the decision fast enough. Once I got it in there, I thought we had plenty of time to kick it, but at that point I wasn’t going to burn a timeout because my feeling was I wasn’t for sure I was making the right decision, anyway.”

As it turned out, that was Arkansas’ last, best chance to put points on the board on an afternoon when 3 points actually stood to make a difference in the course of the game. Credit to Pittman for an honest response to a question most coaches would have deflected without a second thought. Unfortunately, there are no points for honesty. When the walls start closing in, owning up to your mistakes just means owning them.

Superlatives

The week’s best individual performances.

1. Mississippi State LB Nathaniel Watson. The flip side of Arkansas’ miserable afternoon on offense was a triumphant performance by the Mississippi State defense, which bailed out its own moribund offense in the absence of face-of-the-program QB Will Rogers. Watson led the charge from his inside linebacker spot, finishing with 14 tackles and 2 of the Bulldogs’ 4 sacks of KJ Jefferson.

2. Alabama edge Chris Braswell. Nick Saban offhandedly described Braswell’s game-clinching strip sack of Joe Milton as “nothing special” from an Xs and Os perspective, but in terms of impact it was one of the biggest plays of the Crimson Tide’s season. As usual, Braswell and fellow edge Dallas Turner made their presence felt, combining for 9 tackles and 3 sacks — their 4th game of the season with at least 1 sack apiece.

3. Missouri RB Cody Schrader. Schrader, a former walk-on from D-II Truman State, continued his breakout season against South Carolina, running for career-high 159 yards and 2 touchdowns in a decisive, 34-12 win for Mizzou. With that, he moved into the SEC lead for rushing yards (807) and touchdowns (9) on the season, with 4 100-yard games to his credit.

4. Auburn RB Jarquez Hunter. Hunter turned in his best game of the season against Ole Miss, by far, racking up 145 scrimmage yards (91 rushing, 54 receiving) and 2 touchdowns in a 28-21 loss to the Rebels. The bulk of that output came on just 2 plays: A 53-yard run that stands as Auburn’s longest run of the year by a running back, and a 47-yard catch that stands as Auburn’s longest reception of the year by anyone.

5. LSU WRs Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas Jr. LSU’s dynamic receiving duo disrespected the troops, burning Army’s outmanned secondary for a combined 243 yards and 4 touchdowns on 7 catches — an average gain of 34.7 yards per catch. Thomas’ 86-yard TD catch from Jayden Daniels was the Tigers’ longest gain since 2017.

Fat guy of the week: Alabama OL JC Latham

Latham drew arguably his steepest assignment of the season opposite Tennessee edge James Pearce Jr., and responded with arguably the best game of his career. Pearce, a rising star coming off a pair of dominant, reputation-making outings against South Carolina and Texas A&M, came up conspicuously empty in his 1-on-1 reps against Latham, failing to record a single QB pressure from his usual perch on the right side. (Pearce’s lone appearance in the box score came from the other end, on a first-half sack at the expense of the Tide’s beleaguered true freshman left tackle, Kadyn Proctor.) For his efforts, Latham earned a career-high 85.6 overall grade from PFF, 2nd-best among all Power 5 o-lineman for the weekend.

The only OL who graded out higher? Latham’s linemate, sophomore Tyler Booker, who posted an 86.5 mark at left guard.

Honorable Mention: Missouri QB Brady Cook, who accounted for 262 total yards and 2 touchdowns (1 rushing, 1 passing) in the Tigers’ lopsided win over South Carolina. … His top target, Luther Burden III, who who caught his 6th TD of the season and accounted for 100 scrimmage yards for the 6th time in 7 games. … Ole Miss RB Quinshon Judkins, who hit the century mark for the 2nd time this season with 124 yards on 5.9 per carry against Auburn. … Auburn DL Marcus Harris, who continued his stellar campaign in the middle of the Tigers’ d-line with 7 tackles, 2 sacks, and a career-high 88.9 PFF grade against the run. … And Alabama DB Kool-Aid McKinstry, who despite a couple questionable decisions as a punt returner, was his usual sticky self in coverage against Tennessee, allowing just 1 reception for 10 yards on 4 targets.

– – –
The scoring system for players honored in Superlatives awards 8 points for the week’s top player, 6 for 2nd, 5 for 3rd, 4 for 4th, 3 for 5th, and 1 for honorable mention, because how honorable is it really if it doesn’t come with any points? The standings are updated weekly with the top 10 players for the season to date.

Catch of the year of the week

Tennessee got exactly what it wanted on its first possession of the game with speedy slot receiver Squirrel White running 1-on-1 downfield against Chris Braswell, but the design that created the mismatch came in a distant second to White’s sprawling, fingertips grab in the end zone:

At the end of the day, you really have to earn a nickname as good as “Squirrel,” and that catch goes a long way all by itself.

SEC Power Rankings

Updating the food chain.

1. Georgia (7-0). | (Last week: 1⬌)

2. Alabama (7-1). | (LW: 2 ⬌)

3. Ole Miss (611). | (LW: 3⬌)

4. LSU (6-2). | (LW: 5⬆)

5. Missouri (7-1). | (LW: 6⬆)

6. Tennessee (5-2). | (LW: 4⬇)

7. Kentucky (5-2). | (LW: 7⬌)

8. Florida (5-2). | (LW: 8⬌)

9. Texas A&M (4-3). | (LW: 9⬌)

10. Mississippi State (4-3). | (LW: 12⬆)

11. Auburn (3-4). | (LW: 11⬌)

12. South Carolina (2-5). | (LW: 10⬇)

13. Arkansas (2-6). | (LW: 13⬌)

14. Vanderbilt (2-6). | (LW: 14⬌)

Moment of Zen of the week

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