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

  • The bell tolls for Billy Napier
  • U-G-L-Y, UGA’s got no alibi
  • Penalties poison South Carolina’s upset bid against LSU
  • Players of the week, Superlatives Standings, and updated power rankings

… and more takeaways, trends and technicalities from Week 3 in the SEC. But first:

Manning Up

Would it do any good to attempt to pump the brakes on the Arch Manning bandwagon? To point out that, say, 1 of his 4 touchdown passes on Saturday night was a glorified toss sweep that his receiver took the distance, or that his longest completion was a layup to a wide-open target whom the defense simply neglected to cover? Or, I dunno, that the defense in question belonged to UT-San Antonio? No? Just shut up and play the hits? OK then.

Look, as these things go, Manning’s first taste of meaningful action was always going to be a spectacle, regardless of the specific circumstances that surrounded it. As it happened, those circumstances were not ideal: Quinn Ewers, fresh off a money-making performance in the Longhorns’ Week 2 win at Michigan, left the game in the second quarter with a strained oblique, leaving it to his understudy to mop up a game Texas already had well in hand. The buzz in the stadium that greets the arrival of the Next Big Thing was offset by the sudden uncertainty surrounding the Current Big Thing, who quickly reemerged on the sideline in street clothes, looking somber. It was just as easy to imagine Arch being instructed to stay between the lines as it was to imagine him picking up the canvas where Ewers left off. But even the truest believers in the infallibility of the Manning genetic code and/or online recruiting rankings could not have scripted a debut that managed to exceed the hype.

That part was up to the 19-year-old Manning, who made the weight of his famous last name and the expectations that come with it look light as a feather. He threw a touchdown pass on his first play, broke a long touchdown run (above) on his third play, and threw back-to-back TD passes on his first two possessions after halftime. His final line: 9-for-12 passing, 223 yards, 18.6 yards per attempt, 4 touchdowns, zero interceptions, astronomical ratings in terms of efficiency (341.1) and Total QBR (99.9), green lights as far as the eye can see.

If his emergence is a “problem,” it’s the best kind an aspiring contender can have: Two quarterbacks with both the upside and the chops to sustain a serious Playoff run through at least the regular season, which few if any other teams can claim. (Maybe Alabama, although backup Ty Simpson remains a wild card.)

As far as making decisions about how to manage reps, they’re probably at least a week or two away. There’s no hurry, for now. Ewers’ injury isn’t as severe as initially feared, but he isn’t likely to play this weekend in the Longhorns’ final nonconference tune-up against UL-Monroe, leaving Manning to make his first career start. On deck: The SEC opener against Mississippi State (in Austin), followed by an open date ahead of the next real test, Oklahoma. That gives them 3 weeks to figure out how they want to handle the situation against the Sooners, and to give Manning a chance to play his way into — or out of — a substantial share of the reps even when Ewers returns. Mobility notwithstanding, Manning is no Tim Tebow, but the change-of-pace role Tebow played behind starter Chris Leak during Florida’s 2006 BCS title run remains a model for how to execute a modern two-quarterback system with a clear division of labor.

Make no mistake: Ewers is a bona fide Heisman frontrunner and aspiring first-rounder whose career trajectory suggests his best is still in front of him. Texas is as heavily invested in him as it is in Manning; he’s not being sized up for the transfer portal based on one game by his understudy, or two, or whatever the case may be over the next few weeks. Ultimately, it’s Ewers’ team until further notice. But Manning’s time is clearly coming, sooner or later, and the reassurance that he is on schedule significantly raises the floor for a team whose margin for error will only continue to shrink as the season wears on. He’s got the stuff. If all he amounts to in the long run is an unusually decorated insurance policy, it’s one that every other team in America wishes it had.

Swamp rot

There was a time, and I swear this is true, when a road trip to Florida was considered one of the most intimidating missions in college football. Remember that? If you were an active player, there’s a good chance you wouldn’t. It’s been awhile.

These days, Welcome to The Swamp is starting to sound downright friendly. Saturday’s waterlogged, 33-20 loss to Texas A&M — a game that was not nearly as close as the score implied, against a team that came in riding a 10-game road losing streak — was Florida’s 6th loss under Billy Napier in a dozen home games vs. power-conference competition, the 4th by double digits, and the 3rd against an unranked opponent. That’s more home Ls than Dan Mullen took on the job in 4 full seasons, or, before him, Jim McElwain in the same number of games; it’s more than Steve Spurrier lost in Gainesville in a dozen years.

Along with the Gators’ 41-17 flop against Miami in Week 1, the loss to A&M marked the 3rd consecutive season Florida has suffered multiple losses at home, the longest streak since 1978-80. And there are still 4 more to go this year, in all of which Florida projects as a likely underdog.

How many of those will Napier still be around to coach? By all indications, not many, if any.

As of this writing, Napier is still employed, despite the best efforts of whoever started the rumor on Sunday morning about an emergency meeting of the Florida Board of Trustees to potentially change that. (No such meeting took place.) It’s getting to be about that time.

The embarrassment of getting rinsed by a nondescript bunch of Aggies starting a backup quarterback was grim enough: A&M rolled up 310 yards rushing and a 15-and-a-half-minute advantage in time of possession, and led by as much as 33-7 before allowing a couple of garbage-time touchdowns in the fourth quarter. A lightning delay between the first and second quarters only prolonged the misery, and a literal cloud hung over the rest of the game.

But the most depressing part of the scene was just how familiar it was.

It’s one thing for a team with not-very-high expectations to drop 2 of its first 3 games against good competition; a pair of ritual humiliations that cease to be competitive by halftime is something else. By all appearances, the Gators have regressed from stagnant to actively getting worse. The one faint glimmer of hope coming out of the Miami game, which should have marked the definitive end of Graham Mertz’s viability as the starting quarterback, was the presence of hyped freshman quarterback DJ Lagway, on whom it was possible to project a vision of progress. But Napier stuck with Mertz as QB1 on Saturday, alternating his recently concussed incumbent and his heir apparent to little effect.

Lagway’s first series, on Florida’s second offensive possession, came with Texas A&M already leading 10-0 and was immediately interrupted by the weather delay following his first snap; he returned roughly 45 minutes later to complete the last 2 plays a 3-and-out. By the time he got on the field again, the Gators trailed 20-0 with less than a minute to play in the first half, having run a grand total of 12 plays to that point. The defense, reenacting its Week 1 performance against Miami in soggier conditions, couldn’t get the Aggies off the field.

Lagway’s dismal stat line (6-for-13, 54 yards, 1 TD, 2 INTs) is slightly misleading, given that the 2 picks came on a Hail Mary at the end of the first half and on Florida’s final play of the game in garbage time, respectively; neither mattered, unlike Mertz’s pick-6 in the third quarter that officially ended the competitive portion of the proceedings. But if the point of handing the keys to the freshman was to generate some semblance of a spark regardless of the outcome, the experiment was a dud. The outcome was decided and whatever crowd remained was resigned to defeat before Lagway even had a chance.

The first round of obituaries for Napier’s tenure have already been written in response to the loss to Miami. This time, the prevailing attitude is that’s a question of if Napier is on his way out, but when. This weekend’s trip to Mississippi State is arguably Florida’s best remaining chance for a win against its well-documented nightmare of a schedule, at least until the finale against foundering Florida State, by which point both Napier and his FSU counterpart Mike Novell could both be long gone.

A loss in Starkville, where the Bulldogs just got waxed 41-17 by Toledo, would mark the definitive end; Napier couldn’t show his face in Gainesville on Monday morning. Beyond that, it’s just a matter of his bosses rustling up the buyout funds and deciding when enough is enough.

UGA wins ugly

How worried were you Saturday night about Georgia? It never struck me in real time during the Bulldogs’ 13-12 win at Kentucky that they were in serious danger of taking an L, despite the fact that the Wildcats led at the end of the first (3-0), second (6-3) and third quarters (9-6). For what it’s worth, ESPN’s “win probability” graph backs that up with whatever math is behind those things: Georgia’s chances of winning never dipped below 50%, although there were a couple of moments in the second half when it came close. The Dawgs have survived their share of slugfests under Kirby Smart, and the survival itself has tended to be more telling than the details.

That said, if the performance on the offense is a sign of things to come, there is trouble brewing. The Dawgs loitered aimlessly throughout the first half, failing to cross midfield and scoring just 3 points courtesy of a takeaway by the defense that set up a field goal. The second half was more encouraging, with extended scoring drives covering 63 plays for a field goal and 68 yards for the game’s only touchdown by either team; the sluggish pace limited them to just 2 possessions after that, one of them a methodical clock killer that effectively ended the game.

Recall that Georgia also got off to a slow start in the opener against Clemson, managing just 6 points in the first half before ripping off 28 points in the second. But the pace only accounts for so much. The usually sturdy o-line struggled to protect Carson Beck, whose best number was the zero in the interception column. Altogether Georgia finished with its fewest points, yards (262), and yards per play (4.85) in any game since the 2021 opener against Clemson that ended 10-3 with the only touchdown coming via pick-6.

One silver lining going forward is that two players, RB Trevor Etienne (90 total yards on 20 touches) and WR Dominic Lovett (6 catches for 89 yards), clearly emerged in crunch time as the go-to back and receiver, respectively, which Georgia has not really had over the past few seasons due to its preference to spread the ball around. Depending on your perspective, that can be read as an endorsement of Etienne and Lovett or an indictment of the rest of the surrounding cast; time will tell. The bad news: The Bulldogs’ best offensive lineman, guard Tate Ratledge, left the game with knee and ankle injuries and is expected to miss at least 6 weeks, putting him on the self for UGA’s Week 5 trip to Alabama on the other side of an open date. In the meantime there’s a lot to get straightened out.

South Carolina gets flagged down

South Carolina edge Kyle Kennard made his presence felt against LSU, disrupting the proceedings in ways that registered in the box score (2 sacks, 3 tackles for loss) and ways that didn’t (penetrating into the backfield to force an errant pass on 4th-and-goal). Unfortunately for the Gamecocks, his biggest impact was in the penalty column: In the course of wrecking shop, Kennard was flagged 3 times, all of which turned out to be significant swing plays in a down-to-the-wire, 36-33 Carolina loss.

Flag No. 1 came midway through the first quarter, with South Carolina leading 7-0 at the start of LSU’s second offensive possession. Kennard, left 1-on-1 against a tight end, made quick work of the block, forced LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier to step up in the pocket, and managed to get a paw on Nussmeier’s jersey to prevent his escape; corralled, Nussmeier heaved up a duck under duress, which was easily picked off and returned for an apparent Carolina touchdown. For about 10 seconds, the residual College GameDay energy in Williams-Brice Stadium was visible from orbit — until the crowd spotted the flag, which wiped out the play due to a horse-collar tackle.

In previous seasons, that would not have been a penalty: The horse collar rule did not apply to quarterbacks in the pocket. This year, it does for the first time, to the Gamecocks’ chagrin.

Flag No. 2 was more consequential, and more controversial. LSU trailed midway through the 4th quarter, 33-29, but had the ball in scoring position following a strip sack by the its defense that set up the offense at the South Carolina 12-yard line. Facing 3rd-and-11, Nussmeier served up his worst throw of the day, an ill-fated attempt at a back-shoulder fade that fell woefully short of its target in the end zone and into the waiting arms of South Carolina DB Nick Emmanwori. Seizing the opportunity to put his team up by double digits, Emmanwori coasted down the sideline for his second game-clinching pick-6 in as many weeks …

… and hold your horses, folks, is that? It is: Another touchdown-negating flag on Kennard, this time for unnecessary roughness due to a blindside block on Nussmeier as he started to give chase.

South Carolina fans heatedly objected to this call, obviously, as is their inalienable right under Homer Law. They’re right when they point out Nussmeier hammed up the severity of the hit, for whatever it’s worth. As a rule, though, when 3 flags immediately fly into the screen from different directions, the homers are prosecuting a losing case.

The “blindside block” rule is well established, and although Nussmeier was making a token effort he had no realistic chance of chasing Emmanwori down on the sideline from the hashmarks. Laying him out was the definition of unnecessary. Still, the Gamecocks had temporarily preserved the lead with the takeaway.

Flag No. 3 didn’t lend itself to post-game outrage, but was just as crucial. LSU, still trailing 33-29 and still needing a touchdown to win, faced 4th-and-3 at the South Carolina 38-yard line on its next possession, which with the clock ticking under 2 minutes was likely its last. Desperate for a decisive stop, instead Kennard drew his third flag — this time for lining up offsides, extending LSU’s march for the go-ahead touchdown without the pressure of converting the crucial 4th down. One play later, the Tigers were inside the Carolina 5-yard line courtesy of a brilliant sideline catch by Kyren Lacy (initially ruled incomplete, correctly overturned on review); 3 plays after that, they were in the end zone for what turned out to be the winning score on a 2-yard run by RB Josh Williams.

A rash of high-leverage penalties does not account for South Carolina blowing a 17-0 first-half lead, or failing to gain a first down on its first six series after halftime with backup QB Robby Ashford filling in for gimpy starter LaNorris Sellers, or settling for a 49-yard field goal attempt to tie as time expired by an inexperienced kicker with a career long of 46. (He missed.) All of the above had to go wrong for the Gamecocks to lose a game that was theirs to win right up till the end. But when they look back on the course of this season, whatever direction it takes, that 21-point swing with a chance to start 3-0 is going to linger.

• • •

Superlatives

The week’s best individual performances.

1. Ole Miss QB Jaxson Dart. After a couple of near-flawless outings to open the season, Ole Miss’ 40-6 win at Wake Forest was almost as notable for the blemishes as for the final score: The Rebels committed their first turnover (an errant snap), the starting offense was forced to punt for the first time, and Dart threw his first interception. It wasn’t a perfect night — just a routine 34-point blowout over a Power 4 conference opponent on the road, ho hum. Dart finished 26-for-34 passing against the Demon Deacons for 377 yards, 2 touchdowns and a conference-best 90.7 QBR, adding a 13-yard touchdown run for emphasis. Emphasis on emphasis.

https://twitter.com/OleMissSports/status/1835126996067660268/

Look, is it strictly advisable in the year 2024 for a Heisman-contending quarterback who’s more valuable as a passer than a runner to take on an opposing linebacker shoulder-first in the third quarter of a random nonconference game his team is already leading by 17 points? It is not. (Dart’s predecessor as QB1, Matt Corral, can advise on this subject.) Do we still love to see it? Hell yeah we do. Full points for laying it all on the line on The CW, never do it again.

2. Missouri WR Luther Burden III. The LB3 wing of the Human Joystick Hall of Fame is already under construction, and he added a couple more entries to the exhibit Saturday in Mizzou’s 27-21 win over Boston College. Statistically, Burden turned in the 7th 100-yard game of his career with 117 yards on 6 receptions. Aesthetically, he was even better, forcing 6 missed tackles and generating 72 of those yards after the catch, per PFF.

 

Beyond the sizzle reel, Burden also came through in the clutch, hauling in a game-clinching, 11-yard reception on a 3rd-and-7 pass from Brady Cook that allowed the Tigers to run out the clock on their final possession. If a sustained Playoff run is in the cards, that’s the version of their superstar they need to see on a weekly basis — as opposed to the one who draws 15-yard penalties for sophomoric shenanigans. You’re not a sophomore anymore, Luther!

3. LSU edge Bradyn Swinson. LSU has been desperate to generate more pressure from its front four on defense, a sore spot throughout 2023 as well as in the Tigers’ opening-night loss to USC. They got their money’s worth on Saturday courtesy of Swinson, a former Oregon transfer who turned in his most productive game as a Tiger in the come-from-behind win at South Carolina.

Per PFF, he generated career highs in both QB pressures (7) and sacks (3) against the Gamecocks, including a key forced fumble in the fourth quarter that set up a short-field opportunity for the offense. (Which failed to capitalize; see above for the second would-be pick-6 that wasn’t.) If coaches are content to let Harold Perkins Jr.’s immense potential off the edge go to waste — a subject for another day — somebody has to pick up the slack, and Swinson just took a big step in the right direction.

4. Alabama QB Jalen Milroe. The execution hasn’t always been pretty, but the Tide’s explosiveness on offense is real. In their 42-10 win at Wisconsin, Milroe threw for 196 yards and 3 touchdowns on just 17 attempts, adding another 75 yards and 2 touchdowns rushing. Four of Alabama’s 6 touchdown drives against the Badgers took less than 2 minutes; 5 of them took 5 plays or fewer. For the season, Bama’s 19 touchdowns with Milroe in the lineup have covered an average of 32.5 yards.

5. South Carolina RB Raheim “Rocket” Sanders. Sanders transferred to South Carolina last winter in search of a fresh start following an injury-plagued 2023 campaign at Arkansas. Against LSU, he was back to looking like his old, explosive self, running for 142 yards and 2 touchdowns on 7.5 yards per carry in a losing effort. The biggest chunk of that total came at the start of the fourth quarter, on a routine 3rd-and-1 run that he popped for a 66-yard sprint to the house.

Through 3 games, Sanders has already topped his ’23 total for rushing yards (285), touchdowns (4), first downs (15) and missed tackles forced (20, per PFF), on fewer carries. South Carolina has only produced 1,000-yard back in the past decade (Kevin Harris in 2020), the least of any SEC team since 2014; as long as Rocket remains in one piece, he’s going to get every opportunity to add his name to the list.

Honorable Mention: Texas QB Arch Manning, earning the first of what figure to be many points in the Superlatives Standings. … Texas A&M QB Marcel Reed, who had a coming-out party of his own in the Aggies’ waterlogged win at Florida, accounting for 281 total yards and 3 touchdowns without a turnover. … Ole Miss RB Henry Parrish Jr., who went over the century mark for the second consecutive week with 148 yards and 2 touchdowns in the Rebels’ win at Wake Forest. … Auburn RB Jarquez Hunter, who ran for 152 yards and a touchdown and added a second TD as a receiver in a 45-19 win over New Mexico. … Arkansas RB Ja’Quinden Jackson, who racked up a career-high 147 yards on 9.8 per carry in a 37-27 win over UAB. … LSU RB Caden Durham, a true freshman, who supplied a much needed jolt to the Tigers’ ground game with 98 yards and 2 touchdowns on 11 carries at South Carolina. … Kentucky DB Zion Childress, who had 6 tackles, 4 stops, and allowed 3 yards on 6 targets in coverage in the Wildcats’ upset bid against Georgia. … Oklahoma Edge R Mason Thomas, who had 3 sacks and a forced fumble in a 34-19 win over Tulane. … Alabama DL Lebbeus Overton, who generated 4 QB pressures, a sack and a forced fumble on a massive hit in the Crimson Tide’s win at Wisconsin. … And Alabama punter James Burnip, who averaged 48.8 yards per punt while dropping 4 of his 5 attempts inside the Badgers 20-yard line.

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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, 2 for Fat Guy of the Week, 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

Obscure Stat of the Week

None of Georgia punter Brett Thorson’s career-high 6 punts at Kentucky were returned, running his streak to an astonishing 49 consecutive punts without a return dating to the 2022 SEC Championship Game against LSU. The Tigers returned Thorson’s first punt in that game for no gain; the last Thorson punt actually returned for positive yardage was a 63-yard house call by Mississippi State’s Zavion Thomas 3 weeks earlier.

SEC Power Rankings

Updating the food chain.

1. Texas (3-0). The Curse of Michael Crabtree has finally lifted: The Longhorns are No. 1 in the AP poll this week for the first time since November 2008, when they memorably lost the top spot in a last-second loss at Texas Tech. The Curse of Colt McCoy remains in effect until further notice.
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(LW: 2⬆)

2. Georgia (3-0). Yeah, a road win in the SEC is a road win in the SEC. I’m just helping Kirby out here in making sure the chip on the Dawgs’ shoulders is properly developed with Alabama on deck.
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(LW: 1⬇)

3. Alabama (3-0). The flip side of an explosive offense is a defense that has kept the fireworks to a minimum: Bama has allowed 48 first downs over 3 games but has yet to allow a play longer than 25 yards. Does that say more about Bama’s defense or the low-octane opposition the Tide have faced? We’ll find out in 2 weeks.
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(LW: 4⬆)

4. Ole Miss (3-0). The defense rarely gets a word in edgewise in a Lane Kiffin production, but let the record show that the Rebels have been equally dominant on both sides of the ball. Through 3 games, they’ve allowed just 9 points, 2nd-fewest in the nation behind Ohio State (which has only played 2 games), and join OSU and Georgia as the only teams that have yet to allow a touchdown.
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(LW: 3⬇)

5. Tennessee (3-0). The Vols dropped a Biblical flood of offense on Kent State, putting up 65 points and 541 yards in the first half before extending a belated olive branch on the second. (Final score: 71-0.) The deluge included 9 consecutive touchdown drives, 6 of them completed in under 2 minutes, and possibly the single pettiest play I have ever seen: A surprise onside kick with a 30-0 lead in the first quarter, recovered by Tennessee.

Josh Heupel OK’d that kick immediately following a 1-play, 53-yard touchdown “drive” — featuring Nico Iamaleava’s only completion of 20+ air yards — that would have signaled the end of the competitive segment of the game if there was ever any pretense the game was going to be competitive in the first place. Among the school records broken at the Golden Flashes’ expense: Most points in a game, most points in a half, most yards in a game and most consecutive games over 50+ points (3). All told, Tennessee’s 178-point scoring margin over the course of its 3-0 start is the largest in any 3-game span in SEC history.
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(LW: 5⬌)

6. Missouri (3-0). Mizzou is the most slept-on of the league’s Playoff contenders, but also has the most favorable schedule — no Georgia, no Texas, no Ole Miss, no LSU. (The fact that Saturday’s win over No. 24 Boston College technically qualified as a ranked win is worth keeping in mind, too, when the Tigers inevitably faced accusations that they ain’t played nobody.) Alabama and Oklahoma are looming in Weeks 9 and 11; in the meantime, how much is at stake at that point will largely depend on a Week 6 trip to Texas A&M.
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(LW: 6⬌)

7. Oklahoma (3-0). The Sooners pulled away late against Tulane to cover a 13.5-point spread — barely — but didn’t inspire much confidence in the process. They opened as 7.5-point home underdogs for this weekend’s SEC inauguration against Tennessee.
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(LW: 7⬌)

8. LSU (2-1). It wasn’t pretty, but the Tigers got out of South Carolina with exactly the kind of win Brian Kelly was talking about a couple weeks ago when he was pounding the table in frustration over their failure to close out winnable games in the fourth quarter. A good thing, too, because the conversation this week if the Gamecocks’ game-winning field goal attempted had stayed on course would not be one he wants to be having anytime soon.
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(LW: 8⬌)

9. Texas A&M (2-1). I’ll have more on Marcel Reed’s breakout afternoon at Florida later this week, but the QB dynamic in College Station is a poor man’s version of the one in Austin: The Aggies weren’t looking for an excuse to move on from Conner Weigman, but now that his understudy has given them one, there’s a serious decision to be made.
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(LW: 10⬆)

10. South Carolina (2-1). Carolina fans reserved most of their frustration for the refs, but the game really turned when starting QB LaNorris Sellers called it a day at halftime due to a sore ankle. Thus marked the end of the Gamecocks’ capacity to put the ball in the air: Robby Ashford’s 10 drop-backs in the second half yielded 3 sacks, 3 scrambles, 4 actual pass attempts, and just 1 completion for a first down, on the final last-gasp drive of the game.
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(LW: 9⬇)

11. Arkansas (2-1). For almost any other SEC team, I’d chalk up a sloppy, 37-27 win over a UAB outfit coming off a 26-point loss to UL-Monroe as underachieving. For Arkansas, which I consider the league’s resident chaos agent, it’s all par for the course. With enormously talented but equally volatile QB Taylen Green, the Razorbacks are capable of just about anything on any given Saturday, which means playing up or down to the competition as necessary to keep things interesting.
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(LW: 12⬆)

12. Auburn (2-1). It flew under the radar compared to the more high-profile breakouts of Arch Manning and Marcel Reed, but redshirt freshman QB Hank Brown had a fine debut of his own, throwing 4 touchdown passes to 4 different receivers in a 45-19 win over New Mexico. Brown was also an impressive 5-for-6 on attempts of 10+ air yards. There’s no telling how well that translates to conference play — check back after this weekend’s SEC opener against Arkansas — but suffice to say Auburn fans have probably seen the last of Payton Thorne for a while. Possibly for good.
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(LW: 14⬆)

13. Kentucky (1-2). I was not as put off by Mark Stoops’ decision to punt from midfield with a tick over 3 minutes to go against Georgia as some of his critics after the game. Kentucky trailed by just 1 point, 13-12; still had all 3 timeouts; faced 4th-and-8 with a struggling quarterback (which became 4th-and-13 following a penalty for a false start); and justifiably trusted a defense that had played lights out all night. With timeouts, a punt followed by a stop would have given the Wildcats the ball back in reasonable field position with time to set up a shot at the winning field goal. Of course, that’s not how it played out: Georgia picked up 2 first downs on its ensuing possession, nearly draining the clock before punting the ball back to Kentucky with 9 seconds left and no chance to respond. Hindsight is 20/20, you play to win the game, etc. In real time, it was a perfectly reasonable call.
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(LW: 15⬆)

14. Vanderbilt (2-1). Vandy’s 2-0 start turned into a pumpkin in a wild, 36-32 loss at Georgia State that saw 5 touchdowns in the 4th quarter and 2 lead changes in the final 2 minutes. Dropping a heartbreaker to a double-digit underdog from the Sun Belt is a very “Vandy being Vandy” type of loss, which is exactly what the ‘Dores did not want to have hanging around their neck heading into the SEC opener at Missouri.
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(LW: 11⬇)

15. Florida (1-2). Barring a miracle, Billy Napier is going to be remembered as one of the worst big-time coaching hires of his era, which isn’t entirely fair to the wildly successful run at Louisiana from 2018-21 that got him the Florida job in the first place. But 3 consecutive losing seasons in what should be one of the sport’s premier jobs is a stunning failure. At least Will Muschamp, Jim McElwain and Dan Mullen each managed a top-10 finish or division title before their tenures unraveled.
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(LW: 13⬇)

16. Mississippi State (1-2). It was plain enough before the season that the Bulldogs were long shots to win an SEC game under first-year coach Jeff Lebby. The gauge for just how long was a couple of nonconference toss-ups against Arizona State in Week 2 and Toledo in Week 3. The verdict: They’d better invest in a good GPS, because it’s going to be a grueling road out of the wilderness. After losing 30-23 at ASU (a game Mississippi State trailed 30-3 before making a late, futile rally), Saturday’s 41-17 thumping at the hands of the Rockets (a game Mississippi State trailed 35-3) was confirmation for the home crowd that the next 2 1/2 months are going to be as dark as they feared. This weekend’s date against the equally demoralized Gators might be the most depressing matchup of the season.
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(LW: 16⬌)

Moment of Zen of the Week