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Yet again, the SEC slate delivered.
From noon until midnight, we were blessed with 12 hours of entertainment. Well, the Red River Rivalry didn’t give us a competitive game, but that afternoon, we watched Georgia struggle to distance itself from Mississippi State.
You get what I’m saying. Week 7 delivered. Of course it did.
Here are the biggest SEC takeaways from the day that was:
If you can’t see why Texas is the class of the SEC, I don’t know what to tell you
That was an emphatic statement against Oklahoma. The only thing the Sooners were trying to accomplish in the final minutes was reach pay dirt for the first time … which they didn’t.
Mind you, the Sooners did a ton of things well early on to make it an even game for most of the first half. Quinn Ewers looked out of sorts early coming off the oblique injury that sidelined him for nearly a month. He overthrew Isaiah Bond on the first series on a ball that Billy Bowman intercepted, which marked his second consecutive opening-drive interception against the Sooners.
But eventually, we saw just why Texas is so dangerous. Ewers settled in with a nice throw on the sideline to Deandre Moore Jr., who made a toe-tapping grab on the sideline. On 3rd down in a 7-3 game late in the first half, Ewers recognized an Oklahoma corner blitz and hit Ryan Wingo for a 44-yard gain, which set up a frantic Tre Wisner/Silas Bolden touchdown (Wisner fumbled as he was nearing the end zone and Bolden recovered it for the score).
That was more than enough. Texas wasn’t going to allow the receiver-depleted Michael Hawkins Jr. version of the OU offense to move the ball downfield. It didn’t surrender a completion of 20 yards and it sacked the true freshman quarterback 5 times. Sure, that was the worst passing offense in the SEC. It was also the type of performance you’d hope to see from the Texas defense a year removed from Dillon Gabriel having the best game of his career in an Oklahoma victory.
That’s the unit we need to talk about more. Lost in the shuffle of the Arch Manning hype during Ewers’ injury was how dominant the Texas defense looked in September. It was the No. 2 unit in scoring defense and yards/play allowed. That was before it held OU to 3 points and 3.4 yards/play. Anthony Hill Jr. and Colin Simmons aren’t even Draft-eligible guys and they look like All-Americans.
Texas deserves to be favored for that matchup against Georgia. Period. The Longhorns are as complete as any team in America.
South Carolina exposed every big-picture issue with this Alabama team
First, credit Shane Beamer. He said at halftime that his team was much better than what it showed against Ole Miss, and that those who expected a similar effort against the Tide were mistaken. He wasn’t wrong. Even down to the last-ditch heave that LaNorris Sellers chucked downfield after the Nyck Harbor touchdown/recovered onside kick, his team fought.
What the Gamecocks did to expose all the bigger-picture issues with Alabama was significant.
Kyle Kennard feasted on those Alabama tackles. That group struggled to slow down the SEC’s sacks leader, who has been masterful working opposite of Dylan Stewart this season. It was an obvious mismatch in that area, which forced Jalen Milroe into some old habits. But instead of utilizing his legs early on, he drifted and either took bad sacks (the safety was unforgivable) or threw balls into coverage.
INTENTIONAL GROUNDING SAFETY! pic.twitter.com/1bVQbPA0Gq
— Mr Matthew CFB (@MrMatthew_CFB) October 12, 2024
Entering Saturday, Milroe had only been sacked 7 times all year and he threw 2 interceptions. The mistakes appeared to be in the rearview mirror after the Georgia game. Go figure that Vandy and South Carolina did a better job at bringing out those issues than Georgia. Alabama will face the just-as-capable Tennessee defensive line in Knoxville next week. That matchup feels overwhelming in the home team’s favor, given what we just saw from the Tide against an elite pass rush.
And defensively, yeah, it wasn’t as bad as the Vandy game. South Carolina didn’t covert a single 3rd down in the first half. That was the positive. But the Gamecocks then converted 5-of-6 on 3rd down in the 3rd quarter. The biggest play of the game was the Sellers fumble, which wasn’t forced by the Tide. He just dropped the exchange on the zone-read.
To make matters worse, all Alabama had to do was not allow a touchdown in the final 2 minutes to the No. 14 passing offense in the SEC and it would survive the scare. Instead, it had a bad facemask penalty, and then it let the freakishly talented, but lightly-featured Harbor haul in a toe-tapping touchdown grab to give South Carolina a chance to tie it with a 2-point conversion. Sellers sailed that throw, and Alabama got the last laugh by intercepting his pass after South Carolina recovered the onside kick.
But where’s the killer instinct? Alabama got outplayed in the second half in 3 consecutive games. If we’re being honest, the Tide were fortunate to escape with a 2-1 mark in that stretch.
Kalen DeBoer’s squad might’ve avoided disaster by not getting upset as a 3-touchdown favorite in consecutive weeks, but Alabama looks far too vulnerable to be in national title conversations for the time being.
Georgia doesn’t have a championship-level defense
I don’t mean to disrespect Michael Van Buren Jr., who played his tail off Saturday. Jeff Lebby deserves a ton of credit for going into Sanford Stadium and playing a too-close-for-comfort game with a Mississippi State roster that screams “Year 0.”
But yikes. Georgia’s defense has problems. Big problems.
The gap discipline has been an issue for the majority of the season, which is why that unit entered Saturday ranked No. 53 in rushing yards/game allowed and No. 52 in yards/rush allowed. That’s not something we typically highlight with Georgia. That wasn’t the issue on Saturday, though.
The issue was the eye discipline against Mississippi State. Even Malaki Starks had his eyes creeping in the backfield on a coverage bust. Lebby was content to test the Georgia corners. That plan worked. Kevin Coleman and those Mississippi State receivers won 1-on-1s and got separation in coverage. Alabama was the first team to hit the 300-yard passing mark against the Dawgs since CJ Stroud did in the 2022 Peach Bowl, though clearly, that wasn’t just Ryan Williams being super-human.
It’s fair to wonder how much that’ll be an issue against a versatile Texas passing attack in Austin next week. Starks said afterward that “things gotta change.” That’s an understatement. If they don’t, Georgia will be staring at its second loss.
Billy Napier is gonna want that “kick the extra point” decision back after he had Tennessee on the ropes
I hate to play the results, but be honest, Tennessee fans. When DJ Lagway threw the best pass of his young college career on a dart to Chimere Dike to make it a 17-16 game with 36 seconds left, the Vols were praying that the Gators would kick the PAT. And when Florida came out in a trick-play formation that didn’t fool Tennessee, only to then send out the kicking team, every Tennessee fan on planet Earth breathed a sigh of relief.
That’s the problem with that decision.
Napier had Tennessee dead to rights. One correct play call and he’d likely celebrate a road win against the top-10 Vols in a potential job-saving victory. But Napier opted to play it safe, and he watched his offense go in reverse in OT. You know how the rest went.
Sure, Napier could point to the struggles that Lagway had after stepping in for the injured Graham Mertz. Up until that NFL throw to Dike, it wasn’t a banner showing from Lagway. But at the same time, 1 play for all the marbles was a scenario that no Florida fan could’ve dreamed of as recently as a couple weeks ago.
Instead, the Gators let a golden opportunity slip away. There are no more victories in rivalry games. There are only defining moments. That felt like one. Tennessee — on a night in which it was shut out again for the second consecutive week — took advantage of that decision.
One can’t help but think that’ll haunt Napier.
LSU and Ole Miss felt like they played in a Playoff elimination game
LSU at night always delivers. Fortunately for Brian Kelly, it always delivers for him. He somehow survived a game that LSU never led until Garrett Nussmeier’s walk-off touchdown pass to Kyren Lacy.
For LSU, the grit we saw down the stretch was the exact opposite of the collapse against USC in the season opener. It just seemed like even after a less-than-stellar showing from Nussmeier, he was going to find a way. The 4th-down conversions on the final drive of regulation will be all over his NFL Draft film, especially the touchdown pass to Aaron Anderson. Nussmeier showed toughness that was a step above the South Carolina game.
LSU is now sitting with Texas and Texas A&M as the SEC’s last 3 teams that are unbeaten in conference play. As long as that path to Atlanta exists for LSU, the Playoff path is very much on the table, even with a tricky remaining schedule.
As for Ole Miss, that game was a reminder of why Lane Kiffin hasn’t elevated into the top tier of coaches. Jaxson Dart was sacked 6 times and there wasn’t any confidence in the offense to set up a potential game-winning field goal in the final minute after LSU’s game-tying touchdown.
Ole Miss played well enough to hand Kelly his first home loss at night. But it simply didn’t execute down the stretch to get off the field, or to have that back-breaking offensive play. The injury to Tre Harris didn’t help matters, though that felt like a team that wasn’t ready for the moment.
Yes, Ole Miss can still go 10-2 and make the Playoff. No, does Ole Miss look like a team that’s poised to run the table to keep that opportunity on the table. That’s why Saturday’s loss could sting as much as any of the Kiffin era.
It’s still Diego Pavia’s world, and we’re just living in it
How about that? All Pavia did was lead Vandy to an SEC victory as a multi-touchdown underdog for the second consecutive week. And even better, he did so with leg injuries.
An Alabama hangover? What hangover? There was grit and poise shown by Vandy in a charged atmosphere on the road. Go figure that’s Vandy’s first SEC road win since winning in the snow at Kroger Field in 2022. The Dores were more disciplined, and they had the sense of urgency that Kentucky lacked in yet another setback home loss in SEC play.
Vandy is a butchered overtime against Mizzou and a failed last-minute stop against Georgia State from being 6-0. Clark Lea is easily the SEC Coach of the Year at the halfway point. His defense, which he took control of this season, frustrated a mistake-riddled Kentucky team.
Let’s officially move on from pre-2024 takes about Vandy. Pavia and Lea destroyed them all.
Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Down South. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.
