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Are we having fun yet in the SEC? It certainly feels like it.
On Saturday, the SEC Championship/Playoff picture had significant developments galore. Alabama dominated LSU in Death Valley at night, Ole Miss got the home win it’s been waiting decades for, and Tennessee and Texas … well, Tennessee and Texas did what they were supposed to do.
Through Week 11, we’re now down just 3 SEC teams that have 1 conference loss:
- Tennessee, 5-1
- Texas A&M, 5-1
- Texas, 5-1
So then does that mean those teams will decide the conference championship? Not necessarily. Heading into the third weekend of November, the SEC will still have 8 teams with 1 or 2 conference losses. This thing can still go in a bunch of ways.
Here were the biggest takeaways from Week 11 in the SEC:
Ole Miss adjusted and boy, did it pay off
Lane Kiffin set the stage for Saturday a year ago. By losing 52-17 last year in Athens, Kiffin went all in with defensive additions in the portal in hopes of bridging the gap and making a run in the first year of the 12-team Playoff. Chris Paul Jr., Walter Nolen, Princely Umanmielen and Trey Amos were all added from other SEC teams in hopes of turning around the ceiling of the Ole Miss defense.
Boy, did they ever.
The only touchdown drive that Ole Miss allowed came on UGA’s first series of the game, which started on the Rebels’ 21-yard line. Needless to say, it was a banner showing from a group that’s had no shortage of those in 2024. Carson Beck didn’t have time to throw, and even when he did, Georgia couldn’t find any 30-yard plays in the passing game. Ole Miss registered 9 tackles for loss, 5 of which were sacks.
This was, as Kiffin said, a year in the making. Nine of Ole Miss top 19 leading tacklers were guys who weren’t on the roster last year. That’s not including former transfers like Jared Ivey and JJ Pegues, who were again excellent on the defensive line. This group as a whole continued to show why it’s one of the most reliable groups in America. They weren’t at fault for the Kentucky loss and as disappointing as the finish was against LSU, that group still shut down Garrett Nussmeier for the majority of the night.
It was exactly the type of game that had eluded the offensive-minded Kiffin throughout his career. Gritty, poised, dominant … that’s usually not been Kiffin’s identity in big-time games. His highest-ranked win ever as a head coach kept Ole Miss’ Playoff hopes alive. With how much the selection committee valued Georgia, it’s now extremely possible that a 10-2 Ole Miss team can get an at-large berth.
All of that preseason conversation about Ole Miss was justified. Kiffin deserves a ton of credit for that.
This Georgia offense is a hot mess
Yes, Ole Miss’ defense is one of the best units in college football. We need to acknowledge that, as well as the fact that in those conditions, a smash-mouth defense had the edge. Go figure that the better “smash-mouth defense” was Ole Miss and not Georgia.
But man, Georgia’s offense is desperate for answers. Three times, it put the ball on the turf and Carson Beck’s interception on 4th-and-10 in a 22-10 game put Georgia’s comeback attempt on ice. It was a unit that didn’t have any counterpunch down the stretch.
Some of that was on the UGA receivers, who have the most drops of anyone in FBS. Some of that was on an atypically overmatched offensive line. Some of that was on a backfield that struggled with ball security. Some of that was on offensive coordinator Mike Bobo. Some of that was on Beck not having the right mental clock in the pocket.
Add it all up and it was a disastrous offensive showing from a group that still hasn’t put together a full game in SEC play outside of the Mississippi State game. As in, the same Mississippi State defense that couldn’t stop Toledo. That’s a problem. There doesn’t appear to be a solution.
By the way, another elite defense awaits next week when Tennessee rolls into town. Not ideal.
Alabama ran LSU right out of its own building and took control of its Playoff path
A beatdown. A demolition. A mauling.
Thankfully, Alabama’s ground game did more mauling than any sort of fake Mike the Tiger did on Saturday night in Death Valley. By night’s end, they had 311 sack-adjusted rushing yards, 185 of which came via Milroe, who racked up 4 touchdowns. He got whatever he wanted, just like he did last year when he kept Alabama’s Playoff hopes alive against Jayden Daniels.
In addition to the 3 rushing touchdowns that LSU allowed to Marcel Reed in the final 28 minutes against Texas A&M, that’s 7 rushing scores allowed to quarterbacks in the last 6 quarters of football for LSU. That was a startling trend for LSU, as was the fact that Garrett Nussmeier also picked up where he left off against Texas A&M. The Tigers suffered their 3rd loss in demoralizing fashion and all but eliminated themselves from any late-season Playoff discussions.
As for the Tide, those Playoff discussions are now very much on the table with SEC games against Oklahoma and Auburn, which are a combined 2-10 in SEC play. Even with the 2 conference losses, a 10-2 résumé that would include wins vs. Georgia and at LSU would still carry weight with the selection committee. They can now see a path to winning out and getting an at-large berth.
Of course, it has to continue to establish the run and play disciplined defense like it did on Saturday night. Not allowing LSU to reach the end zone once — a Deontae Lawson interception in the end zone stopped the best opportunity — was easily the most impressive showing of the season for the scrutinized Tide defense.
The team that we saw against LSU could compete for a national title.
Nico Iamaleava’s injury was a precautionary measure, but it still wasn’t ideal
Josh Heupel decided to play it safe with his QB1 after Iamaleava took an awkward hit near the end of the first half. Iamaleava tried to go back into the game but wasn’t with the team to start the second half. Gaston Moore finished the game for the Vols, which suggested that Iamaleava’s injury was at least somewhat significant.
But as Heupel said afterward, the expectation is that Iamaleava will be ready to roll for Georgia. A huge sigh of relief, that was. Even amid his struggles this year, he’s still the best chance the Vols have to beat a team of UGA’s caliber (whatever that is these days).
The downside of that timing was that Iamaleava could’ve benefitted more from those reps in a favorable matchup. Mississippi State has the worst pass defense in the SEC. That could’ve been a nice spot for him to iron out some of those downfield issues. He still dialed up a long touchdown to Dont’e Thornton, who also left the game later. Instead of getting 25-30 pass attempts against that porous pass defense, Iamaleava attempted 13 passes.
Meanwhile, Dylan Sampson continued to get tons of work even though he suffered an injury, as well. Sampson returned to the game and ripped off a 33-yard touchdown, but it was clear that he wasn’t at 100%.
Tennessee’s offense will have some bumps and bruises heading into Georgia. That much is obvious. Whether the Vols can overcome that and keep their Playoff hopes alive remains to be seen.
Billy Napier wanted DJ Lagway for LSU, not Texas
Was Napier using a bit of gamesmanship to disguise Lagway’s potential return on Saturday? It’s possible. Lagway was a week removed from being carted off the field, and he warmed up with the second-teamers after he did individual work at practice this week. But Lagway’s hamstring injury prevented him from being an emergency quarterback on Saturday against Texas, who dominated preferred walk-on/Yale transfer Aidan Warner.
Napier told the ABC broadcast crew during the week that the hope was to get Lagway back for the LSU game next week. Ramping up Lagway ahead of Texas wouldn’t been “a stretch,” according to what was shared on the broadcast. That means there’s at least a chance that we’ll see Lagway against LSU.
If Florida had a healthy team, perhaps that would be the last piece. But look at all the offensive players that Florida was without on Saturday:
- QB DJ Lagway
- QB Graham Mertz
- RB Montrell Johnson Jr.
- RB Treyaun Webb
- WR Tre Wilson
- WR Elijah Badger
- WR Kahleil Jackson
- OL Devon Manuel
- OL Damieon George Jr.
Mind you, that’s not including Florida being without 3 starting defensive backs. That’s why Texas looked all but unstoppable in the passing game. The same could be true of Garrett Nussmeier next week in Gainesville.
In other words, Lagway/Warner will be facing an uphill climb if Florida hopes to beat LSU for the first time since 2018.
Texas dominating out of the bye week makes 10-2 (and a Playoff berth) feel like the floor
That means “barring a total 180, 10-2 feels like the floor.” A total 180 would be going 1-2 in these final 2 regular-season games. That’s not a disrespect to Arkansas, who whooped Texas the last time that the Longhorns traveled to Fayetteville back in 2021.
But this is a different Texas team. This is a Longhorns team that has 23 consecutive wins against non-top 15 teams. Beating both Arkansas on the road and a struggling Kentucky team at home feels imminent, which would mean a 1-loss team would go into A&M with a potential SEC Championship bid up for grabs … and a potential Playoff bid all but locked in.
That’s why that No. 5 ranking in the first Playoff poll was significant for the Longhorns. The selection committee acknowledged the Michigan win with greater respect than what some might’ve expected given how the season played out for the defending champs. With that in mind, it’s not crazy to suggest that Texas has the most favorable Playoff path remaining of any team in the SEC.
I have no clue what happened at the end of Oklahoma-Mizzou, other than I disagree with Eli Drinkwitz’s totally unbiased opinion
I won’t pretend to make sense of the 4th quarter, other than to say it felt like we were watching a throwback Big 12 game with these 2 squads. But Drinkwitz said afterward that finding a way to beat Oklahoma was big because it kept Mizzou in the Playoff hunt.
Let me stop you right there.
I get that it’s the 12-team Playoff era and this is an era with grace wherein arguments will be far and wide. But just because Mizzou is sitting there with 2 losses doesn’t mean that the “2” is the only thing that matters. The Tigers lost their 2 games against teams in the current CFP Top 25 by a combined score of 75-10. We don’t need to pretend that Mizzou is a Playoff team just because of the conference it plays in.
Even if Saturday’s wild comeback win is the beginning of a 4-game winning streak to end the season — I’d still need to see a healthy and improved Brady Cook to feel like that’s on the table — its best win would be against a pair of fringe top-25 teams (2OT vs. Vandy, at South Carolina) and it wouldn’t have the head-to-head against Alabama or Texas A&M.
Drinkwitz is selling a dream to the recruiting world by suggesting Mizzou is in the Playoff hunt.
South Carolina is bowling, and Oklahoma’s bowl hopes might’ve died in Columbia
Credit Shane Beamer and South Carolina for not getting too high after last week’s statement win against A&M. Slowing down Diego Pavia is no picnic, yet the Gamecocks made that look easier than perhaps anyone has all season. Kyle Kennard should be in the All-American conversation with the plays he continues to make, and LaNorris Sellers looks like he was worthy of not going bigger in the transfer portal at quarterback.
South Carolina is bowling, and dare I say, possibly in position to win out with a 9-3 regular season.
As for Oklahoma, yikes. The Sooners were on the wrong end of a bizarre finish at Mizzou, and now, getting to win No. 5 will have to come against Alabama or in the regular-season finale at LSU. The latter might look more manageable after the Tigers just suffered their second consecutive loss, but Oklahoma is now an underdog in its final 2 games and in serious jeopardy of missing the postseason for the first time since 1998.
That’s not what OU fans had in mind when they joined the SEC. It’s certainly not what they had in mind when Brent Venables got that extension a week before that move was made official.
Unprecedented times could be on the horizon in Norman.
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.
