10 things I'm absolutely overreacting to after Week 6 in the SEC
Has an eventual national champion ever lost to Vanderbilt?
What about a Heisman winner?
At the risk of somebody finding an outlier, let’s just go with a wild hunch and say: No.
OK, so Alabama’s done. (Not really.)
Why does Greg Sankey want 4 automatic bids to the College Football Playoff? To protect Alabama or Tennessee … or reward … Vanderbilt??
Those questions are among the 10 things I’m absolutely overreacting to after an utterly ridiculous Week 6 in and around the SEC.
10. Let’s hope Bama enjoyed Broadway on Friday night, a’ight …
There’s overlooking an opponent — Alabama did that as recently as the USF game. And then there’s calling in sick to start a 3-day weekend getaway to Nashville.
Like you haven’t, too.
Whatever fun Alabama might have had on Broadway — or planned to have, damn curfews — I can promise you what unfolded Saturday afternoon a few miles away was the exact antithesis of fun.
This was the nightmare you can never erase.
History will always remember: Vandy 40, No. 1 Alabama 35.
But it was far worse than that because nothing about this was a fluke.
Vanderbilt never trailed. The ‘Dores only punted twice. They converted 12-of-18 3rd-down opportunities — and their only 4th-down try.
They shoved Alabama’s defense into the ropes from the opening bell and kept pounding. They scored on their first possession. And second. And third. Aided by a pick-6 against former Heisman hopeful Jalen Milroe, Vandy led 23-7 before it punted. Before students flooded the field and matriculated the goal posts down Broadway, Vandy amassed a 24-minute advantage in time of possession.
None of it made sense, until you realize that Alabama obviously violated the 24-hour celebration rule after beating Georgia last week and hadn’t stopped partying since.
It’s as if everybody associated with Alabama’s defense — coaches, players, advance scouts, GAs, unpaid helpers — spent more time scouting the best bars on Broadway than they did preparing for Diego Pavia and Vanderbilt’s offense.
That’s the thing about beers, boys: You can drown your sorrows in them, too.
9. Damn, boys, you want an automatic bid to the title game, too?
I thought about taking a cue from Greg Sankey and Tony Petitti and emailing Pulitzer Prize judges to request that Overreactions automatically is included among the finalists for commentary, every year.
But then I remembered: Aside from an affinity for grits, sweet tea and Southern accents, the only thing I have in common with my boyhood idol, Lewis Grizzard, a great American, is that neither of us has won that thing.
So I’ll stick to earning title shots, not asking for handouts, like Sankey and Petitti.
After all, the whole purpose of Playoff expansion is to give everybody in America a path.
Mission accomplished, in 2024, at least. I mean, Indiana — 6-0 Indiana! — has a legitimate shot at an at-large bid. Navy — which has 5 10-win seasons in 130+ years — has a realistic shot at earning an automatic bid. Unless Boise State grabs it. It’s beautiful. Already in Year 1, expansion is working, unlike Kalen DeBoer’s ability to handle success, apparently.
Now, reportedly, the SEC and B1G are seeking to rig the deal so that they each are guaranteed 4 teams in the Playoff.
Come on, fellas. Enough is enough.
Those 2 leagues already have forever altered the look and feel of college sports. They’ve already raided the biggest brands from other leagues to the point there is no other brand worth acquiring. (OK, maybe Notre Dame.) They already are paying more in NIL to stockpile 5-stars and elite transfers than every other conference could dream about. Eleven of the 13 highest-paid head coaches — and 20 of the Top 25 — roam the sidelines in the SEC or B1G.
If you can’t earn an at-large trip with those advantages, I don’t know what to tell you.
Bottom line: There are no free passes. Or shouldn’t be, anyway.
Basketball royalty UNC and Duke have to earn their way into the NCAA Tournament — and each has missed the event in the past 7 years.
It only makes sense that college football teams should have to do the same, too.
It took college football more than 100 years to finally create a system that gives everybody a chance to compete for a national championship. The last thing we need is to go backward.
9b. What would Vanderbilt’s Playoff seed be, anyway?
Greg Sankey gonna ask for 11 automatic bids next week.
— Myron Medcalf (@MedcalfByESPN) October 5, 2024
8. Call an Uber, college football …
College football got a little drunk last night … and it’s a beautiful thing. (Royalties to Eli Young and his talented band.)
Update!
It's not even 11:30 pm and …
No. 1 Alabama lost.
No. 4 Tennessee lost.
No. 9 Mizzou lost.
No. 10 Michigan lost.
No. 11 USC lost.
No. 8 Miami is losing … so stay tuned.— Saturday Down South (@SatDownSouth) October 6, 2024
Bottom line: I hope Saturday convinced you that college football has become college basketball.
Yes, it took a century. But embrace the chaos. Celebrate the upsets. Camp out for tickets.
College football, forever, tried to convince you that there were only 2 good teams. That there was no way we could even find 4 worthy of fighting for a national title.
Reality? There are so many more. There always were. They weren’t hiding. They just weren’t invited.
They will be now.
It’s beautiful. (Just make them earn it.)
7. Mizzou showed us, all right …
Speaking of the expanded 12-team Playoff, Mizzou showed us Saturday that they don’t belong in the conversation.
Check that: They showed y’all.
I haven’t included the Tigers in any of my Playoff polls this year. So, no, I wasn’t terribly surprised that Texas A&M exposed Mizzou.
I was surprised with some of the Mizzou banter leading up to the game.
Whether it was Brady Cook talking about practice noise being louder than Kyle Field, or Eli Drinkwitz all but saying Mike Elko doesn’t know how to handle his QBs, it was a bit much for a program that has had exactly 1 successful SEC season since 2014.
Whatever Drinkwitz said at halftime didn’t work either.
This was A&M’s first play of the 3rd quarter:
https://twitter.com/fsh733/status/1842625257544303062
It didn’t get any better after that, either.
Drinkwitz was so hellbent on scoring a TD in the final minute that the Tigers ran 8 plays from Texas A&M’s 11-yard line. Mizzou converted 1 4th-down but had to settle for a meaningless field goal with 8 seconds left.
Congratulations for reaching double-digits.
6. Is it too early to extend Mike Elko?
We kid, but, it’s Texas A&M, so …
Barely a month into the job, Elko emphatically delivered a signature moment Saturday, dominating No. 9 Mizzou 41-10 that was every bit as lopsided as the scoreboard suggested.
Elko’s defense swarmed.
LeVeon Moss was spectacular.
And quarterback Conner Weigman reminded everybody he can still play a little bit.
The game was billed as an opportunity for each program who show who belongs in the Playoff conversation, and who does not.
Texas A&M still has work to do (most notably in the season-finale vs. Texas), but it showed, at its best, it belongs.
It’s time to reevaluate the Aggies’ ceiling. Admittedly, 10-win seasons are scarce in College Station — only 8 of them in the past 40 years — but given the remaining schedule, anything less than a 10-win regular season would be an utter letdown.
5. It’s impossible to protect football players from being football players
https://twitter.com/TheRealLastTake/status/1842604223403569281
NC State quarterback Grayson McCall has a history of suffering concussions. His 2023 season at Coastal Carolina ended early after suffering one.
But it’s impossible to ask or expect a football player to not play football. You can coach and preach “slide” all you want, but competitors compete. This was 3rd-and-11, and McCall put his body on the line to gain a first down.
Correction: At this point, McCall put his life on the line.
That decision was beyond dangerous. McCall not only lowered his head — his helmet slipped off in the process. How does that happen? McCall exposed his unprotected head to 3 separate defenders. Fans blamed the defenders. Maybe. But offensive players who lower their head are just as culpable.
His teammates were so concerned about the brutal impact that they didn’t even respond to the fumble. McCall stayed down for several minutes. He eventually was carted off and gave fans a sign.
This hit should be the last one he takes as a football player. Let’s hope he’s all right and it becomes his choice. We know nobody else will step in.
Just like it’s clear the only entity that’s going to save Tua Tagovailoa is … Tua Tagovailoa.
4. The top 4 Heisman candidates are …
Heisman voters only get to write 3 names on their ballot.
I am under no such restrictions:
1. Miami QB Cam Ward, 2. Colorado WR/DB Travis Hunter, 3. Alabama WR Ryan Williams, 4. Ashton Jeanty, Boise State.
On a day 5 top-11 teams lost, Ward all but locked up the Heisman but rallying the No. 8 Canes out of a 25-point deficit — in the second half! — to beat Cal 39-38.
Miami trailed 35-10 with just 23 minutes of football left, but Ward refused to lose.
Ward accounted for 3 TDs in the final 10 minutes (2 TD passes and a TD run). He led The U on a 92-yard game-winning drive in the final minute, completing it with a short TD pass.
Too bad almost nobody in America was awake to watch it.
Ward already has 20 TD passes. He’s a lock to become the first Miami QB to throw 30 TD passes in a season and it wouldn’t surprise me if he tops 40. Forget winning the Heisman, The U hasn’t had a Heisman finalist since Ken Dorsey finished 3rd in 2001.
Hunter is the only player in that quartet whose team success won’t factor into his campaign. He’s legitimately the best player in the country — maybe at 2 positions.
Jalen Milroe’s bid is hitched to Bama’s SEC title hopes, and boy did it take a hit Saturday. All you need to know is that when Alabama needed to make a play, it turned to Williams, who again responded with 2 more TDs — including one on a desperate 4th-and-goal from the 1 play in which he housed a reverse to briefly give Bama hope that it might avoid its most embarrassing defeat since, well, probably ever.
If you’re not familiar with Jeanty, fair enough. Here’s all you need to know: He’s from Jacksonville and moved to Texas before his sophomore season. In other words, he’s a guy who should have been on SEC radars. They might see him soon enough …
3. The SEC’s 3 Playoff teams are …
Sorry, Greg, but we aren’t guaranteeing 4. Not after Week 6.
1. Texas, 2. Georgia, 3. Pick ’em (Ole Miss, Bama or Tennessee).
2. Nick Saban 1, Pete Carroll 0
Poor Pete.
Miss Terry’s picks beat Nick Saban so bad last week that he had to deliver a stray to … Pete Carroll?
https://twitter.com/WPBF_Yianni/status/1842597613528559952
1. When fantasy becomes reality …
Vanderbilt 40, No. 1 Alabama 35.
Clark Lea dreamed it into existence.
https://twitter.com/RockyTopCrootin/status/1841544442999722200