Well, hello there, LSU. That nice spot right at the head of the class? That’s yours. Which is good, because there are a few teams that might not have even showed up at the right school in SEC Week 11. Here at SEC Report Cards, we grade every team in the league, and they give some extra attention to the league’s best and worst offenses, defenses, and special teams. Ring the bell, school’s in.

West

LSU: A

Quick, who was the last visiting team to win at Bryant-Denny? If you guessed Ole Miss in 2015, you’re at the head of the class too. This wasn’t always pretty, but it was a testimony to talent, effort, and yes, Coach O, good coaching. The sky’s the limit for you Tigers. You’ve earned it.

Alabama: A-

They screwed up mightily on special teams, had a hurt quarterback, didn’t play well on defense … and lost by five to the best team in the country. We’re not going to overreact. This is probably what the Tide needed to sharpen up and get ready for a CFP run, one that now won’t include a game with Georgia.

Mississippi: A-

The only thing to pick on for the Rebels was terrible competition. Otherwise, this was a great job by the Rebels’ ground game. Ole Miss took control of this one early and never let up. Everybody has a cupcake game (or two), but give the Rebels credit for establishing their superiority early and often.

Arkansas: F

Can they get sent back a grade? They might fit in fairly well in Conference USA, with the Western Kentucky team that … actually, never mind, Western Kentucky beat the Razorbacks by 29. Maybe FCS would work?

Auburn, Mississippi State, Texas A&M: Incomplete

Each team had one final off week to get ready for the season’s final stretch.

East

Florida: A-

Yes, Vanderbilt is terrible. But Florida absolutely curb-stomped a Vandy team that does have offensive weapons, even if it seems incapable of figuring out how to use them. Florida’s passing game continues to impress, as do the Gators as a whole.

Tennessee: B+

The Vols earned a gutsy win in Lexington, one that will pave their way to a bowl game. Considering the way this season began, that seems nothing short of amazing. There were a lot of little things to tighten up, but that’s always easier after a win.

Georgia: B+

The good news? It was a solid win and the defense controlled the game. The bad news is that the offense absolutely played an ugly, hungover kind of game that wouldn’t cut it against top competition.

Kentucky: C-

Kentucky got off to a great start against Tennessee, only to fritter the lead away in the third quarter and fail to capitalize on one last red zone opportunity. This season, at home, the Wildcats could have knocked off Florida with a 29-yard field goal and Tennessee by gaining 2 yards on 2 tries. Coming up 0-2 is a disappointment.

Missouri: C-

The offense gave the Tigers nothing except maybe a testimony to how important Kelly Bryant is to this team. The defense bent and bent, but eventually broke. No shame there.

South Carolina: D+

D plus what exactly. Not much offense, for certain. Yes, this was a tough matchup for South Carolina, against a quality Appalachian State team that has spent most of its season beating up on weaker foes instead of getting beaten up. But this just wasn’t the kind of performance that USC needed.

Vanderbilt: F

This was enough of a humiliation that Commodores fans had to expect to see Steve Spurrier flipping a visor around on the sideline and a Heisman finalist QB throwing passes. It was Dan Mullen and Kyle Trask, which doesn’t bode at all well for Vandy.

Honor Roll

Offense

LSU

Putting up 46 points on Alabama is no small feat. With a deadly mixture of passing and running, the Tigers looked like the best team in the country.

Alabama

Yes, it was a loss, but Tua Tagovailoa played an amazing game on one and a half legs. Receiver Devonta Smith also was outstanding against a tough LSU secondary.

Florida

It’s time for a big thumbs up to Kyle Trask and the Gator passing game. They have overachieved all season, or at least since Trask went in.

Defense

Georgia

Missouri was below full strength, but the Bulldogs did an outstanding job of containing the Tigers offense. Another SEC shutout was an impressive accomplishment.

Tennessee

After giving up touchdowns on Kentucky’s first two offensive possessions, the Vols shut UK down the rest of the night. Their late goal-line stand was particularly impressive.

Mississippi

While they faced inferior competition, the Rebels took it to New Mexico State for four quarters. The Rebels defense is much improved from last year.

Special Teams

Alabama

Perhaps our first ever honor roll/detention candidate. The good news was a 77-yard punt return score by Jaylen Waddle that kept the Tide in the game early.

Georgia

Solid work by the Dogs. Yes, Rodrigo Blankenship missed one kick, but he made four, including a 48-yarder.

Mississippi

Decent day of work for the Rebels. They made two field goals and only missed a long try. Any day when your punter stays on the sideline, well, he probably had a nice day.

Detention

Offense

Vanderbilt

How a team can play this badly with a handful of elite playmakers is hard to fathom. Losing to Florida is hardly surprising but this was hard to watch.

South Carolina

Putting up only 15 points on a decent but not overwhelming Appalachian State team was brutal. It also all but ended the Gamecocks’ bowl chances.

Arkansas

Watching your backup quarterbacks get substantially outplayed by the quarterback you ran off might be the most 2019 Arkansas thing ever.

Defense

Alabama

It felt kind of strange to see even mighty Alabama look as clueless about defending LSU as everybody else. If Tide fans had known their team would score 41 points before the game, they would have felt pretty comfortable. Not so fast.

Arkansas

It’s one thing to get picked apart by the best offenses in the SEC. It’s quite another thing to get blasted by a mediocre Conference USA team.

Vanderbilt

They did not get gashed on the ground, but the Commodores defense gave up yards in the air (410) like this was the old Fun-and-Gun Florida teams of the 1990s.

Special Teams

Alabama

All of the good that the Tide did with a punt return score, they undid by fumbling away another punt and missing an extra point. There’s both a lot of potential in this group for Alabama and the potential to lose the game.

South Carolina

Kicker Parker White and punter Joseph Charlton had an excellent day kicking, but USC is on here for kickoff coverage. The Gamecocks allowed a 57-yard and a 41-yard kickoff return against a mid-major (albeit a good one). That impacted their 20-15 loss.

Kentucky

UT fell asleep on a punt that UK blocked, but the Wildcats also had an extra point blocked, which turned out to be crucial. Good work by Tennessee getting to it, but the kick was low. If Kentucky had a win for every inaccurate kick this year, the Wildcats would be in the CFP. Instead, they lost by four in a game where they could’ve had a tying field goal easily to force overtime if not for the early miss.