SEC Week 9 was a competitive roller-coaster of a week that ended up with four teams left to define the SEC race — Alabama and LSU were both inactive this week, but we’d already circled this one on our calendar; a resurgent Georgia, of course; and then somehow, implausibly, Kentucky.

There were plenty of other stories — the resurgence of Mississippi State, South Carolina pulling off a gutsy win and Vandy looking good. But we’ll grade them, honor the best and dishonor the worst work of SEC Week 9.

SEC West

Mississippi State: A-

After a week filled with quarterback change discussion, Joe Moorhead stood by his man, and Nick Fitzgerald rewarded him with a 241-yard, 2-touchdown, no-interception passing game and a big win. If the offense can work this well, State might have some impressive November tricks up its sleeve.

Texas A&M: C

A&M picked a bad week for a clunker. Kellen Mond ended up passing for 232 yards, which sounds impressive until his 46 pass attempts are considered. The ground game had nothing, and State’s offense made all the big plays on Saturday.

Arkansas: D+

This might be the only reference to “D” involving Arkansas from Saturday. The offense did what it needed to do, rushing for 7.1 yards per carry while the Razorbacks passed for 240 yards. They gave up 442 yards and 45 points to Vandy. They are who we thought they were.

Alabama: Incomplete

Even the big dog gets a bye week.

Auburn: Incomplete

Even the most disappointing team in the league gets a bye week.

LSU: Incomplete

Even the division’s biggest surprise gets a bye week.

Mississippi: Incomplete

Even a fourth SEC West team gets a bye week.

East

Georgia: A-

Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Very much a TCB win for the Bulldogs, who rode an efficient offense (240 in the air, 189 on the ground) and an opportunistic defense (275 yards allowed, 3 turnovers) to a solid win over the Gators. The only reason it’s an A- is that a so-so Florida ground game went for 170 yards and 4.6 yards per carry. That might not work next week.

Kentucky: B+

On the other hand, it might work fine. Kentucky rushed for just 91 yards against a Mizzou team whose defense is middle of the pack in the SEC. Meanwhile, this game felt like Kentucky stole it, but if they did, their defense had plenty to say about that, holding Missouri to 249 yards and ZERO second-half first downs.

South Carolina: B+

When Carolina trailed 21-9 five minutes into the third quarter, the outlook was far from brilliant. Not only did Carolina manage to rally, but they did it by calling 40 runs to only 16 passes. The 224 yards on the ground was as impressive as USC’s comeback. That said, allowing a mediocre UT offense to go 11-for-16 on third down wasn’t their finest hour.

Vanderbilt: B

On the one hand, great win for Vandy, who appear to have found their Ralph Webb replacement in junior Ke’Shawn Vaughn, who rushed for 172 yards and 3 scores. On the other hand, giving up 447 yards to Arkansas isn’t the kind of defensive effort the Dores will need in November.

Florida: C+

Granted, the Gators were within a single score of Georgia after Evan McPherson’s field goal with 11:12 to play. But this one didn’t really feel that close. Florida failed to shut down Jake Fromm and the Georgia passing game and turned the ball over 3 times on offense. Good night, East Division hopes.

Missouri: C-

The Tigers eclipsed a 95 percent chance of victory by ESPN’s calculations on several occasions in the fourth quarter of their loss to Kentucky. While the defense did get beat on the ultimate drive, it played well enough to win. The high-powered offense crashed and burned in the second half, as Drew Lock’s passing numbers were outshone by (gulp) Terry Wilson’s.

Tennessee: C-

They fight hard. The passing game looks about 75 percent better than it did a month ago. But depth losses are really starting to sink their teeth into UT, and this looks like a team that could struggle in the fourth quarter of several upcoming games. Jeremy Pruitt is on the right path, but it’s a long road back.

Honor Roll

Offense

Georgia

They passed, they ran, they didn’t turn the ball over, and they won convincingly.

Mississippi State

We thought about Vandy, but beating on Arkansas isn’t as impressive as the nice passing day State put together against A&M (241 yards on 22 attempts, ZERO turnovers).

Defense

Kentucky

249 total yards, no first downs allowed in the second half. The offense struggled to put up those 15 points, but the defense kept the possibility alive.

Missouri

Yes, we picked a losing team. It took Kentucky 60 minutes to score an offensive touchdown, and Benny Snell was held to 67 yards on 19 carries. Even if they got beat on the last play, the Tigers defense did its job for the vast majority of the 60 minutes that came before.

Special Teams

Kentucky

A blocked field goal and a punt return touchdown were both huge plays. Solid games from punter Max Duffy and new kicker Chance Poore.

Florida

Tough week for the Gators, but don’t blame the special teams. The kicking game was solid with McPherson kicking and Tommy Townsend punting, and Kadarius Toney’s 51-yard kick return was impressive.

Detention

Offense

Florida

Just 105 passing yards but 3 turnovers, one coming inside their own 5? Yuck.

Texas A&M

Nothing special on the ground (61 yards rushing at 2.8 yards per carry) or in the air (5.0 yards per pass attempt) led to a tough loss.

Defense

Arkansas

Sure, Vandy was good offensively, but the Razorbacks made it look ridiculously easy. Vandy rushed for 250 and could pass whenever they wanted.

Tennessee

A 12-point third-quarter lead against a Carolina team not noted for its physical ground game produced — well, not much. Rico Dowdle rushed for 140 yards, and Carolina imposed its will.

Special Teams

Nobody was awful this week. But for the sake of rounding out the group …

South Carolina

The Gamecocks had an extra point blocked, which could have really hurt late in their three-point win.

Texas A&M

Seth Small missed a field goal, and Braden Mann actually looked human.