SEC Top Position Groups of Week 12
Here’s a look at the SEC’s top position groups from Week 13:
QUARTERBACKS — Mississippi State: Georgia’s Hutson Mason was probably the best starting quarterback in the SEC in Week 13, but the tandem of Dak Prescott and Damian Williams was the best stable of quarterbacks in the conference. Mississippi State’s signal callers combined to complete 76 percent of their passes for 219 yards and four touchdowns without an interception, the best touchdown-to-interception ratio in the conference over the weekend. Had Georgia backup Brice Ramsey not thrown a late interception the nod might have gone to the Dawgs, but ultimately it goes to Prescott and Williams and their nearly unblemished stat line.
RUNNING BACKS — Georgia: The Dawgs do earn the nod for the best stable of tailbacks in Week 13, as Nick Chubb, Brendan Douglas, Kyle Karempelis and Sony Michel combined to rush for 227 yards and two touchdowns in their win over Charleston Southern on Saturday. Chubb ran for 113 yards on just nine carries before being pulled at halftime, while Douglas, Karempelis and Michel carried the load in the second half, helping extend the UGA lead by rushing for better than four yards per carry. Plenty of SEC teams ran the ball well in Week 13, but no other rushing attack had the same depth Georgia’s had on Saturday.
WIDE RECEIVERS — Florida: The Gators only completed 13 passes against Eastern Kentucky, but those 13 completions went for 326 yards and five touchdowns in a 52-3 victory. Florida had two wideouts (Demarcus Robinson and Quinton Dunbar) go for over 100 yards apiece, and it had three different wideouts score in the victory. The Gators are usually a run-based offense, but Saturday they made their biggest plays of the day in the passing game.
OFFENSIVE LINE — Alabama: Alabama’s offensive line paved the way for the Tide’s running backs to rush for 275 yards and three touchdowns in a win over Western Carolina. The line was also stellar in pass protection, never allowing a sack to the Catamounts. When Alabama can control the game up front with its big uglies, it is tough to stop be it through the air or on the ground. The Tide’s offensive line flexed its muscles on Saturday, and Nick Saban and company hopes the line can continue its impressive play going next week against Auburn.
DEFENSE — Arkansas: This is not a position group but rather an entire side of the ball, and it only exists on this week’s list of top position groups to give the Arkansas defense the credit it deserves without cheating the conference’s other teams out of recognition. The Razorbacks posted their second straight shutout of a ranked opponent in Saturday’s win over Ole Miss, and every position group within the defense was simply spectacular. Arkansas recorded two sacks, five tackles for loss, three forced fumbles (all recovered by the defense), three interceptions (two in the end zone, one returned for a Hogs score), five pass breakups and five quarterback hurries against the Rebels. They’d be a worthy nomination for any of the following position groups, but in the interest of fairness we gave them credit here and left an opportunity for three other teams to be recognized below.
DEFENSIVE LINE — Missouri: The Tigers have had the best defensive line in the SEC all season, and they showed why with their performance against Tennessee in Week 13. Mizzou held Tennessee to just 53 yards rushing at fewer than two yards per carry and sacked UT quarterback Joshua Dobbs a whopping six times in a victory on Saturday. Shane Ray and Markus Golden combined for four tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks for the game, and the rest of the line followed suit in humbling one of the SEC’s hottest offenses in a hostile environment in Neyland Stadium.
LINEBACKERS — Auburn: The Tigers linebackers flew from sideline to sideline to make plays against an overmatched Samford offense on Saturday, holding the Bulldogs to just seven points in a much-needed victory leading into the Iron Bowl. Kris Frost and Cassanova McKinzy combined to make 20 tackles for the game, limiting Samford to just three yards per carry on 38 rushes. The Tigers defense needed a dominant performance to built its confidence back up, and it got one on Saturday against its one FCS opponent of the season.
DEFENSIVE BACKS — Florida: The Gators secondary suffocated the Eastern Kentucky passing game on Saturday, limiting the Colonels to a mere 63 yards through the air by game’s end. Florida held EKU to just 14 of 29 passing and recorded eight pass breakups on the day, never giving the Colonels quarterbacks an easy throw as they played from behind for most of the game. The Gators never recorded an interception, but they never needed to in a 49-point win. They did keep the Eastern Kentucky passing game from ever finding a rhythm, and that was enough to lead the SEC’s best pass defense in Week 13.