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A lot of big headlines preceded the SEC into Week 7. How would South Carolina fare after Steve Spurrier’s mid-season retirement? Would Texas A&M put up more of a fight against Alabama? How will Florida recover after Will Grier’s suspension?
Now that we have the answers, it’s time to examine who was hot and who was not in the SEC:
HOT
- Alabama’s defense. First, it’s worth mentioning how amazing Derrick Henry was on Saturday. He rushed for 236 yards over 32 carries. But the unthinkable happened. Henry was overshadowed by his own teammates. In particular, Minkah Fitzpatrick and Eddie Jackson made some spectacular interceptions, three of which they returned for touchdowns. Henry and Kenyan Drake already cause concern for Alabama’s opponents. Now those opponents have so much more to worry about.
- LSU’s offense. Florida’s defense was a challenge that lived up to the hype, but LSU’s offense, including Brandon Harris, handled the Gators well. It also helped to have Leonard Fournette to constantly hand it off to in the backfield. The Gators were able to wrap Fournette up a few times, but he was still able to gain an average of 5.8 yards a carry.
- Jim McElwain’s Florida team. The Gators are no longer undefeated, but they lost on Saturday in the best way possible: fighting their hardest and only by a touchdown. Treon Harris struggled in critical situations, but didn’t play a bad game overall and ended the night with two touchdowns. The defense lost steam toward the end of the contest, but held Fournette to his second lowest average yards per carry so far this season. The biggest takeaway from Saturday’s defeat is that Florida is back as a legitimate team in the SEC, and way ahead of schedule.
NOT
- Missouri’s offense, which may have lost even the warmth of life. This squad, in fact, has been in our Not list every single week since Week 3. Their performance against Georgia marks the second time this season where they have not scored a touchdown in a game, and the second time when one of their games ended 9-6. This time Mizzou was on the losing end. Hopefully this horrendous loss will finally be enough to jar someone or something awake enough to realize change needs to happen.
- Ole Miss defense. I wonder if the Rebels defense ever realized on Saturday that how they felt playing against the Memphis Tigers is probably very similar to how others feel playing their own offense. The Tigers’ high-powered offense outplayed the Rebels defense, plain and simple. Ole Miss will have a lot to think about before Texas A&M next week.
- Kentucky’s struggles to win. Kentucky is giving Tennessee a run for its money in being the team most likely to lose a game it should win. Losing leads is not Kentucky’s style. Inconsistency in scoring situations and losing steam on defense is how Kentucky does it. The most tragic part of all of this is that the Wildcats were just that close to being able to say they beat Auburn. Feeling the frustration yet, Mark Stoops?
Christine Wang is a contributing writer for Saturday Down South. She covers Auburn, Arkansas and Ole Miss.