A Few Things about Saturday’s SEC games: Week 4
‘Twas another interesting week for the SEC. Georgia and South Carolina made statements. Florida rolled Kentucky. LSU struggled with three touchdown ‘dogs Auburn amid the atmosphere of Jordan-Hare, but got away with a victory. Ole Miss, Mississippi State, and Texas A&M both hammered their non-conference opponents to go 3-1, and Tennessee went 3-1 by doing the same to Akron. Oh, and some team called Alabama remained perfect by bulldozing Florida Atlantic.
But there was one other team to talk about…..
1) Arkansas (unfortunately for the SEC), is the team to talk about. Playing against Rutgers with Tyler Wilson back, the Razorbacks put up 492 total yards, with 419 of those coming from the wonder-arm of their once Heisman Trophy candidate. Unfortunately, Rutgers put up 525 yards (of which 397 were passing), and Wilson had 2 interceptions and Rutgers’ QB Gary Nova had none. And while Arkansas’ running game continued to be a mess, Rutgers’ flourished with Jawan Jamieson putting up 118 of them. In the end, Rutgers outscored the Hogs 35-26, giving John L. Smith his third loss in Fayetteville – all of which have been embarrassing to one level or another. Oh, and what in the heck’s happened to Knile Davis – just 17 yards on 10 carries….
Special note goes to Arkansas WR Cobi Hamilton, who broke a SEC all-time one game receiving record with 303 yards in the game. That’s incredible.
And anyway….
2) We haven’t said this all season: Georgia was excellent throughout its 48-3 drubbing of SEC rival Vanderbilt on Saturday. Aaron Murray threw for 250 yards and 2 TDs, and the running back duo Todd Gurley (130 yards) and Keith Marshall (82) put up over 200 yards and four TDs as the Bulldogs went through the Commodores like butter on Saturday night. Who’s Isaiah Crowell again? As for Vanderbilt? Everything’s gone a little downhill for James Franklin, hasn’t it?
3) Speaking of James Franklin, he was destroyed by South Carolina‘s demon defensive line, who suffocated him to just 92 yards passing and sacking him three times. Missouri just couldn’t cope in any facet of the game with the Gamecocks, losing 31-10. Oh, and there was good news for Gamecocks fans on the Connor Shaw front, too, who (for about the first time this season), didn’t end up getting a MRI. Shaw was excellent, throwing for 249 yards and 2 TDs in a superb effort. Who’s that Dylan Thompson again?
4) After spending all week thinking that Auburn would get slaughtered by LSU at Jordan-Hare, it was somewhat of a shock to us when the Tigers misfired so much that they were nearly the subject of the Shock Of The Season. They were terrible – so much so that we would HATE to be the LSU players in practice on Monday. To quote Les Miles: “This is a tremendous lesson for us, which is something that we’ll certainly be able to teach from in a very aggressive manner.” Oh dear. On Auburn’s side, their defense played out of their minds, holding LSU to 351 yards and forcing two turnovers. OK, so it was helped by an early injury to LSU center P.J. Lonergan, but there we go…. Oh, and as for LSU, they are now down to third in the rankings after the victory.
5) Florida, Florida, Florida. We’re not going to get too excited about the Gators nuking Kentucky 38-0, but again we have to say this: The offense isn’t half as bad as it was against Bowling Green – probably a worse opponent than the Wildcats. This time, Jeff Driskel threw for 203 yards and a TD, while the running game again continued its standout year, putting up 200 yards of dough against a soft Wildcats ‘D’. On Kentucky’s side, they were suffocated by Florida’s D, limiting backup Morgan Newton to just 60 yards in the air.
6) Excitement in Mississippi? Maybe not nationally, but suddenly the prospect of not one but two bowl games for Ole Miss and MSU is getting bigger by the minute – particularly with the weakness of Arkansas and Auburn at the moment. Anyway, Mississippi State rolled to a 30-10 victory over South Alabama, although they certainly weren’t impressive, despite the scoreline (though the ‘D’ did cause 3 turnovers). Ole Miss had a wonderful party (we’ll bet) against Tulane, and they shut out the Green Wave 39-0. Ole Miss put up 304 rushing yards that game- with 10 rushers. Hugh Freeze must have had fun putting that offensive look together.
7) How about Alabama‘s defense losing its scoreless streak after 192 yards? Should we all be shocked? Not really. Bama was already 4o points ahead at this stage and although Alabama’s players were anxious to keep the shut-out streak going (which led to the penalty which led to the TD which led to Nick Saban fuming at the officials after the score), it didn’t matter. Alabama was pretty much perfect today, putting up 503 yards – 247 in the air and 253 on the ground. If they lose this season, it’s not going to be a small upset. It’s going to be a monstrous one.
8) Despite Tyler Bray’s pick six early on in the game, and being tied up 10-10 midway through the game, Tennessee found a second and third gear in unzipping Akron, eventually blowing them out 47-26. Tyler Bray’s 401 yards and 4 TDs showed that the Vols’ receivers don’t always drop the ball (although Vols fans will be wondering why Justin Hunter couldn’t have held one against Florida last week), while Rajon Neal’s 151 yards shows that Tennessee, when playing poor rush defenses, can actually perform. So, we don’t actually hold out any hope for Mr Neal against Alabama’s defensive front then….