Gators, Gamecocks crow as Georgia, LSU stumble: 10 Points about Week 6
Wow. On ‘Moving Day’ in the SEC, the elevator up took South Carolina and Florida, and on the way down it took Georgia, LSU, and Auburn as it fell.
Anyway, here’s some 10 points about Week 10 in the SEC.
And the music we’re going to bring with it is Brad Paisley’s ‘Southern Comfort Zone’. If you love your NASCAR, you’ll love some of the noises at the start.
1) South Carolina absolutely crucified Georgia. It wasn’t the scoreline (35-7) that astonished us, but it was the brutish manner that the Gamecocks did it in one of the noisiest arenas in the SEC. Jadeveon Clowney and Devin Taylor humiliated Georgia’s offensive line, limited Aaron Murray to 11-31 for just 109 yards and swallowed the Bulldogs’ running game for just 115 yards. Meanwhile, Connor Shaw threw for 162 yards and 2 TDs, and Marcus Lattimore had another 109 yards and a TD. Carolina looks (one) of the picks of the SEC East.
2) The (other) pick of the SEC East is Florida, which had another terrific second-half to turn over LSU in The Swamp. Mike Gillislee once against proved to be the difference-maker for the Gators, running for 164 yards and two second half touchdowns, who limited LSU to NO points in the second half (and no touchdowns in the whole game), crushing their opponents with brutal and brilliant defensive schemes. No wonder Muschamp’s so missed at Texas – particularly with the Longhorns performance against West Virginia. Points for the dive too, Will.
3) But we’ve got to ask questions about LSU. No team in the SEC – maybe except for Kentucky – could be as unlucky with injuries at the moment. If LSU had an offensive line that didn’t spend half of its time in the locker room in agony, or both of its chief linebackers out at the start of the second half, would the Gators really have beaten them? We don’t know, but they could have done with some luck. That and Zach Mettenberger throwing properly and his wide receivers being able to catch and not commit major turnovers. Les Miles will be hoping that this is the kick-up-the-behind the program needs for South Carolina on Saturday. He’s hoping, anyway.
4) Ha, ha, ha…..Auburn. Wow. Auburn. There’s not a lot else you can say. Wow. They lost to……Arkansas? Their offense was held inept by one of the country’s most inept defences? Forget John. L. Smith…..Could anything get worse for Gene Chizik now? It has become abundantly clear that there IS no answer at quarterback – both Kiehl “Incompetent” Frazier and Clint “Inept” Moseley can’t do it, and there’s no running game.
5) As for Arkansas, congrats to Smith for righting the ship a bit after the week he had, after it was exposed that some bad investments had left him tens of millions in the red. The Hogs needed a win, and they got it. And at this stage, it doesn’t matter how poverty-stricken the opposition was.
6) Amazing finish, usual outcome. Yep, Ole Miss lost another SEC game, except this one was in heart-breaking fashion. When Texas A&M was driving towards the end of the game, you just knew that Johnny Football would bring home the victory, and bring home the victory he did. But Ole Miss battled the Aggies every inch of the way. And Hugh Freeze, who spoke about ‘finishing’ after it, was right…..Ole Miss just needs to believe a bit more. Still, the Rebels aren’t the worst team in the SEC West by any strength of the imagination this year.
7) Sorry. This Texas A&M actually plays in the second half? Welcome to the SEC, Aggies brothers! Can you PLEASE GET SOME FEMALE CHEERLEADERS now?! You’re letting the conference down!
8) If one side’s having a dream start to its SEC career, the other one’s having a nightmare. The SEC win-less Missouri can’t seem to get any luck at quarterback (remind us never to predict that things will get better on that level!), although now Berkstresser looks the man for the job. But let’s be honest, losing to Vanderbilt doesn’t exactly bode well for the rest of the season, does it?
9) But let’s give a bit of love to James Franklin, coach of Vanderbilt. If there’s any side that needed that victory, it was his Commodores – particularly after people’s loving predictions before the season started.
10) Another week, another win for Mississippi State. The 27-14 win over Kentucky might not have been as resounding as the bookies some people would have liked, but Kentucky has shown that it’s a different animal at home, and it’s not going away quietly. Oh, and the injury-ravaged Wildcats lost another bunch of players on Saturday night. Just check out this game report. The word ‘injured’ and ‘sprained’ seems to come up every 2 seconds!