SEC week 3 recap
A big win for A&M, Missouri takes the title of Tiger Kings of the SEC, and the Lane Train takes Hurricane Nick to the wire.
By: Bossman Slim, The Hammer
Photo: Mizzou Football Twitter
What a roller coaster of a weekend. There were near heart attacks for Tide fans, Georgia fans held their breath for a half, a knockout blows for LSU, and Texas A&M made noise with their first top 5 win since 2014. And Missouri ? Out of NOWHERE takes down LSU, who claimed to “run this state” ahead of the game. Narrator: They did not, in fact, run that state. Right now, they don’t even run their own state. That title belongs to the Rajin’ Cajuns!
Read up and get caught up on the games you missed.
Early Games
#21 Texas A&M 41 - #4 Florida 38
Photo: Scott Wachter, USA TODAY Sports
Well, well, well my how the turntables. Not to pat ourselves on the back, but we did call this upset. A&M stepped up to beat a top five opponent and got a massive, grown man win on Saturday, silencing the critics and detractors. The Aggie offense had their way with Florida all day. Rushing for over 200 yards and throwing for another 338, all while converting 12 of 15 third downs. Jimbo called an excellent game and the Florida defense had no answers. Kellen Mond played the best game of his Aggie career on his way to becoming the all time leading passer in A&M history. The Florida offense did not disappoint either, as Trask and company were very efficient scoring 38 points and totaling 403 yards of total offense. The Aggie defense did just enough in the end though, and caused a huge fourth quarter fumble, leading to the game winning field goal.
This was a statement win for A&M after a disappointing start to the season. Florida’s defense was exposed, especially their front seven. The Aggie offensive line did not allow a sack and they, along with Isaiah Spiller, bullied them on the ground game. A&M has long been criticized for not being physical enough to compete with the top teams in the SEC, but on Saturday, it was A&M who pushed Florida around and beat them into submission. Take a look at this monster run by Isaiah Spiller for evidence of said physicality.
Moving forward, both teams have a ton of opportunity. A&M could be favored in the rest of their games, while Florida still controls their own destiny in the SEC East. Beat Georgia and they will probably be in Atlanta for the SEC Championship.
The Fightin’ Texas Aggies travel to Starkville next Saturday to square off against the inconsistent Mississippi State Bulldogs. Kick is at 4:00 ET on SEC Network. The Gators will host an angry LSU squad in The Swamp, possibly in front of a packed house? Kick is at 3:30 ET on ESPN.
Missouri 45 - #17 LSU 41
For a minute there, Myles Brennan ascended to #1 in our Brennan power rankings but quickly fell back into last place (2/2). But Brennan wasn’t the issue today - he has played well. Looking at the stats, he’s played historically well. On Saturday, it was the porous LSU defense who couldn’t stop, uh...Missouri. Coach O has some serious issues to work out in Baton Rouge. I mean, this is a Missouri team that got taken to the cleaners by Tennessee just last week. Is LSU worse than Tennessee? It’s starting to look like it.
LSU fans are ticked. They should calm down. LSU lost more from a championship team than at any point in recent memory - certainly in the College Football Playoff era, and maybe in the history of the sport. It’s been well documented, but even Alabama would have a difficult time reloading and sustaining the same level of play in a year after losing 13 players to the draft, Jamarr Chase and others to opt-out, and two of the sports best coordinators.
This is a bad loss for LSU, and a big win for NEWZOU. The cigar troll after the game was one of the best of the season thus far.
And to cap it off, they obviously read the B&S game by game preview:
LSU heads to The Swamp to take on Florida at 3:30 ET. Mizzou gets a W when they play Vanderbilt in Columbia at 7:30 ET on SEC Network.
South Carolina 41 at Vanderbilt 7
We picked this one at 38-10. We weren’t far off. South Carolina’s rushing attack went bananas against the Commodores, going for 289 yards and five TDs. Collin Hill threw for close to 200 yards on the Swiss Cheese Vandy defense. Vanderbilt is just not a good team. On the other side, South Carolina is no slouch. The Gamecocks could easily sneak up on someone this year.
South Carolina gets Auburn at Williams-Brice next week on ESPN at noon, while Vanderbilt travels to Missouri for a 7:30 bout on SEC Network at 7:30 ET.
Midday Games
#3 Georgia 44 - #14 Tennessee 21
Georgia overcame a disastrous start, after an errant snap flew over Stetson Bennett’s head, where Tennessee recovered it for a touchdown. Jarrett Guarantano played well enough to keep the Vols in it in the first half, making some great touchdown throws. It made it look like the Vols might have a real chance for a while, but in the end, Georgia was too much. The defense put the clamps on in the second half, not allowing another touchdown and forcing a crucial Guarantano pick. Stetson “Tombstone” Bennett continued to play mistake free football, throwing two TDs and no INTs.
A big win for Georgia, who is the class of the SEC East. It’s looking more and more like Bama and the Dawgs, and everyone else in the SEC this year.
Speaking of the Tide - we’ve got the game of the year thus far coming up next week. Georgia heads to Tuscaloosa to take on the Tide on the beloved, rare CBS night game. The game will kick at 8:00 ET. Tennessee gets a newly-confident Kentucky team at home at 12:00 ET on SEC Network.
#13 Auburn 30 - Arkansas 28
Photo: ESPN
This one was a super soaker at Jordan-Hare, and Arkansas got screwed. No getting around it. The Hogs played their asses off. Bo Nix made a boneheaded play at the end of the game that should have been ruled a fumble. The SEC put out some rule explanation that was legalese BS. That should have been a fumble, the whistle should not have been blown, and that rule needs to be fixed in the offseason. A fluke play, but should there ever be another scenario like it, the right call should be made. You can watch the play below and judge for yourself.
On Arkansas, this team believes. Sam Pittman has done a whale of a job already in his first three games. The culture change is obvious. This is not the Hogs teams of the past three years. These kids are playing above their talent level, which means they’re bought in. It will be interesting to see if Arkansas can upset anyone else this year - it wouldn’t surprise us one bit.
But Auburn’s luck hasn’t run out, and maybe it never will. Kick six, the Prayer at Jordan-Hare, Saturday’s fluke fumble spike. Auburn escapes, yet again.
Auburn heads to South Carolina next week for a noon ET game on ESPN. Arkansas has to figure out some way to slow down the Lane Train in Fayetteville at 3:30 ET on ESPN 2.
Late Games
#2 Alabama 63 - Ole Miss 48
What a game. Lane Kiffin and the Ole Miss Rebels have officially arrived and will be a pain for every opponent they line up against. Every SEC team is praying Kiffin can’t recruit good defenders because if so, look out. Not to be outdone by his old assistant, Nick Saban and the Alabama offense were unstoppable, literally. These teams combined for 1370 yards of total offense in an absolute barn burner. Matt Corral and Mac “Daddy” Jones threw the ball all over the yard, and more impressively, both teams ran the ball with incredible ease. Najee Harris ran for over 200 yards and five touchdowns (SHEESH), while Ealy and Conner both eclipsed the 100 yard mark and had two TDs a piece for the Rebels. Is this the Big 12? What the heck is going on?
The Ole Miss defense is terrible and has been all year. The Tide looked better defensively against A&M and Mizzou, so maybe the Ole Miss offense is just that good. Either way, I would not like to be an Alabama defender this week during practice cause Saban is sure to work them to the bone. Clearly, the Tide have issues on that side of the ball, but I trust Saban to clear a lot of that up as the season progresses. Even if he can't fix the defense, the Tide look so damn good offensively it may not matter. If they have to score 50 plus each week, Jones, Harris, Waddle and co. appear to be up to the challenge. The Tide continue to roll and prove they can win any type of game.
Check back later today for Dave in Tuscaloosa’s full game recap.
Next week Alabama faces off with Georgia in a HUGE matchup for SEC dominance. Can Kirby finally break through and defeat his former boss? 8:00 ET in a beautiful CBS night game. Meanwhile, Ole Miss and the Lane Train draw upstart Arkansas in what should be an entertaining matchup. That game is at 3:30 ET on ESPN.
Kentucky 24 - Mississippi State 2
This one got off to a slow start, with Kentucky breaking the goal line first at the 12 minute mark in the second quarter. Terry Wilson set it up with a beautiful 50-yard scramble, capping it off with a 12-yard strike to Keaton Upshaw. KJ Costello continued his trend of throwing bad interceptions, throwing one that almost got taken to the house late in the second quarter. Kentucky turned that INT into points and didn’t look back. Costello went on to throw THREE more interceptions, including one in the red zone and one that was returned for a touchdown late in the fourth quarter that put the nail in the coffin. Backup Will Rogers fared no better, adding 2 more INTs to ice the cake.
We’re starting to think he didn’t earn the “Elvis” Costello moniker we bestowed upon him. Until further notice he’ll just be KJ. Elvis may return but we need to see something more from Costello. It looks like that win against LSU may not be as impressive anymore for Mississippi State after taking it on the chin for two straight weeks.
The Pirate agrees - no longer K.J. is no longer “Elvis” Costello until further notice.
Kentucky on the other hand, kept the mistakes to a minimum and avoided shooting themselves in the foot for the third straight week. They’ll have to figure out a way to get the offense going, as they only gained 157 total yards on the night. Terry Wilson only threw for 73 yards, and also led the team in rushing with 50 yards. That isn’t going to cut it. The defense bailed them out tonight, but they won’t be able to cover the offensive deficiencies all year.
Mississippi State gets a Texas A&M team riding high off their big win over Florida. That game is in Starkville at 4:00 ET on SEC Network. Kentucky travels to Neyland to take on Tennessee at noon ET on SEC Network.