SEC Recap: Week 5

Well, in a nutshell a few games went as expected, a few others were a little off target, and one was downright unexpected! Well, except for the outcome... anyway, I'm not sure what grade the Professor is going to slap on this weekend's activities, but I'd say all in all it was a solid B/B-.  We'll see what he has to say...  By the way, you may notice a lack of pictorial compliments to this week's recap.  Sorry, I just don't have the time to flesh it out with witty pics and whatnot today.  The weekend preview should be back to normal, though... and now, here's the Professor.

As Mr. Hooch said, there really weren’t any surprise results this weekend, but a few of the games had some interesting results. We are at the point in the season where we really start to see the identity of most teams solidify. For the SEC as a whole I’ll give the SEC a B for this week. LSU and Missouri struggled a bit in non-conference games, TAMU made Arkansas look, well, as bad as they are, and Tennessee and Ole Miss may have revealed some weaknesses in Alabama and Georgia, who may be the top teams in the SEC this year.

Mizzou 21- UCF 16

I warned 'em, and it looks like they listened, although it took more than half the game to get in gear.  UCF was leading at halftime, but the newest Tigers pulled together and got it done.  They have a fighting chance in this weekend’s tilt against Vandy, but they're on the road again, and the Commodores will be coming off a bye week, so look for this one to be close as well.

Well I tried to push my luck and call the UCF upset, and without that pesky TD return I had this one on the nose with score and winner. But as it goes Missouri’s special teams was able to bail them out. The biggest question facing Missouri after this game is what happened to its offense? The Tigers came into the year boasting an offensive attack that would, in their minds, strain SEC defenses to the breaking point; yet it appears that the offense is barely competent enough to compete against Conference USA. So Mizzou, what happened? Did South Carolina and Georgia beat you up to much? I hope that isn’t your excuse, because a road trip to Vanderbilt (who is AGAIN looking to rebound from a devastating loss) followed by a game against Alabama means that life is getting no easier for you this year, or any year after for that matter.

TAMU 58 - Ark 10

Welp, it appears to be SSDG (Same Shit Different Game) for the Razorbacks.  The Aggies had lost the last 3 games in this series, but they are putting up some very impressive numbers in the offensive categories, and Arkansas was just another victim this time around. It looked as though the Razorbacks might make a game of it when they jumped out to a 10-7 lead early on, but A&M would have none of it.  Now Arkansas must travel to the Plains to face an Auburn team that has been up and down this season, but most recently played #2 LSU down to the wire.  Things are not going to get any easier for the Hogs...

          With Mississippi State on a bye I took the opportunity this weekend to really try and pay attention to what has Arkansas playing so bad this year. My conclusion is a lot of things. We’ll start with the Defense. The Razorbacks haven’t exactly been stellar on defense recently, and this year’s squad is no different. They have sub-par players almost everywhere on defense in comparison to anyone considered middle of the road or better in the SEC and the coordinator isn’t doing them any favors with the formations. That being said the biggest problem with this defense is the offense. In years past the defense was motivated by an offense they could rely on to put up a lot of points. One or two stops were all they needed to win the game. Not so this year. The offensive line can’t open up any holes for Kniles Davis to run through, nor can they give Tyler Wilson enough time to hit his receiving targets, despite almost all of them being over 6ft 2in. The offense can’t finish anything: plays, drives, games, anything. That puts way too much pressure on a defense that is already overmatched in most games. Oh yeah, and the coach is nothing special. It just seems like Arkansas doesn’t want to play football this year.

          That being said, Texas A&M is one heck of a team this year. Johnny Football (Alabama take note, THAT is a decent nickname for a football player) has been tearing apart defenses on the ground and in the air. The running game is passable without Manziel, and the receivers do a great job of running to the football once it’s in the air. The TAMU defense has also been playing some inspired football. They may be a little undersized, but they make up for it with sheer determination and will. This is an Aggie team that will fight tooth and nail till the very end every game, whether or not their opponent fights back. TAMU has quickly become my favorite team in the SEC outside of Mississippi State.

South Carolina 38 - Kentucky 17

The Gamecocks flexed their offensive muscle in the second half, after going into the locker room down 17-7.  Kentucky would manage to put up exactly 0 points in the second half, however, as Lattimore did enough damage on the ground to keep the Wildcats' defense 'honest' and allowing Conner Shaw to go 15-18 passing for 148 yds and 2 TDs.  The Cats will be hungry for a win this weekend when they face the undefeated Mississippi State Bulldogs.  Hopefully the bye week has allowed the Bulldogs to shore up some defensive problems they've had through the last few games. 

It turns out Kentucky may not be the total pushovers everyone expected them to be. The wildcats showcased an incredibly versatile offense in the first half, and didn’t play terrible in the second. South Carolina just decided to rise to the occasion. The Wildcats may turn out to be a little tougher to take down than most SEC teams would like to admit, especially at home. Mississippi State take notice, Kentucky may just have a football team after all. South Carolina, by the way, proved itself a top ten team by going down at the half on the road and roaring back to a convincing win. The SEC East race is going to be very interesting.

Alabama 33 - Ole Miss 14

The new found offense for the Rebels sputtered against arguably one of the best defenses in the country en route to this incredibly expected outcome.  The only shocker is that Bama didn't put up more points.  To their credit, the Rebels were actually leading 7-6 in the second quarter... for all of 15 seconds.  That's about how long it took for Christion Jones to run a 99 yd kickoff return back to the endzone for a TD, and the Crimson Tide never looked back.  Ole Miss will host offensive juggernaut Texas A&M this weekend, so they can likely expect more of the same in Oxford.

From a Mississippi State standpoint this may have been the most important game played this weekend. Ole Miss revealed some cracks in the Alabama defense this weekend, something I’m sure Nick Saban and every other coach in the SEC noticed. Alabama has no pass rush, and their line backers aren’t terrific against the pass. That opens the door for someone to potentially knock off the number one team in the country this year, if they can stop Alabama’s offense that is. The Tide’s offense is deadly this year. They haven’t made many mistakes and their running game is punishing and tough to contain for a full four quarters. The team that beats Alabama this year, if there is one, will have to have a great secondary, because no one is going to get to the quarterback much against their offensive line. They also have to have some tough linebackers to take down Lacy. Offensively the team that beats Bama is going to have to be able to move the ball through the air effectively, as running up the middle is borderline suicidal against this defense. All together the team that beats Bama this year looks a lot like a perfect Mississippi State or Texas A&M.

On the flip side Ole Miss didn’t play half bad. In fact, they played some tough football. Mississippi State fans have been ragging on the Rebels this week for celebrating a win, but it wasn’t that long ago the Bulldogs were celebrating close games against LSU and Florida. Look out State Fans, it won’t be as easy as we seem to think to go into Oxford and come out with number four. Hugh Freeze has this team playing hard, no matter how overmatched they are, and that is something this team hasn’t been doing for years.

LSU 38 - Towson 22

LSU was sloppy with their ball handling, giving up 3 turnovers, but Towson couldn't seem to monopolize on the opportunities presented.  No small wonder when considering the enormous gap in talent between these two teams of tigers.  I must admit I'm a little surprised that LSU allowed 22 points by a Colonial Athletics Association team, but then maybe they were just playing a game of cat and... cat?  Oh well, and win is a win when it's all said and done, and the Bayou Bengals roll on to the Swamp this weekend, and one of these teams will walk away with their first loss.  This should be an interesting game...

LSU doesn’t look like the number two team in the nation anymore. In fact, they don’t even look like the number two team in the SEC. Maybe not even the SEC West. The tigers just haven’t figured out how to throw the ball, despite their new savior quarterback. They just don’t have that super star receiver to break open games. The running game is dangerous, but with a one dimensional offense teams have had some success shutting down the Tigers this year. On the other side of the ball, the defense is still impressive. There is a lot of talent on this team, Les Miles just has to figure out how to put it together.

Georgia 51 - Tennessee 44

I said I thought this would be a good game, but even I had no idea how good it was gonna be!  I called an 11 point spread... the final score was a 7 point differential.  This game literally came down to the last minute, as Tyler Bray looked uncomfortable and rushed in the pocket, making some bad decisions with the ball, the last resulting in his third interception of the game and the end of a possible game-tying drive as the clock ticked down the final seconds.  If ever there was a Pyrrhic victory in college football this would come close to it... Georgia is a phenomenally talented team, and Tennessee hung with them for almost the whole game.  This is a solid Tennessee team, and not one to be overlooked in the coming weeks.

Wow. I’m not sure if Georgia’s defense just hasn’t fully recovered from having its starters out for so long, or if Tennessee’s offense is just that good. Tyler Bray played well until the fourth quarter, but their defense just couldn’t hold back Georgia’s offense, which was impressive with their two freshman running backs. Georgia may just be the second best team in the SEC this year. Those games against Florida and South Carolina will be impressive. I’ll reiterate what my colleague said about Tennessee though: this is not a team to sleep on. These guys can play football.

And that's a wrap!  Keep an eye out for our SEC Weekend Preview with breakdowns of all the action this weekend, including the MSU/Kentucky game.  Thanks for reading, and don't be a stranger!