SEC Recap: Week 5

So I honestly didn't plan on doing a recap this week, but the Professor decided to throw this one at me. I didn't check my email until this morning, so if the recap seems late that's because it is. Be happy you have anything at all! Since I didn't do a recap I'll just piggyback off Professor D's work (he's used to it) and editorialize my comments in like a boss.


(Professor D) Overall the SEC did a bit better this weekend, winning all of its non-conference games. The downside this weekend was that some of those games where a lot closer than they should have been, but still, overall the wins and losses couldn’t have gone any better, so the conference gets a B this weekend. For as bad as a weekend of matchups week 4 brought, that’s how good week 5 was. LSU and Georgia threw down between the hedges, Alabama blanked Ole Miss, and Texas A&M’s defense seems to think College football should have a preseason, leading to an unexpectedly good game in Fayetteville. I apologize for not being able to get you my predictions for this weekend, things got a little crazy near the end of last week. Luckily I was able to sit back on Saturday and do nothing but watch football. Good times.

Vanderbilt 52 - UAB 24

South Carolina, Tennessee, take notes. This is how you handle a non-conference opponent. I don’t care who they are, if they aren’t ranked and they aren’t in the SEC, you blow them out of the water. That’s what this conference should be doing. Vanderbilt allowed just a field goal in each of the first three quarters, and although they gave up 15 points in the 4th, they also scored 21, so that’s forgiven. All told the Commodores put up 540 yards of offense, with 334 of those coming through the air, while holding UAB to just 206 passing yards. They did give up 156 in the ground game, which could be worrisome down the stretch, but overall Vanderbilt did a great job dominating the Blazers across the box score. (Vandy did against UAB what they should've done against UMass... better late than never, though!)

Tennessee 31 - South Alabama 24

As good as Vanderbilt looked against UAB is how bad Tennessee looked against South Alabama, leaning on an interception in the end zone in the final few minutes to secure the victory and avoid overtime against South Alabama. That’s pretty embarrassing. South Alabama scored first to take a 7 - 0 lead, but Tennessee responded with 31 straight points. Some time during the third quarter though, everything fell apart. South Alabama scored 10 unanswered points and drove down the field looking to tie the game with under two minutes remaining when Tennessee’s defense got their interception. The Volunteer’s defense gave up 392 yards of offense, saving themselves on the scoreboard by securing three interceptions. The offense on the other hand managed a pretty good showing, putting up 482 yard of offense, including 278 rushing behind that big, talented offensive line. The problem was, they also gave up three interceptions. Tennessee has to figure out a way to play a complete game of defense. Even if the offense struggles through the air the ground attack is good enough to control at least some of these games.

Missouri 41 - Arkansas State 19

Ahh another example of what non-conference scores should look like. Missouri seems to have things figured out this year, although they’re opening up a stretch of 8 SEC foes in 9 weeks so we’ll see how long that lasts. Despite having been beaten up by some bigger opponents I still maintain Arkansas State is a pretty good team. In fact early in the third quarter Arkansas State actually led this one 16 - 14. That was when Mizzou decided to start playing football, scoring 27 points in the last half to turn it into a blowout. Offensively the Tigers looked good, putting up almost 500 yards of offense in a balanced 256 passing to 239 rushing attack. Those are the sort of numbers that win games. The kind that lets you score points and control the clock. The defense did give up over 425 yards to Arkansas State, mostly through the air, but got bailed out by the Red Wolves 10 penalties. Like I said though, I still think Arkansas State is a better team than they’re getting credit for. That said, Missouri needs to shore up their defense with this slate of SEC games coming up, or this ride could get real bumpy real quick.

UCF 25 - South Carolina 28

I’m not really sure what to think of this game. On one hand, they beat UCF by 3 points, and that’s just not okay. On the other hand though, they lost their starting quarterback against a team that’s been punching well above their weight all year and somehow managed to find a running game to get them the win. So there’s that. I’ve said all year the Gamecocks weren’t a complete team, and while I’m not ready to give that up, they showed some signs of progress in the second half of this one. Mike Davis finally gave South Carolina a running game, and that allowed backup Dylan Thompson to relax in the pocket and start completing passes. What has to drive South Carolina fans nuts though is the fact that they at one point led 28 - 10 in the third quarter, and that Clowney-led defense managed to give up 15 points and give the Knights a chance to come back and take this one. Truth is the blame doesn’t really lay on Clowney’s shoulders so much as it does the Gamecocks’ secondary, which has been… suspect. The defensive front for South Carolina gave up just 69 yards on the ground, and Clowney & co. where able to get enough pressure to force 3 interceptions and 1 fumble. The Knights still managed 358 passing yards. That’s… bad. Especially if South Carolina wants to hold onto dreams of catching Georgia in the SEC East race.

Kentucky 7 - Florida 24

It’s been 27 years since Kentucky beat Florida. That’s an impressive streak of suckage. Florida’s defense is just dominant this year. They’re allowing 100 yards fewer than the next (statistically) best defense in the league (Mississippi State, Yay Bulldogs!). If Florida had anything resembling a competent offense they would probably win the national championship. Good news everybody (Florida fans), a competent offense is exactly what the Gators showed off Saturday behind back up quarterback Tyler Murphey. Sure he only threw for 156 yards, 1 TD, and 1 INT, but that’s honestly all you have to do to win games with this defense. That’s it. Don’t literally throw the game away, and you win. Complementing that didn’t-lose-the-game-this-time passing game is a rushing attack that put up 246 yards of offense. So now you’re telling me you’ve got a defense allowing under 14 points and only 250 yards per game, and an offense that can control the game clock while scoring, well, 14 points. The math says they won’t lose another game if they keep that up (we’re ignoring uncertainties, because me writing this blog is all about escape from uncertainty, which is what my dissertation is on for those of you who don’t know).

Arkansas 33 - Texas A&M 45

Well Texas A&M has one of the best, most polished offenses in the country. Right up there with Oregon, LSU, and Georgia. The problem is that defense is atrocious. Seriously, Arkansas completed less than 50% of their pass attempts, and still managed to put up almost 300 yards through the air. How? Because Texas A&M can’t tackle. I really wish the Aggies played Florida this year. Half the time it would be unstoppable force vs. immovable object, and the other half would be like watching a random selection of the pee-wee special olympics trying to play football (that’s about as offensive a way I could think to describe how bad Florida’s offense vs. Texas A&M’s defense could be). But, unfortunately, or fortunately, for football fans everywhere, that’s probably not going to happen. The one thing Arkansas has going for them this year is the ground game. These guys can run the ball, which you would think would give them an edge in time of possession (especially with over 200 yards on the ground to show for their efforts), but no, maybe it was actually brilliant, but the Aggie defense was so bad that Arkansas couldn’t control the clock with the ground game, because they were gaining too many yards. As in almost 7 yards per carry. Texas A&M should count themselves lucky the Razorbacks threw two interceptions. One of those interceptions was actually a pick six, and if either drive had ended in an Arkansas touchdown, well that’s a 14 point swing the Aggies couldn’t have afforded.

Alabama 25 - Ole Miss 0

This game was hilarious. Ole Miss opted not to kick a field goal on their first drive into the red zone against Alabama and ended up coming away with nothing. The result was the next time they got in the red zone, they were in desperate need of a touchdown, not just points, so they went for it again. And failed, again. So the third time TSUN made it into the red zone, well you know where this is going. 4 times Ole Miss got inside the 20 against Alabama, resulting in 3 turnovers on downs and one fumble. That’s just…. hysterical. This was the best way an Alabama vs. Ole Miss game could ever end. (I dunno man, I've got some pretty vivid fantasies involving both schools, nuclear warheads and a couple of Stephen King's domes if you know what I'm sayin...) Alabama’s offense, although they eventually did put up 434 yards, looked pretty bleak most of the game, settling for three straight field goals to start (1 of which was 40+, and the other was a 53 yarder. Yeah, that kicker deserves some serious love this week. I hope he got the game ball, cause a 53 yarder is mighty impressive, and it probably would have been good from 58. Great kick). The defense seemed to give up loads of yardage between the 30’s, but really clamped down in the red zone, or at least Ole Miss’ offense really just fell flat on their face. Maybe Hugh Freeze should spend less time memorizing bible verses to spit at recruits and more time drawing up a decent red zone offense. Man did I enjoy watching this game.

Georgia 44 - LSU 41

Wow. You know, I really do prefer defensive games, but honestly I’ve watched this game twice now, and the defenses didn’t look bad. They both got pressure on the quarterback, they didn’t miss a bunch of tackles, they had good calls. Aaron Murray and Zach Mettenberger just tore it up. It was incredible to watch these two guys duel. Mettenberger had an NFL offensive coordinator drawing up brilliant plays and two of the best receivers in the country running routes for him. Murray had an offensive line that offered a little more protection and a run game that could take more of the pressure off. These two quarterbacks could not have been more even. Mettenberger won in yardage with a whopping 372 to Murray’s very respectable 298. The difference was Georgia managed 196 yards on the ground compared to LSU’s measly 77. Jeremy Hill owes his quarterback and his teammates an apology, because he lost this game for the Tigers. I don’t know what changed between now and last weekend, or maybe Georgia’s defense just got that much better, but if LSU had anything resembling a run game, they’d be sitting pretty and in control of the SEC West. As it is, they really are still in control of the SEC West, if they beat Alabama and Texas A&M the crown is theirs, but they’ll likely have to go through Georgia again to have a shot at the National Championship. I would love to see this rematch. That was good football. This will be the one time I don’t complain about SEC heavyweights giving up 40+ points. Honestly, the quarterback where just that good on Saturday.

(Mr. Hooch) And that's it! We're gonna push this out right now to give a little lead time before tomorrow's preview, so we hope you enjoyed it and as always #HailState and #GoDawgs!