The Auburn Tigers kept their Playoff hopes alive Saturday in what was another crazy weekend in the SEC. PHOTO: Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports
Another weekend of SEC action has passed, and we were given yet another weekend of exciting games that proved why no team in the SEC can be taken lightly.
Once again, almost all of the games pitting SEC teams against each other were close, as the Florida-Georgia game was the only game with an SEC team in it that did not finish with a margin of victory of two scores or less.
Before we delve into the action, here are your updated standings:
Let’s start with the game with quite possibly the most confusing outcome of the weekend: The Florida vs. Georgia game.
The Bulldogs were supposed to handle business Saturday against the Gators, and Florida head coach Will Muschamp was supposed to have his seat boiling hot after Saturday’s game. The Gators had other plans, however.
Florida quarterback Treon Harris only attempted 6 passes in the game, but the Gators had a pair of running backs almost run for 200 yards each with Kelvin Taylor going for 197 yards and Matt Jones rushing for another 192 yards, and the Gators trampled the Bulldogs 38-20 to keep their hopes of winning the SEC East alive.
You read that right. If Florida wins out against SEC opponents Vanderbilt and South Carolina and Missouri loses its next three SEC games against Texas A&M, Tennessee, and Arkansas, then Florida would win the East.
The SEC East is a maddening, crazy place to be this season.
And speaking of Missouri, they’re sitting atop the East despite erratic performances throughout the entire season. They continued that trend Saturday, defeating Kentucky 20-10 in a defense-heavy game.
Tigers QB Maty Mauk may not have been efficient, but he got the job done, throwing for 164 yards and 2 scores and adding 75 yards on the ground as well. More importantly for Mauk and the Tigers was a big “0” in the turnover column, as Mauk was turnover-free for the second consecutive week.
The Tigers were able to hold Kentucky’s dual-threat QB Patrick Towles to just 2 yards rushing and 158 yards passing, and the Wildcats didn’t score a touchdown until 3:26 left in the game. Kentucky was only able to convert 2 of their 16 third down attempts as well.
The next three games had all the drama, however.
Arkansas once again held their own against an SEC West opponent, but once again the Razorbacks came up just short. This time, they fell to the No. 1 Mississippi State Bulldogs thanks to Heisman hopeful QB Dak Prescott.
The Razorbacks ran out to a 10-0 lead early into the 2nd quarter, but the Bulldogs scored 17 unanswered points, including a 69-yard pass from Prescott to Fred Ross that gave Mississippi State a 17-10 lead they would not relinquish.
Arkansas was able to amass 401 total yards of offense and force 3 Bulldog turnovers, but Mississippi State was able hold tight when it mattered most.
The other game with National Championship implications took place only a few miles from the Bulldogs’ home, and the drama lasted well into the 4th quarter of this one.
No. 4 Ole Miss hosted No. 3 Auburn in what will go down as one of the better games the two have played in recent history. The teams combined for 999 yards of offense, and Ole Miss looked as though their National Championship hopes were still alive with less than two minutes to go when wide receiver Laquon Treadwell caught the potential go-ahead TD.
Upon further review, however, Treadwell was stripped of the ball right before he crossed the goal line, and Auburn recovered in the end zone. Not only that, but Treadwell had his leg twisted beneath him on the play, and he’s out indefinitely with a dislocated ankle and broken fibula.
Auburn was able to hang on after that recovery and win 35-31 in Oxford, MS. The Tigers committed 13 penalties for 145 yards on Saturday, but they somehow found a way to win, harkening back to their 2013 season with miraculous throws and lucky breaks.
And in what was quite possibly the most exciting SEC game of the weekend, the Tennessee Volunteers were able to stun Steve Spurrier and his South Carolina Gamecocks for the second straight season, this time coming back from a 14-point deficit with less than 5 minutes to go in the game.
The Gamecocks led 42-28 with 4:52 left and had ridden a potent offense all night, and wide receiver Pharoh Cooper looked to be the player of the game. He set a school record with 233 receiving yards, catching 2 TD’s including an 85-yard reception early in the 4th quarter. Cooper also added 23 yards rushing and a score and even threw a 30-yard TD pass.
But Cooper’s efforts weren’t enough, as the Vols had their own one-man show to combat the Gamecocks. Sophomore QB Josh Dobbs made his first start of 2014 a memorable one, as he led the Vols to two separate scoring drives in a span of 5 minutes, including the game-tying 9-yard TD pass to Jason Croom with 11 seconds remaining in the game. The Vols would then go on to kick a field goal in overtime and win the game 45-42.
Tennessee’s defense was gashed for 625 yards, but they came up big in the clutch, forcing a three-and-out on South Carolina’s last possession in the 4th quarter and getting back-to-back sacks on their lone overtime possession, making the Gamecocks attempt a 58-yard field goal in an attempt to force a second overtime, which they missed.
As for the two teams playing out of the conference, neither team had an easy go of things Saturday.
Texas A&M started Kyle Allen at QB against Louisiana-Monroe after suspending Kenny Hill for 2 games for a violation of team rules, but they didn’t seem too affected early on and took a 21-10 lead into the half. The second half, however, was a different story. The Aggies mustered 50 yards of offense in the 2nd half (40 of which came on their final drive), and the Warhawks tacked on 2 field goals in the 4th to make it 21-16 with about 10 minutes to go.
The Warhawks had two chances to score again after their second field goal, but Texas A&M’s defense held strong and helped the Aggies escape with a 21-16 win despite only 106 yards passing from Kyle Allen.
Vanderbilt scored a season-high 42 points and amassed 524 yards of total offense, 145 yards higher than their previous high for the season, but they still struggled to defeat Old Dominion. Vanderbilt limited the Monarchs to 45 yards rushing and dominated the time of possession, but the Commodores could never truly pull away until very late in the game.
Both Alabama and LSU had the week off, and those two will face each other this upcoming Saturday.
Analysis
The latest College Football Playoff poll won’t be out till Tuesday night, but it will likely be trimmed down to just 2 teams in the top 4 after Auburn defeated Ole Miss Saturday. Until then, we’ll have to make due with the AP Poll, which has 6 teams in the top 25, including 3 of the top 4.
1. Mississippi State
3. Auburn
4. Alabama
12. Ole Miss
14. LSU
17. Georgia
The Georgia Bulldogs plummeted 8 spots after falling to the Florida Gators, and Auburn leap-frogged a stagnant Crimson Tide to take the 3rd spot. Missouri and Florida both received votes but failed to crack the top 25.
While the SEC still has the most teams in the poll, both the Big 12 and PAC 12 have 5 teams in the the poll, and the PAC 12 has two other teams receiving votes as well (USC, Stanford).
Thanks to Georgia faltering, Missouri now holds the lead in the East. If Georgia and Missouri finished tied at the end of the season, however, Georgia will advance to the SEC Championship Game because they own a 34-0 victory over the Tigers. The Gators, as mentioned before, are still alive as well.
The SEC West is far more confusing, though. There is actually a scenario where we could see a 5-way tie in the West where the tie breaker would be decided by the “best cumulative conference winning percentage of the non-division teams played by the tied teams from the other division.”
Yeah, it’s that complicated. If you want to check out tiers of tie-breakers the SEC uses, feel free to read for yourself.
Needless to say, the SEC has been crazy all year, and it could only get crazier.