Around the SEC: How the Rest of the League Fared in Week 11
The SEC title game is set. Alabama and Florida will meet at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta after each team handled their week 11 games.
Aside from the cream of the crop marching on to potentially fulfill College Football Playoff aspirations, this week of SEC games provided plenty of entertainment, not to mention, a new head coach announced to be coming to a reeling program.
Texas A&M (7-1) 31, Auburn (5-4) 20
Texas A&M didn’t appear to fully be in control of this game until the fourth quarter, but once they broke Auburn’s will, there was nothing the Tiger defense could do.
The Aggies rushed for 313 yards and utilized the play-action passing game with Kellen Mond well enough to dominate time of possession and keep Bo Nix and the Auburn offense out of any sort of rhythm.
Isaiah Spiller was once again the catalyst for the Aggie offense, rushing for 120 yards on 20 carries. He was also a huge part of the Aggies clinching drive of the game, in which the Texas A&M burned five and a half minutes of clock on 12 plays to kick a game securing field goal.
Auburn was stagnant on offense and only accumulated 26 yards of offense over their final three drives of the game. Nix wowed everyone with an escape artist-like touchdown in the second quarter, but other than that, he was lackluster again. He only threw for 144 yards and failed to be dynamic outside of the pocket for another week.
A trap game looms for Texas A&M, as they play Ole Miss this coming week.
Next up: Texas A&M vs. Ole Miss (4-4), Auburn @ Mississippi State (2-6)
Missouri (5-3) 50, Arkansas (3-6) 48
This was the most entertaining game of the day in college football. Yes, BYU and Coastal Carolina played a fun game, but Missouri and Arkansas played a high scoring, back and forth game that ended in Missouri hitting a game-winning field as time expired.
Arkansas brought the game within a point at 47-46 with 43 seconds remaining, and Sam Pittman decided to go for the win and go for two points. K.J. Jefferson, starting in place of Feleipe Franks, rolled to his left and threw a pass right into the chest of a Missouri defender, only to have it ricochet off his pads and into the arms of Arkansas receiver Mike Woods.
Missouri then responded with a 60-yard drive in 42 seconds, setting up a game-winning field goal to steal the game from the Hogs. Freshman quarterback Connor Bazelak was sensational on the final drive, completing 4-5 passes for 54 yards. He finished the game going 32-49 for 380 yards.
If this game did anything, it showed that both these teams are trending in the right direction, and could become quality SEC opponents going forward into 2021 and beyond. What Pittman and Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz are doing at these respective programs, is astounding, especially considering the depth each team was at in 2019.
Next up: Missouri vs Georgia (6-2), Arkansas vs Alabama (9-0)
Florida (8-1) 31, Tennessee (2-6) 19
The score doesn’t really indicate how lopsided this game actually was. It was 31-7 in the fourth quarter, and Florida went into a shell defense, allowing Tennessee to score some garbage time points to make things look a tad more respectable.
For the third straight week, it was a sluggish offensive start for Florida. Florida fell behind 7-3 in the second quarter, before responding with a pair of second quarter touchdowns to take control of the game. The offensive struggles were no fault of Kyle Trask, who threw for 251 yards and two TD’s in the first half. Trask finished with 433 yards, four touchdowns and completed 71% of his passes.
It was the Gator run game that continues to create reservations as to whether this team can hang with the top tier of the college football world. The Gators rushed for only 19 yards on Saturday, with 17 of them coming on an end-around to Jacob Copeland.
Florida is the only team ranked inside the CFP top-10 that does not average more than 150 rushing yards per game. I guess it helps that Florida leads the nation in passing yards and passing touchdowns to make up for it.
Tennessee showed flashes of life here-and-there. The Vols first touchdown drive was methodical, as they went 11 plays for 96 yards that ended in Eric Gray taking a swing pass into the endzone. However, that was about all Gray was able to do on the night, as he was contained to 47 rushing yards on 12 carries, his lowest total of the season.
Next up: Florida vs. LSU (3-5), Tennessee @ Vanderbilt (0-8)
Alabama (9-0) 55, LSU (3-5) 17
After what happened a year ago in this game, and how LSU head coach Ed Orgeron gloated immensely after knocking off the Crimson Tide, it was obvious throughout the week that retribution was on Nick Saban’s mind.
Well, he got it in the form of 45 first half points and 650 total yards of offense in the game. The Tide did whatever they wanted to the depleted LSU defense, rushing for 265 yards as a team and throwing for 385 yards.
Devonta Smith and Najee Harris alone dismantled the Tigers, combining for 376 total yards and six touchdowns. Makes quarterback Mac Jones life pretty easy when he has guys like that, doesn’t it?
LSU simply can’t do anything well at this point. They were held to 3.6 yards per carry on the ground and their two quarterbacks T.J. Finley and Max Johnson combined for 254 yards and a touchdown. With Florida and Ole Miss left on the schedule, it’s certainly possible LSU could allow over 150 points in their final three games of the season.
Next up: Alabama @ Arkansas (3-6), LSU @ Florida (8-1)
Kentucky (4-6) 41, South Carolina (2-8) 18
Wow! Kentucky has an offense! Running back Chis Rodriquez returned to action Saturday night and paced the Kentucky ground game with 19 yards and three touchdowns. Kentucky as a team rushed for 291 yards and 6.5 yards per carry against the woeful South Carolina defense.
Terry Wilson also played one of his more efficient games of the season, completing 17-26 passing for 201 yards.
It’s been rough for the Gamecocks since their firing of Will Muschamp. South Carolina has failed to score more than 20 points in their three games since his firing, and there’s been a lack of even decent quarterback play. Collin Hill was benched, and his replacement Luke Doty was 11-25 for 85 yards, a touchdown and an interception on Saturday night.
The one bright spot is running back Kevin Harris, who rushed for 210 yards and a touchdown. Harris is now third in the nation in rushing, accumulating 1,138 through 10 games this season.
At least for the Gamecocks, they have a new coach. Oklahoma offensive assistant, and former South Carolina assistant, Shane Beamer accepted the South Carolina head coaching job late Saturday night according to The Athletic.
