SEC West

Alabama — Grade: A+

Alabama over Florida, 31-6

If anyone still doubts who the most complete team in the nation is, they obviously were not watching the systematic dismantling of the seventh ranked Florida Gators by the Alabama Crimson Tide. At first glance, the offensive numbers (other than the points) for the Tide look very pedestrian. They amassed just 272 yards of offense. But in reality, the Tide was running out the clock early in this one. They still completed 67% of their passes. They rushed for 170 yards against a Florida defense that had stymied offenses all season. And of course, Nick Saban’s defense was as crushing as ever. The Crimson Tide forced four turnovers and held the Gator offense to 3 for 13 on third down conversions. Alabama added a 41 yard punt return from Julio Jones and covered their kicks very well. Offense, defense, and special teams. Alabama played all phases like a national champion.

Auburn — Grade: A

Auburn over Louisiana-Monroe, 52-3

Auburn did what was expected of a top 10 football team against a team like ULM. The Auburn Tiger offense had a great offensive performance, and Cam Newton put forth his best passing performance to date. Newton finished the day 14 of 19 for 245 yards. That included a 94 yard touchdown pass in the first quarter. Auburn added another 233 yards rushing, finishing the day with over 500 yards of total offense. The defense may have had their best game of the season. The Tigers held the Warhawks to under 300 yards of total offense and held ULM rushers to just 38 yards for the game. Questions still loom for Auburn in regards to their ability to defend the pass. ULM quarterback Kolton Browning completed more than 75% of his passes and did not throw an interception. Auburn will be tested defensively the next two weeks as they travel to Kentucky and then host Arkansas.

LSU — Grade: D

LSU over Tennessee, 16-14

Watching LSU play football is like watching a comedy of horrors. The final moments of the game against Tennessee leave football fans scratching their heads. The SEC already has Joker as a head coach, but Les Miles is more like the Riddler. It takes a little thought to figure out how he manages to stay unscathed week to week. No coach lives off of pure talent like Les Miles. And make no mistake, Les can recruit with the best of them. If Miles could coach half as well as he recruits, LSU would be the premier football program in the nation. As it stands, he’s the worst game manager in the SEC, and possibly of all the automatic qualifier conferences. Words are becoming thin to use for how horrible LSU has been passing the football. This week, the descriptive word is “rancid.” It really stinks. LSU still has not thrown a touchdown pass since the opening game. LSU quarterbacks did combine to throw three interceptions, however.

Ole Miss — Grade: C

Ole Miss over Kentucky, 42-35

When a team scores more than 40 points, usually it means the offense was really rolling. For the Rebels this week, it means that they were gift wrapped three touchdowns by the Wildcats. Ole Miss had touchdown drives that started on the Kentucky 11, the Kentucky 9, and the Kentucky 2 yard lines. A combined 22 yards for 21 points. Other than forcing turnovers, the Ole Miss defense wasn’t particularly that good. They surrendered 300 yards passing and another 124 rushing to the Wildcats. The offense was less than impressive. Jeremiah Masoli passed for only 90 yards, but did throw three touchdowns on a 9 for 17 passing day. The Rebels did pile up over 200 yards rushing against Kentucky, but Kentucky gives up rushing yards to everyone. The Rebels have a brutal three game stretch coming. They travel in back to back road games to top ranked Alabama and then to number eleven Arkansas. They do return home after that, but face off against eighth ranked Auburn.

Mississippi State — Grade: B+

Mississippi State over Alcorn State, 49-16

Mississippi State continued to roll offensively against the Braves of Alcorn State. With 556 yards of total offense, the Bulldogs looked sharp throwing as well as running. Chris Relf and Tyler Russell combined to throw for more than 330 yards. The running game tapped into another 230 yards. Defensively, the Bulldogs were adequate, holding the Braves to 330 yards of offense. The Braves were keeping it relatively close until the Bulldogs scored 14 points in the last five minutes of the first half. The rout continued in the second half as Mississippi State added two more touchdowns and shut out Alcorn State.

SEC East

Florida — Grade: F

Alabama over Florida, 31-6

Florida had an opportunity to answer an early Alabama field goal. Instead, they threw an interception near the Alabama goal line. It was all downhill from there. Florida, due to turnovers and an inability to stop Alabama’s running game, saw the Crimson Tide jump out to a 24-0 lead in the first half. Florida’s offense was poor in nearly every aspect. They weren’t effective running the ball, averaging 2.5 yards per rush. Florida completed only 50% of their passes, threw three interceptions and failed to toss a touchdown pass. Their defense was equally as suspect. Alabama moved the ball with ease in the first half as they scored on their first four possessions, three of which resulted in touchdowns. The questions surrounding Florida’s offense are obviously well-founded. With LSU and their defense visiting Gainesville next week, answers need to be forthcoming.

Georgia — Grade: D+

Colorado over Georgia, 29-27

The good news for Georgia is that A.J. Green is back and doesn’t seem to have missed a beat. The bad news is that Georgia just isn’t very good. Georgia has been plagued by costly turnovers and negative plays all season in crucial moments of games. Once again, calamity struck as Georgia was driving for a game-winning field goal. With less than two minutes remaining, Caleb King fumbled, ending the Bulldogs’ chances of a road win they desperately needed to stop the bleeding of losses. It is tough to win on the road when you lose the turnover battle, give up 235 yards rushing, out-penalize your opponent, and lose the time of possession game by eight minutes of game clock.

Kentucky — Grade: D-

Ole Miss over Kentucky, 42-35

Joker Phillips and the Kentucky Wildcats must be sick right now. As Kentucky watches game film, they will certainly take note of how this should have been a Wildcat romp of the Rebels. Instead, the Wildcats turned the ball over three times, handing three touchdowns over to Ole Miss which started two of those drives inside the red zone. Kentucky outplayed the Rebels on the road. They moved the ball seemingly at will. Randall Cobb and Derrick Locke both were piling up the yards. The special teams units were getting solid returns on kickoffs and punts. They did give up a monster punt return that gave the Rebels first and goal from the Kentucky two. You can’t turn the ball over on the road, and until Kentucky can stop teams from piling up the rushing yards, the Wildcats are going to be in for a long conference season. Auburn and South Carolina, two teams that can both run the football extremely well, are next on the slate for Kentucky.

Tennessee — Grade: D

LSU over Tennessee, 16-14

Oh, what could have been. This game nearly became Derek Dooley’s first signature win at the University of Tennessee. Instead, due to some questionable officiating and a late penalty for too many men on the field, LSU’s Steven Ridley got an extra opportunity to punch the ball into the end zone for the win. It is hard to say that UT deserved this win. Defensively, they did force four turnovers, but they also gave up well over 400 yards. LSU ran roughshod over the Vol defense to the tune of 219 yards. They also allowed LSU to throw for over 200 yards. As bad as LSU has been passing, that isn’t a small issue. Tennessee’s offense was just smothered. Running room was nearly nonexistent, and the passing game fell victim to great pressure and coverage from the LSU defense. UT managed to gain only 12 first downs and 217 yards of total offense.

Vanderbilt — Grade: D+

UConn over Vanderbilt, 40-21

It is hard not to give Vanderbilt some credit for taking a long trip to face a pretty good Connecticut Huskies team and playing as well as they did in the early going. Vanderbilt enjoyed a 21-14 lead before the talent and experience of UConn took over. Vanderbilt gave up a touchdown to UConn late in the first half that tied the game. UConn took that momentum and ran with it. And by run with it, I mean they ran the ball 45 times for nearly 200 yards. UConn scored 26 unanswered points to win this game definitively. Vanderbilt finished with only 10 first downs in the game. The defense was on the field for nearly 40 minutes.

SEC Stud of the Week

Courtney Upshaw, Alabama

  • 7 tackles, 4 tackles for loss
  • Fumble recovery
  • 2 pass deflections

SEC Dud of the Week

SEC Officiating

Conspiracy theories are running amuck again. After seeing Alabama and Florida seemingly get protected last year, another undefeated team gets a late-game boost from SEC officials. LSU remained undefeated after a few gaffes by the officials. In addition to not allowing Tennessee enough time to react to LSU’s platoon swap for the last play of the game, the Vols were flagged for too many men on the field. There should probably have been a personal foul penalty on the Tigers for taking off the helmet on the field of play while the game is in progress. Instead, LSU caught the officiating breaks and got one more chance to win the game- which they converted.