Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images
By Chris Marler
It was a weird start to Week 10 of the season. The YouTubeTV versus Disney debacle dominated the headlines way more than any SEC game would. It may have been a slow start to November, but there were still some big moments in two huge games in the early part of the day. A battle of winless teams capped the early slate. Here’s the SEC Saturday recap for early games.
VANDT RALLY FALLS SHORT
If I told you before the game that Diego Pavia would have 400 yards and four touchdowns against Texas, you would almost certainly assume that Vanderbilt would have left Austin at 8-1 with a win.
You’d be wrong.
Texas dominated Vanderbilt from the start. The Longhorns scored on their first play from scrimmage and didn’t look back for three quarters. Texas carried a 34-10 lead into the final quarter of the game and held off a late flurry of scoring from Vanderbilt to win and keep their playoff hopes alive.
Arch Manning continued his second half of the season resurgence accounting for 328 yards through the air and three touchdowns. He also completed 75.8 percent of his passes for Texas and didn’t have a turnover.
Arch Manning appears to have turned a corner—
As this is being tweeted, he has 7 total touchdowns and 674 yards in his last 2 games. 🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/xqcCii1fEr
— Emmanuel Acho (@EmmanuelAcho) November 1, 2025
The defense stole the show, though. The box score might now show it because of a few broken plays and garbage time touchdowns, but the Texas defense was outstanding. They held the Commodores to 58 rushing yards on 24 carries, 146 yards below their season average.
Most impressive was the front seven which harassed Pavia all day. The Longhorns sacked him six times. That was a Vanderbilt offensive line who had allowed just seven sacks all season entering the game.
BULLDOGS-GATORS DELIEVER THRILLER
Kirby Smart has beaten Florida seven times in the last eight years. Most of them haven’t been close.
That changed on Saturday. Florida made it uncomfortable from jump. The Gators scored on a busted coverage on their first drive, and the game was tied at halftime. The Gatoes controlled the early second half action and held a 20-17 lead, with seven minutes left in the game. Georgia’s rushing total was -7.
DJ Lagway is going to put up insane numbers in Lane Kiffin’s offense
pic.twitter.com/lVHK7IZZfC— SEC Mike (@MichaelWBratton) November 1, 2025
In the end, it wasn’t enough, and Georgia left Jacksonville victorious once again.
It wasn’t pretty, but not a lot of things have been for this year’s Georgia team. The Bulldogs did nothing for most of the second half before getting a massive fourth down stop. That included three straight stops where the Gators had two yards or less to gain. From there they went 82 yards on seven plays and capped off the drive with a 36-yard touchdown run from Chauncey Bowens.
The Gators got the ball back down 24-20, but were held to a three and out thanks to one of the more questionable calls that once again went Georgia’s way. An apparent Florida completion into the red zone was called incomplete on the field and upheld under review.
Catch or no catch?👀
It was ruled incomplete and upheld after review.
(via ABC) pic.twitter.com/mY2IZN6jO7
— On3 (@On3sports) November 1, 2025
Ultimately, Kirby Smart’s team finished off what was a valiant effort against their arch rival. Gunner Stockton gets some credit for taking a knee at the one yard line instead of scoring. He knelt the rest of the clock out to seal the win.
STREAK STOPPED
Mississippi State won its first SEC game under Jeff Lebby and first in 17 tries.
With 51 seconds left, Bulldog quarterback Blake Shapen found wide receiver Anthony Evans on a fourth and four pass. Evans caught the ball at the first down sticks and broke two tackles on the way to the endzone for an 18-yard score to put the Bulldogs ahead 38-35.
State sacked Taylen Green to set up a 4th and 13 on the ensuing drive, and Green was pressured rolling out. He was called for intentional grounding to ice the game.
Bobby Petrino’s squad committed 18 penalties in the game. The Hogs are 0-4 under Petrino since Sam Pittman was fired.
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