It was a day that was filled with a ton of hype. Five ranked matchups. Several crazy finishes, and a get back and tale of two weeks like no other from Ole Miss and LSU. Here’s what we learned on Saturday.
What we learned in the early games
1. Texas and Tennessee was a bucking of trends
I had to learn a valuable lesson the hard way once again. Research and prep work is stupid.
No game on Saturday proved that more than Tennessee and Texas. All the pregame research about trends and numbers for this game were ultimately proven untrue. Tennessee’s fast starts were well documented. Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel loves to score fast and score first, as the Vols have reached the scoreboard first in 78% of their games under him. Few teams in the country have been better in the first quarter and first half of games than Tennessee.
That was not the case on Saturday. Texas took the ball and went right down the field to take a 7-0 lead to start the game. The Texas defense then stifled Heupel’s offense early and often. They held Tennessee to its fewest first quarter yardage (21 yards) in eight years. They also held them to just 88 yards and three points in the first half. Even worse, the explosive plays that were a staple for the Vols were nonexistent, as nine of Faizon Brandon’s first 11 passes went for five yards or less.
There was no trend that was proven insignificant more than the sacks. Texas came into the game with just five sacks in three games, but they were in the Vols’ backfield all day on Saturday. The Longhorns had ten sacks including five from Colin Simmons alone.
Neither offense looked great all day. The story was the comfortability each team and coaching staff seemed to have with picking spots and waiting to make adjustments. That was clearly the case at the end of the first half when the Vols opted to keep two of their three timeouts and head to the locker room without trying to score despite having the ball to end the half.
2. Kentucky is still Kentucky
They found themselves in a dogfight for way too long in the first half against the University of South Alabama. We haven’t seen the USA impose its will on the state of Kentucky like that since prohibition.
What we learned in the afternoon games…
1. Ole Miss played their Super Bowl in Week 3
Going to the Swamp was always going to be a tall task the week after Dramageddon versus LSU, but my goodness Ole Miss looked like a much different team. Trinidad Chambliss getting hurt didn’t help. Kewan Lacy being out didn’t help. But, neither of those things is why the Rebels lost by 24 and gave up a 50 burger to Florida. Vegas always knows, and that was the case once again on Saturday. The Gators were a -3 point favorite from the start and covered that line by three touchdowns. They had over 300 yards rushing and nearly 500 yards of offense.
We learned a lot about Florida too. They are way further ahead in Year 1 of Jon Sumrall, and Jadan Baugh needs to be firmly in the running for the Heisman trophy.
2. Georgia is way better than anyone thought
It’s not that we should be surprised. However, there are still questions about how high the ceiling is. It was a yardstick masterpiece for Kirby Smart’s bunch. They put up only 306 yards of offense and won by 28. The Dawgs forced four turnovers and were up four scores at the half against a preseason top ten team. That Oklahoma defense is still good, but they are clearly not good enough to win them games in spite of the dismal offense.
3. Auburn is a way further behind than anyone thought
Auburn won over Vanderbilt in incredibly ugly fashion. The final score of 21-15 looked like a youth basketball score, and the game was about as exciting as one. It was another underwhelming performance by the offense, another uninspiring performance by the quarterback Byrum Brown and the result was unsurprisingly boring once again from Alex Golesh’s team.
What we learned in the night games…
1. Texas A&M and Marcel Reed’s 15 minutes of fame are over
The only thing emptier than Tiger Stadium last year after Texas A&M’s drubbing of LSU was their own trophy case. After last year’s celebration of their back-to-back wins over LSU, you would’ve thought the Aggies had won 100 in a row over the Tigers. LSU didn’t forget that feeling from last year, and after each team suffered a loss a week ago they were the only ones that got off the mat.
Marcel Reed is yet another third-year quarterback that hasn’t developed or progressed in this league, and it showed once again on Saturday. Reed completed just 38% of his passes and that was still somehow seven points higher than his QBR (31.1).
2. Kamario Taylor is really that guy
The Kamario Taylor train rolls on, and that’s something we can all get excited about. After opening a 14-0 lead, Missouri punched back and took Mississippi State to the brink with a 24-17 lead late in the fourth. Taylor did what he’s done all season and completed 27 of 38 passes for 360 yards and another three touchdowns.
Taylor’s Heisman odds dropped to +480 and are the third best of any player in the country and the best of anyone in the SEC. A month ago before Week 1 his odds were 150-to-1 which were 41st in the country. It’s been an incredible ride, and now he gets to potentially write another chapter in this storybook to start to the season next week versus Alabama.
3. Shane Beamer has to go
Losing by 31 points as a 12.5 point underdog, to a team you took to the wire each of the past two seasons is bad enough. But, Saturday night was once again a perfect display of all the inefficiencies and inabilities of South Carolina and its coaching staff. The knock on Carolina, or the main one of many, was that they were great out of the gates but couldn’t play a full 60 minutes. The team they were facing was the exact opposite. Alabama had been abysmal at the start of each of their past two games. Not Saturday. Alabama absolutely destroyed South Carolina.
If the on-field performance between whistles wasn’t bad enough, what happened after the whistles blew was much worse. Dylan Stewart and Shane Beamer got into an altercation on the sideline. Stewart later punched an Alabama player in the facemask, and also refused to come off the field late in the game when coaches tried to sub him out. The conversation about the culture that Beamer was able to sell for the last few years has dissipated.
In other news, Alabama may be a wagon. Maybe we’ll find out in Week 5.
