The fewest games on a single Saturday of the entire SEC season was saved for Halloween. And, for the first time all season, it felt like there were no real surprises or dramatic endings.
For the first time all year it felt like the league got to sit back and watch the chaos and carnage happen in other leagues.
Still, there were plenty of takeaways and things we learned from the last SEC Saturday of October.
1. Don’t underestimate the chip on Kirby Smart’s shoulder.
Nick Saban always says the hardest part of coaching wasn’t getting to the mountain top, it was making sure his teams were hungry enough to stay there. Complacency is a real thing. It’s human nature. But, Kirby Smart and Nick Saban aren’t normal human beings.
This was the most anticipated Florida-Georgia game in several years. Florida seems to be much better this year under the tutelage of Jon Sumrall. That was supposed to lead to a closer matchup on the field in this rivalry.
Sadly, it did not. Not even a little bit. Georgia suffocated Florida from the opening whistle Saturday at the World’s Largest Indoor Cocktail Party, which now features a corporate sponsor and a midfield logo that we should all agree to never acknowledge again.
The Bulldogs forced four turnovers and got out to a 24-0 lead before Florida even knew what hit them. Or, who Aaron Philo was even throwing to. Maybe more people should’ve seen this coming.
This is what Kirby Smart’s teams do with extra time to prepare. Give Georgia a bye week and a loss to stew over, and whoever comes next is in for a nightmare. For Florida, that was especially bad news. The Bulldogs improved to 28-2 under Smart when playing with extra rest, winning those 28 games by an average of more than 17 points.
2. Cocktober was real, finally.
This was the South Carolina team we were promised in the summer. It just took until October to finally arrive.
The Gamecocks went into Norman and absolutely manhandled the Oklahoma Sooners. The -3.5 point spread in favor of the Sooners was wrong all week, and some husky, glasses wearing gentleman on this site kept screaming it for anyone that would listen.
The Gamecocks picked up their third straight win, and took Oklahoma to the woodshed in the process. As underwhelming as Oklahoma has been, their defense was still no joke this season.
They entered Saturday ranked second nationally in third-down defense, but South Carolina converted six of its first eight attempts. They had also allowed just two opponents to score more than 17 offensive points all season. South Carolina reached that mark in the first 20 minutes
The 42-25 win was way more lopsided than the box score would suggest. The Sooners ended up with 359 yards of offense and 25 points, and had just 118 yards and ten points heading into the fourth quarter. Seven of those ten points were on a defensive pick six.
South Carolina’s offense looked invincible against a Sooners unit that was supposed to be one of the best in the conference. The 521 yards of offense were the second most they’d allowed in the last four seasons.
That was thanks to quarterback LaNorris Sellers putting the Superman cape on several weeks ago and refusing to take it off. He did have two inexplicable interceptions, but for the first time as a starter he was able to lead his team to a win with multiple turnovers in the same game.
Sellers finished 19-of-24 for 301 yards passing, another 96 yards on the ground, and five touchdowns. He finished October with 15 touchdowns and 346.7 yards per game in four games.
Don’t look now, but the Gamecocks still have a chance to make a run to Atlanta and possibly the CFP if they win out. That includes a win over Georgia, but with Texas A&M, Arkansas and Clemson still on the schedule, 8-4 doesn’t seem unlikely.
3. Auburn confused Groundhog Day with Halloween.
What in the world happened to the Auburn team we saw three Saturdays ago in Athens? The unranked Tigers went in between the hedges and ran it at will on Georgia. The defense was stifling for Gunner Stockton, and the offense looked fantastic.
Like the clearance rack at a Spirit Halloween store, that version of Auburn has disappeared. On Saturday, Auburn got their doors blown off for the second week in a row. Nine minutes through the third quarter, no one would’ve seen that coming, as the Tigers trailed by just two points in a 17-15 slugfest against a former division rival.
What a difference 21 minutes can make in a football game. The final score was 45-15, as Ole Miss scored on all five second half possessions, including four touchdowns.
Auburn became the first team in the modern-AP Poll era to knock off the No. 1 team in the country and then lose its next two games by 20 or more points.
4. ICYMI: Eli Drinkwitz is just receding hairline Lane Kiffin.
At least when it comes to his wit, tweets and press conference hilarity, that is.
Drinkwitz’s Tigers used their bye week well before this year’s game against Arkansas. After their 34-10 win over Arkansas, Drinkwitz was quick to compliment the Hogs.
Well, kind of.
“I’d like to tip my cap to the Razorbacks, all those new lights they put in. Those lights look good. I know it was a big deal for them to have their lightbulbs changed out,” said Drinkwitz.
Before anyone in Fayetteville gets mad, let’s also remember that Missouri, and their coach, have earned the right to talk whatever trash they want in this “rivalry” game after winning 11 of the last 13.
The only thing more embarrassing than that streak is that there is an actual trophy attached to this game for some unknown reason.
5. Does Texas need to win out to make the CFP or is 9-3 good enough?
I don’t know if the answer is necessarily no, but for now I would lean towards no.
Texas has more ranked wins than any other team in the country with three, and as of today, they still have two more ranked opponents on their schedule with road trips to Missouri and LSU over the next two weekends. After that things get a little easier with Arkansas and a road trip to College Station to face a bad Texas A&M team.
The resume should speak for itself, but it wouldn’t be the first time we’ve seen a 9-3 SEC team left out of the college football playoff. It literally happened to Texas a season ago.
Up until Saturday they had the most impressive win of any team in the country with their September comeback against then No. 1 Ohio State in their back pocket. On Saturday, however, Ohio State suffered its second loss of the year against Southern Cal and still has some tricky games against Oregon and Northwestern.
They’ll have to win those games with a backup quarterback since Julian Sayin is out for the rest of the year.
Will the committee take all of that into consideration if the Longhorns drop one more game to close out the season? The logical answer is yes. Sadly, logic has evaded a lot of the decision making that goes on in that Dallas hotel conference room with the CFP committee and their rankings.
