Week 9 of SEC play continued the dramatic storyline of the 2014 college football season. The powerful SEC West continues to win against interdivision opponents and the intra-divisional match-ups continue to provide instant classics and immediate reshape of the national landscape. Unfortunately for the division, where probably four of the nation’s seven or eight teams play and the remaining three could easily be Top-25 teams, playing each other could be the ruin of several of these teams. The East continues to be unpredictable with every team except Georgia playing inconsistent – sometimes great and sometimes bad. As we grow accustomed to every weekend being gloriously entertaining around the conference, let’s once again separate reactions from reality from this past weekend.
The Drama Continues: SEC Week 9 Analysis
Game of the Week:
LSU 10, Mississippi 7
Reaction: Bad Bo and a curious coaching call costs Ole Miss a dream season.
Reality: Ole Miss’ inconsistent offense finally shows and LSU’s defense takes advantage.
This game will provide the most reaction from the entire weekend, which is unfortunate because it really has the least interesting realities. To begin with, LSU is still without a consistent offense. Two interceptions and two fumbles should have been plenty to blow the game against a great Ole Miss defense. LSU is not quite back to where they want to be, although they have continued to get better as the season progresses. LSU’s defense, coached by the great defensive mind John Chavis, has kept this team from imploding after early losses, and it looks like their efforts are paying off with a late-season surge. Ole Miss, on the other hand, has been waiting for the other shoe to drop all season. Bo Wallace is a notoriously inconsistent player and the lack of a consistent running game for Ole Miss doomed them against an aggressive LSU defense. The Ole Miss offense played a decent game, but they weren’t able to capitalize on LSU’s mistakes and put points on the board. Don’t underestimate how hard it is to go into Baton Rouge and win on a Saturday night until you’ve been there. The terrible interception at the end of the game was every Ole Miss fans worst nightmare for this season coming to fruition. In the end, Ole Miss still controls its destiny to the playoffs and LSU still has to battle to get back into top form. Word of caution: don’t react to much to this game.
Auburn 42, South Carolina 35
Reaction: Auburn survives tough test against an inspired South Carolina team.
Reality: Auburn needs better play on defense if it wants to return to the championship game.
Auburn is a team living on the edge right now. They narrowly escaped Kansas State with a win and are lucky come out with a “W”. They still have Ole Miss, Georgia and Alabama on the schedule. If they are to live up to their Top-5 billing, they desperately need to play better on defense. This game was a back-and-forth affair with the two offenses seemingly running through the opposing defenses. The Gamecocks, meanwhile, continued the inconsistent team trend in the East by turning in a great performance one week and a poor performance in other weeks. South Carolina should be commended for being ready for this game and giving Auburn all it could handle, but one must wonder if they can find a little consistency from either their quarterback play or their defense for the remainder of the season, or will we continue to see an up and down Gamecock team?
Mississippi State 45, Kentucky 31
Reaction: Mississippi State survives pressure and hype of being a first-time N0. 1.
Reality: Mississippi State gets a quality road win.
Mississippi State did exactly what Mississippi State had to do: go on the road, execute and get out of town with a win. This Mississippi State team has been doing that – taking care of business – all season long. While Ole Miss has received a little more press and a lot more glamour (thanks to Katy Perry), Mississippi State has quietly built the most consistent team in the conference. There is no such thing as a bad road win in the Conference, but with all the added pressure and hype of being ranked N0. 1 for the first time in school history, the Bulldogs went into Lexington and didn’t get nervous with Kentucky giving them their best shot. This is a very telling victory, and it seems Mississippi State has the right balance between confidence and awareness. Kentucky, meanwhile, continues to impress in their turn-around. They were able to play with the Bulldogs for most of the game and still have a chance to make some noise in the SEC East.
Alabama 34, Tennessee 20
Reaction: Alabama is starting to find their rhythm
Reality: Alabama uses a huge first quarter to continue their streak over the Vols
In a renewal of one of college football’s great rivalries, Alabama sprinted out to a 27-0 lead and held on against a surging Tennessee team to stake their claim as best amongst the nation’s one-loss teams. Alabama looked unstoppable in the first quarter, but after Tennessee inserted sophomore Josh Dobbs, they were able to put together several sustained drives and put up 181 yards of rushing against Alabama’s defense. Tennessee’s defense had some uncharacteristic lapses in the opening frame that helped Alabama build its big lead, but the defense settled down midway through the second and Tennessee was able to highlight some of the weaknesses of Alabama’s defense. Alabama seems to continue to get stronger, and this road performance supports that.
Arkansas 45, Alabama-Birmingham 17
Reaction: Arkansas finds success getting back to the run game.
Reality: Spot on; Arkansas finds success getting back to the run game.
Arkansas got back to its dominant running game with an impressive win against UAB. Other than two gaffes in the punt return game, Arkansas had a nearly-flawless performance. While UAB isn’t the toughest competition, even among non-Power 5 foes, Arkansas’ execution and return to the run game sets the stage for a strong run in the last part of the season. Arkansas is still looking for its first conference win in two seasons; can they find it against LSU, one of the Mississippi teams or Missouri? If they execute as they did this weekend and continue to rely on their run game, they will likely get that coveted conference win.
Missouri 24, Vanderbilt 14
Reaction: Missouri bounces back with conference win
Reality: Missouri is still struggling with lackluster game against a weak Vandy team
Missouri seems to be in a spiral. After 266 combined yards in its previous two games, Missouri quarterback Maty Mauk had 141 yards and the defense gave up 14 points and 18 first downs to a fourth-string quarterback running the Vanderbilt offense. Missouri, the defending SEC East champion, seems like a shell of the championship team from last season and are falling far short of their expectations. They will continue to face an up hill battle with their remaining schedule as they continue to struggle on both sides of the ball. Luckily for Missouri, there’s Vanderbilt. They’re beyond a spiral, they have already crashed on this season. Starting their fourth different quarterback of the season and managing only two scores against a struggling Missouri defense indicates that Vanderbilt is destined to return to the Vanderbilt of old after their recent success in the James Franklin era.
This weekend’s continued drama on the gridiron reminds us of just how special this game is. While the college football playoff has had an impact on the regular season, it seems that each and every game is still of great importance. The problem that the SEC faces is two-fold. First, the grueling intra-conference schedule might very well weaken the SEC’s position going into the new post-season. Secondly, the continued presence of SEC teams in the Top 10 in the polls is starting to galvanize anti-SEC bias which might also weaken the SEC heading into the late season. Might the playoff committee be hesitant to put a second SEC team with just one loss in the playoffs due to the PR efforts of the media outside of the SEC? The only thing the SEC teams can do is continue to play great, dramatic ball and win.
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