The SEC had 16 games this week and 12 of them were blowouts with most of the top teams playing much weaker competition. But which players were truly the SEC game-changers of the week?
Offensive Game Changers
Quinn Ewers QB, Texas
In the biggest game of the week, the Texas Longhorns dominated the defending National Champion #10 Michigan Wolverines in a 31-12 win. The Heisman hopeful Ewers was excellent, completing 24/36 for 246 yards 3 TDs and 0 INTs. This decisive victory cemented the Longhorns as a legitimate championship front-runner.
Nico Iamaleava QB / Dylan Sampson RB, Tennessee
The only other SEC game featuring ranked teams was #14 Tennessee thumping #24 NC State 51-10. Iamaleava was solid, throwing for 211 yards 2 touchdowns, and rushing for 65 yards including a 31-yard touchdown run. He did throw 2 interceptions. One was a pick-six when they were up 34 but the first one was when they were only up 7-0. Sampson picked up any slack chipping in 20 carries for 132 yards and two touchdowns in the second-biggest win for a SEC team this week.
Carson Beck QB, Georgia / Garrett Nussmeier QB, LSU / Henry Parrish Jr. RB, Ole Miss
These three fall into the same category for dominating against weaker opponents. Beck threw for five touchdowns against Tennessee Tech. Nussmeier one-upped him with six touchdowns against Nicholls. And Parish Jr. ran for four touchdowns against Middle Tennessee State. None of these are surprising given the opponent but credit where credit is due.
Defensive Game Changers
Nick Emmanwori DB, South Carolina
The big inter-conference matchup was South Carolina beating up on the Wildcats in Kentucky, which was surprising given that the Gamecocks barely beat Old Dominion in week one. The South Carolina defense held Kentucky 183 total yards and six points. Emmanwori not only led the team in tackles but he also had a pick-six that put the exclamation point on the huge win.
Will Brooks DB, Tennessee
Brooks is a walk-on who made the play that turned the game. With 3:40 left in the second quarter, NC ST was only down 10-3 and was in the red zone. A tipped pass was picked off by Brooks and taken 85 yards to the house truly changing the game and from there the route was on.
Jihaad Campbell LB, Alabama
Campbell falls into the same category of beating up on bad teams as the initially close game between Alabama and South Florida eventually turned into a 42-16 blowout. But Campbell filling up the stat sheet was hard to overlook: 11 Tackles (eight solo), half a sack, one-and-a-half tackles for loss, and one pass deflection making him a definitive SEC game changer.
Negative Game Changers
Payton Thorne QB, Auburn
Auburn was the big loser in the SEC this week. Favored by 13.5 points at home, the Tigers laid an egg losing 21-14 to Cal. Thorne’s numbers were dismal: 14 of 27 passing for 165 yards, one touchdown, and four interceptions. And that’s after throwing four touchdowns and no interceptions last week against Alabama A&M.
Brock Vandagriff QB / Gavin Wimsatt QB, Kentucky
The Kentucky offense was completely embarrassed by the Gamecocks defense and the quarterbacks got the worst of it. Vandagriff and Wimsatt combined to go six of 17 passing for 44 yards, no touchdowns, and two interceptions. The run game was the only reason they had any offense at all in this embarrassing loss.
