{"id":66765,"date":"2024-10-21T14:39:36","date_gmt":"2024-10-21T18:39:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=66765"},"modified":"2025-09-13T16:10:46","modified_gmt":"2025-09-13T20:10:46","slug":"sec-game-changers-week-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2024\/10\/21\/sec-game-changers-week-8\/","title":{"rendered":"SEC Game Changers Week 8"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are many familiar faces in the SEC week 8 game changers. Three made the list before, and two of them were on the list last week. Plus, there are the negative game changers that were a collective effort.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Offensive Game Changers<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Jadan Baugh RB, Florida<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Florida was left for dead after the first couple of weeks. Many thought they were maybe the worst team in the SEC. They are now 4-3 after their 48-20 win over Kentucky.<\/a> True freshman Baugh<\/a> was a big reason with 22 carries for 106 yards. His five touchdowns matched a Gators\u2019 record. With him and their true freshman quarterback DJ Lagway<\/a>, this team could be more interesting than expected over the next couple of years.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Dylan Sampson RB, Tennessee<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Sampson<\/a> is a regular for SEC game-changers. It\u2019s getting boring putting him on this list every week. But he continues to earn it as the best running back in the country not named Ashton Jeanty<\/a>. He was vital to Tennessee\u2019s 24-17 win over Alabama<\/a> especially given Nico Iamaleava\u2019s<\/a> recent struggles. Bama actually held him to 41 yards, a fumble, and no touchdowns in the first half. But it didn\u2019t last. He finished the game with 126 yards and two touchdowns.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Defensive Game Changers<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Nick Emmanwori DB, South Carolina<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The South Carolina defense dominated Oklahoma in their 35-9 win<\/a>. The Gamecocks sacked the Sooners\u2019 quarterbacks nine times and caused four turnovers. They had two guys with seven solo tackles and a sack a piece, but the player at the center of it all was Emmanwori<\/a>. He had 11 total tackles, seven solo, and a tackle for loss. He also had two interceptions, one of which he returned 65 yards for a touchdown.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Jalon Walker LB \/ Daylen Everette DB, Georgia<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The Georgia defense had so many standout performances in their 30-15 win over Texas that I couldn\u2019t pick just one. Walker<\/a> is a guy who is expected to go high in the next NFL Draft. He showed off why with just eight solo tackles, a fumble recovery, and three sacks. Everette<\/a> arguably might have had an even better game filling up the stat sheet with seven solo tackles, a sack, a forced fumble, and an interception.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Whit Weeks LB, LSU<\/strong><\/h3>\n

After Weeks\u2019<\/a> incredible performance that got him on this list last week, it would be hard to match it and he didn’t. But he still led the LSU defense in their 34-10 beat down of Arkansas. Weeks had nine total tackles, five solo, a sack, and an interception. This will help the eighth-ranked Tigers continue to climb in the rankings and their one-loss has them in SEC championship contention.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Negative Game Changers<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Offense, Texas<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The top-ranked Longhorns were anything but in their 30-15 loss to Georgia. For a team that appeared to have two great quarterback options, this game they had zero. They were sacked seven times. Quinn Ewers<\/a> had an interception and two lost fumbles. It got so bad they put in Arch Manning<\/a> who also lost a fumble. At the half, the offense was shut out and only had 38 total yards. They only rushed for 29 yards on 27 carries. Georgia quarterback Carson Beck<\/a> threw three picks and this offense still wasn\u2019t close. A disastrous performance by everyone involved.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Photo Credit: Randy Sartin-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are many familiar faces in the SEC week 8 game changers. Three made the list before, and two of them were on the list last week. Plus, there are the negative game changers that were a collective effort.\u00a0 Offensive Game Changers Jadan Baugh RB, Florida Florida was left for dead after the first couple […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5300,"featured_media":66773,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,35574,35588,2,35573,35579,35584,35581,35577,35587,35576],"tags":[35,314,244,65,21,86,37,20,80,59,204],"class_list":["post-66765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sec","category-alabama-crimson-tide","category-arkansas-razorbacks","category-featured","category-florida-gators","category-kentucky-wildcats","category-lsu-tigers","category-oklahoma-sooners","category-south-carolina-gamecocks","category-tennessee-volunteers","category-texas-longhorns","tag-alabama-crimson-tide","tag-arkansas-razorbacks","tag-florida-gators","tag-georgia-bulldogs","tag-kentucky-wildcats","tag-lsu-tigers","tag-oklahoma-sooners","tag-sec","tag-south-carolina-gamecocks","tag-tennessee-volunteers","tag-texas-longhorns"],"modified_by":"Michael Kovacs, ADMIN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5300"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66765"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66765\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77571,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66765\/revisions\/77571"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}