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We can always count on a few surprises during the course of an SEC football season and we’ve had a few this year so far. Here are the biggest upsets in the first seven weeks. More to come too, of course.
1. Ole Miss 43, Alabama 37 on Sept. 19: We considered this a mild upset at the time, but we didn’t shake our head in amazement four weeks ago like we do now over the Rebels’ big win in Tuscaloosa. We all saw Ole Miss coming on in the past few years and the Rebels beat Alabama 23-17 last year as well. But what makes it the biggest upset of the year now? It’s all about what’s happened since then. Alabama suddenly looks like a national championship contender again and Ole Miss has looked atrocious in bad losses to Florida and Memphis. If they played again tomorrow, wouldn’t Alabama be favored by at least 20?
2. Tennessee 38, Georgia 31 on Oct. 10: Sure, Georgia lost RB Nick Chubb for the season early in this game, and it is a nice built-in excuse for the Bulldogs faithful, but it’s still surprising that Tennessee was able to pull this one out. After all, Georgia had a 21-point lead a minute before halftime and two things we know about the Volunteers in the past decade or so is that they don’t make big comebacks and they don’t know how to close out games at the end. The Vols did both in this one, and now we’ll have to see if Butch Jones and his guys can build on that going forward.
3. Florida 38, Ole Miss 10 on Oct. 3: The two things most shocking about this game were that Ole Miss had looked so explosive early in the season – not only in their nonconference routs but also in the huge win against Alabama (see above) – and the Gators shut them right down. This upset was big because we didn’t expect Jim McElwain to have the Gators at this level this fast. The win suddenly vaulted Florida back into the national conversation, something that had disappeared in the depressing Will Muschamp era. Ole Miss was ranked No. 3 in the country at the time and even had garnered 11 first-place votes. The Rebels slipped all the way to 14th after the loss. We could have added Ole Miss’s loss to Memphis last week to this list as well, but it can’t be all about one team. Look at it this way: The Rebels are a hard team to figure out.
4. Mississippi State 17, Auburn 9 on Sept 26: Let’s flash back to the Associated Press preseason poll from eight weeks ago to give us all a reminder that the Auburn Tigers were ranked No. 6 in the country back then. They looked shaky in an opening win against Louisville then looked atrocious in barely beating Jacksonville State. They should have lost to JSU– and taken the top spot on this list for eternity. We expected a loss to LSU but didn’t we all figure that they’d turn things around eventually? Sure, Hail State is good, but we all expected the Tigers to get their act together. Now we know. Voters missed the boat on this team for sure. No. 6 in the country? That was way off.
5. Toledo 16, Arkansas 12 on Sept. 12: It’s bad enough when an SEC team loses to a Mid-American Conference foe at home. That can’t happen anytime, anywhere. But what made this loss worst was Arkansas coach Bret Bielema firmly inserting his foot in his mouth just days before this game complaining about the softness of No. 1 Ohio State’s schedule. You can’t do that and then go out and lay an egg yourself. Granted, Toledo is the best team in the MAC and the Rockets are still unbeaten at 6-0, but this is still an upset. In a year where the Razorbacks really wanted to start turning the corner, this was a bad loss at home.
Also worth mentioning: Kentucky beat South Carolina 26-22 on Sept. 12 and it seemed like an upset at the time. Now we know better, as the wheels have fallen off in Columbia. … Western Kentucky upset Vanderbilt 14-12 on Sept. 3. SEC teams, even a Vandy team in rebuilding mode, can’t be losing to schools like Western. This isn’t all that shocking now though, after seeing their two seasons play out. Western Kentucky is 6-1, with its only loss to Indiana. They’ve scored 297 points in six games since beating Vandy, an average of nearly 50 a game.
Tom Brew is an award-winning journalist and author who is covering SEC football for Saturday Down South.
