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Wasson: My Top 10 moments from 2024 SEC regular season

David Wasson

By David Wasson

Published:

Books will be written about the 2024 Southeastern Conference regular season, a super-sized, 16-team battle royal that thrilled and stunned and surprised and generated interest from opening weekend to Saturday’s season finales.

Already the greatest conference in college football, adding Texas and Oklahoma to the mix and eliminating divisional play virtually ensured chaos – and boy, did we get chaos. From Alabama faltering to South Carolina soaring, Georgia providing a roller-coaster ride from week to week and Vanderbilt discovering the concept of winning … this season was simply awesome.

But the bossman asked me to narrow it down a bit, so behold: My top 10 moments from the 2024 SEC regular season.

10. Aggies smack Tigers

The goods: Texas A&M lost its season-opener against Notre Dame in coach Mike Elko’s debut, but promptly broke off a 7-game winning streak capped by a 38-23 victory against No. 8 LSU on Oct. 26. Backup quarterback Marcel Reed relieved the ineffective Conner Weigman at halftime, and rewarded Elko’s risky move with 3 second-half touchdown runs in the romp at Kyle Field. The win also kept Texas A&M as the only undefeated team in SEC play at the time at 5-0.

9. LaNorris Sellers spins to win

The goods: South Carolina had already broken off a 5-game winning streak heading into the final weekend of the regular season, but Sellers put the Gamecocks over the top for a 6th straight W with his winding, 20-yard touchdown run against No. 12 Clemson. The scamper improved South Carolina to 9-3 and to the cusp of Playoff contention, and was also its 4th consecutive victory against an AP Top 25 team for coach Shane Beamer.

8. Booming Sooners

The goods: Alabama had a great chance to work its way back into Playoff contention, needing only victories against Oklahoma in Norman and against Auburn in the Iron Bowl. Too bad the Tide didn’t escape Norman intact, as Brent Venables’ Sooners stunned Alabama 24-3 on Nov. 23 for a crippling third loss. Kip Lewis snagged a pivotal pick-6 and true freshman Xavier Robinson rushed for a career-best 107 yards and 2 touchdowns to make Oklahoma bowl eligible, remove Venables from the hot seat and cause a third 2024 goalpost to be torn down following an Alabama loss.

7. Gators derail the Lane Train

The goods: Ole Miss was ranked No. 9 in the country when the Rebels ambled into Gainesville to take on a hobbled Florida team on Nov. 23. What happened next was a dazzling display on one side and a dizzying slide on the other – as the 13.5-point underdog Gators shocked Ole Miss 24-17 for a win against a ranked team in consecutive weeks for the first time since 2008. Florida freshman QB DJ Lagway threw 2 touchdown passes, and Ole Miss QB Jaxson Dart tossed 2 interceptions to fall out of Playoff contention.

6. Dart plenty good enough

https://twitter.com/JacobCEdmunds/status/1855402169819914725

The goods: We already saw the bad side of Jaxson Dart, but this undeniably was the great side – as the Ole Miss QB overcame an early ankle injury to help will the 16th-ranked Rebels to a 28-10 upset of No. 3 Georgia on Nov. 9. Dart was a pedestrian 13-of-22 passing for 199 yards along with 50 yards on the ground, but his steady play – coupled with 5 Caden Davis field goals and a 5-sack effort by the defense – was good enough to earn a signature win in the Oxford rain.

5. Welcome to Hollywood

https://twitter.com/YahooSports/status/1840230089042042926

The goods: Alabama led Georgia 30-7 at halftime on Sept. 28, but a furious second-half comeback found Georgia leading the Tide 34-30 with less than 3 minutes to play. Enter Ryan Williams, Alabama’s transcendent 17-year-old true freshman wide receiver, who twisted to catch a Jalen Milroe pass and made two Georgia defenders collide with each other for a 75-yard score. Hollywood, indeed.

4. Pig out!

https://twitter.com/espn/status/1842767192619639166

The goods: Arkansas was a 14.5-point home dog on Oct. 5 when No. 4 Tennessee came to Fayetteville, but no one told Sam Pittman’s bunch it wasn’t good enough to win. Despite a 14-3 3rd-quarter deficit, the Razorbacks rallied to stun the Vols 19-14 behind backup quarterback Malachi Singleton’s 11-yard touchdown run with 1:17 to play. Paired with Vandy taking down Alabama, it was the first time 2 top-5 teams were defeated by unranked opponents on the same day since Oct. 30, 2004.

3. Cats don’t fumble second chance

The goods: Just 2 weeks after Kentucky coughed up a huge chance to take down No. 1 Georgia, the Wildcats went to Ole Miss as a 15.5-point underdog and upset No. 6 Ole Miss 20-17. Perhaps the lone bright spot for Mark Stoops’ Wildcats all season, Kentucky was lucky that tight end Josh Kattus fell on a fumble at the goal line for the go-ahead score late in the 4th quarter. And when Caden Davis’ 48-yard field goal to tie it hooked wide left, Kentucky escaped with a signature win.

2. 8 overtimes!

The goods: Through all the tumult of losing in Tuscaloosa and again in the rain in Oxford, Georgia needed not only a 4th-quarter comeback against Georgia Tech on Nov. 29 but a multi-overtime session for all time. The Bulldogs and Yellow Jackets traded touchdowns, 2-point conversions and gritty defense over 8 OTs before Georgia running back Nate Frazier’s final 3-yard run made it 44-42. Georgia trailed Georgia Tech 17-0 at halftime before rallying for 21 points in the final 15 minutes to tie it up.

1. 1 is done in Nashville

The goods: A week after taking down Georgia, top-ranked Alabama waltzed into Nashville to take on lightly regarded Vanderbilt on Oct. 5. What happened was pure magic – as the 22.5-point underdog Commodores controlled the Crimson Tide from start to finish for a 40-35 victory. The upset was Vanderbilt’s first over a No. 1 team in school history, and the ‘Dores were actually 0-for-60 against top-5 programs. Vanderbilt students figured out how to celebrate quickly, tearing down a goalpost, parading it across town past bridal showers and honkytonks to deposit it in the Cumberland River.

David Wasson

An APSE national award-winning writer and editor, David Wasson has almost four decades of experience in the print journalism business in Florida and Alabama. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and several national magazines and websites. He also hosts Gulfshore Sports with David Wasson, weekdays from 3-5 pm across Southwest Florida and on FoxSportsFM.com. His Twitter handle: @JustDWasson.

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