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The SEC slate moved into its second month with a series of games that either proved very little or proved a great deal about dividing the wheat from the chaff of the conference.
Nevertheless, whether your fifth week was the equivalent of having gym class and shop all week, or was more like quantum physics, everybody gets a grade card. As per our tradition, we’ll give each team a grade and then pick a couple of teams for hall passes (good work) or detention (bad work) on offense, defense, special teams, and coaching.
Overall grades
SEC West
LSU: A
It’s funny how you run off Cam Cameron and the entire vibe around the program changes. Even without Leonard Fournette, LSU made a statement Saturday night, and that statement was: “We ain’t dead yet.”
Alabama: B+
The Tide had some minor execution issues against Kentucky … but even Nick Saban can struggle to keep his players focused against the Kent States and Kentuckys of the world. The guess here is that Alabama’s true colors will show in the next three games, each of which looks harder than the one before.
Arkansas: B+
Hard to give a team an A for destroying a team that it should destroy (see Alabama above). Arkansas was sharp offensively, running and passing at will, but did give up over 300 yards to Alcorn State, which is a little disconcerting.
Auburn: B+
See the two above: 688 yards of offense is awesome, but it’s fascinating how Gus Malzahn’s system looks like a juggernaut against inferior talent, but settles quickly to earth against a quality opponent. Next week’s game at Mississippi State is critical for Auburn’s season — and possibly for Malzahn’s job.
Texas A&M: B
It wasn’t always pretty for A&M, but they held serve on the road, dealt with a down game, and remained perfect with a big matchup with Tennessee pending next week. Early word for Kevin Sumlin — don’t let up if Tennessee falls behind!
Ole Miss: B-
Sure, they won by 20 against a decent Memphis team. But Ole Miss was gashed for 355 yards passing, and 474 yards overall. They very much feel like a team that will battle Arkansas for third in the West.
Mississippi State: Incomplete
Playing hooky this week.
SEC East
Tennessee: A
Some people are going to wonder how I gave B+ grades to teams that crushed people Saturday and gave an A to a Tennessee team that played like they were hiding a leprechaun in their nether regions. Actually, that is exactly it. To win that game, on the road, in that fashion, is perhaps the final statement that production and grades aside, maybe it’s just Tennessee’s year.
South Carolina: B-
Sure, they lost. But after a disappointing loss last week at Kentucky, Carolina could have come in, buried their heads, and lost by 40. Instead, they gave A&M all they could handle, and showed character and the ability to develop for the remainder of the season.
Florida: B-
A quick start against Tennessee aside, Florida looks completely punchless without Luke Del Rio at quarterback. Gaining just 236 yards at Vandy was near embarrassing. Fortunately, the defense showed up and won the game. But the offense will need to get more than 13 points most weeks.
Georgia: B-
Honestly, they played well enough to win, and considering how lost they were last week at Ole Miss, that’s almost a moral victory. As a first year coach, Kirby Smart can stand up and say he is sick over this game. The key is making sure that his team is sick too, so that they can finish second in the East and hold serve over the rest of the year.
Kentucky: C-
Sure, Kentucky’s offense was fairly pathetic, and the defense got gashed at times. But on a week in which Vegas was heavy with funds bet on Alabama covering a -35.5 spread, Kentucky lost by 28. Unlike the Florida game, Kentucky did keep plugging and make some occasional plays on Alabama. Next week against Vandy is huge for both teams.
Vanderbilt: D+
D is for defense, which, along with Ralph Webb, is all that Vandy has. If only the Commodores could put together a faint hint of a passing game, Webb might average 200 yards per week. But seriously, if you told Vandy fans they would hold Florida to 236 yards and 13 points and Webb would have 110 yards rushing, they’d have expected a win. They forgot that their QB play is depressing.
Missouri: D-
It was a chance to make a statement — a statement that Mizzou is for real, that LSU was a wounded bear looking for a place to die. Instead, the statement was that the bajillion yards per game passing against Eastern Michigan and Delaware State really doesn’t mean anything. The Tigers get a bye week and then an interesting matchup at Florida.
Offense
Hall Pass
LSU: After getting less with more all year, Danny Etling outpassed Drew Lock, and the Fournette-less Tigers still ran at will.
Tennessee: It wasn’t always pretty, but the offense dialed up the biggest play of the weekend.
Detention
Missouri: The vaunted passing game was exposed by LSU.
Vanderbilt: Shurmur and Freebeck absolutely wasted a great effort from their defense.
Defense
Hall Pass
South Carolina: Sure, they lost, but Will Muschamp’s defense took one of the most high-octane teams in the SEC out of their game plan. That should count for something.
Alabama: Granted, Kentucky isn’t the early ’90s Buffalo Bills, but holding any SEC team out of the end zone (and reaching the end zone defensively yourself) deserves a reward.
Detention
Georgia: They should write on the blackboard 10,000,000 times, “I will not get beat on a Hail Mary.”
Tennessee: Same assignment. It was thrilling football, but defensive coaches everywhere had heart attacks.
Special Teams
Hall Pass
Florida: Good work by Eddy Piniero and the rest of the special teams unit. When your offense is going to bog down this hard, special teams better be sharp.
Detention
Vanderbilt: Punter Sam Loy completely mishandled a snap that could have cost Vandy the game. Instead, the offense cost them the game.
Coaching
Hall Pass
Tennessee: Was that luck? Sure. But you make your own luck over the course of a season. The play was luck, but what Tennessee does with it will be skill.
LSU: The entire Tiger program looked like it received a giant breath of fresh air. The credit starts at the top.
Detention
Georgia: You just can’t give up that play. You can’t do it.
Missouri: Flat, flat performance by a mediocre Tigers team.
Joe Cox is a columnist for Saturday Down South. He has also written or assisted in writing five books, and his most recent, Almost Perfect (a study of baseball pitchers’ near-miss attempts at perfect games), is available on Amazon or at many local bookstores.
