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With Week 4 of college football action in the books, we decided to take a look at what the media buzz is around the nation regarding the SEC:
ZAC ELLIS & COLIN BECHT, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED
In his weekly Heisman Watch, Ellis has three SEC running backs in his top five to win the award if the season ended today. LSU’s Leonard Fournette tops the list after his career-high 244 yards rushing against Syracuse in Week 4 to go along with two touchdowns. Georgia’s Nick Chubb and Alabama’s Derrick Henry also appear on the list at No. 3 and 4, respectively.
Becht’s second of his three takeaways from Week 4 is that the SEC title race has narrowed because of some big wins and losses by teams in the conference. Becht points to the Oct. 31 meeting between Georgia and Florida as the matchup that could decide the SEC East this year. As far as the SEC West goes, Becht said the three teams at the top didn’t help their cause in Week 4 but didn’t hurt it either.
Becht writes:
“The SEC West’s three undefeated teams all encountered closer-than-expected games, but all three ultimately got the wins critical to maintain their statuses atop the toughest division in the country. Ole Miss led Vanderbilt by just four midway through the fourth quarter before pulling away 27–16. Syracuse pushed LSU until a 10-point run in the fourth quarter gave the Tigers a comfortable margin. And Texas A&M needed a late touchdown to force overtime with Arkansas before prevailing. Still none of them gave the window to the rest of the division a loss would have provided, even if they didn’t boost their playoff résumés.”
STEWART MANDEL, FOX SPORTS
Mandel writes that Georgia’s upcoming Week 5 meeting with Alabama is the biggest game in Athens since another meeting with the Crimson Tide seven years ago that the Bulldogs would like to forget. Mandel adds that Georgia might be able to dominate an average SEC East, but a win this week against Alabama is the kind of spark that could propel the Bulldogs to a special season.
“Georgia is clearly the class of this year’s mediocre SEC East, and with annual crossover opponent Auburn reeling, the opportunity is there for that truly special season that’s thus far eluded Richt. But that’s got to start with winning a big game in which he’s favored.”
CHIP PATTERSON, CBS SPORTS
CBS Sports ranks all 128 FBS teams each week, and this week, Patterson has five SEC teams in his top 15–Ole Miss, Georgia, LSU, Alabama and Texas A&M. While the conference is clearly doing well in the eyes of Patterson, Auburn and Missouri are among his ‘Fallers’ after their Week 4 losses.
Patterson writes:
“While the SEC has seen teams like Arkansas, Missouri and Tennessee moving down the rankings, the league has a strong representation up top with five of the top 15 teams in the 128.”
DEREK TYSON, ESPN
Tyson recaps the biggest recruiting visits from Week 4 around the SEC. Florida, Kentucky, Ole Miss and Auburn all had top high school players on campus over the weekend. All of them except the Tigers treated their visitors to a win. Tyson also shares some of the social media posts that the recruits shared while on their unofficial campus visits.
DAN WOLKEN, USA TODAY SPORTS
Wolken breaks down the coaching snafus of Tennessee’s Butch Jones in the Volunteers’ Week 4 loss to Florida. Wolken, along with several other media outlets, flat out blame Jones and his coaching mistakes for Tennessee’s 1-point loss to its SEC East rival.
Wolken writes:
“Two critical mistakes on the sidelines cost Tennessee this game.
Leading 20-7 and fully in control in the third quarter, it appeared the Volunteers held Florida to a field goal attempt on fourth-and-6 from the 25-yard line. But Jones, seemingly afraid of a fake, called timeout before Florida got the kick off. That gave Gators coach Jim McElwian enough time to reconsider; Florida went for the fourth down, got it, then scored a touchdown and stole four points thanks to Jones’ timeout.
Then when Tennessee scored with roughly 10 minutes left to increase the lead to 26-14, the obvious decision would have been to go for a 2-point conversion. With that little time left in the game, there is absolutely no difference between leading by 12 or 13 points. You go for two and try to take a 14-point lead. It’s a no-brainer.
But for some reason, Jones kicked the extra point. And it came back to haunt him, big-time.”
Pat Donohue is a contributing writer for Saturday Down South. He covers Ole Miss and Mississippi State. Follow him on Twitter @SportsDownPat.
