It's Only SEC (but I like it....)
GEORGE SOMERVILLE – THE TOUCHDOWN SEC CORRESPONDENT
week 6
Well folks we are five weeks into the SEC football season already and things are starting to take shape. Those teams on fire are building momentum and those with a slow start are running out of time!
This last week Alabama head coach, Kalen DeBoer, began his SEC football career defeating Georgia in what was a barn busting, rootin’ tootin’ shoot out of a game. But, more of that later. Elsewhere the Ole Miss Rebels were SHOOK by the Wildcats of Kentucky in a defeat that few saw coming.
Week six of SEC football sees the Deep South’s oldest rivalry resume when Georgia has the chance to redeem themselves against a struggling Auburn.
The Tennessee Vols continue to roll on, a little under the radar, and face an Arkansas team that is better than their results suggest.
Yet again, we have lots to talk about all that has been happening across the conference.
So, welcome y’all to our weekly round-up of life in the Southeastern Conference.
Here are this week’s headlines….let’s get started!
this weeks sec headlines
Awards all around at Bama
Tuscaloosa, Alabama
I wrote earlier in the week about the game of the year in Tuscaloosa last weekend, with the Crimson Tide outshooting the Georgia Bulldogs. You can read the piece called ‘A Game for the Ages’ here.
This was indeed a game for the ages with Kalen DeBoer and his players showered with praise for their 41-34 win ever since.
This week, however, it wasn’t just praise that the team received. The Crimson Tide picked up a number of SEC awards following their impressive showing at Saban Field.
Individual awards
Firstly, Jalen Milroe was named SEC Offensive Player of the Week following his career best showing. On Saturday, Milroe finished the game with 491 total yards (27 of 33 for 374 passing yards, 16 carries for 117 yards), two passing touchdowns and two rushing touchdowns. What this performance also did for Milroe was to propel him to the top of Heisman projection boards with many saying that the Georgia game was Milroe’s “Heisman” moment.
Next up was wunderkind Ryan Williams who was voted SEC Freshman of the Week, which might have been the biggest no brainer of all time. Williams scored the deciding touchdown in the game for 75 yards which contributed to his 6 catches for total 177 yards for the game. This was Williams’ welcome to the SEC moment.
Bama #1
Perhaps, however, the biggest prize from the week was the release of this week’s AP Top 25 College Football poll which had the Tide ranked at #1.
The Georgia game was Kalen DeBoer’s first SEC game and to record his first win against the Georgia Bulldogs was quite an achievement and also a statement of intent. Ahead of the new season few outside of Tuscaloosa had Alabama breaking the Georgia and Texas power duo. So this was quite the ringing endorsement of the job DeBoer and his staff are doing since their arrival in January. Is DeBoer getting carried away? No he is not. About as Saban-esque as you would get, DeBoer is focused on the long game.
“Yeah, I mean, we haven’t talked about it one single time here as a team, we really haven’t,” said DeBoer in response to a question about becoming ranked #1.
“We know that what’s most important is where we’re at, at the end. And, you know, as far as it goes for these guys, you know, the most important game is the next one, and we keep winning, it will all take care of itself. So that’s what the focus is. That’s where our attention is. And the guys really they get that because they’ve been through it before, and they understand it’s a long season.”
Next up for Alabama is an in-form Vanderbilt in Nashville. Throughout the Mal Moore facility all week have been strategically placed rat traps. A subtle reminder to everyone on the Crimson Tide that the job isn’t close to being done.
Oldest rivalry in the SEC resumes
Auburn, AL
The Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry flips another chapter this weekend when Georgia welcomes the Auburn Tigers.
This game was first played in 1892 and has been played 128 times in the period since. It is the SEC’s oldest rivalry game and sits tied second with North Carolina and Virgina for games played, lagging behind only the Michigan v Minnesota “little brown jug” rivaly game which has been played the most over the course of college football history.
The very first meeting between the two was played on February 20, 1892, in Piedmont Park in Atlanta. It was the brainchild of Charles Henry of Georgia and George Petrie of Auburn who were the founders and first head coaches of their respective university’s football teams. Auburn won the game 10–0.
The teams have played every year since, with the exceptions of pauses during the two World Wars and in 1992, when the SEC split into the East and West divisions. While Georgia is on a dominant run of wins, the series was tied as recently as 2014 and remains a highly competitive rivalry game on the schedule.
During this week’s SEC head coaches teleconference, Georgia head coach, Kirby Smart bemoaned the lack of historical awareness that the current crop of kids has:
“We had coaches that told us the history of every game. I knew them because I grew up in a football family and loved football. All I did was football, but that’s not what these kids do today”.
Smart continued, “I don’t think these kids know as much. I mean, they don’t watch football, a lot of them. They got more attention options. They’re going to be on their phone looking at social media and doing whatever. They’re not going to watch. It’s just not what they do anymore. So, I think it’s important to make sure they understand.”
No panic in Oxford
Oxford, MS
Defeat to the Ole Miss Rebels by the Kentucky Wildcats moved Lane Kiffin’s team to 4-1, but also saw them fall outside of the AP Top 10 for the first time this season. In fact, while the AP poll is an unofficial view on college football rankings it does guide us as to where the CFB Playoff Committee may view teams’ performances when the first official rankings are released on November 5th.
The AP poll this week sees the Rebels fall 6 places to 12th, leaving them placed precariously to secure a play off spot. And let’s be honest, most of us had Ole Miss not only one of the 12 teams making it to the extended Playoff but a team who could legitimately challenge for a National Championship this season.
So, while a defeat to Kentucky, unexpected as it was, does not end the Rebels hopes of a playoff, it lands the pressure on the team to continue undefeated for the rest of the regular season.
However, with visits to South Carolina, LSU, Gainesville and Arkansas still to come, along with home games against Oklahoma, Georgia and the Egg Bowl game against State, the order is tall.
There was no panic from Kiffin immediately after the game as he knows this was a tight one which could have gone either way. The Rebels had a 48-yard field goal attempt to save the game which they missed leaving the Wildcats victors.
“I’m not going to overreact in a loss like I don’t overreact in a tight win,” Kiffin said in the post game press conference.
“All of a sudden, our program isn’t terrible, just like when (our opponent) misses a field goal or doesn’t get a two-point conversion at the end of a game, I don’t tell you we have all the answers,” Kiffin continued.
Rebels QB Jaxson Dart added to what his head coach said about this not being the end. “You can’t blink,” Dart said. “We have a lot more opportunities. One game is not going to define the year, but at the same time you better make the most of the rest of your opportunities.”
“You can look at it two ways: you can just quit, or you can take it on the chin and we’re on the ground right now, you either stay down or get up.”
There is no room to breathe for Ole Miss now. Saturday’s game sees them on the road to play South Carolina, a team that have built some momentum. Bryce Williams stadium and the Sandstorm will provide quite a challenge for Kiffin and his team. The only bonus being that the game is an afternoon kickoff rather than a nighttime Sandstorm.
drinkwitz eyes Florida job?
Columbia, Missouri
I try my hardest not to introduce message board gossip onto these pages. But, something caught my ear during the Paul Finebaum show when Georgia beat writer, Mike Griffith, dropped a comment about Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz being interested in the Florida job.
So let’s be clear. At this stage the Florida head coaching role is not up for grabs. Yet. However, what we do know is that Gators head coach Billy Napier is coaching on very thin ice.
Thankfully the Gators are coming off a bye week which has taken some of the immediate pressure from Napier. However, he faces UCF and that wily old fox of a head coach, Gus Malzahn. So if Gator fans see this as a can win game and, in reality, it is a must win game – there is every chance that the Gators don’t get out of the Swamp with a win, again. In fact, such is the sad state of affairs in Gainesville that Florida is the underdog against UCF IN THE SWAMP!
Anyhoo, I digress. the story here is that Drinkwitz might be leveraging his success with the Mizzou Tigers to get a higher profile job in the SEC. And that higher profile job might just be at Florida.
The truth of the matter is that Coach Drink has done a sensational job since joining the Tigers from his previous role at App State. He has taken Missouri from being also rans and had it not been for a very lacklustre Vanderbilt, the laughing stock of the SEC to becoming a top ten ranked team. Drink’s recruiting and talent management has been outstanding and has not gone unnoticed by the larger program’s. Drink now exudes CEO rather than head coach, giving schools who don’t have that type of individual at the helm, cause to sit up and notice. And this is where perhaps, just maybe, Florida comes calling. Arguably Florida hasn’t had such an individual in charge since Urban Meyer and before that Steve Spurrier.
But let’s be honest, if its not to be Florida, then it will be another big school. Missouri fans won’t thank me for this, but this is how the wheels turn.
Tennessee to support Hurricane victims
Knoxville, TN
In last week’s column I wished those in the South Eastern states safety and security once Hurricane Helene hit land. Sadly, a number of communities, especially in the Carolinas and Tennessee were severely impacted by the storm. And what I really mean by this is, entire communities being washed away by water surges and high winds. The damage and devastation is truly shocking with the death toll rising daily.
On Saturday the Tennessee Vols players will wear helmet decals that honour victims of Hurricane Helene for the Vols trip to Arkansas. Vols coach Josh Heupel said during his weekly radio show that the Vols senior leadership council came up with the idea to draw attention to the major storm that claimed multiple lives and impacted thousands living in eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina last week.
“With the weather that came to this region, I wanted to convey our thoughts and prayers to everybody that is dealing with the loss of power and the loss of loved ones,” Huepel said during this week’s SEC head coaches teleconference.
“So much damage was created in this footprint. Our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone. We hope everybody gets back to normal as quickly as possible.”
If you want to know how you can help the victims in those states from here in the UK, you can donate via the Red Cross who are involved in providing aid and assistance to the affected regions.
Week 6 SEC football schedule
GEORGE SOMERVILLE
COLLEGE FOOTBALL WRITER
GEORGE IS A LONG STANDING FANATIC OF LIFE AND FOOTBALL IN THE DEEP SOUTH AND WRITES HIS WEEKLY COLUMN CALLED “IT’S ONLY SEC” FOR THE TOUCHDOWN. HE IS ALSO CO-HOST AND ONE THIRD OF THE COLLEGE CHAPS PODCAST, THE UK’S FIRST PODCAST DEDICATED TO THE COLLEGE GAME.