It's Only SEC (but I like it....)
GEORGE SOMERVILLE – THE TOUCHDOWN SEC CORRESPONDENT
week 6
With week six of SEC football is upon us we are now closing in on the half way point in the 2025/26 season! Time flies when you are having so much fun.
The pace & pressure in SEC football never relents and this week we saw our first casualty of the season when Arkansas parted ways with Sam Pittman.
Yet despite this sad news, we still have five SEC football teams undefeated albeit not the five you might think – Ole Miss, Missouri, Vanderbilt< Oklahoma and Texas A&M are kings of the hill at this stage.
This week The Touchdown spoke with the Head coaches of two of those undefeated teams – Vanderbilt and Ole Miss.
Which gives us plenty to talk about!
So it’s time to catch up on what’s been happening in and around the conference! Yup, it’s time for some “It’s Only SEC”….
Here’s what’s going on in SEC football country!
this weeks sec Stories
Pittman gone
Fayetteville, AR
People in Arkansas were looking forward to the visit of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Saturday. It was the first time that the Hogs and Irish had ever met in their long histories.
Before the end of the first quarter and certainly by half time Razorbacks fans were wishing they had never seen those golden dome helmets run out onto the field. A 42-13 half time mauling turned into a 56-13 routing of the Razorbacks. With all of the pressure already on the Head coaches shoulders, the writing was on the wall for Sam Pittman.
Pittman out, Petrino in
And so it was by Sunday the news out of Fayetteville that Sam Pittman was no longer the Head coach of the Razorbacks.
Arkansas AD Hunter Yurachek said,
“I want to thank Coach Pittman for his service and dedication to the University of Arkansas throughout his time as head coach,” Yurachek said.
“From Day 1, you could tell how much this opportunity meant to him. At this time, however, I feel a change is necessary to put our student-athletes and program in the best position to be successful. The goal for our football program is to be highly competitive within the Southeastern Conference and compete for a national championship.
As we move forward in the process of finding our next head coach, I am certain we will be able to provide the necessary resources to our staff and team to reach our goals.
We will begin a national search for our next head coach immediately and that search will include Coach Petrino, who has expressed his desire to be a candidate for the full-time job.”
As you can read from Yurachek’s statement, Offensive co-ordinator Bobby Petrino has assumed the role of Head coach on a temporary basis. For those with long memories you will recall that Petrino held the Head coach position at Arkansas from 2008 to 2011. He left in 2011 under a cloud, in scandal after he was found to have covered up an extra marital affair with an athletic department colleague. Pictures from Petrino’s press conference back then became unforgettable images of his spectacular end.
ready made replacement?
But moving to 2025, it was no great surprise that Petrino was to take over the job on an interim basis from Pittman.
It had been reported widely that Petrino was making noises behind the scenes to move into the role should Arakansas move on from Big Sam.
Indeed, SEC Network’s Peter Burns has talked this week about Boosters at Arkansas keen to have Petrino’s position made permanent.
Yurachek’s statement specifically makes comment about Petrino’s ambitions but says that their hunt for a new Head coach will be nationwide.
Early process names linked to the role include SMU’s Rhett Lashlee, USF’s Alex Golash, Tulane’s Jon Sumrall, Jeff Taylor at UTSA and Collin Klein who is the offensive co-ordinator at Texas A&M.
Bobby Petrino has thrown his ha into the ring and ex NFL Head coach Jon Gruden has also expressed is desire to coach in the SEC, although those two candidates would appear to be less progressive.
Interesting times in Arkansas where fans & boosters expectations are always unrealistically high.
Watch this space.
Arch on the road
Gainesville, FL
We have been talking about Arch Manning for what seems like years. However Saturday marks Manning’s first start on the road of his career. And where better to make your road debut than the Swamp in Gainseville!
This is where the season gets very serious for Texas. Saturday kickstarts a run of eight consecutive SEC games which will underline the Texas CFP challenge or derail the Arch Manning Heisman 2025 campaign.
“Everybody better buckle up”said Longhorns Head coach, Steve Sarkisian this week.
Manning’s performances thus far have captured the headlines for all the wrong reasons but his Head coach has sympathy for the young QB from Louisiana. This week Sarkisian compared the spotlight on Manning to back when the Texas Head coach was a QB at BYU. And things have changed.
“the two biggest things that happened to me were USA Today wrote an article about me and I was on the cover of the TV guide” said Coach Sark.
“things have changed little bit for what Arch is going through, comparatively”
However the reality is that Manning will need to lead the Longhorns on a run that ends in the National Championship game in January. To do that he needs to do what the other Manning family members have struggled to do. While grandfather Archie did not face off against the Gators during his time in Oxford, uncles Peyton and Eli only managed two victories out of five against Florida.
So Arch needs to buck that trend and turns his and his teams fortunes around.
Buckle up!
Vandy no longer the underdogs
Nashville, TN
I have talked a few times on these pages about the job that Clark Lea has done as the Head coach of the Vanderbilt Commodores.
This time last year (give or take a few days), the Commodores shocked the college football world by beating the Alabama Crimson Tide for the first time in their history.
Vandy continues to go from strength to strength under Lea and this week faces the return fixture when they travel to Tuscaloosa and the Crimson Tide.
However the days of Vanderbilt being treated as the underdogs are gone for the moment.
In 2025, this Vanderbilt football team are 5-0 going to Tuscaloosa. To put this into some kind of perspective Vandy was last 5-0 back in 1982. And with the Commodores shock win over the Crimson Tide last season, Clark Lea is embarking on a back to back season double over Alabama that has seldom been done.
I spoke to the Vanderbilt Head coach this week about the change in mindset that his team has undertaken from being underdogs to 5-0 and on the verge of creating Vanderbilt history.
“the mindset shift happens before the results” said Lea.
“this started last winter where I really felt that was having to do less convincing the team of what we were capable of….when Diego (Pavia) got into that locker room that helped – it was just capturing hearts and minds”.
Clark Lea has preached strong teamwork throughout his time In Nashville and he is now seeing the benefits of this strategy, his team’s mantra as he calls it.
“This thing is not built in a season, its built in January, through winter, spring and in the summer training camp” continued Lea.
“and so we’ve grown closer, we’re more connected – we return a lot of the lessons from a year ago and these guys have leverage all of those things into this point with dominant performances. That’s become our mantra and our mindset around here is about us and about how we play. We have the ability to dictate terms on the field – we worry less about who we’re playing and where we’re playing”.
When Clark Lea said at SEC Media Days back in 2022 that he wanted to make Vanderbilt the best football program in the country, people scoffed.
They ain’t laughing now.
Can the Rebs defense win championships?
Oxford, MS
When you think of Ole Miss football you invariably think of a high tempo, trixy offense. And rightly so. It is the trademark of Rebels Head coach, Lane Kiffin.
In contrast, for so long, the Rebels defense has been lamented. Sure, the Rebs can score but they leaks points on defense. Until now.
Defensive coordinator Pete Golding switched across to Oxford from Tuscaloosa last season. It’s unfair to say that Golding was run out of town – he left of his own accord but a percentage of the Alabama fanbase did not like the direction that the defense was taking.
We could debate the merits of that argument but one thing is clear. Golding has transformed the Rebels defense and is revelling in his new position with Ole Miss.
Golding makes a difference
In 2024, the Rebels’ defense was ranked No. 1 nationally in rush yards allowed per game (80.5 yards per game) and No. 2 in scoring defense.
“Last year we played great defense (and were) one of the top rush defenses in the last 10 years of college football” Coach Kiffin told me when we spoke during the SEC Head coaches teleconference this week.
The defense continues to operate at a high level but with losing a number of players to the NFL – the defense only had four starters returning, the numbers haven’t looked quite as good in five games so far.
“We’ve not played that way this year, and we’ve got a ton of new players. We lost a lot of NFL players and really good players. So, we’ve been up-and-down on defense this year, and we’ve got to keep improving because we’re going to have some really challenging games”.
While Kiffin strives for improvement and dare I say it perfection the Rebels are again being talked about as CFB Playoff hopefuls and some of that conversation is about their defensive play.
To date the Rebels are undefeated and ranked #4 in this week’s AP Poll.
defense wins championships
With the Rebels on a bye this week Kiffin and his staff will look to further improve on defense. However despite all of that Kiffin had time to praise Golding for the job he has done.
“Pete Golding has done a wonderful job. We’ve come a long ways from where we were defensively before he got here” Kiffin told me.
Next up for Kiffin and the Rebels after the bye week is Washington State.
Week Six Schedule
Across the SEC
Here we find ourselves in October and at the half way point of the regular season. Week six sees 7 of the 16 SEC teams on bye weeks but that doesn’t stop some great games from appearing. SEC Nation will be in Gainesville when Texas visits Florida, an intriguing match up with Billy Napier’s job on the line.
Kentucky travels into Athens with Kirby Smart looking to avenge the defeat to Alabama. Kentucky have yet to register an SEC win this season.
Undoubtedly the big game of the weekend is Vanderbilt visiting Alabama in the return fixture from last seasons shock result when Vandy defeated the Crimson Tide.
Here are this week’s games, which feature SEC teams (all kick-off times are local time). Stats from SEC Media.
Week Six
(2024 Record)
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4
Kentucky (2-2, 0-2 SEC) at Georgia (3-1, 1-1 SEC)
Series: UGA leads, 64-12-2
Noon ET • ABC Last: UGA, 13-12 (2024 at Lexington)
Athens, Ga. • Dooley Field at Sanford Stadium (93,033)
Vanderbilt (5-0, 1-0 SEC) at Alabama (3-1, 1-0 SEC)
Series: UA leads, 61-20-4
2:30 p.m. CT • ABC Last: VU, 40-35 (2024 at Nashville)
Tuscaloosa, Ala. • Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium (100,077)
Texas (3-1, 0-0 SEC) at Florida (1-3, 0-1 SEC)
Series: TEX leads, 3-0-1
3:30 p.m. ET • ESPN
Last: TEX, 49-17 (2024 at Austin)
Gainesville, Fla. • Spurrier Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium (88,548)
Kent State (1-3) at Oklahoma (4-0, 1-0 SEC)
Series: OU leads, 1-0
3 p.m. CT • SEC Network
Norman, Okla. • Oklahoma Memorial Stadium (83,489)
Mississippi State (4-1, 0-1 SEC) at Texas A&M (4-0, 1-0 SEC)
Series: Tied, 9-9
6:30 p.m. CT • SEC Network Last: TAMU, 34-24 (2024 at Starkville)
Bryan – College Station, Texas • Kyle Field (102,733)
Open Date:
Arkansas (2-3, 0-1 SEC);
Auburn (3-2, 0-2 SEC);
LSU (4-1, 1-1 SEC);
Ole Miss (5-0, 3-0 SEC);
Missouri (5-0, 1-0 SEC);
South Carolina (3-2, 1-2 SEC);
Tennessee (4-1, 1-1 SEC).
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.