It's Only SEC (but I like it....)
GEORGE SOMERVILLE – THE TOUCHDOWN SEC CORRESPONDENT
week 14
The final week of the regular SEC football season is upon us! What? Yup, the season is nearing its end. Well, yes and no. In many ways, the season is just starting for twelve teams who are looking to win through the playoffs to end their season in Atlanta in mid-January.
It’s no surprise that this week’s news roundup is dominated by the fight to get to the SEC Football Championship game and to grab a coveted college football play-off spot.
And before we go much further, if last week (yes, seven days ago) you would have told me that South Carolina had a better chance of securing a playoff spot than Alabama or Ole Miss, well, you would have not only questioned my sanity but would have been looking to have me locked away. But yes, after the most chaotic of weekends, in a season of chaos, Alabama and Ole Miss choked badly enough to fall out of playoff contention.
However, before we get too far ahead of ourselves, the final week of the season finishes with a bang—yes, it’s rivalry week for SEC Football teams! It’s also Thanksgiving in the US, meaning some of these games are moved up to Thanksgiving and Black Friday, so we have the added bonus of an extended weekend of football!
This weekend, we have the Iron Bowl, the Egg Bowl, and the first Texas vs. Texas A&M game since 2010—the winner of which will meet Georgia in the SEC Football Championship game! YES! A week in the SEC is a long time.
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
Dawgs are Atlanta Bound
Athens, GA
Heading into last weekend’s games Georgia was not really being talked about as one of the teams likely to be in Atlanta to play for an SEC Football Championship. The heavy defeat by Ole Miss had all but put paid to this area.
But you will notice I carefully used the words ‘all but’ because a week is a long time in the SEC. As it turned out, the week 13 SEC slate was absolute chaos. Alabama’s and Ole Miss’s defeats ended the dreams of these teams, who were favourites to make the Playoffs and, in Alabama’s case, a trip to Atlanta.
So, with Texas A&M losing to Auburn in overtime and Alabama’s heavy defeat to the Sooners, Georgia booked its place in the SEC Championship game.
This is an amazing turnaround for Kirby Smart’s team, which has at times looked a shadow of their previous championship-winning selves.
Remember, this was already a one-loss Georgia team going into the game against Ole Miss, where they were soundly beaten by Lane Kiffin’s Rebels. The two-loss Bulldogs fell out of playoff contention, leaving Alabama favourites to make the conference championship game—if they won out, which they could not.
However, back to Georgia. As we know, head coach Kirby Smart will be fully focused on Friday’s rivalry game against Georgia State. However, Smart did speak briefly about his team’s achievements earlier this week.
“It’s a great honor to be able to play in the SEC Championhsip game” said Smart during his Monday press conference.
“It’s probably one of the greatest events in all of sports because of the matchups, but at this point we don’t even know who we are playing. So, right now we don’t really care. We have so many players that played in this state, it’s a big game and our sole focus.”
So, who will face Georgia in Atlanta? Well, this weekend’s matchup in College Station will determine who. Read on.
The Iron Bowl
Tuscaloosa, AL
If Kalen DeBoer wins on Saturday, he will secure his ninth win of the season. This would make DeBoer the winningest first-year Crimson Tide head coach since 1931. That’s the good news for Alabama fans. The bad news is that following what was a truly shocking 24-3 defeat by Oklahoma, the Crimson Tide won’t make it to Atlanta to play for the SEC Championships and, worse still, won’t be in the college football playoff. So, as much as a 9-win season puts the first-year Alabama coach in the record books, it’s not likely to buy him much empathy from the Tide’s fanbase.
“A loss would be cataclysmic,” said Finebaum midweek about the worst-case scenario for Kalen DeBoer should Auburn come away from Tuscaloosa with a win.
Yes, it’s the last week of the regular season and Thanksgiving, so it means it’s the Iron Bowl!
Auburn revival
Fortunes have flipped in recent weeks for the two Alabama teams. Only a couple of weeks ago, Auburn fans were baying for their head coach’s blood. It seemed Hugh Freeze was living on borrowed time on the Plains.
But here we are with Auburn fresh from an overtime win over the much fancied Aggies. Alabama football is on a real downer following defeats by Vanderbilt, Tennessee and now Oklahoma.
Bama remain favourites
Alabama opens as an 11.5-point favourite against the Tigers this weekend. Certainly, home advantage will be key for Alabama, whose fans will be out for blood against a team that they genuinely dislike. The feeling is mutual, with Auburn fans equally filled with hate for their cross-state rivals. Auburn fans would love to come away from T-Town with a win.
What will make Crimson Tide fans most nervous is the manner in which their team succumbed to the Sooners last Saturday. An almost complete nullification of the Bama offense was not anticipated by anyone frankly.
Auburn and, in particular, that wily ol’ fox Hugh Freeze will be on hand to take advantage of such a repetition by the Tide in one of the game’s most intense rivalries.
It’s rivalry week – It’s hate week – It’s the Iron Bowl. A win for either head coach is huge. But worse still, a defeat for either head coach is a disaster.
Failure is not an option.
The Egg Bowl
Oxford, MS
Like the Iron Bowl, the Egg Bowl is one of college football’s greatest rivalries. And this season, like the Iron Bowl, apart from pride, there isn’t a whole lot else to play for.
Ole Miss troubles
However, it is true that, bizarrely, the Rebels head coach, Lane Kiffin, finds himself under pressure—almost as much pressure as DeBoer finds himself under across in Tuscaloosa.
While this seems harsh, this was a season in which Ole Miss football had set itself up to win—win an SEC championship and, depending on how positive you are about the Rebels, at least challenge for a National Championship. Honestly, it seems sacrilege that neither Alabama nor Ole Miss made it into the inaugural 12-team playoff this year.
It is important that Kiffin ends the season with a bang. A defeat to Mississippi State would add insult to injury.
Starkville Struggles
But let’s talk about the Bulldogs and put Ole Miss’ misery into perspective. It has been a rough reason across the state in Starkville.
Let’s remember that this football team is still recovering from the loss of Mike Leach. The promotion of Zach Arnett to head coach didn’t work out, and Arnett was gone within the year. The current head coach, Jeff Lebby, was aggressively recruited from Oklahoma and came with a big reputation. But it has not been easy for Lebby and his staff. Much of this is down to the personnel that Lebby has at his disposal. Injuries, too, have been paralysing for this Bulldogs team. Although ironically, the injury to the season-starting quarterback Blake Shapen has led to State’s biggest success this year. Rising star Michael Van Buren has been one of the scarce rays of light in an otherwise gloomy season in Starkville. It is quickly becoming clear that Lebby needs to build around Van Buren, and if he can develop the young QB as he has done with others throughout his career, the future will be bright in Starkville.
However, this Bulldogs team is 2-9 for the season thus far and is winless in conference play. Mississippi State has inherited the role of bottom feeder that Vanderbilt has so spectacularly thrown to one side this season.
All of this means that there is much at stake for both head coaches in this Egg Bowl. A win for Kiffin is almost essential. A loss here for the Lane Train heaps a lot more pressure on him going into the bowl game. But you can see that a win here for Lebby is huge and a real springboard to recruiting for next season.
Grab the popcorn. This is going to be a doozie.
The winner takes it all
College Station, Tx
Texas hasn’t faced off against A&M since 2010. Prior to the Texas Aggies hot-footing it to the SEC from the BIG XII, this was a rootin’ tootin’ RIVALRY game! It’s true to say that no love is lost between the two schools, which seems an understatement.
So it’s fair to say that the reinstatement of this game is eagerly anticipated. Irrespective of the situation this game would have been anticipated by the fans.
However, as we now know, the winner of this game will play in the SEC championship game against Georgia. Additionally, with Texas ranked #3 and A&M ranked #20 in the Playoff rankings, there is much to play for this Saturday.
The game is being played at Kyle Field, which is huge for the Aggies. Currently, Texas has one defeat (to Georgia) on its schedule and arguably only two “signature” wins over Michigan and Oklahoma. A defeat for Texas wouldn’t knock them out of the playoff picture, but it would eliminate the chance to secure a bye through the first round and one advantage in the second.
A win for the Aggies would be a sensational turnaround for Mike Elko in his first year in charge in College Station. Remember, this was a team in turmoil after the sacking of Jimbo Fisher. Elko was already known to Aggies fans but wasn’t necessarily the star-studded hire they wanted. But it turns out he was the hire they needed, and an appearance in the conference championship game would be quite something.
touchdown Heading to the ATL
Atlanta, GA
While we don’t know exactly who will play in the SEC Championship game, we know three things. First, the game will be played at Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta next Saturday. Second, as you have already read, Georgia will be there. Third, they will meet the winners of the game between Texas and Texas A&M. This sets us up nicely for the conference’s season-end game, which is arguably the biggest game outside of the National Championship game itself.
So whether Georgia faces off against Texas or the Aggies, it’s going to be quite the event.
The SEC Championship game has been played since 1992 and has been played in Atlanta since 1994, first at the old Georgia Dome then to be replaced by Mercedes Benz stadium when it opened in 2017.
Ten of the sixteen SEC teams have played in the Championship game until this point. Unsurprisingly Texas and Oklahoma are two of those teams not to have played but to add some spice to Saturday’s game in College Station, nether have the Aggies. So whatever the outcome of Texas v Aggies there will be a new face in Atlanta for the Championship game.
And I am thrilled to say that I am going to be in Atlanta for the game. This is a first for me – not Mercedes Benz, I was there in 2019 to see the Falcons play the Saints – but this is most definitely my first Championship game!
And I can’t wait! So next weeks Its Only SEC will cover the build up to the big game. Please follow along at the Touchdown catch the build up and all the shenanigans that comes with a game of this magnitude.
Watch this space!
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.