It's Only SEC (but I like it....)
GEORGE SOMERVILLE – THE TOUCHDOWN SEC CORRESPONDENT
week 7
This week, the seventh week of the SEC football schedule marks the halfway point of the season. This means that we are well and truly in the midst of SEC conference games, and the excitement is reaching fever pitch. And what a schedule of SEC football we have this week. It’s Red River – the greatest game in college football, Texas Head Coach Steve Sarkisian would have us believe. It’s also the 130th game in the series, titled the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry, when Georgia charges into Jordan-Hare Stadium to meet Auburn.
But it’s not all about the old and traditional in SEC football this week! Ole Miss will play Washington State for the first time when they meet in Oxford this weekend.
So, as you can imagine, there is a lot to talk about this week in and around SEC football.
Which means that it’s time to catch up on what’s been happening! Yup, it’s time for some “It’s Only SEC”….
Here’s what’s going on in SEC football!
this weeks sec Stories
It's Red river time
Cotton Bowl, Dallas, TX
Week 7 brings us one of, if not the biggest, game on the SEC schedule. Yup, this week it’s the Texas State Fair, which means cotton candy, funnel cake, virtually any food fried and of course, the centrepiece – The Red River Showdown.
On Saturday, 91,000 people will pack into the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas, to see the Texas Longhorns take on the Oklahoma Sooners.
While every Red River game is eagerly anticipated, this week’s game seems to have some spice to it.
Crisis in Austin?
However, Texas has not got off to the start they hoped for or expected. The Longhorns’ offense is just not clicking, and with last weekend’s surprise defeat to Florida, Texas desperately needs to find a new gear.
Longhorns Head Coach Steve Sarkisian has protected his offensive unit, especially QB Arch Manning; however, the pressure is building at an alarming rate for Texas.
Meanwhile, Oklahoma have its own offensive woes, too, with the injury to star QB John Mateer. However, the Oklahoma defense is now looking like a Brent Venables-designed defensive unit and is firing on all cylinders.
QB troubles
There is no question that the headline stories have to do with both starting QBs. The situation with Mateer is clearer – he has proven himself, although currently unfit.
The criticism of Manning has been fierce and somewhat unjustified, primarily because of his surname.
Longhorns Head coach Sarkisian has called the expectations on Manning “out of control,” and he has a valid point.
Rightly or wrongly, Manning was crowned by many the Heisman winner 6 months ahead of the ceremony in New York. So, unless he was going to win every game by 70 points, he was never going to live up to expectations.
Manning mania
But has Manning been, as some would crown him, “the biggest bust in college football”….(tut tut “The Athletic”, I expected more from you. Well, maybe not).
Well no. ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg wrote a far more balanced piece on the young Manning this week. Here are some stats from Adam’s piece.
“Now, there’s something to truly judge. Through five games, Manning has completed 60% of his passes for 1,158 yards with 11 touchdowns and five interceptions, while adding a team-high 160 rushing yards and five touchdowns for a ground game that ranks 55th nationally in rushing”.
Those stats compare very favourably with the Sooners, John Mateer, who was rightly being touted as a Heisman favourite.
However, the statistics alone don’t provide a comprehensive overview. Manning has had rough patches, but as SEC Network Analyst Alyssa Lang spoke about with The College Chaps podcast this week, Arch hasn’t had the same protection as Quinn Ewers had last year.
“it is a reminder that you cannot lose three offensive linemen to the NFL and expect to pick up right where you left off” said Alyssa.
“The development and depth that Texas had in the trenches last year was a big reason why they were successful in year one in the SEC and we haven’t necessarily seen Arch get the type of protection that we saw the quarterback – whoever it was last year – get throughout the 2024 season”.
Mateer returns for red river?
Norman, OK
When it was reported that John Mateer had broken a finger on his throwing hand, there was widespread disbelief. Mateer was playing great football, and the Sooners were flying high. So much so that Mateer was being tipped as an early Heisman frontrunner. Then the injury happened.
Such was the interest in Mateer’s injury that when the surgery was completed, the surgeon responsible posted its success on a Sooner’s message board. But even then, the recovery time was around one month. That was two weeks ago.
However, a report by ESPN’s Pete Thamel has given Sooners fans hope that Mateer might return on Saturday for the Red River.
Per Thamel “Mateer’s surgery on a broken bone in his right (throwing) hand took place nearly two weeks ago. Him playing against Texas would dovetail with the most optimistic return timelines, as he’d be 17 days out of surgery”.
Timeline to recovery
Things have moved quickly this week since that news broke.
By Wednesday of this week, there was widespread speculation that Mateer was winning the race to make it to the game at the Cotton Bowl. Sooners Head coach, Brent Venables, had been defiant early in the week that they were going to start the game with backup QB Michael Hawkins. However, by midweek, Venables was being a little more cagey. Asked about Mateer’s expected status on the eligibility report published Wednesday evening, Venables said,
“it will come out tonight and everyone will get it at the same time”.
On Wednesday’s availability report, Mateer was listed as questionable.
However, by Thursday’s report, Mateer had been upgraded to probable. Wow!
What this indeed resulted in was Steve Sarkisian and his Texas coaching staff having to prepare for the likelihood that both Mateer and Hawkins could play.
“We’ll plan for Mateer, you have to,” said Sarkisian earlier in the week. “He’s a dynamic player, he’s the heartbeat of that offense for sure, everything goes through him.”
When will we know for sure? Probably not until we see if he makes the warm-ups. However, it certainly seems that this is a race against time, and Mateer appears to be winning. But let’s not beat about the bush. If Mateer plays on Saturday, it will have been only 17 days since the surgeon repaired the broken bone in his hand. Isn’t modern medicine a marvel!
Gamecocks horror schedule
Columba, SC
We may still be a few weeks away from Halloween; however, South Carolina Head coach Shane Beamer is having nightmares about his team’s fall schedule this year.
On Saturday, the Gamecocks face off against LSU in Tiger Stadium. Daunting.
But that’s just the beginning of a horror five-game SEC run. After LSU, the Gamecocks host Oklahoma at home, then Alabama also at Williams-Brice Stadium, Ole Miss on the road and then Texas A&M in Columbia – all by November 15th. And if you hadn’t worked it out, those five opponents are all currently ranked in the top 11 of the AP college football poll.
This is something of an understatement, but we will undoubtedly know of South Carolina’s playoff ambitions by November 15th!
Beamer, as you might expect, is facing the challenge head-on.
“If you don’t wanna play that schedule,” USC coach Shane Beamer said Tuesday, “I told our players, y’all chose the wrong conference to come play in. You should have gone playing to play in another conference.”
Beamer went on with the message he had given his players.
“So don’t tell me in recruiting, when we brought you in the portal that you want to compete and you want to play against the best in the SEC and all of a sudden, shy away from it,” Beamer said. “There’s plenty of other conferences that don’t play ranked teams every single week.”
So Beamer has thrown the gauntlet to his team. LSU is the first step in this schedule, which will determine whether South Carolina improves upon last year’s 9-4 record, where they narrowly missed out on a playoff berth.
Deep South's oldest rivalry
Auburn, AL
On Saturday, the George Bulldogs will visit Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn to face off against the Auburn Tigers for the 130th time in their long and storied histories, making this the Deep South’s longest rivalry game.
While Georgia has dominated this rivalry in recent years, the game has produced numerous classic contests over its 129-year history.
During the early 1980’s, Georgia won three straight games with a dominant running back called Herschel Walker. The Bulldogs went on to win three consecutive SEC titles and the 1980 national championship during that run.
Auburn was not to be outdone, and a Tigers team featuring another fantastic running back, Bo Jackson, went on to win the next three games, twice knocking the Bulldogs out of the conference title race.
The game was first played on February 20th 1892, in Piedmont Park in Atlanta, which Auburn won 10-0. There is some dispute about the claim, which may be urban myth, that this was the first time that the “War Eagle” chant was heard.
Bulldogs head to Jordan hare
On Saturday, over 87,000 fans will pack inside Jordan-Hare Stadium, creating one of college football’s most intimidating atmospheres.
“They’re all special,” Smart said this week when asked about this game.
Smart continued about the rivalry, “There’s obviously a longer-standing tradition with this one, it is in history, and it’s been going on for a long time. … But that’s neither here nor there for this game, because this game is completely independent of the other 100-and-however-many-times these two have played.”
War Damn Eagle
On the other side of the train tracks, Hugh Freeze is a Head coach who is desperately seeking a win. Auburn is 3-2 this season, but importantly, is 0-2 in conference play. Freeze is a coach under pressure, especially in a place like Auburn, where the fans and boosters don’t tolerate a team which isn’t winning.
On Wednesday’s SEC Head coaches’ weekly teleconference, Freeze was asked about that pressure building.
“I don’t pay attention to any of that” said the Auburn Head coach in relation to the talk and speculation about him playing for his job this Saturday.
“Of course, I’m a person of faith, and I know that my story’s being written way above my pay grade, and I know we’re doing things the right way here, and we’re getting closer each game” continued Freeze.
DEBoer's "black hoodie of death"
COMO, MO
An undefeated Missouri Tigers team faces perhaps the most in-form team in college football when the Crimson Tide travels into CoMo on Saturday for the all-SEC clash.
On Wednesday, Missouri Head Coach Eli Drinkwitz only had one thing on his mind: would Alabama Head Coach Kalen DeBoer be wearing his now infamous and lucky black hoodie?
In Alabama, especially in Tuscaloosa, when it comes to football, everything is talked about and speculated upon to the smallest detail.
And so DeBoer’s choice of wardrobe has been a topic of discussion ever since he took the job. In his early days, DeBoer was criticised for wearing a blue Alabama sweater. That was an early lesson for the Coach who hails from South Dakota.
Now the fans and his players don’t want him to change his apparel. DeBoer is currently 12-2, wearing his black Alabama hoodie. The same one that Eli Drinkwitz termed yesterday the “black hoodie of death”.
In an unusual but highly humorous segment during the SEC Head coaches’ weekly teleconference, Mizzou Head coach Drinkwitz stayed on the line to pose as a question asker, the answer to which everyone wanted to know.
“Are you gonna wear the black hoodie of death on the sideline this game with us wearing black jerseys?” Drinkwitz asked DeBoer on the call.
DeBoer saw the obvious funny side to the trolling and responded,
“I got to fit in somehow. More than likely. We’ll see what the forecast is,” DeBoer said. “I kind of know, but I’m expecting that. It’s kind of got a life of its own right now. We’re rolling with it.”
If you don’t believe in fate or superstitions, think of this. Alabama has lost only once this season – the first week mauling by Florida State. DeBoer’s wardrobe that day? A pink Alabama polo shirt.
Nuff said.
Week Seven Schedule
Across the SEC
With week 7, we officially reach the midway point in the 2025/26 college football season.
We mark this point with the Red River Showdown, the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry, as Alabama plays against an unbeaten Missouri, and the first time the Ole Miss Rebels have ever faced off against the Washington Cougars.
And we have the not-so-small matter of Arkansas visiting Knoxville to play the Vols, the Gamecocks travelling to Baton Rouge and Florida travelling to College Station to play the Aggies.
Wow, what a slate!
And remember, you can still watch games for free in the UK & Ireland on DAZN!
As Brian Kelly has told us all, you are spoiled!
Here are this week’s games, which feature SEC teams (all kick-off times are local time). Stats from SEC Media.
Week Seven
(2024 Record)
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11
Alabama (4-1, 2-0 SEC) at Missouri (5-0, 1-0 SEC)
Series: UA leads, 6-2
11 a.m. CT • ABC
Last: UA, 34-0 (2024 at Tuscaloosa)
Columbia, Mo. • Faurot Field (57,321)
Washington State (3-2) at Ole Miss (5-0, 3-0 SEC)
Series: First Meeting
11:45 a.m. CT • SEC Network
Oxford, Miss. • Vaught-Hemingway Stadium (64,038)
Texas (3-2, 0-1 SEC) vs. Oklahoma (5-0, 1-0 SEC)
Series: TEX leads, 64-51-5
2:30 p.m. CT • ABC
Last: TEX, 34-3 (2024 at Red River)
Dallas, Texas • Cotton Bowl Stadium (92,100)
Arkansas (2-3, 0-1 SEC) at Tennessee (4-1, 1-1 SEC)
Series: UT leads, 13-7
4:15 p.m. ET • SEC Network
Last: ARK, 19-14 (2024 at Fayetteville)
Knoxville, Tenn. • Neyland Stadium (101,915) Florida (2-3, 1-1 SEC) at Texas A&M (5-0, 2-0 SEC)
Series: TAMU leads, 4-3
6 p.m. CT • ESPN
Last: TAMU, 33-20 (2024 at Gainesville)
Bryan – College Station, Texas • Kyle Field (102,733)
Georgia (4-1, 2-1 SEC) at Auburn (3-2, 0-2 SEC)
Series: UGA leads, 65-56-8
6:30 p.m. CT • ABC
Last: UGA, 31-13 (2024 at Athens)
Auburn, Ala. • Jordan-Hare Stadium (88,043)
South Carolina (3-2, 1-2 SEC) at LSU (4-1, 1-1 SEC)
Series: LSU leads, 18-2-1
6:45 p.m. CT • SEC Network
Last: LSU, 36-33 (2024 at Columbia)
Baton Rouge, La. • Tiger Stadium (102,321)
Open Date:
Kentucky (2-3, 0-3 SEC);
Mississippi State (4-2, 0-2 SEC);
Vanderbilt (5-1, 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.