Another Wild SEC Football Weekend: Breaking Down Each Game

It was a great weekend of SEC Football action, as seven games took place with SEC teams.

Jason Hamby | Nov 7, 2021

College football can be wild; what happened this past weekend goes beyond that. Perhaps there’s no one word or phrase to explain it. What’s going on with the Gators? The Crimson Tide needed late fourth quarter defensive efforts to hold off the Bayou Bengals? Then, there's Auburn's offense going up in flames in College Station, Texas.

That’s just the start of the SEC action, and it’s all covered right here, in one article. Let’s go!

South Carolina 40 Florida 17

South Carolina never trailed in this game and dominated for all 60 minutes. Florida came into this game as a 20.5-point favorite and left embarrassed. The Florida offense, which had been running the football for over 224 yards a game, was held to just 82 yards on the ground. Their previous worst rushing performance of the season was when they ran for 138 yards against LSU. The Gamecocks continuously stacked the box and forced Florida to throw the ball down the field.

After the game, South Carolina Head Coach Shane Beamer talked about how that was the exact game plan.

“We knew coming into it that we had to stop the run,” Beamer said. “If we got beat with Emory Jones throwing deep balls over our heads for big plays, so be it. But we weren’t going to let them beat us running the football.”

On the flip side, Florida defensively was only allowing less than 161 yards rushing per game, and South Carolina gashed them time-and-time again to the tune of 284 rushing yards. They were led on the ground by junior Kevin Harris (128 yards on 16 carries) and senior Zaquandre Wright (111 yards on 13 carries).

Florida has now lost three straight games and sits with a losing record for the first time this year. With the loss, the flames under Head Coach Dan Mullen’s seat are hotter than ever.

South Carolina had yet to score more than 20 points against any SEC opponent this year; they doubled that with their 40-point outburst against the Florida defense. Mullen was asked postgame about whether this performance would mean immediate changes to the defensive coaching staff.

“I’m not going to get into any of that stuff right now, or what we’re going to do. We’re going to evaluate where we’re at and look, we have a game, we head back to the Swamp next Saturday,” Mullen said.

Dan Mullen is now firmly on the hot seat after his Gators were dismantled by the Gamecocks :: Brad McClenny/The Gainesville Sun via Imagn Content Services, LLC

The now 4-5 Gators will host the Samford Bulldogs next Saturday. For 5-4 South Carolina, they’ll travel to Missouri to take on the Tigers.

No. 14 Texas A&M 20 No. 13 Auburn 3

This game was dominated by the Aggies’ defense. They forced Auburn to punt on five of their six first half possessions. In the second half, their five possessions went as follows: missed field goal, punt, fumble returned for a touchdown, turnover on downs, interception.

It was a forgettable game for Auburn quarterback Bo Nix, who completed just 20 of his 41 passes for 153 yards and was intercepted one time. The Tigers’ rushing offense didn’t fare much better, running it a team total of 29 times for 73 yards, an average of 2.5 per attempt. Their longest play of the game was a 15-yard reception by sophomore tight end Luke Deal.

The biggest play in the game happened in the third quarter when Nix was sacked and fumbled the football, and A&M returned it for a 24- yard touchdown. After the game, Auburn Head Coach Brian Harsin talked about how his team was never able to overcome that.

“Things are going to happen. There will be negative plays, but you have to be able to respond and come back and create your own positive plays, move the ball and respond to what happened. We didn’t do that tonight,” Harsin said.

The loss moves Auburn to 6-3 on the year ahead of their next matchup at home against Mississippi State.

For A&M, the win moves them to 7-2 and in sole possession of second place in the SEC West. They’ll travel to Ole Miss to take on the 7-2 Rebels next Saturday.

Ole Miss 27 Liberty 14

The Liberty offense came into this one averaging 37.4 points a game. Welcome to the SEC, where just about every team has team speed on defense and the ability to change how an opposing offense operates.

The Ole Miss defense, which had otherwise been disappointing, held the Flames to just 14 points, 142 yards rushing and two touchdowns, and did what many have to do: slow down Malik Willis.

While he will still be one of the top quarterbacks to enter the draft in 2022 or 2023 , Willis threw three interceptions and totaled just 173 passing yards. Willis, who’s an equal threat with his legs as he is with his arm, ran 27 times for just 71 yards, an average of 2.6 yards per tote.

Junior running back Jerrion Ealy led the Rebels to the victory. He only carried the ball 10 times, but that was all he needed to run for 115 yards and two touchdowns.

The win improves the Rebels’ record to 7-2 ahead of their next matchup against Texas A&M.

No. 2 Alabama 20 LSU 14

The Crimson Tide were a 29-point favorite against the 4-4 Tigers, but were barely able to hold on and keep their playoff hopes alive.

The Tigers had two opportunities to take the lead late in the fourth quarter but were unable to complete the upset. They turned the ball over on downs in Alabama territory with less than three minutes to play, and although they forced a quick three-and-out, ran out of time at the end of the game.

The story of the game was the LSU defense against the Alabama rushing attack. Alabama running back Brian Robinson Jr. was averaging 5.3 yards per carry going into this game, with nine touchdowns. The Tigers held Robinson to just 18 yards on 13 attempts. Alabama ran the ball for a grand total of six yards in this game.

Six.

Side note, in college football, sacks are included in calculating rush yards, that has got to change. Alabama quarterback Bryce Young was sacked four times for 45 yards. If you take that away from the total, Alabama ran for 51 yards.

That’s certainly not as bad as seeing “six” in the box score, but it’s still not nearly what we’re accustomed to seeing out of Alabama’s offense this season.

Young’s 302 passing yards and two touchdowns were enough for Alabama to hold on in the end. The Crimson Tide improve their record to 7-1 but continue to look more and more unimpressive by the week ahead of their next matchup against New Mexico State.

For the now 4-5 Tigers, they return home to face off against Arkansas next Saturday.

Tennessee 45 No. 18 Kentucky 42

This was a back-and-forth game throughout until Tennessee took a 38-28 lead in the third quarter and never relinquished the lead. The Volunteers were led by quarterback Hendon Hooker who threw for 316 yards and four touchdowns.

The Tennessee offense continues to impress week-by-week, now averaging 38 points per game.

Tennessee improves to 5-4 and will look to continue their offensive efficiency at home against Georgia next week.

The Kentucky defense, which had been the team’s strength, gave up a season-high 45 points and were only able to force one punt all game. The loss moves them to 6-3, and likely out of the rankings.

No. 1 Georgia 43 Missouri 6

It was another dominating win for Georgia, who continues to prove they are the best team in college football.

Giving up six points has become the norm for this defense, but it shouldn’t go unappreciated. Missouri went into this game averaging just under 35 points per game. Missouri was without starting quarterback Connor Bazelak, who sustained an undisclosed injury last week against Vanderbilt.

Once the Bulldogs had built up a lead, quarterback JT Daniels returned to the field after missing over a month with a lat injury. Daniels went 7/11 for 82 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Stetson Bennett started and impressed, completing 13 passes for 255 yards and two touchdowns.

The now 9-0 Bulldogs will travel to Knoxville for an intriguing matchup against the Volunteers Saturday.

Missouri falls to 4-5 ahead of their next matchup against South Carolina.

Arkansas 31 No. 17 Mississippi State 28

It took a four-yard touchdown run by Dominique Johnson with 21 seconds left for Arkansas to defeat Mississippi State. Even then, Mississippi State still had a real chance at the end after quarterback Will Rogers led them down the field in the final seconds, only to miss what would’ve been a game-tying 40-yard field goal as time expired.

Rogers threw for 417 yards and four touchdowns in the loss. The bigger key for Arkansas winning might have been the rushing defense. The Bulldogs ran 26 times for just 69 yards, averaging just 2.7 yards per tote. With that low total, it’s the third game in a row that Arkansas held its opponents to under 4.0 yards per carry. On the other side of the ball, Mississippi State did a good job of stuffing the run, too.

Mississippi State was able to hold Arkansas quarterback K.J Jefferson to 1.3 yards a carry, just 14 yards on his 11 attempts, but were not able to get the crucial stop at the end. For the game, Arkansas rushed for 202 yards. Running back Dominique Johnson rushed 17 times for 107 yards and two scores.

With the loss, Mississippi State falls to 5-4, and likely out of the top 25. Arkansas improves to 6-3, and could likely see themselves places back in the rankings.

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