We live in a different world than we did Tuesday night.
It's like The Purge, the Red Wedding and The Walking
all at once. No one is safe. There's a lot of uncertainty and transition about to happen, and things are going to look very different than they have in the past.
Three of the teams penciled in for the College Football Playoff lost and two additional top 10 teams fell as well. No. 2 Clemson, No. 3 Michigan and No. 4 Washington will all drop out of playoff contention for the time being. They are likely to be replaced by Ohio State, Louisville and Wisconsin.[1]
It was a huge boost to No. 8 Texas A&M and No. 9 Auburn to make the case that two SEC teams deserve to be included in the playoff. But remember those other two top 10 teams that lost. Well, it just so happened they were Texas A&M and Auburn.
The biggest winner this week was No. 10 Penn State. The Nittany Lions will be sitting just outside playoff position giving the Big Ten three (!) teams in contention while the SEC is down to one.
Where do we go from here?
Here's a look at what we learned from watching SEC games in Week 11.
1. The divisions races are easy to sort out. Alabama won the West thanks to its 51-3 win over Mississippi State and Auburn's 13-7 loss to Georgia.
That's the only easy thing college football has going right now.
But what about the East? Oh, the drama. The suspense. The tension. The anxiety. The angst. Yes, I do own a thesaurus, in case you were wondering.[2]
Anyway, the games to watch in the East will be Florida vs. LSU and Tennessee vs. Missouri/Vanderbilt. All Florida has to do is win, and it clinches the East. That game is Florida's last conference game and will be played next week. If the Gators lose, Tennessee can clinch with wins in both its remaining games.
The East has been an embarrassment to the conference all year, and frankly no one from over there deserves to go to the championship game. But the rules say someone has to, so we're stuck with whichever of these teams is the least awful over the next couple of weeks.
Entering this week, a six-way tie was possible with South Carolina (!) in line for a trip to Atlanta. It got all messed up this week because we can’t have anything nice. Frankly, Alabama could get a better opponent in whomever wins Conference USA.
The West somehow always seems to be simpler, despite multiple teams playing legitimately decent football (the East does not have this).
The West has three, maybe four, teams that could win the East handily.[3]
2. Alabama is the SEC's only hope. If the SEC wants a team in the playoff, Alabama has to be the one to do it. Auburn has an outside shot if it can beat the Crimson Tide and have a whole bunch of other stuff happen, but even then, Alabama would likely be in better position should the Tide win the SEC championship.
We'll to have wait and see how far Auburn falls when the rankings are announced Tuesday. Some Big Ten cannibalism will take place over the last couple of weeks with Ohio State playing Michigan and then the conference championship game.
But the only thing certain is Alabama (10-0, 7-0) would have to have its worst stretch of football in about 10 years to miss the playoff.
The margin of error is big because Alabama is one of two undefeated teams in college football (the other is Western Michigan) and multiple two-loss teams have legitimate playoff chances.
3. Injuries are difficult to overcome. There was no reason Auburn should have lost to Georgia. The Tigers (7-3, 5-2) were on the way up, controlled their own destiny and were eying a playoff spot while Georgia was treading water, hanging on to bowl eligibility and mulling the decision to bring in a new coach.
But Auburn quarterback Sean White is still hampered by an injury and running back Kamryn Pettway didn't play at all. That opened the door to Kirby Smart channeling the residual Alabama in him and holding Auburn to zero - ZERO (!) - first downs in the second half.
White attempted 20 passes and completed six for 27 yards with one interception. That interception made all the difference because it was returned for Georgia's only touchdown.
Kerryon Johnson rushed for 99 yards and Auburn had 127 as a team.[4]
The Tigers are still the SEC's best rushing team and seventh in the nation despite that performance. They've got two weeks to get healthy before facing Alabama.
4. We’ve got a new Johnny Manziel. That’s all you're going to hear about Shea Patterson after he led Ole Miss to a 29-28 come-from-behind win over Texas A&M.
Brent Musberger used the occasion to take hyperbole to Manzielian heights, with a little girlfriend recognition tossed in for good measure. Let's take a moment and remember the kid has played one game. (And let's also remember that Johnny Manziel may not actually be who you want to be compared to right now.)
To be fair, he was very good in that game. Patterson was 25-of-42 for 338 yards and two touchdowns, rushed for 64 and led the Rebels (5-5, 2-4) to three fourth quarter touchdowns and a game-winning field goal in the final minute.
He played in the place of Chad Kelly, who tore his ACL and is out for the season. Perhaps more importantly, Ole Miss got 100 yards rushing from Akeem Judd. For a team that's next to last in the conference in rushing yards per game, that's not insignificant.
Ole Miss is one win way away from bowl eligibility and has games against Vanderbilt and Mississippi State remaining.
5. LSU may have a bit of a running back controversy. This is unthinkable with Leonard Fournette on the roster. But Derrius Guice is shaping up to be if not Fournette's equal then at least his echo.
Fournette gained 98 yards and three touchdowns in LSU's 38-10 win over Arkansas. That's a very respectable day that got overshadowed by Guice's 252 yards and two touchdowns, including a 96-yard exclamation point in the fourth quarter.
That tandem should help the Tigers (6-3, 4-2) in their remaining games against Florida and Texas A&M. Florida has shown it can stop the run, but has also shown it can be run all over. A&M is more a threat to get run all over than keep those backs stifled.
Wins in those games coupled with an Alabama win in the Iron Bowl will put the Tigers in position to get the SEC's Sugar Bowl bid.
6. The season is too long for Texas A&M. An injury to quarterback Trevor Knight portended the inevitable.
Texas A&M (7-3, 4-3) just can't close out a season, no matter how promising it may look. With back-to-back losses to the Mississippi teams, the Aggies have fallen from playoff position to out of the Sugar Bowl and now are just hoping to salvage the Cotton Bowl.
Jake Hubenak was serviceable in Knight's place, throwing for 213 yards and two touchdowns. But the Aggies struggled to muster a running game, faltered on defense and Hubenak threw an interception late while trying to drive for the win.
Late-season problems are becoming a staple for A&M. Clemsoning is still a thing, as we saw this week, but maybe now A&M-ing can become a thing.
7. Kentucky came up short. After all the "whoa geez look at Kentucky" that took place over the last couple of weeks, it's a shame the Wildcats (5-5, 4-4) couldn't deliver.
Kentucky fell 49-36 to Tennessee ending hopes for true chaos in the SEC East. It was fun while it lasted.
Kentucky still rolled up 443 yards on the ground with five players rushing for 70 yards or more. But on the other side, it's defense allowed 376 rushing yards.
Oh well, the basketball team is 1-0 after beating Stephen F. Austin 87-64 Friday.
8. We know nothing about Arkansas. What the heck is happening here? The Hogs (6-4, 2-4) lost 56-3 to Auburn then beat Florida 31-10 and now lost to LSU 38-10.
I think that says more about Florida than it does Arkansas, but I don’t know. I guess we'll figure that out when the Gators play LSU next week.
This is a very confusing year.
9. Georgia is moving forward. Wins over Kentucky and Auburn have made Georgia's season look a lot better than it did a couple of weeks ago.
The Bulldogs' defense stepped up and completely shut down the SEC's top rushing team. Nick Chubb and Sony Michel had decent days - 101 yards and 55 yards - but Auburn's injuries put this one in the win column.
It was a much-needed win for bowl positioning. Georgia (6-4, 4-4) has Louisiana-Lafayette and Georgia Tech left on the schedule to make it better.[5]
10. Jalen Hurd may be regretting his decision. Alvin Kamara rushed for 128 yards and two touchdowns against Kentucky. Josh Dobbs had 147 yards and two touchdowns. John Kelly rushed for 94. Jalen Hurd got nothing because he left Tennessee two weeks ago.
Hurd expanded on his decision in a tweet where he said the offense didn't fit his skill set. His skill set is running. Tennessee (7-3, 3-3) ran 41 times for 376 yards against Kentucky. I don't follow.
He also said "I have nothing but respect for all of my coaches." Uh, no, you don't, because if you did you wouldn't leave because of how they were using you.
Extra points:
[1] - Washington fans chanted "we want Bama" on College GameDay before losing 26-13 to Southern California, which itself lost 52-6 to Alabama. So, uh, no, you don’t want Bama.
[2] - What's another word for thesaurus? Sorry, that question always makes me laugh. And the answer, according to the thesaurus, can be either "treasury of words" or "storehouse of" which both seem hilariously wrong. I'm going with onomasticon.
[3] - It's time to share a peek behind the curtain. Sometimes things get written Saturday based on assumption and then updated/tweaked/deleted Sunday morning depending on what happened. Here now are two sentences that were written during the first half of Auburn/Georgia when the assumption was that Auburn would find a to win or Georgia would find a way to Georgia it all up. Here you go: "At this point, basically either Alabama or Auburn will make the College Football Playoff, unless something unfathomable and perhaps supernatural takes place. But this is college football, so global cataclysm is to be expected." That very thing happened a few hours later. I must be careful and harness this power for the good of mankind.
[4] - If you read this column regularly, you know what's coming - punting stats. Auburn's offense got outpunted by both punters and Kevin Phillips outpunted both offenses. Georgia gained 343 yards and Auburn gained 164. Phillips punted eight times for 353 and Georgia's Brice Ramsey punted six times for 202 yards. Auburn's offense is so good Phillips hadn't punted for 200 yards since September and had less than 100 yards in each of Auburn's previous two games.
[5] - So, what is Mark Richt up to? Well, he got bowl eligible too with a 34-14 win over Virginia.
It's like The Purge, the Red Wedding and The Walking
all at once. No one is safe. There's a lot of uncertainty and transition about to happen, and things are going to look very different than they have in the past.Three of the teams penciled in for the College Football Playoff lost and two additional top 10 teams fell as well. No. 2 Clemson, No. 3 Michigan and No. 4 Washington will all drop out of playoff contention for the time being. They are likely to be replaced by Ohio State, Louisville and Wisconsin.[1]
It was a huge boost to No. 8 Texas A&M and No. 9 Auburn to make the case that two SEC teams deserve to be included in the playoff. But remember those other two top 10 teams that lost. Well, it just so happened they were Texas A&M and Auburn.
The biggest winner this week was No. 10 Penn State. The Nittany Lions will be sitting just outside playoff position giving the Big Ten three (!) teams in contention while the SEC is down to one.
Where do we go from here?
Here's a look at what we learned from watching SEC games in Week 11.
1. The divisions races are easy to sort out. Alabama won the West thanks to its 51-3 win over Mississippi State and Auburn's 13-7 loss to Georgia.
That's the only easy thing college football has going right now.
But what about the East? Oh, the drama. The suspense. The tension. The anxiety. The angst. Yes, I do own a thesaurus, in case you were wondering.[2]
Anyway, the games to watch in the East will be Florida vs. LSU and Tennessee vs. Missouri/Vanderbilt. All Florida has to do is win, and it clinches the East. That game is Florida's last conference game and will be played next week. If the Gators lose, Tennessee can clinch with wins in both its remaining games.
The East has been an embarrassment to the conference all year, and frankly no one from over there deserves to go to the championship game. But the rules say someone has to, so we're stuck with whichever of these teams is the least awful over the next couple of weeks.
Entering this week, a six-way tie was possible with South Carolina (!) in line for a trip to Atlanta. It got all messed up this week because we can’t have anything nice. Frankly, Alabama could get a better opponent in whomever wins Conference USA.
The West somehow always seems to be simpler, despite multiple teams playing legitimately decent football (the East does not have this).
The West has three, maybe four, teams that could win the East handily.[3]
2. Alabama is the SEC's only hope. If the SEC wants a team in the playoff, Alabama has to be the one to do it. Auburn has an outside shot if it can beat the Crimson Tide and have a whole bunch of other stuff happen, but even then, Alabama would likely be in better position should the Tide win the SEC championship.
We'll to have wait and see how far Auburn falls when the rankings are announced Tuesday. Some Big Ten cannibalism will take place over the last couple of weeks with Ohio State playing Michigan and then the conference championship game.
But the only thing certain is Alabama (10-0, 7-0) would have to have its worst stretch of football in about 10 years to miss the playoff.
The margin of error is big because Alabama is one of two undefeated teams in college football (the other is Western Michigan) and multiple two-loss teams have legitimate playoff chances.
3. Injuries are difficult to overcome. There was no reason Auburn should have lost to Georgia. The Tigers (7-3, 5-2) were on the way up, controlled their own destiny and were eying a playoff spot while Georgia was treading water, hanging on to bowl eligibility and mulling the decision to bring in a new coach.
But Auburn quarterback Sean White is still hampered by an injury and running back Kamryn Pettway didn't play at all. That opened the door to Kirby Smart channeling the residual Alabama in him and holding Auburn to zero - ZERO (!) - first downs in the second half.
White attempted 20 passes and completed six for 27 yards with one interception. That interception made all the difference because it was returned for Georgia's only touchdown.
Kerryon Johnson rushed for 99 yards and Auburn had 127 as a team.[4]
The Tigers are still the SEC's best rushing team and seventh in the nation despite that performance. They've got two weeks to get healthy before facing Alabama.
4. We’ve got a new Johnny Manziel. That’s all you're going to hear about Shea Patterson after he led Ole Miss to a 29-28 come-from-behind win over Texas A&M.
Brent Musberger used the occasion to take hyperbole to Manzielian heights, with a little girlfriend recognition tossed in for good measure. Let's take a moment and remember the kid has played one game. (And let's also remember that Johnny Manziel may not actually be who you want to be compared to right now.)
To be fair, he was very good in that game. Patterson was 25-of-42 for 338 yards and two touchdowns, rushed for 64 and led the Rebels (5-5, 2-4) to three fourth quarter touchdowns and a game-winning field goal in the final minute.
He played in the place of Chad Kelly, who tore his ACL and is out for the season. Perhaps more importantly, Ole Miss got 100 yards rushing from Akeem Judd. For a team that's next to last in the conference in rushing yards per game, that's not insignificant.
Ole Miss is one win way away from bowl eligibility and has games against Vanderbilt and Mississippi State remaining.
5. LSU may have a bit of a running back controversy. This is unthinkable with Leonard Fournette on the roster. But Derrius Guice is shaping up to be if not Fournette's equal then at least his echo.
Fournette gained 98 yards and three touchdowns in LSU's 38-10 win over Arkansas. That's a very respectable day that got overshadowed by Guice's 252 yards and two touchdowns, including a 96-yard exclamation point in the fourth quarter.
That tandem should help the Tigers (6-3, 4-2) in their remaining games against Florida and Texas A&M. Florida has shown it can stop the run, but has also shown it can be run all over. A&M is more a threat to get run all over than keep those backs stifled.
Wins in those games coupled with an Alabama win in the Iron Bowl will put the Tigers in position to get the SEC's Sugar Bowl bid.
6. The season is too long for Texas A&M. An injury to quarterback Trevor Knight portended the inevitable.
Texas A&M (7-3, 4-3) just can't close out a season, no matter how promising it may look. With back-to-back losses to the Mississippi teams, the Aggies have fallen from playoff position to out of the Sugar Bowl and now are just hoping to salvage the Cotton Bowl.
Jake Hubenak was serviceable in Knight's place, throwing for 213 yards and two touchdowns. But the Aggies struggled to muster a running game, faltered on defense and Hubenak threw an interception late while trying to drive for the win.
Late-season problems are becoming a staple for A&M. Clemsoning is still a thing, as we saw this week, but maybe now A&M-ing can become a thing.
7. Kentucky came up short. After all the "whoa geez look at Kentucky" that took place over the last couple of weeks, it's a shame the Wildcats (5-5, 4-4) couldn't deliver.
Kentucky fell 49-36 to Tennessee ending hopes for true chaos in the SEC East. It was fun while it lasted.
Kentucky still rolled up 443 yards on the ground with five players rushing for 70 yards or more. But on the other side, it's defense allowed 376 rushing yards.
Oh well, the basketball team is 1-0 after beating Stephen F. Austin 87-64 Friday.
8. We know nothing about Arkansas. What the heck is happening here? The Hogs (6-4, 2-4) lost 56-3 to Auburn then beat Florida 31-10 and now lost to LSU 38-10.
I think that says more about Florida than it does Arkansas, but I don’t know. I guess we'll figure that out when the Gators play LSU next week.
This is a very confusing year.
9. Georgia is moving forward. Wins over Kentucky and Auburn have made Georgia's season look a lot better than it did a couple of weeks ago.
The Bulldogs' defense stepped up and completely shut down the SEC's top rushing team. Nick Chubb and Sony Michel had decent days - 101 yards and 55 yards - but Auburn's injuries put this one in the win column.
It was a much-needed win for bowl positioning. Georgia (6-4, 4-4) has Louisiana-Lafayette and Georgia Tech left on the schedule to make it better.[5]
10. Jalen Hurd may be regretting his decision. Alvin Kamara rushed for 128 yards and two touchdowns against Kentucky. Josh Dobbs had 147 yards and two touchdowns. John Kelly rushed for 94. Jalen Hurd got nothing because he left Tennessee two weeks ago.
Hurd expanded on his decision in a tweet where he said the offense didn't fit his skill set. His skill set is running. Tennessee (7-3, 3-3) ran 41 times for 376 yards against Kentucky. I don't follow.
He also said "I have nothing but respect for all of my coaches." Uh, no, you don't, because if you did you wouldn't leave because of how they were using you.
Extra points:
[1] - Washington fans chanted "we want Bama" on College GameDay before losing 26-13 to Southern California, which itself lost 52-6 to Alabama. So, uh, no, you don’t want Bama.
[2] - What's another word for thesaurus? Sorry, that question always makes me laugh. And the answer, according to the thesaurus, can be either "treasury of words" or "storehouse of" which both seem hilariously wrong. I'm going with onomasticon.
[3] - It's time to share a peek behind the curtain. Sometimes things get written Saturday based on assumption and then updated/tweaked/deleted Sunday morning depending on what happened. Here now are two sentences that were written during the first half of Auburn/Georgia when the assumption was that Auburn would find a to win or Georgia would find a way to Georgia it all up. Here you go: "At this point, basically either Alabama or Auburn will make the College Football Playoff, unless something unfathomable and perhaps supernatural takes place. But this is college football, so global cataclysm is to be expected." That very thing happened a few hours later. I must be careful and harness this power for the good of mankind.
[4] - If you read this column regularly, you know what's coming - punting stats. Auburn's offense got outpunted by both punters and Kevin Phillips outpunted both offenses. Georgia gained 343 yards and Auburn gained 164. Phillips punted eight times for 353 and Georgia's Brice Ramsey punted six times for 202 yards. Auburn's offense is so good Phillips hadn't punted for 200 yards since September and had less than 100 yards in each of Auburn's previous two games.
[5] - So, what is Mark Richt up to? Well, he got bowl eligible too with a 34-14 win over Virginia.