Who is the best team in the SEC?
This is a question with no clear answer after Week 8. No. 1 Texas lost easily to No. 5 Georgia at home, but No. 11 Tennessee used a strong second half to defeat No. 7 Alabama in Knoxville. It was the Crimson Tide’s second loss of the season, the first being a loss to Vanderbilt two weeks ago.
No one in Alabama can answer that question. However, the Tide defeated the Bulldogs, and the Bulldogs defeated the Longhorns, who were undefeated in the first half.
Texas’ loss means every team in the SEC has at least one loss, but LSU and Texas A&M are still undefeated in the conference. Through the first eight weeks of the season, six teams have one loss and three others have two losses. All nine of these teams are still in contention for a spot in the expanded College Football Playoff, and only one team can have any hope of playing for an SEC title and a top-four seed in the playoffs. There are still many.
Here, we introduce the conference as a whole ahead of the hectic final six weeks of the regular season.
I wish you good luck next year
Mississippi State (1-6 overall, 0-4 SEC)
Auburn (2-5, 0-4)
Kentucky (3-4, 1-4)
Oklahoma (4-3, 1-3)
South Carolina (4-3, 2-3)
The surprise team in this group is the Sooners, who humiliated the Shamcocks on Saturday. Oklahoma turned the ball over on each of its first three possessions, and South Carolina scored defensive touchdowns on two of them to take a 21-0 lead. Oklahoma’s offensive line was weakened by injuries and was completely dysfunctional for the first half of the season. And the tight schedule means simply going to a bowl game isn’t a foregone conclusion.
i need a lot of help
Florida (4-3, 2-2)
Arkansas (4-3, 2-2)
While neither team is officially ruled out, it’s hard to imagine a path for the Razorbacks and Gators to advance to the SEC title game. Arkansas had a big win over Tennessee, but lost 34-10 at home to LSU on Saturday night. The Hogs still have games remaining against Ole Miss, Texas and Missouri.
A week after the Gators took Tennessee to overtime, Florida defeated Kentucky for its second SEC win of the season. However, UF’s final four SEC games of the season are against Georgia, Texas, LSU and Ole Miss, with the Gators closing in on Atlanta with a 4-0 record. The odds of that happening may be worse than winning the lottery.
This is the first time since coach Nick Saban’s first season in 2007 that Alabama, coached by Karen DeBoer, has lost two games through November. (Photo: Butch Dill/Getty Images)
No more losses can be tolerated
Alabama (5-2, 2-2)
Ole Miss (5-2, 1-2)
Both teams will probably need to win the rest of the way to get to Atlanta. Alabama has been a Jekyll and Hyde team all season, and the Crimson Tide was shaky once again in the loss to the Volunteers. Good Alabama may be the best team in the conference, but Good Alabama has yet to play the full 60 minutes in an SEC game.
Ole Miss rested Week 8 before a Week 9 home game against Oklahoma State. Georgia’s visit on Nov. 9 is huge in the SEC race.
Competitor or imposter?
Vanderbilt (5-2, 2-1)
Missouri (6-1, 2-1)
Missouri’s come-from-behind victory over Auburn may have saved the season. QB Brady Cook returned from an ankle injury late in the third quarter and the Tigers scored 18 straight points to win 21-17.
Next week’s game between Mizzou and Alabama could be some kind of elimination game with both the College Football Playoff and SEC title on the line. Alabama is also the last remaining team on Mizzou’s schedule, so if Missouri loses in Tuscaloosa and finishes the conference season at 6-2, there is no chance of a tie-breaking win against another SEC opponent. Probably.
The Commodores defeated Ball State 24-14 on Saturday night to end nonconference play. All three of Vanderbilt’s conference games have been decided by one possession, with Texas coming up in Week 9. It may not be an easy comeback for the Longhorns.
Georgia ended Texas’ undefeated season Saturday night. (Photo by David Buono/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
everything is in front of them
Georgia (6-1, 4-1)
Texas (6-1, 2-1)
Tennessee (6-1, 3-1)
The Bulldogs are currently 2-1 in tough road SEC play with an upcoming trip to Ole Miss on the horizon. Tennessee will play the Bulldogs again on November 16th. If they win both games, the Bulldogs will likely advance to the SEC title game. If Georgia splits these games, how it’s split could be very, very important for tiebreaker purposes.
Texas has a chance to go 6-1 in the conference heading into the final week of the season at Texas A&M. After Vanderbilt, the Longhorns have Florida, Arkansas and Kentucky. Tennessee’s schedule also includes the Wildcats, Commodores and Mississippi State. It’s very possible that the Vols finish with a record of 6-2 or better in the conference.
Undefeated in conference. For now.
Texas A&M (6-1, 4-0)
LSU (6-1, 3-0)
Only one of those teams will have an unblemished conference record after Week 9, when the Tigers visit College Station in a featured weekend game. The Tigers had their best game of the season in their win over Arkansas, with running back Caden Durham scoring three touchdowns and the LSU defense forcing three turnovers and holding Arkansas to 277 yards.
A&M made a late fourth-down stop in Starkville to earn a 34-24 victory over the Bulldogs on Saturday. Connor Weigman wasn’t as sharp as he was against Missouri two weeks ago, but the Aggies held MSU to just seven points in the second half. LSU and A&M are much better than what their Week 1 losses showed.
Here are the rest of this week’s winners and losers.
winner
No. 13 BYU: The Cougars could be in for a special season. BYU won 38-35 over Oklahoma State on Friday night when Darius Lassiter caught a 35-yard TD pass from Jake Retzlaff with 10 seconds left.
The Cougars are 7-0 and 4-0 in the Big 12. Additionally, there are no more ranked teams left on the schedule. The toughest remaining game will likely be a trip to Utah on November 9th. The path to a Big 12 title game and a possible bye in the College Football Playoff is very clear.
Duke University: Hours before BYU beat Oklahoma State, Duke earned its first-ever win against Florida State. The Blue Devils defeated the Seminoles 23-16 to improve to 6-1. Florida State, currently 1-6, has won 22 consecutive games against Duke since joining the ACC.
Duke entered Friday night’s matchup as the favorite and took a 17-3 lead early in the second quarter. Florida State’s only TD came on a 95-yard kickoff return by Samuel Singleton Jr. QB Brock Glenn completed 9 of 19 passes for 110 yards with two interceptions and also gave up time to true freshman Luke Kromenhoek.
South Carolina: The Siamcocks have established themselves as an upset team in the SEC.
South Carolina was less than six minutes removed from a 35-9 win at Oklahoma State on Saturday thanks to a Rocket Sanders TD run, a Tonka Hemingway fumble return TD and a No. 6 pick by Nick Emanwoli. They jumped out to a 21-0 lead.
USC led 32-3 at halftime, but Oklahoma’s ineffectiveness meant it could have cruised in the second half. The win came after South Carolina lost by two points to Alabama and two weeks after the Shamcocks lost at home to Ole Miss. With games remaining against Texas A&M, Missouri and Clemson, expect more surprises from the Shamcocks.
UCLA: So much for traveling across the country to play a game that starts at 9 a.m. Pacific Time. The Bruins defeated Rutgers 35-32 on Saturday for their second win of the season. Ethan Garbers completed 32-of-38 passes for 383 yards and four scores and rushed nine times for 48 yards and a TD. The end of the game was ugly. UCLA missed a field goal and fumbled two drives, but Rutgers cut the deficit to three points with 1:23 left. But the entire season has been ugly for the Bruins.
loser
Oklahoma: The Sooners are in a bad situation at the moment. After turnovers on each of the team’s first three offensive possessions, freshman QB Michael Hawkins was replaced by Jackson Arnold, who replaced Hawkins in OU’s loss to Tennessee. Saturday’s loss was Arnold’s fifth game of the season. He won’t be able to redshirt in 2024.
South Carolina sacked Hawkins and Arnold a combined nine times as the Sooners totaled less than 300 yards. A bowl game could be in jeopardy for the Sooners with Ole Miss looming next weekend and a late game that includes Missouri, Alabama and LSU.
USC: It would be laughable to think that USC would join the Big Ten and become an instant championship favorite. The Trojans lost 29-28 to Maryland on Saturday, their third straight Big Ten loss. USC blew a 28-14 halftime lead against the Terrapins and is now 3-4. Maryland stopped a USC field goal late in the game that would have given the Trojans two points, with QB Billy Edwards completing 4 of 4 passes and scoring himself on the game-winning TD drive. into the end zone.
Nebraska: The Cornhuskers entered Saturday’s game at No. 16 Indiana as natural underdogs. But the loss in Bloomington showed how much work remains in Lincoln to make Nebraska a true contender. Nebraska turned the ball over five times and averaged just 5.1 yards per pass, but Indiana dominated. Nebraska appears to have a great schedule this season, going 8-4. And that would be a huge step forward. However, it is clear that Nebraska is not yet a favorite.
Texas Tech: So much for tied for first in the Big 12. The Red Raiders lost 59-35 at home to a Baylor team that entered the game with a 2-4 record. Tech started the day 3-0 as one of three teams leading the Big 12, with Sawyer Robertson completing 21 of 32 passes in his first home game for the Lubbock native. , gained 274 yards and 5 TDs.
Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze saw another loss for the Tigers. (Photo by Scott Winters/Icon Sportswire, Getty Images)
Auburn: The Tigers had every chance to put away a hobbled Missouri team and just couldn’t do it. In the second half, Peyton Thorne found Cam Coleman’s long TD pass, and Auburn also recovered a crushed ball from a punt for a TD to take a 17-3 lead. Missouri played most of the game with backup quarterback Drew Pine replacing Brady Cook, but starting running back Nate Noel was also injured in the first half.
But Cook returned late in the third quarter to spark Missouri, and Auburn’s offense fell into a neutral position. Auburn lost 21-17, but failed to take advantage of multiple short fields and missed a short field goal in the second half. Auburn is currently 0-4 in the SEC, two losses away from a guaranteed no-bowl game.
