Around the SEC: How the Southeastern Conference Teams Fared in Week Eight
OXFORD, Miss. – It was not exactly an uneventful day in the Southeastern Conference, but it was a predictable one. There were no nail-biters, no Hail Mary’s nor any cliffhangers. Fans pretty much got what they expected.
Still, it was an SEC football Saturday. That beats a Saturday in February any time.
Here is what happened:
NO. 4 ALABAMA 52, TENNESSEE 2
Alabama is back to just being Alabama. The Crimson Tide rolled Tennessee and made the Volunteers look below average. Bryce Young had over 400 yards of total offense to make Bama look like it belongs in the playoffs, especially after Penn State lost and Cincinnati and Oklahoma were unimpressive.
Tennessee, now losing back-to-back games against Alabama and Ole Miss, can sit back and watch the Florida-Georgia game next week knowing it has no shot at the division title.
The Vols need to stop the downward spiral and they will have an off week to think about things like how to gain more than 64 yards rushing.
NO. 12 OLE MISS 31, LSU 17
Matt Corral may have not been feeling 100 percent, but the Ole Miss quarterback was well enough to lead Ole Miss to an easier win than the score indicates. The Tigers scored seven points in the first quarter and ten in the fourth, but in between, Ole Miss put up 31.
Snoop Conner ran for 117 and Jerrion Ealy barely missed the century mark (97) as the Rebels amassed 477 total yards.
The Bayou Bengals ran for only 77 and Max Johnson was sacked five times. The SEC is now on notice that Ole Miss does have a defense.
NO. 17 TEXAS A&M 44, SOUTH CAROLINA 14
This is the Texas A&M fans expected to see at the beginning of the season. Devon Achane ran for 154 yards and Isaiah Spiller added 102 as the Gamecock defense had no answers.
South Carolina at 4-4 can play out the string and hope for a bowl bid, while the Aggies can look back to some early-season mistakes and think about what might have been.
The one thing each can do is play spoiler. South Carolina still has Florida on the schedule and A&M still has dates with Ole Miss and Auburn.
ARKANSAS 45, ARKANSAS-PINE BLUFF 3
The Razorbacks wrote a sizable check to an in-state FCS school and got their money’s worth. First, it was an easy win, but it also got the annual game in that mausoleum in Little Rock out of the way.
Arkansas had two players throw the ball, five catch it and another nine run it. It is kind of shocking the head cheerleader did not get a carry.
The Hogs get another week off – this one without playing the Golden Lions – before they get Mississippi State at home and then go to LSU and Alabama.
MISSISSIPPI STATE 45, VANDERBILT 6
Yeah, it was technically a conference win. State’s quarterback still has not met a bad secondary he did not like as he air-raided Vandy for 384 yards and four touchdowns. He did throw a couple of picks, but he could have thrown a bucket of them in this one and it would not have mattered.
And just how bad is Vanderbilt? The Commodores ran for a total of nine yards in the game. Against Mississippi State.
Steve Barnes
Steve Barnes joins The Rebel Walk staff as a senior writer and brings a trifecta of journalistic experience. As a writer, he has covered college sports for Rivals.com, Football.com and SaturdayDownSouth.com as well as served as a beat writer for various traditional newspapers.
He has been a broadcaster for arena football and several national tournament events for the National Junior College Athletic Association as well as hosting various shows on radio.
A former sports information director at Albany (Ga.) State University and an assistant at Troy and West Florida, he has helped host many NCAA conference, regional and national events, including serving five years on the media committee of the NCAA Division II World Series.
Barnes, a native of Pensacola, Fla., attended Ole Miss in 1983-84, where his first journalism teacher was David Kellum. The duo has come a long way since that time.
He will bring a proven journalistic track record, along with a knack for finding the out-of-the-ordinary story angles to The Rebel Walk.
Barnes continues to reside in Pensacola a mere ten minutes from the beach because he does have taste and a brain.
