Ah, the shake-up of another week in the SEC as the regular season of 2024 begins its final and most crucial point.
Week 11's biggest impacts were felt in Oxford, Baton Rouge and Austin, where outcomes resonated loudly within the conference and across the nation.
We'll take a look at these contests in this week's rants, along with who I see as the primary contenders to represent the SEC in the playoffs.
Nationally, I'm not going point to anything other than Miami's loss to Georgia Tech - though it looks like Ohio State and Indiana look to be quite the pivotal matchup on Nov. 23.
Georgia falls to Ole Miss...hard
I walked around all week long thinking Ole Miss had themselves a good opportunity at Vaught-Hemingway to pull off the upset. Georgia had struggled against a barely average Florida team last weekend and haven't looked like a conference front-runner since playing Texas.
After one quarter of play on Saturday, Ole Miss lead the Bulldogs 10-7. It was the closest Georgia came to victory.
The Rebels outscored the Bulldogs 18-3 the rest of the game, which would be symbolic of Georgia's overall effort.
Ole Miss played a gem of a game on offense and defense - the numbers tell the story.
Georgia was held to 245 total yards: 186 through the air and 59 on the ground. Worse, they committed three turnovers, very bad news on the road in the SEC. What didn't help UGA's Carson Beck was the 5 sacks he accrued on the day - enough to rattle any signal-caller.
Meanwhile, Ole Miss secured Lane Kiffin's first signature victory in the SEC and are one of the six remaining teams with a meaningful shot at making the playoffs. The schedule from here is relatively light: a road trip to Florida, then the finale against Mississippi State at home in the Egg Bowl.
Needless to say, it was quite a great day for the Ole Miss faithful and I couldn't help but smile for our resident Reb, umrebelfan69. I just hope for his sake that next time Ole Miss has an outstanding home victory the fans in attendance wait until the clock reaches 0:00 before storming the field.
Texas looks like the Texas we thought they were capable of being
Leading up to and for the first few minutes of Saturday's game, I heard plenty of enthusiastic talk of how anticipated the matchup between the Longhorns and the Gators was. The programs hadn't played since 1940 and Florida fans were enjoying the spectacle of visiting Darrell K. Royal Stadium and taking in the Texas mystique.
I don't think any of those Gator fans that made the trip will be eager to return.
The Longhorns treated the visitors to their own version of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre...that it was 35-0 at halftime tells the tale enough.
The often-maligned Quinn Ewers completed 19 of 27 passes for 333 yards and 5 touchdowns, spearheading an offensive output for Texas that totalled 562 yards. The rushing attack served the Longhorns well as they ran for over 200 yards.
All this puts Texas back on top of the SEC standings as one of two teams with a loss. For the Longhorns, two significant blips remain on the radar: the upcoming week's contest in Fayetteville against Arkansas and the renewing rivalry game against the Texas A&M Aggies.
The Razorbacks are more the capable of pulling off the upset if Texas doesn't bring their A-game, and College Station is tough enough to play in when A&M isn't playing a hated rival.
Nevertheless, Texas controls its own destiny.
Bama closes Death Valley
Just take a look above at this week's feature picture.
Ol' Brian Kelly has just about all he can take of the Alabama Crimson Tide.
First, he got the paddle back in 2013 when the Crimson Tide routed his Notre Dame Fighting Irish 42-13 for the national championship. To make matters worse, his quarterback Garrett Nussmeier humorously trolled Kelly about the previous loss to the Tide some 11 years ago, further irking his head coach.
Then Saturday night happened.
Kelly wondered what his team had been doing prior to the week before playing the Crimson Tide when LSU had a bye week. The jury's still out on that one.
LSU fans left Death Valley wondering if they had just underwent a lobotomy without anesthesia. The same jury is also out on that one, too.
What's clear is Bama is back in the hunt for a playoff spot after a pair of horrendous losses to Vandy and Tennessee. Navigating the remainder of the schedule just requires the Crimson Tide to do what they have been since suffering the loss to the Vols: Play great defense and keep away from the stupid penalties and turnovers. Oklahoma is struggling hard in its first year in the SEC due to a lot of injuries and this year's Iron Bowl is in Tuscaloosa. Take care of both of those two tests and win the cupcake game against Mercer, then the sky's the limit.
Unfortunately, LSU chances of reaching the playoffs are now as remote as an island in Northern Siberia.
Quick rants to close out the week:
-- Tennessee slapped around Mississippi State to the tune of 33-14. Congrats, it's pretty much everyone's score against the Bulldogs: They're 0-6 in the conference. Other congrats are in order that you're the second team in the SEC with one loss. Just like Texas, you'll have two tough tests: Georgia in Athens this week and Vandy in Nashville to end the regular season. You won't survive both.
-- Poor Vandy's hopes for the playoff went up in smoke, at home no less. The 'Dores are still bowl eligible and have the opportunity for a good selection if they can win against LSU and Tennessee - tasks that might have thought impossible at the beginning of the season, but is a stark reminder of how the college football landscape has resembled Bizzaroworld in 2024. The loss did come with one great benefit for us though, courtesy of secsports.com: Clark Lea called the loss a “three-phase (expletive) kicking" by a more physical team."
-- That South Carolina ended the party for Vandy is completely symbolic of their season...which seems to resemble Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Their upcoming game against Missouri should garner it's own rivalry: The Battle of the Unstable.
-- Auburn didn't lose this week! Well, they didn't play either, but I didn't want to wreck the positive vibes. You do have UL-Monroe this week....I just hope that doesn't prove to be a bad thing.
Until next week, go support your local athletes as the compete in sports in your area.
Last edited:
