Biscuits & SEC Week 11 Game-by-Game Recaps
We saw more blowouts than usual across the SEC in week 11, with teams making statements in November.
By: Bossman, Hammer
This was the first week we saw blowouts almost across the board in the SEC, but we still saw an OT thriller in Nashville between Auburn and Vanderbilt, with the Commodores outlasting a tough fight from the Tigers. We also saw some incredible games outside the SEC, like Indiana’s unbelievable comeback win over Penn State that kept the Hoosiers undefeated. If you haven’t seen the clip of Omar Cooper Jr.’s game-winning catch, watch it right now below:
Hammer gained a game on Bossman with his Kentucky over Florida pick – and man, that one turned out bad for Bossman. He also picked LSU to cover against Alabama (???) and got smoked on that pick, too. Anyway, here’s Wonderwall.
Let’s hit the recaps.
Bossman: This one did not go as I expected. While I picked Georgia to win outright, I thought Mississippi State would put up more of a fight at home, and that the Dawgs have had trouble covering. Instead, Gunner Stockton and Georgia put the hurt on Mississippi State in Davis-Wade Stadium. Hail State marched 75 yards in 14 plays on their first drive and capped it with a TD to go up 7-0, and it looked like my cover pick was smart…and then the Dawgs scored 38-straight points before Mississippi State would score again. This was a dominating performance like we were used to seeing from Georgia over most of the last five years. The game was over early in the 3rd quarter when the Dawgs went up 31-7 to put State out of their misery. Georgia did pretty much whatever they wanted on offense, racking up over 300 rushing yards and 264 yards through the air. Stockton was exceptional, posting a 93.6 QBR and tossing three TDs, while Nate Frazier ran like a freight train through the State defense for 181 yards and a TD – he averaged 15.9 YPC – WOW. This was easily the best game as a Dawg for Noah Thomas as well, who caught three balls for 78 yards and a TD to lead UGA receivers. Also, shoutout to KJ Bolden, who played like a man possessed with 10 total tackles, a TFL, and a fumble recovery. Georgia was undoubtedly the better team on Saturday.
Hammer: Great win for Georgia. Do not let the SEC haters out there downplay this game. Georgia pounded a Mississippi State team that was 5-4 coming into the game and had taken both Texas and Tennessee to overtime in Starkville earlier this season. A flip of the coin, and that State team could have been 7-2 before this game. Well, Kirby Smart and Georgia went into Davis Wade and dropped the hammer on Mississippi State. Gunner Stockton played very well per usual, but the Dawgs rushing attack was a sight to behold. Nate Frazier went for 181 yards and a TD on just 12 carries. As a team, Georgia ran for 303 yards on 44 carries. That is pure dominance. Coming into the season, Georgia fans were not happy with the OC Mike Bobo. He has shut all that noise up because Georgia’s offense is really good. For Mississippi State, this was a tough one. They felt like they could catch Georgia here, and they were in for a rude awakening. Lick your wounds and move on. You got dominated, but that’s football, and Georgia is light years ahead of Mississippi State in many regards, given this is just Lebby’s second year. I came away from this game much more impressed with Georgia than I was disappointed in State.
Bossman: The Aggies beat Mizzou on their home field by three touchdowns, and it still felt like A&M didn’t play their best game. They left points on the field, but if a team can do that and still beat a ranked opponent by three scores on the road? You’re looking at an elite team. And I know, I know, the Tigers were starting freshman Matt Zollers, who struggled mightily against this A&M defense, not even reaching 100 yards passing, but getting a road win in the SEC in dominant fashion – while still feeling like you didn’t play a complete game – puts you in rarefied air. Marcel Reed had a good game on the stat sheet, but many Aggies will tell you he was spotty at times, still missing some makeable throws. The big story to me in this game was the suffocating defense and the fourth-quarter overpowering from the Aggies. The defense was incredible all day, though they did give up over 200 rushing yards to Mizzou. The Aggies were in clear control of this game by early in the third quarter when it was 21-7. Going into the fourth quarter, A&M was up 24-7, and then the Aggies turned to their run game to put it away. On successive drives, A&M marched 76 yards and 65 yards respectively, both ending in TD runs by Reuben Owens, and both drives had explosive runs. On those two drives, the Aggies rushed for a combined 135 yards and two TDs. Talk about leaning on a defense and running it down their throat. Credit yet again to Tommy Moffitt, A&M’s strength and conditioning coach – the Aggies are built for the fourth quarter, and that’s where championship teams are made, and why this team is 9-0 for the first time since 1992.
Hammer: I said it two weeks ago on Biscuits & SEC Live, and I’ll say it again: Texas A&M is a bona fide national title contender, and they showed everyone why that’s true again on Saturday. They just went on the road in the SEC and beat a ranked Mizzou team that was 6-2, whose two losses were by a combined 10 points, by three touchdowns. This team wins football games in different ways each week, and they have DUDES all over the place on offense and defense. I know Missouri was without their starting QB Beau Pribula in this game, but I won’t allow the doubters to discount this win. I got news for anyone who downplays this performance from A&M: Mizzou was not scoring more than 38 with Pribula, so this was going to be a loss regardless of who played QB. Texas A&M bullied Missouri on the lines of scrimmage in the second half and finished the day with 243 yards on 39 carries. After a sluggish start on offense, like they have done many times this season, the Aggies found a gear in the second half that their opponent simply could not match. Texas A&M is absolutely rolling right now, and it’s hard to see anyone slowing them down at this juncture. Missouri could be in trouble down the stretch with Zollers at QB, but Drink is a good coach, so don’t count them out.
Bossman: The Commodores can catch their breath. It’s been four straight weeks of tight games, and in 3/4 of them they’ve come out on top, including on Saturday night against the Auburn Tigers. Auburn's offense looked much better in DJ Durkin’s first game – Auburn scored 38 points just three times in the Freeze era. Durkin did it in his first game at the helm against a top 16 SEC opponent – and on the road to boot. As B&S friend Jake Crain said “Now, do the defense.” Auburn just couldn’t contain Diego Pavia, who threw for over 375 yards, and while they did get a stop late in the fourth quarter when they needed it, the Tigers offense then sputtered and couldn’t sink the dagger on the final drive of regulation. Giving up 45 to Vandy hurts, especially when you feel like you had the ‘Dores dead to rights by scoring 38 with an offense that has been anemic this season. But it wasn’t to be, and Vandy gets another W and stays in the College Football Playoff hunt. I have been using this Kirby Smart quote for weeks about the Georgia Bulldogs, when he said a few weeks back after the Ole Miss win “We’re hard to kill.” I think the same can be said about this Vanderbilt team. No matter the score, no matter the situation, the Commodores are hard to kill.
Hammer: I hereby petition Las Vegas to pay out bets based on the score at the end of regulation, because Auburn not covering 6.5 in this game is a travesty. Based on my respect for DJ Durkin as a coach, the buy-in he seems to have with that roster, and the comments he made about their offense leading up to the Vandy game, I felt like Auburn would cover this game. They just seemed ready to make a statement, and they took Vandy to freaking overtime and yet still didn’t cover a 6.5 point spread because gambling is cruel. I came away from this game impressed by both teams. On the Auburn side, it’s crystal clear now that Hugh Freeze was the issue. Lord knows what he was doing with that Tiger offense, but it got 10 times better without him in the picture. Ashton Daniels looked great, going 31/44 for 353 yards and two TDs through the air, while adding 89 yards rushing and two more TDs on the ground. Cam Coleman and Eric Singleton were unleashed in this game as well, hauling in a combined 21 passes for 245 yards and two TDs between them. Vandy had no answer for those dudes and credit to Derrick Nix and DJ Durkin for feeding them (again, something Freeze somehow could not do). Yet, Auburn lost the game. Immense credit should go to Vandy here because they took haymakers from Auburn and kept answering. Auburn gave Vandy their absolute best shot, and Diego Pavia put the ‘Dores on his back and refused to let them lose. Pavia’s stat line is nuts: 25/33 for 377 yards, 3 TDs passing with another 112 yards on the ground and a TD. For as good as Ashton Daniels was, Pavia was just better. I can’t give Clark Lea and that ‘Dore team enough credit for finding a way to win this game and keeping their CFP hopes alive. Absolute banger of a football game here with both teams landing punches all day long, and Pavia just refused to let his team lose.
Bossman: This one wasn’t an offensive explosion, but more so a methodical destruction of the Tigers by the Tide. The game was tight early as Bama played with their food for a bit, but after going up by two touchdowns before halftime, this one was well in hand. LSU wasn’t coming back as the Crimson Tide defense was all over Garrett Nussmeier, twisting his head like a Bop It at one point and planting him in the ground on three other occasions. Nussmeier was ultimately pulled from the game late in the third quarter in favor of President Michael Van Buren Jr., who had just about as much luck as Nussmeier — that is to say, none. LSU interim coach Frank Wilson was non-committal on whether Nussmeier would start next week, which, frankly, if that’s the case, I think you’ll see this team mail it in. Not because they don’t have pride, but because that’s their unquestioned leader, and despite how difficult of a year it’s been, they want 18 under center. This wasn’t Alabama’s best offensive performance, but the Tide still got the job done, and Ty Simpson ended up throwing for 277 yards and a TD. Alabama has rounded into a solid team and are peaking at the right time. This team is in the driver's seat to make it to Atlanta and are on the verge of locking up a College Football Playoff spot. Finally, Kalen DeBoer is 2-0 against LSU and put another opponent in the ground when wearing the black hoodie.
Hammer: Alabama deserves credit for getting a win and covering here. They beat a talented LSU team by 11 points and took care of business. That’s the good news. The bad news is that this Bama team has a glaring weakness that they can’t seem to fix. I keep waiting for Alabama’s run game to gain some traction, and I thought maybe coming out of the bye week, it would look a little better. Unfortunately for Bama fans, that was not the case. The Tide finished with just 56 rushing yards on 26 carries. It’s hard to overlook that weakness; however, Ty Simpson continues to lead this team and win games. He was solid yet again and did what was needed to win. He makes NFL throws every game, and with the arsenal of weapons Alabama has on the outside, they are able to keep winning in spite of the horrendous run game. My gut tells me the lack of ground game will come back to bite Alabama, but there are few QBs, if any, I trust more in college football than Ty Simpson, and a great QB like that can take you a long way. On the LSU side, they played hard but, unlike Auburn, were not able to unlock some sort of hidden ability that the prior coaching staff was suppressing. This was yet another game for LSU in a long line of games where the defense played very well, and the offense was anemic. I loved the effort, but the result looked no different than if Brian Kelly was still on the sidelines. LSU could not run the ball, the offensive line struggled in pass protection, and the passing game had zero explosiveness. That’s been the story all season and it looks like it will continue to be that was for the remainder of the season, regardless of who is coaching or who plays QB.
Bossman: Uh, hey yo…what was THAT!? Florida was favored by 3.5 points on the road in this game because, while Kentucky got a win over Auburn last week, they are not a good team. So Florida heard that and said, “Hold my beer.” Kentucky raced out to a 24-7 lead and never let off the gas. They embarrassed the Gators in the Big Grocery Bag on both sides of the ball. DJ Lagway had another lackluster game, to the point where interim head coach Billy Gonzales pulled him in favor of freshman QB Trammell Jones Jr. Just like in the Nussmeier situation, Gonzales was non-committal on whether or not Lagway would be the starter for the Gators last few games. You gotta give Kentucky a lot of credit here. Their backs were against the wall, their former starting and now backup QB is flashing money like he’s Ludarics in Las Vegas, and their head coach has been embroiled in potential firing talk. What do they do? They go out and get a gritty win on the road against Auburn. And then on Saturday night, they repeatedly punch Florida in the mouth and never let them get off the mat. Cutter Boley said after the game that the team loves Mark Stoops and what he stands for and how it leads the team, and while the Wildcats have taken their licks this season, they have back-to-back wins against two programs who one could argue are blue bloods, and a winning season is within their grasp, something not many of us had on our bingo board preseason.
Hammer: To pat myself on the back here, I picked Kentucky to cover and win this ballgame outright. I didn’t like the spot for Florida. After firing Billy Napier and losing a close game to arch-rival Georgia, I was worried the Gators would not be up for a road game at Kentucky. That all came to fruition on Saturday night in Lexington, but I had no idea it would be this bad. Florida straight gave up in this one. Kentucky ran for 233 yards on 44 carries in this game and just pounded Florida into oblivion. No offense to the Wildcats, who do have a solid rushing attack, but that’s how I knew Florida has raised the white flag. If Florida cared, that would not have happened. The Gator defense gave up after DJ Lagway kept turning it over, and it became clear the offense wasn’t going to help the cause. Kentucky broke Florida’s will in this game, and that is pretty dang impressive given how Kentucky’s season has gone. Mark Stoops has been mentioned in the hot seat conversation all year long (deservedly so), but Kentucky is still playing their butts off. I don’t know what it would take to keep or fire Stoops, but Kentucky has one cupcake, and then Vandy and Louisville left. It’s not out of the question that this team goes bowling.
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