Skip to main content
KSRKSR Plus
KSBoard
kentucky logo
Join KSR+

SEC Roundup: Major upsets across the board in a wild weekend

profileby:Eric Decker•11/14/21•

Edecker17

SEC-Roundup-Major-upsets-across-the-board-in-a-wild-weekend
Photo by Chris McDill/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Kentucky fans are understandably waking up a little guilty this morning. Winning is winning, but winning against Vanderbilt doesn’t feel like all that big of an accomplishment. Regardless, we should be happy we got this week off as the rest of the SEC conference gutted themselves from within. Let’s dive in.

No. 11 Texas A&M at No. 15 Ole Miss

So we’ve learned the secret to beating Texas A&M this season is to be from Mississippi. After getting upset by Mississippi State at Kyle Field in Week 2, the Aggies got absolutely dominated last night.

Surprisingly enough, the Rebels won in spite of Matt Corral having an average night in terms of his standards. The potential top pick in next year’s draft only threw for one touchdown in the first quarter and ended up with 247 yards on 24-37 passing.

This game was won in the trenches. Ole Miss dominated at the line on both sides of the ball, rushing for 262 yards as a team. Jerrion Ealy exploded for 152 yards on 24 carries while Snoop Conner and Henry Parrish each added 50+ on the ground.

The defense didn’t allow the Aggies to score until the second half, which is pretty decent. And now the SEC West is a jumbled-up mess sitting behind Alabama.

No. 25 Arkansas at LSU

Ed Orgeron took another brutal punch in an unforgivable season as LSU dropped to 4-6 after the 2OT loss against Arkansas.

It’s been such a weird season down in the Bayou. I don’t think people feel bad at all because LSU literally had one of the greatest teams of all time a few years ago. But it’s also so strange to see the performance of LSU fluctuate so often now. They’re looking to the future now through the reincarnation of Zach Mettenberger with Garrett Nussmeier.

The freshman quarterback was understandably shaky in the start, throwing for two picks, one coming in overtime, and a touchdown on 18-31 passing. The offense just couldn’t get anything going, even against a struggling Arkansas team that fell drastically after getting a taste of the top-10.

Nobody even really played that well for Arkansas either, they just happen to be going up against a program in turmoil. At least they’re 7-3 now.

Mississippi State at No. 17 Auburn

The air raid was in full effect on Saturday for Mike Leach and the now 6-4 Bulldogs in what was probably the wildest game in the SEC this past weekend. Will Rogers went nuclear, throwing for 415 yards and six touchdowns in the comeback win against Auburn. Makai Polk caught two touchdowns while Malik Heath and Dillon Johnson snagged one apiece.

Auburn didn’t even perform all that poorly. Yeah, the defense giving up 43 at home sure while blowing a 28-3 first-half lead isn’t ideal in the slightest, but Bo Nix actually looked somewhat competent yesterday. The run game was mediocre so Nix had to carry the load through the air and he did all he could, throwing for 377 yards and two touchdowns.

It’s a bit too late for Mississippi State to make a serious run at contending or reaching a high-level bowl given that they already have four losses. Their last two wins against Kentucky and Auburn should be noticed though; Mike Leach has had them playing good football for a few weeks now.

No. 1 Georgia at Tennessee

I don’t care what anyone has to say. I don’t care that this is the second time this year the Vols have looked halfway decent in the first half against an SEC juggernaut. Tennessee football is now 5-5 in the year 2021 after their 41-17 defeat to Georgia.

With that out of the way, I don’t think people were all that surprised with how Tennessee came out today. Their offense has been absolutely buzzing and one of the best in the conference for some time now. We know that all too well. It was still eyebrow-raising to a certain degree when the Vols put up 10 on the board before the end of the first quarter.

Then Georgia decided to stop playing with them, and only allowed another seven points the rest of the game. They also dominated the run game and the game clock by pounding the ball, led by James Cook and his three total touchdowns. Like it is for most weeks, this game is more about how good Georgia is rather than the faults of Tennessee. If the Bulldogs don’t win the national championship this season, it’s going to be a catastrophe of epic proportions.

Samford at Florida

The Florida Gators let up 52 points to Samford in a football game. You read that right. Not Stanford. Not even the nerds with the tree mascot could pull this feat off. Florida allowed an FCS team to come into their home and put up a 50-bomb on them. Luckily enough, they went up against an FCS defense so they were able to put a light 70 on the board and get out with a win. So everything is ok, right?

I don’t think anyone thought that a win would make this miserable season for Dan Mullen and the Gator even worse. Oh boy were we wrong. Samford came in and put up 42 in the first half, forcing the Gator offense to literally have to go out and score every possession, which they essentially did. The pride of Augusta, Georgia, Liam Welch threw for 400 yards and three touchdowns against the Gator defense. He also leads Samford with 65 yards rushing.

If you’re looking at just the numbers, Emory Jones had an all-time performance at quarterback. Jones went off for 464 yards and six touchdowns in the win. Sadly nobody really cares because, I repeat, Samford put up 52 points in Gainesville. At least Twitter gave us some gems after the game.

New Mexico State at No. 2 Alabama

Well, it’s time to do some scouting. Before coming into Lexington next weekend, New Mexico State had a quick pitstop to get boat-raced 59-3 at the hands of Alabama. It was the epitome of another buy-game that Alabama so regularly tortures other non-SEC opponents with. Remember when the Citadel was winning for like five seconds that one year? That was cool.

This win was like any other one against a lowly opponent for Alabama. Bryce Young threw for 270 yards and five touchdowns on only 23 attempts. Jameson Williams caught three touchdowns for the Crimson Tide. They at least have somewhat of a viable opponent, maybe, next week against Arkansas. This past week was just a replay of every Alabama buy-game for the past decade.

South Carolina at Missouri

It’s always fun to see a battle between two SEC teams who vastly underperformed given their preseason expectations. It almost makes it seem like it’s more important. A “we’re bad but we’re not as bad as you” sort of thing. By that genius logic, Missouri is just a little less bad than South Carolina.

It was really an ugly game. Neither starting quarterback reached over 200 yards passing and South Carolina’s rushing game wasn’t pretty. The lone bright spot of the night really was Tyler Badie, who went off for 209 yards rushing and a touchdown on 34 carries in the 31-28 win.

Kentucky at Vanderbilt

It’s been far too long since we’ve been able to say it but, Kentucky won a football game on Saturday. We simply do not care that it came against Vanderbilt. Wins all mean the same in the standings, and that win yesterday clinched a winning record in the SEC for only the second time since going to the moon was a cool, new activity our country discovered.

Kentucky fell off after getting up to a 31-3 lead in the first half. Ideally, you would’ve liked to see the ‘Cat keep on the gas and completely embarrass this already downtrodden program. It’s okay though, Kentucky won convincingly and got good performances out of their top weapons. Chris Rodriguez Jr. had 114 yards and a touchdown. Wan’Dale Robinson had six catches for 75 yards and a touchdown.

After failing miserably against Tennessee, every game the rest of the way became a must-win. And on Saturday, they won. It’s all we can ask for.

Discuss This Article

Comments have moved.

Join the conversation and talk about this article and all things Kentucky Sports in the new KSR Message Board.

KSBoard

2025-04-25