Love it or hate it, the bowl system does have at least one redeeming characteristic: Very few SEC teams are left playing out the string. In fact, only Vanderbilt entered this weekend with absolutely nothing to play for, and only Ole Miss has been added to that list for this weekend. Every other team has a goal in mind, from defeating a rival to setting a milestone to getting eligible for a bowl to begin with. Even teams like LSU and Arkansas are facing what could be a play-in to the Sugar Bowl berth that Auburn might vacate leave open if the Tigers win out and go to the national championship game. As for Vanderbilt and Mississippi -- well, what is it they say about trying and failing?
SEC Football Insider: Arkansas, LSU Win Thrillers On A Supposedly Sleepy Weekend
With bowl invites and milestones on the line, it seems like no weekend is a slow one in the SEC.
Even with everyone trying to prove something, though, it looked like a slow week for the SEC. Only three intraconference games -- one between ranked teams -- were on the slate, three teams had bye weeks, and Alabama’s clobbering of Georgia State had been moved to Thursday. So it looked like a relatively ho-hum week in the conference. It played out a little bit differently.
WHEN ANY TIME IS TOO MUCH TIME
Arkansas 38, Mississippi State 31 (2OT)
Even if you didn’t see this game, a few numbers make it pretty easy to figure out what Mississippi State’s game plan was. The Bulldogs ran 100 plays, including 70 rushes, and chewed up more than 37 minutes of game time. All five of Mississippi State’s scoring drives took eight plays or more; three of them included more than 10 snaps. Thing is, they ran it almost perfectly and were helped by a slow period or two by Arkansas’ Ryan Mallett. And the Razorbacks still won.
That’s the danger in playing a quick-strike offense like Arkansas: Even if you try to keep the ball away from them, it’s hard to keep the ball away from them long enough. Three of Arkansas’ scoring drives in regulation took a minute and a half or less; none lasted even five minutes. So even though the Hogs ran the ball 35 times and passed it just 26 -- who are you and what have you done with Bobby Petrino? -- they had more than enough time to keep the game to a tie in regulation.
For a while, it seemed like they might not even have to use any extra time. With Mississippi State driving at the Arkansas 28 and leading by four at the end of the third quarter, Chris Relf ran for six yards and then fumbled, one of the few major mistakes in what could very well be the best game of Relf's career so far. In the aftermath, Arkansas' Anthony Leon gave Ricco Sanders a hard, two-handed shove the face mask. Leon was promptly ejected. Mallett followed all that up on the next play with an 89-yard touchdown strike to Jarius Wright, and the Razorbacks took a three-point lead.
They added another touchdown near the beginning of the fourth quarter, taking the lead up to 10 points and making it look like a lost cause for Mississippi State. Even when the Bulldogs drove the field to score another touchdown, they took almost six minutes to do it, leaving 4:24 on the clock.
Arkansas went back to running, feeding the ball to Knile Davis, who was having a great night. Then, Davis fumbled as he approached midfield. Mississippi State had the ball back with little time and no timeouts left, needing to score with 1:52 left.
That's exactly how long it took them, with the game-tying field goal splitting the uprights as time expired. But the Bulldogs looked to give it away in overtime, when Vick Ballard ran for 13 yards and dived toward the end zone, the ball stretched before him. Which is exactly where Jerico Nelson's helmet found it and popped it into the end zone and then out of bounds -- a touchback.
Three quick runs and it was time for Zach Hocker to come out and kick the game-winning field goal. Unfortunately, the rules require the game-winning field goal to go between the uprights -- which Hocker's kick did not do. Arkansas now had to take the field again under college overtime rules. On the fourth play, Mallett hit Kniles for a seven-yard touchdown pass, and Arkansas had the lead.
This is where Relf made one of his bad throws -- on third-and-7 from the Arkansas 12, he threw the ball a few feet too wide of Arceto Clark in the end zone. Arkansas sacked Relf on the ensuing fourth-down play, ending the game.
For Razorback fans like SB Nation’s Arkansas Expats, the game was proof of the team’s improvement over the last year.
I feel very confident in saying that last year’s team definitely would not have won this game. And, you don’t get extra credit for style points, so it all amounted to a very good day for the Razorbacks.
For Whom The Cowbell Tolls and other Mississippi State fans were left to focus on the next game -- which is kind of important.
The Egg Bowl is something that Mississippi State takes very seriously, especially given the fact that Coach Dan Mullen is a huge proponent of recruiting in the state. It’s a crucial game that MSU needs to win.
They will be traveling to Oxford to face Ole Miss. Arkansas will play LSU in Little Rock.
SAVING THE BEST FOR LAST -- AS ALWAYS
LSU 43, Ole Miss 36
It’s tempting to say that Houston Nutt’s team and LSU only play the first three quarters of their football games out of a sense of tradition, but that’s not really true -- they only play the first three quarters to set up the Broadway musical that is the fourth quarter, complete with a chorus line, special effects and enthusiastic reviews from the press. Nutt facing off with Les Miles isn’t as much a football game as an entertainment event.
Consider: On Saturday, Ole Miss and LSU combined for five drives of 50 or more yards in the first half. They had as many in the last eighteen minutes -- back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back. The teams averaged a combined 197 yards in each of the first three quarters; they had 298 in the last frame. They scored 47 points in before the fourth quarter, and 32 points in it. The fourth quarter featured five lead changes.
LSU would finish an eight-play, 80-yard drive, begun late in the third quarter, with a touchdown to take a 29-24 lead and miss the two-point conversion? Fine, Ole Miss would drive 59 yards in 10 plays to take a 30-29 lead and miss the two-point conversion. LSU would respond with a four play, 1:19, 60-yard drive to go back in front 35-30 and miss the two-point conversion? Ole Miss would use just 2:33 to go 80 yards in five plays to go up 36-35 and miss the two-point conversion. LSU would ...
Well, there the back and forth pattern ended. The Bayou Bengals melted away most of the clock on their next drive, leading to the most surprising thing of all: Effective clock management by a Les Miles-coached team. And, the way the game was going, the successful two-point conversion to take a 43-36 lead. Ole Miss took over with just 44 seconds left on the clock, and the drive ended with a Jeremiah Masoli pass that was caught -- by Patrick Peterson. Who, for those of you who haven't been following very closely this year, plays for LSU.
Jordan Jefferson had the best game he’s had in a long time against an SEC opponent: 13-of-17, 254 yards, a touchdown and an interception. This for a team that has failed to crack 200 passing yards in seven different games this season. Six different receivers had catches of 21 or more yards. Meanwhile, the LSU ground attack churned out 212 yards on 38 carries. The 470 yards of total offense was a season high for the Tigers. The five offensive touchdowns were also tops for 2010.
For Ole Miss, the season is now officially spiraling into irrelevance. With the loss, the Rebels are now 5-7, meaning they need to defeat Mississippi State and get a lot of help to even think about the postseason. Some will see this as justice for a team that made a mockery of the graduate transfer rule by recruiting Jeremiah Masoli. The truth is that Masoli has had some good games -- such as the 425 yards of total offense he carded at Arkansas -- but has been slightly uneven. He might have made Ole Miss a better team than it would have been otherwise, but it’s only been at the margins, and it’s not enough to save the Rebels’ lost season.
Meanwhile, LSU fans like the guys at And The Valley Shook are happy to have any kind of offense at all (mild language warning).
For literally the first time all year I can say this and it not be a joke: We moved the ball at will for an entire game. I've stated my feelings on the matter in recent weeks, but this game more than ever cemented that there's no reason to play Jarrett Lee any longer, Jordan Jefferson has taken ahold of the starting job. It appears the light has finally come on.
The Tigers head to Little Rock this weekend to take on Arkansas. Ole Miss hosts the Egg Bowl against Mississippi State.
IT STILL COUNTS
Tennessee 24, Vanderbilt 10
One of the things about the surplus of bowls now being played each year means that all you really have to do to get to a bowl game if you play in a BCS conference -- or any conference -- is win six games. It doesn’t matter if you have style points, so long as you have more points than the other team.
So it won’t hurt Tennessee’s quest to make the postseason in Derek Dooley’s first season that they only outgained Vanderbilt by 27 yards, had four fewer first downs and actually lost to the turnover battle (3-2). There’s no cause for concern that the Commodores had at least a little bit of hope until the last minute-and-a-half of the game. It’s Win No. 5, and the next victory would put Tennessee in Memphis or Birmingham or some such destination at the end of the year.
For Vanderbilt -- hey, the good news for them is that the Commodores don't have any more football games after a showdown with equally woeful Wake Forest. The quarterbacks still combined to complete less than half their passes -- again -- though that was more because of an awful night by Larry Smith; Jared Funk was 9-of-14 for 146 yards, a touchdown and a pick. The average ground play went for 3.1 yards, and the long rush was for 13 yards. Eight drives ended in Tennessee territory -- eight -- in a game in which the Dores scored 10 points.
It’s enough to make Anchor Of Gold ask for a new quarterback, if nothing else.
Will Jared Funk start the final game of his Vanderbilt career next week versus Wake Forest? I hope so. Larry’s taken a beating this season. I think it’s time to shut him down for the season and give the keys to the offense to #12.
At Rocky Top Talk, the fans are just happy that the Vols avoided the worst year in program history and kept that postseason dream alive.
And next week is the season, the latest edition of the most important game of Dooley’s career. Losing to Kentucky will train wreck the momentum we’ve built. Beating Kentucky means Year One was a success.
As mentioned above, Vanderbilt hosts Wake Forest to determine which BCS conference has the worst team in the Southeast, while Tennessee welcomes Kentucky in a game the Vols haven’t lost in a long, long time -- and by “long time,” we mean not since 1984.
TUNE-UP OR SET-UP?
South Carolina 69, Troy 24
Whenever a game gets to the point where fifteen players -- including the third-string quarterback -- touch the ball in some fashion, it's the kind of midmajor rout that probably isn't going to tell you much about the teams. Marcus Lattimore had just seven rushes in this game -- for 102 yards and three touchdowns. Stephen Garcia had 198 yards and two touchdowns -- on 12 passing attempts. Alshon Jeffery had 123 yards -- on five receptions. When the score is 56-7 at the half, your next game is against your archrival and you have a shot at the program's highest regular-season win total in 26 years, you don't take a lot of chances with your offensive stars.
By the time the game was over, Steve Spurrier had his first “half-a-hundred” game in more than four years, the Gamecocks had the fifth-highest point total in team history and South Carolina had scored the most points since its game against Kent State in 1995. Not that momentum seems to matter much with this team; the Gamecocks got shelled by Arkansas before coasting by Florida to clinch the division, so we shall see if waxing Troy will give the program a boost of momentum headed into two of the more important weeks in program history.
All of that has Garnet And Black Attack wondering how to define expectations for this team.
We’re at a point in this program’s history when we need to put our best foot forward on the recruiting trail to cement our place as a team to be reckoned with in the SEC. Beating Clemson regularly is part of the proposition there, as doing so will help us convince young in-state talent that Carolina is the place to matriculate, not Clemson. I’m tired of seeing us always take a step back anytime we take one forward.
The trip to the Upstate to face Clemson is next. The Tigers have revenge on their minds after South Carolina rolled past Clemson, 34-17, last year. That Clemson team went onto play in the ACC Championship Game.
FLORIDA NEVER GETS THIS WRONG
Florida 48, Appalachian State 10
Poor Appalachian State. The Mountaineers had to know what they were walking into -- a Swamp full of angry Gators whose season has already come crashing down around them. The only thing left to do is buzzsaw through the remaining opponents, or at least the ones you know you can buzzsaw through.
So Appalachian State found itself down 21-0 by the end of the first quarter and 42-3 by the end of the third. If it’s one thing Florida still knows how to do, it’s how to shellack a cupcake in short order. The Mountaineers did manage to scratch out 274 yards of total offense, but Florida nearly doubled that with 547. The Gators had 13.1 yards a reception and 7.2 yards a rush. The Moutaineers had 8.3 yards a catch and 3.3 yards a rush. With three more plays, Florida rang up 38 more points; the Gators lost the time of possession and turnover battle and still won the game; etc.
So Alligator Army isn’t getting too far ahead of itself here.
The Gators played well in all phases of the game, but UF’s success must be considered with the mind set that Appy State is not an SEC team. The Mountaineers are a good team, but they do not have the depth or size to compete with a FBS team. While Florida can deploy five-star recruits in waves, Appy State has nothing close.
Florida now heads West to Tallahassee to take on Florida State in the annual mini-challenge between the ACC and the SEC.
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