Around the SEC: Week 12
Everybody loves dessert and the top teams in the SEC get their annual “Cupcake Saturday” to satisfy their sweet tooth. Other than the showdown between No. 21 Arkansas and No. 2 Alabama, which might fall into this category as well, there are matchups that have the potential to be blowouts.
No. 1 Georgia faces Charleston Southern, No. 12 Ole Miss faces Vanderbilt, No. 16 Texas A&M faces Prairie View and No. 25 Mississippi State faces Tennessee State.
SEC Offenses Light Up the Stat Sheet
Alabama’s Bryce Young took care of business with 270 yards passing and 5 touchdowns as the Crimson Tide blew out New Mexico State.
Missouri kept feeding its star running back Tyler Badie as he carried the ball 34 times rushing for over 200 yards and cashing in a score. With his fourth 200-yard game this season, Badie joins Derrick Henry and Leonard Fournette as the only SEC running backs to do just that.
Both quarterback Emory Jones from Florida and Will Rogers from Mississippi State threw six touchdown passes.
With lighter opponents on tap, there’s a chance for the SEC to put up big numbers yet again this weekend.
Tough day to be an Auburn Fan
Just like the fashion in which the Tigers lost to Mississippi State, which was ugly, so were the injuries that some of their key players sustained. Taking a 28-10 lead into halftime, they gave up 33 points in the second half as Will Rogers’ big day led to the upset of Auburn.
Bo Nix suffered a broken ankle during the game and continued to play on the next three drives before handing the keys to TJ Finley. Finley came in for two plays, which resulted in an incompletion and a fumble at the 12-yard line. Kicker Anders Carlson tore his ACL on an onside kick and is out for the season as well.
Presumably TJ Finley will be the starter behind a shaky offensive line against the South Carolina Gamecocks Saturday at 7 p.m. in a game which provides a Gamecocks defense that could surprise Auburn.
Another Week of LSU blunders
After being in striking distance of a win versus Alabama, LSU fell to Arkansas in two overtimes with a score of 16-13 as Cam Little of the Razorbacks put the game winning kick between the sticks from 37 yards out.
The growing pains of freshman Garrett Nussmeier and the QB battle against Max Johnson make it that much harder to compete with the nation’s top teams.
The defensive side of the ball for LSU has flipped the script since Week 1 as it keeps this team in games, and Damone Clark and Micah Baskerville played their tails off. The two recorded 23 tackles that included five tackles for loss and three sacks.
The Rebels take down the Aggies
After winning four straight games, Jimbo Fisher and the Aggies fell to Lane Kiffin’s Rebels as the Heisman hopeful Matt Corral was too much for the A&M defense. Much of this game was spent with the Aggies catching up to the 15-0 deficit that was set upon them at halftime.
The bright side was forcing the Rebels into field goals instead of touchdowns, but the deficit grew as Ole Miss forced Zach Calzada into two interceptions and a 57.1 completion percentage.
One of those interceptions was returned 52 yards for a score and killed all the comeback momentum for the Aggies. This game will be one to look back on as Ole Miss moves towards Bowl season.
Matthew Gelhard is a third-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email mgg5264@psu.edu.
