College Football: Around The SEC Week 8

Nine conference teams took the field on Saturday in week eight of SEC football action.
Alabama rolled big over Tennessee, Mississippi State got revenge in a convincing win over Kentucky, Auburn bounced back at Arkansas, and LSU improved to six wins with a big win in Oxford.

Here’s a look at the best, worst, and ugliest of Saturday and how it all played out:

Alabama 45 Tennessee 7

Tennessee scored their first touchdown since playing UMass in week four (that’s 12 quarters worth of football) in the form of a Daniel Butuli pick six in the 3rd quarter on Saturday. That was the only highlight for the Vols. Rashann Gaulden’s hand gesture pretty much summed up how Tennessee fans felt Saturday afternoon. To no ones surprise, Alabama won in dominating fashion in what was the 100th all time meeting between the two.

Tennessee is now in danger of missing a bowl for the first time since 2013, as there is not a game left on the schedule that you could hardly chalk up as a sure win outside of Vanderbilt (maybe? I don’t know).

The Vols will head to Lexington next Saturday night to face Kentucky, as Alabama will get a bye before hosting LSU on November 4th.

Mississippi State 45 Kentucky 7

At the beginning of the season, I argued that the SEC West was no longer head and shoulders above the East. I’ve changed my tune in the last few weeks, as the East has gone a combined 2-7 so far this season. That trend continued in Starkville on Saturday. After Kentucky’s season defining 40-38 win over Mississippi State in 2016, the Bulldogs were able to get some revenge against the Wildcats with an absolute route at home.
Kentucky will take another stab at getting to six wins and bowl eligibility when they host Tennessee next Saturday. Mississippi State, who sort of fell off the map following two straight blowout losses to Georgia and Auburn are now 5-2 and riding a two game win streak into College Station as they are set to face Texas A&M next week.

Missouri 68 Idaho 21

Here’s something we haven’t heard a lot this season: Missouri won. The Tigers got back to scoring a lot of points and putting up astronomical numbers again, something they haven’t done since a week one versus Missouri State. It should be noted that the team they beat on Saturday will be downgrading to the FCS in 2018.

Missouri will look to snag their second straight win next week when they welcome UConn to Columbia for another non-conference match up.

LSU 40 Ole Miss 24

Outside of Alabama and Georgia, there isn’t a hotter team in the SEC right now than the Bayou Bangles. LSU improved to 6-2 with a strong outing on the road against Ole Miss on Saturday night.

The Tigers will slide into the bye week, coming off of a three game win streak. They’ll head to Tuscaloosa on November 4th for a big match up with top ranked Alabama. Ole Miss, which now sits at 3-4 on the year will take on Arkansas next week in a battle of the “must wins.” That game will be played in Oxford.

Auburn 52 Arkansas 20
Knoxville isn’t the only place in the SEC where times are tough Things are really bad in Fayetteville. Not only are the Razorbacks 0-4 in conference play, they’ve lost every SEC game by a combined 165-94. It’s clear by now that it’s not a question of if Bret Bielema will be fired, but when. He won’t be the only coach that gets the axe in the SEC, but he might be the first following Saturday’s loss to Auburn.

As for the Tigers, they were able to bounce back from the tough 27-23 loss to LSU last week, and get a dominating win on the road. They’ll look to keep up their winning ways on the road as they will travel to College Station on November 4th for a showdown with Texas A&M.

SEC games In Week 9:

Florida vs #3 Georgia (Jacksonville)

Vanderbilt @ South Carolina