The SEC’s biggest passing headlines from Week 7 didn’t come from the quarterbacks in the games everybody expected to matter most. Instead, the league’s best-looking throws on Saturday helped fuel three blowouts and one jaw-dropping upset, and the Davey O’Brien Award took notice on Monday.
Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss, LSU signal-caller Sam Leavitt and Auburn passer Byrum Brown all landed on the award’s “Great 8” list for the week, joining three Big 12 quarterbacks and two Group of 6 quarterbacks.
Chambliss put together the cleanest stat line of the trio in Ole Miss’ 31-3 win over Missouri. He threw for 241 yards and three touchdowns as the Rebels turned a matchup that had plenty of attention into a one-sided finish.
Leavitt followed a similar script in LSU’s 31-0 rout of Mississippi State. The Arizona State transfer wasn’t facing much resistance from the Bulldogs, and he made the most of it with 289 passing yards and four touchdowns. He was also not tested by the Mississippi State defense, according to the source, as the Tigers rolled to the shutout win.
Brown’s day came in the most dramatic setting of all. The former South Florida quarterback, now at Auburn under head coach Alex Golesh, finished with 265 total yards and two total touchdowns in the Tigers’ win over No.
1 Georgia. That result snapped Auburn’s nine-game losing streak in the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry.
All three quarterbacks are set to be back on the field in Week 8.
In Other News...
LSU Faces A Dangerous Road Test Auburn Is Built To Exploit
LSU heads to Auburn for an SEC matchup that already has the feel of a stress test for both sides. The Tigers are still carrying the energy from Auburns upset over Georgia, and both coaching staffs have acknowledged how hard it can be to keep that emotional edge once the next week arrives. For LSU, the setting matters almost as much as the opponent, because recent SEC road trips have been a problem and this one lands in a place where Auburn should have a crowd fully behind it.
The numbers point to LSU as the steadier team on paper, with advantages in several offensive and defensive categories, but the trip to Jordan-Hare has a way of shrinking those edges. Auburn does not need to be perfect at home to make life uncomfortable, especially when the atmosphere is already primed after a signature win. For LSU, the challenge is turning statistical superiority into a road performance, and for Auburn, it is about using the home-field surge before the emotional letdown has a chance to settle in. [Read more 🡒]
Auburn Still Waiting On Key Signee As Eligibility Fight Drags On
Auburns exhibition matchup with Alabama in Birmingham is already feeling the effects of a legal fight that has pushed back the arrival of international signee Mantas Rubtaviius. The delay in the lawsuit between Rubtaviius and the NCAA means he remains unavailable for the game, leaving Auburn to move forward without one of the newcomers it was counting on this fall.
Rubtaviius situation has become a reminder that roster building does not always move on a clean timetable, especially when eligibility questions are still tied up in court. For Auburn, the bigger concern is simple: a player expected to be part of the mix is still stuck in limbo, and there is no clear resolution yet as the Tigers prepare for the next step of their preseason schedule. [Read more 🡒]
Auburn Is Giving Jordan-Hare An Extra Edge For LSU
Jordan-Hare Stadium is set to sound a little different for Auburns next home test. The university plans to amplify the crowd atmosphere for Saturdays matchup with No. 18 LSU by using microphones for the marching band and field-level speakers, a move aimed at turning an already charged setting into something even more difficult for the visitors to navigate.
It comes on the heels of Auburns upset of No. 1 Georgia, which only sharpened the anticipation around another major home stage. The LSU game is set for 11 a.m. Central on ABC, and with kickoff coming early in the day, Auburn is clearly looking for every possible edge to make Jordan-Hare feel as loud as it can from the start. [Read more 🡒]