Texas’ comeback at Ohio State didn’t just flip the national conversation. It put the SEC right back in the center of it.
The Longhorns erased a 20-point fourth-quarter deficit and walked out with a 24-23 win over the then-No. 1 Buckeyes, a result that pushed Texas to the top of the national rankings and gave the conference a signature victory it can carry into the College Football Playoff discussion.
With the CFP selection committee set to unveil its first rankings on Nov. 3, the timing matters. So does the bigger picture: the SEC currently has six teams in the AP Top 25’s top 10, and if the playoff field were decided today and mirrored those rankings, the league would land six teams in the 12-team bracket.
That kind of depth comes with a warning label, though. The SEC is moving from an eight-game to a nine-game conference schedule, and the losses are going to pile up when the league starts taking direct shots at itself. LSU’s trip to Ole Miss on Saturday already has that feel, with both teams projected to be in the College Football Playoff mix.
For now, though, the mood around the league is mostly upward.
Texas’ win does more than settle some of the noise around Steve Sarkisian. It also gives Arch Manning and a roster loaded with talent a badly needed jolt after last season’s CFP miss.
Georgia, meanwhile, hasn’t exactly gone anywhere. The two-time defending SEC champions have put 133 points on the board through two games, and Kirby Smart has still found a way to keep the edge sharp by calling out sloppy scout team play in the fourth quarter.
The No. 2 Bulldogs have opened cleanly, with key players healthy and fresh after logging less than half of the snaps across the first two games.
Then there’s Lane Kiffin, who never seems far from the center of the noise. The buildup to LSU’s visit to Ole Miss has been loud, with Kiffin’s off-field push to add NFL players overshadowing plenty of the football talk. That backdrop only adds to what should be a lively matchup with the Rebels and quarterback Trinidad Chambliss.
Texas A&M also belongs in the conversation after a 48-20 win over Arizona State. Mike Elko’s third Aggies team looks more settled than the previous ones, and the defense forced four turnovers in a game that showed how disruptive this group can be. The Aggies returned 65% of their total production, which ranked 14th nationally and fifth in the SEC, and that kind of continuity is showing up early.
Alabama’s start in league play also moved the stock in the right direction. The Crimson Tide beat Kentucky 45-17 on the road after falling behind 7-0 on a Pick-6 thrown by freshman quarterback Keelon Russell. What could have become a rough early swing instead became another coaching point for Kalen DeBoer, whose quarterback development and offensive work have already been on display in Tuscaloosa.
Tennessee is seeing similar early returns with its own young quarterback. Josh Heupel’s offense helped ease Faizon Brandon into his first road start, and the Vols backed him with a huge ground game in a 45-24 win at Georgia Tech. Tennessee ran for 299 yards, while Brandon completed 10 of 21 passes for 148 yards and two touchdowns and added 22 rushing yards on five carries.
Not everyone in the league got the kind of lift they wanted.
Oklahoma’s trip to Ann Arbor ended in a 17-10 loss to the then-unranked Wolverines, and John Mateer had a difficult afternoon. The Heisman Trophy hopeful finished 17 of 33 for 189 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Oklahoma’s defense did its part, holding Michigan to 263 total yards, but the Sooners went just 3 of 13 on third down, and Mateer’s fourth-quarter interception helped set up the winning score.
Arkansas had a rougher opening than most expected. First-year coach Ryan Silverfield inherited a roster with 81 new players, but the 43-10 loss at Utah as a 12.5-point underdog was worse than the preseason optimism suggested.
In Other News...
Georgia Suddenly Has A Tyriq Green Concern At The Worst Time
Tyriq Greens night ended early after the freshman left the game with an injury on a kickoff return, giving Georgia another health issue to monitor as the season moves into a critical stretch. Kirby Smart said the Bulldogs are still waiting on the full results on Greens status, and the staff will sort out his availability as the week goes on.
Greens situation adds to an injury picture that already has Georgia juggling some missing pieces. Wide receiver Thomas Blackshear and outside linebackers Chase Linton and Amaris Williams are already out, so any setback involving a young contributor on special teams only deepens the uncertainty as the Bulldogs try to stay steady from one week to the next. [Read more 🡒]
Kirby Smart Turned Georgias Big Night Into A Warning
Georgias all-white look turned Saturday night into a milestone long before the game got out of hand, as the Bulldogs wore the uniforms for the first time in school history and buried Western Kentucky in a 70-20 win. Gunner Stockton helped make the evening feel even more like a showcase, tying a school record with five passing touchdowns in the first half and giving the home crowd plenty to talk about well before halftime.
Kirby Smart, though, spent the postgame sounding more concerned than celebratory. Even with the score in Georgias favor by a wide margin, he made clear the second half did not meet his standard, turning what should have been a feel-good blowout into a reminder that the Bulldogs still have details to clean up. For a team with bigger goals ahead, that kind of message matters almost as much as the lopsided result. [Read more 🡒]
Georgia Blowout May Have Just Settled A Key Quarterback Debate
Georgias 70-20 rout of Western Kentucky did more than pad the record to 2-0. It also gave the Bulldogs a much clearer picture of where the quarterback room stands behind Gunner Stockton, with a handful of young players using a lopsided game to make their case in a meaningful way.
Ryan Puglisi was among the biggest beneficiaries, with his performance strongly suggesting he has moved to the front in the race for the backup job. Tyriq Green also flashed enough to look like a return option worth watching, while Georgia got mixed results from Ryan Montgomery and Lawson Luckie. For a team still sorting out depth in spots, that kind of clarity is part of what made Saturday matter beyond the final score. [Read more 🡒]