Vanderbilt- 34 vs Florida- 17
To not surprise, Florida’s offense was nothing short of a train wreck. Despite 300-plus yards passing, Tyler Murphy threw three interceptions and his only touchdown was a fluky reception by freshman Ahmad Fulwood. Murphy was too slow when diagnosing the defense and making a decision. Not only that, but his deep throws were awful and lead to multiple interceptions and ugly incompletions. The rushing attack was not much more successful either. To be fair, the lack of rushing production is more due to the offensive line getting no push than lack of running back talent.
Despite scoring 34 points, Vanderbilt’s offense was nothing special either. They only had 183 total yards. Their success came from great field position that they acquired from Florida turnovers. Running back Jerron Seymour was a mismatch near the goal line and scored three times with rushes of 10 yards or less. The lack of turnovers surrendered by Vanderbilt also factored in to their success. They played much safer football than Florida.
(8) Missouri- 48 vs Kentucky- 17
There may not have been a better single performance than that of Dorial Green-Beckham’s on Saturday.
He accounted for four of Maty Mauk’s five passing touchdowns and showed absolute dominance in the red zone and at the catch point. With his four touchdown receptions included, Green-Beckham had seven total receptions for 100 yards.
To compliment the stellar aerial attack, Henry Josey had an outstanding game rushing the ball. His 11 carries went for 113 yards, as well as a pair of rushing touchdowns, one of which was an 86 yard dash.
Kentucky’s downfall was their inefficiency running the ball. They had a whopping 51 carries, but that large sum of carries only totaled 134 yards; less than three yards per carry.
(9) Auburn- 55 vs Tennessee- 23
Auburn’s quarterback Nick Marshall had a incredible performance, but not in the way that it would be expected from a quarterback. Marshall only threw for 35 yards, but on 14 rushing attempts, he ran for a stunning 214 yards. Two of those 14 carries went for touchdowns. Although, Marshall was not the only one shredding through Tennessee’s front seven. Tre Mason plowed through Tennessee for 117 yards and three touchdowns.
To rival Auburn’s rushing performance, Tennessee's Rajion Neal ran for 124 yards and a touchdown. Unfortunately for him, quarterback Josh Dobbs is an young passer that could not capitalize on ant drives for a passing touchdown, but he threw an interception.
Ole Miss- 34 vs Arkansas- 24
Arkansas’ Brandon Allen had a game that was completely out of character. He has been a liability all season long, but had a two touchdown performance against Ole Miss. Allen was forced to take the game into his own hands because Arkansas’ defense could not keep up with Ole Miss’ offense. This made Arkansas limit their rushing attack, which is easily their strongest area.
Ole Miss’ rushing efficiency was mediocre, but Bo Wallace and his stacked receiving corps ran up the score. Wallace threw for over 400 yards and threw three touchdowns. Donte Moncrief and Ja-Mes Logan caught 12 of Wallace’s passes for a combined 259 yards, as well as one touchdown for each of them.
Georgia- 45 vs Appalachian State- 6
In the expected blowout win, Aaron Murray surpassed Danny Wuerffel to break the record for most career passing touchdowns in the SEC. The record makes him the best statistical quarterback in SEC history. Against App. State, Murray threw for 281 yards and a pair of touchdowns, accompanied by a lone interception.
The phenomenal Todd Gurley did not play quite up to par on Saturday. While 13 carries for 75 yards looks good on paper, it is rather surprising that he did not do better against an FCS opponent.
Just as they needed, Georgia’s defense had a stellar game. With the copious amounts of young talent, the squad needed a game in which they felt entirely in control. They allowed just over 253 yards; a respectable performance.
(15) Texas A&M- 51 vs Mississippi State- 41
Just as nearly every Texas A&M game is, this matchup was a high scoring shootout. Manziel threw for nearly 450 yards, as well as five touchdowns.
Although, he wasted plenty of other scoring opportunities as he threw a trio of interceptions. Had he not been reckless, A&M may have won this game by a much wider margin.
To be fair to Manziel, he was forced to do more because the running backs behind him were struggling to open the offense up. Despite consistent efficiency, two of A&M’s touchdowns were rushing touchdowns from their running backs.
Of course, Texas A&M’s defense allowed more points than they should have. The trio of passers that Mississippi State used totaled 257 yards, four touchdowns, and a single interception. Their rushing attack was even more threatening. Dak Prescott ran for 154 yards and Josh Robinson ran for 73 yards on a miniscule 6 carries. One of those carries was a 51 yard touchdown run.
(1) Alabama- 38 vs (13) LSU- 17
With the win, Alabama has solidified their throne atop the SEC West. LSU has the game tied at 17 at one point, but Alabama finished the game with three unanswered touchdowns to end LSU’s SEC championship hopes.
Alabama did exactly what they needed to do in order to beat LSU: slow down Jeremy Hill and force Zach Mettenberger to beat them.
Hill was held to 42 yards on his 13 rushing attempts and his relief running back, Terrence McGee, had nine carries for 31 yards. Clearly, the game had been forced onto Mettenberger’s shoulders and he could not come through for the Tigers.
On offense, TJ Yeldon dismantled LSU’s defense. He took a heavy workload of 25 carries, but carried it well for 133 yards and two touchdowns.
This rushing success enabled AJ McCarron to throw against softer coverages and dominate, which he did by throwing three touchdowns and zero interceptions.