It’s getting real now.

The last weekend of October had many games with implications for the SEC Championship. For those of us who want a little chaos, we’re going to get plenty of matchups like this in November, partly because there remains only 1 SEC team without a conference loss.

Shoutout to you, Texas A&M. Somehow, in the face of a double-digit deficit, you flipped the Marcel Reed switch and made it happen.

Week 9 was packed with intrigue. After all, the SEC had three matchups of ranked teams.

Here were Saturday’s biggest takeaways:

A&M just shook up the entire SEC race in about half a quarter of football

Amazing. Drastic. Unthinkable.

Choose one way to describe A&M’s comeback and LSU’s subsequent defeat. They all work.

In what felt like the biggest game at Kyle Field of the post-Johnny Manziel era, the Aggies went from letting a winnable game slip away to dominating. Moving from Conner Weigman to Marcel Reed, much like when the former replaced the latter before Mizzou, was exactly the right button to push at that moment. LSU’s defense had no response whatsoever to Reed, who led five scoring drives, four of them touchdowns, in the final 23 minutes.

Remember, it was the A&M defense that sparked that run with an interception of Garrett Nussmeier after he looked like he was rolling in the first half. He forced a throw on 3rd and 2 that was knocked out by BJ Mayes, and that’s when Mike Elko pulled the trigger putting Reed in.

That sent Kyle Field into a frenzy from which he never looked back. The question is whether A&M will do the same heading into Atlanta.

For the first time since joining the SEC, the Aggies are the last remaining undefeated team in conference play. This isn’t just ‘controlling one’s own destiny’. A&M has two quarterbacks who have done the heavy lifting to beat top-10 teams. What could derail A&M at this point? With three conference games remaining, A&M will need to win conference games at South Carolina and Auburn to set up a monumental overtime showdown against Texas.

With how well the Aggies responded late in a game where they seemed buried, who would rule that out?

I went from crowning Garrett Nussmeier to feeling like he was helpless

In the first half, Nussmeier looked completely unfazed in a hostile atmosphere. He showed off NFL throws and looked a bit like a sneaky Round 1 prospect for an LSU team that looked poised to take control of the SEC race.

But that one force throw on third torpedoed Nussmeier. He threw two more interceptions and honestly, he got away with a throw to Mason Taylor on the other side of the field that probably should have been intercepted. Nussmeier was so upset that he didn’t even seem to have any idea of ​​the clock in the final minutes as LSU trailed by two touchdowns.

Nussmeier didn’t get much help from an LSU rushing attack that had -2 rushing yards in the first quarter, and the kicking game wasn’t a factor either before Reed took over. But it was clear the LSU quarterback was helpless against the Aggies as the crowd got back into it. A&M even ended up with Nussmeier twice after only being fired twice all year.

It was a stunning collapse from someone who looked like he was preparing for an All-SEC season. That’s still on the table, but it will have to wait a few weeks as Nussmeier tries to keep LSU’s Playoff hopes alive against… Alabama.

A crazy thought? Texas played mostly well at Vandy and won by 3

Yes, Vandy took advantage of a few tipped passes and the Texas offensive line has had better days. I understand that. It wasn’t a vintage Texas performance, especially considering the Longhorns committed 10 penalties for 108 yards.

But if you had told someone in the preseason that Texas would be playing in a three-point game at Vandy, the conclusion would have been, “What the hell is wrong with the Longhorns?” Instead, Saturday’s takeaway from Nashville was: “wow, Vandy is anything but a fluke.” Texas had to battle to avoid a repeat of Alabama.

The difference between the Longhorns and the Tide was what happened on third down. Texas held Vandy to 3-for-12 on 3rd down, while Alabama was outrebounded for 12 3rd-down conversions in the Nashville loss. Vandy didn’t have a touchdown drive of more than 38 yards until the final minute, when he trailed by 10. Give Texas defense credit for keeping the Diego Pavia Heisman Trophy campaign from gaining any more life.

Pavia briefly left the game with what appeared to be a leg injury, similar to what he suffered against Kentucky. But as expected, that absence was short-lived. He was still playing with his legs and proving to be a nightmare to bring down. Texas didn’t sack him once, though Pavia did see pressure and he was picked off twice (it could have been a third interception, but a passing penalty capped a pick-6). Vandy’s offense was limited to 4.3 yards/play and there was 1 play of 20 yards.

In other words, Texas’ defense didn’t have any hangovers in Georgia. I would argue that the offense didn’t either. Ewers responded well after that difficult start, even though he was without top target Isaiah Bond. It’s not an elite passing attack in the field without Bond, but Saturday was about survival.

Welcome to the Vandy experience of 2024. Everyone is lucky to have survived Pavia and the Dores.

Also, Quinn Ewers is still QB1 in Austin

Sorry.

I just had to say this in case anyone thought Arch Manning was about to get reps at Vandy after Ewers’ brief appearance last week against Georgia. He didn’t play and after a slow start, Ewers reminded us all why he is one of the better signal callers in the country.

Move along.

Alabama defeated Mizzou in a Playoff elimination game, but it’s fair to have questions about the Tide even after a 34-0 loss

The Tide earned the right to feel good after a day in which it earned its first multi-score win against SEC competition since last year at Kentucky. It wasn’t just a comfortable victory. It was a shutout in which the Tide rushing offense lasted for 282 sack-adjusted yards and scored all four touchdowns. That’s a positive, as is the fact that Alabama didn’t turn the ball over for the first time since the Wisconsin game. Beating a ranked team 34-0 shouldn’t be taken for granted after the year that was, even though it happened against a Mizzou offense that lost an already messed up version of Brady Cook.

But speaking of the big picture, here’s the problem with Saturday’s showing. Those penalty meters are still a problem. Alabama entered Saturday averaging 78 penalties per game, and yet even in a favorable matchup against an overwhelmed Mizzou team, the Tide racked up 85 penalties.

Discipline is a problem. That’s not something you want to have hanging over your head in the final month of the season, especially when the margin for error is gone. It wasn’t the difference in a game like this, as Alabama took advantage of some short fields via Mizzou turnovers and then leaned on the ground game in the second half.

What’s troubling to think about is what that will mean on the road, where Alabama already had two losses in which it incurred double-digit penalties. I’m not sure a bye week will fix that. If not, the Tide could see those Playoff dreams die in Death Valley.

Mizzou’s future does not include the Playoff, and now the questions begin

Stay ahead in the Tigers’ favorable path to the Playoff. Loss No. 2 was also loss No. 2. A week after Brady Cook returned from the hospital to rally late against Auburn, he didn’t make it to halftime against the Tide, giving rise to the Drew Pyne experience.

Yes, you don’t have to delve into that.

But it’s worth digging into Mizzou’s future beyond this Playoff-less season. You have an incredibly experienced team – Mizzou was No. 18 in FBS in percentage of returning production – that will undergo a major offensive transformation this offseason. Brady Cook and Theo Wease are not eligible. Luther Burden III talks about the early proofs. Both running back transfers are veterans. We don’t know what awaits OC Kirby Moore, who could be in line for another opportunity at the end of the season. Additionally, former QB of the Future Sam Horn had Tommy John surgery in February and could also be out all spring.

That’s a troubling thought, because it feels like a Playoff window was missed with what Mizzou got back on offense and how favorable that SEC schedule seemed to be. Eli Drinkwitz will have his work cut out for him at the end of the season. Fortunately, the Corey Batoon defense could be the new base.

Luckily, Mizzou is closing out 2024 wondering why it couldn’t recreate the magic of 2023.

As annoying as that pass rush is, Ole Miss doesn’t have a chance to weather the storm unless…

“Tre Harris is healthy.”

That’s the reality. And again, I’m not trying to take away from the fact that Ole Miss had 15 tackles for loss with a pass rush that was virtually unstoppable, although it’s worth remembering that this was against an Oklahoma offensive line that was on the 7th different combination of starters and it was without the top 5 receivers.

But without Harris, Ole Miss struggled to do much in the first half. It was an ineffective Jaxson Dart, who lacked someone who could stretch the field. Harris, who entered the day as the FBS leader in receiving yards, was out with a lower-body injury that sidelined him down the stretch at LSU. In the first half, Dart led just one touchdown drive and was a three-score favorite behind an Oklahoma team that was without its top 5 receivers.

To make matters worse for Ole Miss, the ground game was bottled up with 43 rushing yards in the first half. Credit to Oklahoma’s defense, which continued to show its pulse even as the Sooners’ depleted offense has been in shambles all season.

Although Dart led a much more efficient offense in the third quarter (he shook off a 3-of-8 start by completing 19 of his next 22 passes), it’s hard not to think about Harris’ status moving forward . Juice Wells hasn’t become the go-to receiver Ole Miss hoped he would be after coming over from South Carolina, and while Jordan Watkins played in Harris’ absence, there wasn’t a real deep threat.

It’s become clear watching the Ole Miss offense – if it doesn’t have a healthy Harris on the way, it has at least 1 more loss ahead of it (and maybe more). That could be seen as soon as next week, when Kiffin’s team travels to take on an improved Arkansas team.