By Matt Smith
SouthernPigskin.com

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Matt Smith recaps Week 3 in the SEC

Thoughts and Musings

-Somehow, were not even to the midway point of Brock Bowers college career. The star Georgia tight end had a pair of first-half touchdowns in the top-ranked Bulldogs 48-7 rout of South Carolina, taking a backwards screen pass across the field for a score followed by an incredible toe-tapping, high-pointing reception in the corner of the end zone. He added a third score early in the second half, going 78 yards on a pop pass to put Georgia up 31-0. Bowers is surrounded by great players, but tight ends simply dont dominate games like Bowers does. The cHd word is still banned until the end of October. That said, its hard to find another player who has a larger gap to the next best player at his position than Bowers.

-Spencer Rattler had a monumental task facing the Georgia defense, but he failed to clear even a low bar, throwing two interceptions, the first in Georgia territory on an early drive when the game was still competitive. The talent is there, but the mistakes are starting to pile up with five interceptions on the season. The Gamecocks will win the next two to get to 3-2, and then itll be on Rattler to play cleaner football as South Carolina finally plays some games that should be competitive.

-No. 20 Ole Miss gashed hapless Georgia Tech on the ground, going for 316 yards with six touchdowns, split evenly between Zach Evans, Quinshon Judkins and Ulysses Bentley. The 42-0 Rebels win says more about the Yellow Jackets ineptitude, but it does show that Lane Kiffin is clearly content running the football and knows its his best path to victory this season with a three-headed monster in the backfield. Jaxson Dart threw just 16 passes with an interception, and the defense was stout for a third straight week. Ole Miss has one more warm-up game next week against Tulsa before SEC play begins with a bang on Oct. 1 when Kentucky comes to Oxford.

-I picked Auburn to win and will fall on the sword after its 41-12 loss to No. 22 Penn State, but I did note in my weekend primer that there was a plausible scenario where Penn State blows out Auburn. The Tigers offense stinks. No big surprise there. However, the defense getting lit up by explosive plays, admittedly a key element of the 2022 Nittany Lions offense, was a massive disappointment. The offense isnt salvageable with any quarterback. If the Tigers are to turn this around and save Bryan Harsins job, it will have to come on defense. If Harsin loses to either Missouri or LSU, both at home, in the next two weeks, its probably all over.

-LSUs offense was lifeless into the second half against Mississippi State, but after a critical fumbled punt by the Bulldogs, Jayden Daniels and the Tigers were nearly unstoppable, ripping off three touchdown drives to pull away from the Bulldogs, 31-16. The offense goes as Daniels goes behind a shaky offensive line that did show some improvement in its run blocking. Daniels ability to extend drives keeps this offense going, and the Tigers looked poised, confident and well-prepared on Saturday night, something we havent always seen lately in Baton Rouge.

-Mississippi State was disappointing in a 31-16 loss to LSU, as the Tigers defense handled the Air Raid, holding Will Rogers to just 24 completions and 214 yards. LSU brought a ton of pressure and attacked short and intermediate routes. The Bulldogs beat themselves at times with the muffed punt and some key drops, with a raucous Tiger Stadium playing a part. With a brutal schedule ahead, this was a game Mississippi State desperately needed. After leading for nearly three quarters, it was a missed opportunity that could cost this team a successful season.

-No. 24 Texas A&M held off No.13 Miami (FL), 17-9, in a terrible football game late on Saturday night. Neither offense could do much of anything, with the Aggies failing to reach 300 yards but capitalizing on a fumbled punt by the rattled Hurricanes. The Texas A&M defense, despite losing two defensive backs to targeting calls, limited Tyler Van Dyke to just a 51 percent completion percentage and kept Miami out of the end zone. Max Johnson made his first start under center for the Aggies, but completed just 10 passes. Hes a tough kid with a big arm, but his feel of the game has been an issue going back to his time at LSU. Arkansas will be a big test for Johnson next week.

-Florida had a classic trap game on Saturday night against a little brother in between massive division games. I expected the Gators to struggle, but they nearly lost to USF, needing a late interception and an errant snap in the final minute by the Bulls to survive, 31-28. Florida was outgained 402-328, relying on a pick-six and a short field after the fourth-quarter takeaway. The Gators defense, playing without linebacker and team leader Ventrell Miller, was gashed on the ground for 286 yards. Given I did see a competitive game coming in this spot, I dont plan to overreact regarding whether or not this performance will carry over to next weeks showdown at Tennessee.

-Why was Florida using timeouts after USFs errant snap with 30 seconds to play? It gave USF time to regroup and not have to either scramble to get a third-down play off or potentially scramble to get its kicking team on the field. Instead, USF was able to run a play, use its final timeout, and attempt the game-tying field goal. I suppose Billy Napier wanted to have some time (20 or so seconds) after a made field goal to try to win the game, but odds were very low of that happening with this Florida offense. It was a curious move by a head coach who is normally on top of things.

-Saturday was nearly a disaster in Fayetteville, as former Arkansas head coach Bobby Petrino brought Missouri State into Razorback Stadium and had leads of 17-0 and 27-17 before the tenth-ranked Razorbacks ripped off the final three touchdowns of the game to escape, 38-27. The Arkansas defense, particularly the secondary, is undermanned, a major red flag when SEC play resumes next week against Texas A&M. K.J. Jefferson, who had 425 yards of total offense and three total touchdowns on Saturday night, will have to carry an even heavier load going forward.

-Vanderbilt blew past its sportsbook preseason win total of 2.5 with a 38-28 comeback win at Northern Illinois to improve to 3-1. The Commodores stuck with freshman A.J. Swann at quarterback, and he and Will Sheppard continued to display a nice rapport with 10 connections for 171 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Between Sheppard and linebacker Anfernee Orji, Vanderbilt has a playmaker on both sides of the ball. Everything the rest of the season is icing on the cake for Clark Lea and the Commodores program, and an SEC win is definitely within reach.

-Missouri used big plays to run away from Abilene Christian in a get-right 34-17 win. Freshman wide receiver Luther Burden III, a non-factor in the Tigers blowout loss to Kansas State a week ago, returned a punt for a score in the first quarter, and Brady Cook connected with Dominic Lovett for a 79-yard score to give the Tigers a two-score lead that they never relinquished. Maybe the weather was the main reason for the disaster in Manhattan. Missouri gets another shot to show something next Saturday at wounded Auburn.

Non-SEC Results that Surprised Me

1. Tulane 17, Kansas State 10

2. Eastern Michigan 30, Arizona State 21

3. Southern Illinois 31, Northwestern 24

4. Bowling Green 34, Marshall 31 (OT)

5. Rice 33, Louisiana-Lafayette 21

Top 25

Its probably still too early for this, but Im giving you something. Enjoy.

1. Georgia

2. Penn State

3. Alabama

4. Ohio State

5. Florida State

6. Kentucky

7. Arkansas

8. Washington

9. Kansas

10. USC

11. Tennessee

12. Washington State

13. N.C. State

14. North Carolina

15. Oklahoma

16. Michigan

17. Ole Miss

18. Clemson

19. Oregon State

20. Oklahoma State

21. Syracuse

22. Iowa State

23. Texas

24. Oregon

25. LSU

Week 4 Order of Preference

1. No. 20 Florida at No. 11 Tennessee, 3:30 p.m. ET (CBS)

2. No. 10 Arkansas vs. No. 23 Texas A&M, 7 p.m. ET (ESPN)

3. Missouri at Auburn, Noon ET (ESPN)

4. Tulsa at No. 17 Ole Miss, 4 p.m. ET (SEC Network)

5. Vanderbilt at No. 2 Alabama, 7:30 p.m. ET (SEC Network)

6. Northern Illinois at No. 8 Kentucky, 7 p.m. ET (ESPN2)

7. Bowling Green at Mississippi State, Noon ET (SEC Network)

8. Kent State at No. 1 Georgia, Noon ET (ESPN+)

9. Charlotte at South Carolina, 7:30 p.m. ET (ESPNU)

10. New Mexico at LSU, 7:30 p.m. ET (ESPN+)

Week 4 Non-SEC Games to Watch

1. No. 5 Clemson at No. 21 Wake Forest, Noon ET (ABC)

2. No. 7 USC at Oregon State, 9:30 p.m. ET (Pac-12 Network)

3. No. 17 Baylor at Iowa State, Noon ET (ESPN2)