By Matt Smith
SouthernPigskin.com

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Matt Smith recaps week five in the SEC.

SEC Week 5 Recap
Scores
Auburn 35, Ole Miss 28
No. 2 Alabama 48, Tennessee 17
Missouri 20, Kentucky 10
LSU 52, South Carolina 24

The Big Story
Unfortunately, we start with bad news. Despite a 48-17 thrashing of crivald Tennessee, Saturday was a difficult day for Alabama, as wide receiver/return ace Jaylen Waddle was lost for the season early in the win in Knoxville with a broken ankle. The junior was tackled awkwardly on a kickoff return and was carted out of the stadium. A top NFL prospect, Waddle has presumably played his final game for the Crimson Tide.

The loss of Waddle is certainly a blow to Alabamas receiving corps, but there were no signs of a dip in productivity for one day at least from the Tide offense. John Metchie and Slade Bolden stepped up to combine for 13 catches and 245 yards, as Mac Jones picked apart the Tennessee defense. Waddles loss probably wont be felt on the scoreboard during the regular season, but brushing it off as just a 5-star player being replaced by another 5-star player is unfair to the potency of Waddle and how quickly he can change a game. Alabamas goal is obviously a sixth national titles in 12 years, and those chances dipped a bit on Saturday afternoon after Waddle went down.

As for the game itself, Jones was brilliant again, missing on just six of 31 passes while amassing nearly 400 yards. The running game got the ultimate glory on Saturday, as all five offensive touchdowns came on the ground, three from Najee Harris. Alabama was never threatened, as it took the Tide just two minutes to respond to a Tennessee touchdown that cut the lead to 21-10 in the second quarter. Alabama led by at least three scores the rest of the way. With Georgia already beaten and the SEC a very middle-heavy league this year, Alabama probably wont be tested again until the SEC Championship Game.

Top Takeaways
*Defending national champion LSU delivered by far its best performance of the season, hammering South Carolina, 52-24, in Baton Rouge, to improve to 2-2. With starting quarterback Myles Brennan sidelined with an injury, freshman T.J. Finley picked right up where Brennan left off two weeks ago with a highly efficient 17-of-21 performance. Finley averaged nearly 16 yards per completion and produced three total touchdowns. 2-3 South Carolina doesnt have a great defense, but its not a bad one either, so 541 yards and 52 points from a backup quarterback is a major achievement for Finley and the Tigers.

Is there a quarterback battle now at LSU? Ed Orgeron quickly shot that speculation down after the game and expects Brennan to start, if healthy, next week at Auburn. As good as Finley looked, Brennan played very well in his last start at Missouri, albeit in a loss. Thats a Missouri defense that held Kentucky to 145 yards on Saturday (more on that shortly), so the right call is for Brennan to regain his job, but understand that the confidence level in whats behind him has skyrocketed over the course of a week. For many players, that pushes them even harder. Well see how both Brennans mind and body respond this week before heading to The Plains.

*Now thats the Missouri defense I expected to see this season. After finding itself in an unexpected shootout with LSU two weeks ago, Missouri reverted to winning with its defense on Saturday against Kentucky. Coordinator Ryan Walters defense held the Wildcats to just 145 yards, as Kentucky completed just four passes on the day. The offense will get overshadowed because of scoring just 20 points, but they executed a stellar game plan as well. The Tigers ran it 62 times for 220 yards, while Connor Bazelak again played well under center on a 21-of-30 afternoon. The Wildcats ran just 36 play on offense.

*Those types of losses happen to Kentucky, but its usually against teams with a clear talent advantage. That wasnt the case on Saturday, as the Tigers simply controlled the line of scrimmage and never let the Wildcats running game get going. The Wildcats tried Joey Gatewood at quarterback for a stretch, but he was just as ineffective as Terry Wilson. The schedule toughens now, with Georgia, Alabama and Florida three of the next four opponents. Gatewood is the future, at least more so than Wilson, a senior. At 2-3 and out of the SEC East race, maybe its time to see what Gatewood can provide. After all the positivity from last weeks rout of Tennessee, Kentucky took a major step back on Saturday in being dominated by a team it had owned for the past five years.

Quick Hitters
*We havent touched on Auburn 35-28 win at Ole Miss, which mostly followed the script. The teams combined for 900 yards, with two Ole Miss turnovers and a missed Auburn turnover being the difference. Late in the game, Auburn appeared to touch a kickoff that was recovered in the end zone by Ole Miss, but the play was ruled a touchback and never reviewed. That would have put Ole Miss up by eight, but after an exchange of punts, Auburn marched down the field for the game-winning touchdown. A review may have deemed the evidence to be inconclusive, but with how many stoppages there are for replays in a given game, not taking a second look at such a critical play was another major gaffe by the SEC officials. Ole Miss quarterback Matt Corral bounced back well after his day from hell last week at Arkansas, but he again threw a terrible red zone interception that cost the Rebels points. Id like to see Lane Kiffin scrap most of the John Rhys Plumlee stuff and just roll with Corral for the full game.

*For Auburn, the Tigers can be a pretty good team when Bo Nix isnt turning the ball over. He had no giveaways on Saturday in Oxford, and the Tigers got back in the win column. The ground game pounded out 224 yards, and Nix was back in sync with star wideout Seth Williams after being on different pages for much of last weeks loss at South Carolina. Williams caught eight passes for 134 yards, including the game-winning touchdown. Its hard to truly assess what Auburn is. The defense is fine, but nothing special. Tank Bigsby is a budding star at running back, but line play remains suspect. Ultimately, the success of this team in the second half of the season falls on Nix. He has to protect the football. If he does that, this team is good enough to finish 4-1. If not, 1-4 is very much on the table. Thats life right now as an average team in a conference with a very wide middle tier.

*It was a forgettable night for South Carolina in Baton Rouge. Collin Hill had his worst start as a Gamecock, throwing a pick-six, taking five sacks, and never finding a rhythm against an LSU defense that had allowed a combined 89 points to Mississippi State and Missouri. The ground game is pretty solid, as Kevin Harris put up 126 yards and a pair of touchdowns against LSU, so the passing games struggles with the help of a respectable rushing attack were alarming. With an idle week ahead before hosting Texas A&M, there may be some competition for Hill. Sophomore Ryan Hilinski has starting experience and a higher ceiling, which the Gamecocks may need from their offense to keep pace in the next two games against the Aggies and Ole Miss.

*Like South Carolina, Tennessee heads into its idle week feeling humbled after losing two home games by a combined 78-24 to Kentucky and Alabama. Also like the Gamecocks, there are calls for a change under center. Jarrett Guarantano had to be great on Saturday for the Vols to have a chance against Alabama. He was fine, but had no chance of keeping pace with the Alabama offense. The conventional fan wisdom to is to go young once a season feels lost, but I dont see that happening here. Theres clearly no confidence in the options behind Guarantano, and a move now feels like punting on the season at the halfway point. This team did lead Georgia at halftime, so its not unreasonable to think the Vols can go 3-1 in the next four games against Arkansas, Texas A&M, Auburn and Vanderbilt to get back over .500 before facing Florida in the finale. Staying the course isnt sexy, but there isnt a new toy shiny enough to unwrap just yet.

Around The Nation
*Welcome back to the Big Ten. The conference delivered a pair of very interesting games and one major upset. Rutgers launched the Greg Schiano era with a turnover-aided upset win at Michigan State, its first win in conference play since 2017. The Scarlet Knights recovered five fumbles and never trailed in East Lansing The game of the day was Indianas 36-35 overtime upset of No. 8 Penn State. The Hoosiers, as they are wont to do, blew a double-digit lead in the second half, but rallied to force overtime after the Nittany Lions inexplicably scored a touchdown while leading 21-20 instead of falling down and running out the clock. The Hoosiers game-winning two-point conversion was upheld after a review that did not clearly show whether quarterback Michael Penix reached the ball across the goal line before landing out of bounds. For a team that has been so close so many times to a big win over the past few years, it was easy to feel good for Indiana and highly likeable head coach Tom Allen. Penn State must quickly regroup with Ohio State coming to town next week.

*The most significant game of the day took place in the Big 12, as Oklahoma State welcomed back quarterback Spencer Sanders and got a big day from star running back Chuba Hubbard to stay unbeaten and hold off Iowa State, 24-21, in Stillwater. The Cowboys and Kansas State are now the only unbeatens in Big 12 play as they progress towards their showdown in two weeks in Manhattan. The Wildcats ripped Kansas, 55-14, to improve to 4-0 in conference play. Theyll head to Morgantown next week to play West Virginia in a classic lookahead game before the Oklahoma State battle.

*No. 3 Notre Dame had looked nothing like a top-five team in four home wins to start the season, but perhaps going on the road was just what it needed. The Fighting Irish took apart slumping Pittsburgh, donned in all-gray (steel?) uniforms despite having one of the best traditional uniforms in college football, 45-3. Everything weve seen from Notre Dame this season has been in the context of whether or not its good enough to compete with Clemson when the Tigers come to South Bend in two weeks. For the first time this season, the Irishs performance offered some hope that that game wont be another Tigers runaway. The passing game worked as well as it had all season, and the defense held the Panthers to just 162 yards. With struggling Georgia Tech on the docket next week for Notre Dame, it looks like well at least have a second battle of top-five teams this seasons coming up on Nov. 7.

*Weve seen a double doink, but what about a quadruple doink? Thats what happened to Rice on Saturday against Middle Tennessee, as kicker Collin Riccitelli had a chance to win the game in overtime for the Owls. His kick hit off the right upright, the crossbar, the left upright, and the crossbar again before bouncing back into the end zone. The miss extended the game, and the Blue Raiders went on to win in a second overtime after Riccitelli had another field goal attempt blocked. Between Indianas two-point conversion and Riccitellis kick, Saturday made it perfectly clear that football will always be a game of inches.

*Lets circle back to the Big Ten to wrap things up. Both Michigan and Ohio State were dominant in wins, but the Wolverines get a bit more love for rolling over a ranked Minnesota team that won 11 games last season, 49-24, in Minneapolis. Joe Milton was efficient in his first career start, while Don Browns defense sacked quarterback Tanner Morgan five times. The Buckeyes took an early punch from Nebraska, but outscored the Buckeyes 52-10 after allowing a quick touchdown in a 52-17 win. Heisman Trophy candidate Justin Fields was brilliant again, missing just once on 21 pass attempts and accounting for three total touchdowns. With Penn States struggles, Michigan and Ohio State look like the two best teams in the Big Ten (I hear you, Wisconsin fans).

A Peek at Next Week
The Big One
Arkansas at No. 8 Texas A&M, 7:30 p.m. ET (SEC Network)
The Southwest Classic returns to campus for the first time since 2013 due to the pandemic. Texas A&M proved against Florida that it can produce a good atmosphere in Kyle Field despite limited attendance. For a night game against a rival, this should be a fun game to watch. Arkansas may not be quite ready for a win over a top-tier SEC team, but the Razorbacks are so well-coached that its hard to see this game not being competitive. If Texas A&M is truly a threat to run the table, this should be a convincing home win. If that happens against an Arkansas team that should be 3-1 and gave Georgia fits for nearly three quarters, then maybe this is the Aggies team that is finally the real deal.

Dont Miss
No. 5 Georgia at Kentucky, Noon ET (SEC Network)
LSU at Auburn, 3:30 p.m. ET (CBS)
Missouri at No. 10 Florida, 7:30 p.m. ET (SEC Network Alternate)

Flip Around
Memphis at No. 7 Cincinnati, Noon ET (ESPN)
No. 9 Wisconsin at Nebraska, 3:30 p.m. ET (FS1)
Texas at No. 6 Oklahoma State, 4 p.m. ET (FOX)
No. 3 Ohio State at No. 18 Penn State, 7:30 p.m. ET (ABC)
No. 24 Oklahoma at Texas Tech, 8 p.m. ET (FOX)