Taking a look back at the top SEC story lines of the past weekend …
It’s clear that without quarterback Tyler Wilson the Arkansas Razorbacks are in serious trouble. Even when Wilson comes back, how will he be greeted by teammates who he accused of quitting in the 52-0 loss to Alabama? If they are happy to have his talent back in the lineup, and they should be, the biggest thing will be how they react to his leadership.
“It sucks to not be able to be out there and do anything about it. Do I feel that we, at times, gave up out there? Absolutely,” Wilson said. “There have been a lot of people jump off the bandwagon, and it is my job to keep everyone in this organization and this team in that locker room together. I am going to make sure of that going forward.”
That is not the kind of comments that endears Wilson to his teammates. If they take it as letting off steam in the heat and disappointment of the moment, then maybe the Razorbacks can blow it off. If not, then a bad season will only continue to get worse. Remember, this was a team that was in the talk as being a long shot contender for the national championship just a little over a week ago.
Before too many of the Razorbacks take offense to Wilson’s remarks, they need to look long and hard at themselves. After all, Wilson did not fumble eight times or give up 52 points.
“That’s about as bad as I can remember,” Arkansas John L. Smith said. “What we have to do is not point any fingers but wrap our arms around each other and come back and support each other and fight, fight, fight.” …
It’s also clear that Alabama has something special brewing in Tuscaloosa. Alabama now has gone 135:14 minutes without giving up any points after back-to-back shutouts of Western Kentucky and Arkansas. It is the first time in 32 years that has happened.
The Crimson Tide held Arkansas’ Knile Davis to just 59 yards on 20 carries, an average of less than three yards per carry. But that’s nothing new for Alabama. They have only allowed 10 runners to top the century mark since 2005, a mark that is the best in the nation over that span. Only five of those 10 rushers have come after Nick Saban arrived in Tuscaloosa.
Offensively, Alabama looks to be a juggernaut this season. Seven different players carried the ball against Arkansas, five different players scored touchdowns, including three by Eddie Lacy, and nine different players caught passes.
“They’re an awfully good football team,” Smith said. “Take nothing away from those guys. We turned the ball over five times, but you can say in some that they forced those turnovers, which they did. That’s a credit to Alabama. They are an awfully good football team.” …
Another awfully good football team appears to be growing up at Florida, where the Gators jumped back into the league’s forefront with their 37-20 win over Tennessee. It was the eighth consecutive win for Florida in the series.
Mike Gillislee supposedly entered the game with a sore groin. Was it a bit of trickery by the Florida coaches or was it just not as bad as it was thought to be?
Who knows? But with all the prying eyes watching over every aspect of his football team, who could blame Will Muschamp if he was pulling one over on all the media?
Gillislee played and played well. He had 18 carries for 115 yards. His 45-yard run in the fourth quarter led to Florida’s go-ahead score in its 37-20 win over the Vols.
“I felt great out there,” he said. “The contact felt pretty good and I lasted the whole game.”
Gillislee now has posted a career-high 346 rushing yards on the season and in only three games.
“When you are able to hand it off to Gillislee … that’s just Old Man River,” Muschamp said. “He just keeps going.”
And apparently, so do the Gators … again. …
There was a quarterback change at Missouri and at Vanderbilt over the weekend.
James Franklin couldn’t make his start at Missouri against Arizona State because of an elbow injury. Corbin Berkstresser got the start and led the Tigers to a 24-20 win by going 21-for-41 for 198 yards. He also rushed for a touchdown.
“I thought he did a lot of great things,” Missouri coach Gary Pinkel said. “It was a tough environment, and we watched what we did with him. We were very conservative and at the end we were conservative. We felt we were going to have to win with our defense, and that’s why we made decisions from that standpoint. There were a lot of different things out there.”
At Vanderbilt, Austyn Carta-Samuels replaced Jordan Rodgers and led the 58-0 win over Presbyterian. Carta-Samuels handled the game well and finished 13 of 20 for 195 yards and a touchdown.
“Like every other position, we compete. After the first couple of weeks, we felt we needed to look at some things,” Vandy coach James Franklin said on the decision to start Carta-Samuels. “We decided early in the week. It wasn’t finalized until later in the week. He threw for a decent percentage. We didn’t turn the ball over. There are still things opportunistically we need to clean up. We made the throws we should have made… Other things will come with reps.”
Of course it was just Presbyterian and it didn’t hurt to have Zac Stacy running the football. Stacy had 174 yards and a touchdown on eight carries to help make things easier for Carta-Samuels.