South Carolina missed an opportunity to get a stranglehold on the SEC East race.
Arkansas took another small step toward climbing out of the early season hole the Razorbacks dug for themselves. Auburn took another big step toward replacing Arkansas in that hole.
Mississippi State improved to 6-0 despite the fact that very few people outside of Starkville have noticed.
Texas A&M’s Johnny Manziel took another step toward rewriting the SEC freshman record book for quarterbacks.
Week Seven of football was just another wild and wacky weekend in the Southeastern Conference.
South Carolina could have kept pace with the Florida Gators as the only two unbeaten teams left in the SEC East, but somewhere along the way South Carolina quarterback Connor Shaw took a shot to the head — at least that’s what Steve Spurrier believes might have happened — and the Gamecocks’ hopes for an undefeated season went down in flames with a loss to LSU.
“I don’t know if he got hit in the head tonight or not. I kept passing the GA (Graduate Assistant) and asking, ‘Did he get hit in the head somewhere?’ Some of his decision-making was a little off,” Spurrier said. “In the first half, we had a guy running a deep run on our sideline, and he threw it to the other sideline. It was pretty irritating when he had a chance to hang one in the end zone, and he threw it to the other side. He just got confused. Anyway, I guess sometimes that happens.
“Connor (Shaw) has played beautifully all year. He had some good plays tonight, but he wasn’t as sharp as he’s been in the past. Hopefully, he can get back to it.”
It was all set up for the Gamecocks. All they had to do was beat LSU to keep the undefeated season, their hopes for the SEC East title and a potential spot in the BCS Championship Game alive — and they had a 14-10 lead going into the fourth quarter. South Carolina was catching LSU when the Tigers were struggling. They were playing two freshmen on the offensive line in Vadal Alexander and Trai Turner and LSU quarterback Zach Mettenberger was playing inconsistently.
Mettenberger still struggled against South Carolina, but it didn’t help the Gamecocks as the Tigers rolled up 258 yards rushing and cashed it in for a 23-21 win. ….
Arkansas picked up its second consecutive win and third of the season by beating Kentucky 49-7. Tyler Wilson flashed the form that made him a potential Heisman Trophy candidate at the start of the season. He completed 23 of 31 passes for 372 yards and a school-record-tying five touchdowns.
“I thought we finally showed our hand a little bit, what we’ve got in us. It feels really good,” Wilson said. “You can smile a little bit going into the bye week. We have to stay focused throughout the week and come in hot for the back half of the schedule.” …
Auburn dropped its fifth game of the season and has replaced Arkansas as the most disappointing team in the conference.
“It’s a tough loss for us, but we have to get back to it next week and try to get our first SEC win,” head coach Gene Chizik said.
Mississippi State’s win over Tennessee solidified the Bulldogs’ national ranking but it certainly did not give State a big boost nationally. State went into the game ranked No. 19 in the Associated Press poll and the Bulldogs jumped all the way up to No. 15 following the win.
“I thought we played a great first half on both sides of the ball,” Bulldogs head coach Dan Mullen said. “We came out and stumbled around in the second half a bunch, but as we’ve done all year when we’ve needed it, we’ve made plays. I’m proud of everybody in that locker room. It was a big win for all of us.”
That’s for sure. The Bulldogs have made enough plays to be 6-0 and ranked No. 12 in the just-released BCS rankings. …
Finally the biggest individual story of the weekend came from the unlikely location of Ruston, Louisiana, where Texas A&M won a wild shootout with previously undefeated Louisiana Tech, 59-57. The Aggies had a 27-point lead but had to hold off a furious rally by the Bulldogs for the win.
Texas A&M’s fabulous redshirt freshman quarterback Johnny Manziel was the big story as he continued to rewrite the freshman record book in the conference.
Manziel accounted for 576 yards of total offense against the Bulldogs to break his own school and Southeastern Conference record for total offense. He passed for 395 yards and rushed for a career-high 181 yards, including a career long 72-yard TD run. The 181 yards were the second most in school history by a quarterback behind David Walker’s 182 vs. SMU in 1977.
The SEC weekend ended on a high note with the release of the first BCS rankings with Alabama and Florida ranked No. 1 and No. 2. Six of the top 12 teams in the rankings are SEC teams. LSU is No. 6, South Carolina is No. 7, Georgia is No. 11 and Mississippi State is No. 12.