By Cole Mantell (@LightningDragon)
And with that, the three weeks of non-conference play are complete! The SEC finished the first three weeks 11-7, the best record of any conference in the CFSL. We’ve talked a bunch about how strong the conference has looked, but now it is time to exit non-conference play and look ahead to the much anticipated first week of conference play. We have a lot to talk about, so let’s get right into it.
Auburn Dominates The Tiger Bowl
LSU may be a former SEC member, but they know this game well. The Tiger Bowl is one of the CFSL’s underrated rivalry matchups, pitting two great, historic teams against each other. Entering Monday’s prime-time matchup, the two teams had played nine times, with LSU having the lead in the record of the series 5-4.
Auburn didn’t let that stand for long, however. The Tigers scored at least 14 points each quarter of the game en route to a dominant 66-24 victory. The Tigers, led by QB Jay Duke, did it by running more than passing for once. Duke had 7 combined touchdowns, including 3 rushing touchdowns and 129 rushing yards on only 19 carries. With that performance, he’s currently the likely favorite for his second career Offensive Player of the Week award this week. HB Thomas Scally also had 178 rushing yards on only 23 rushes as well.
We are getting into conversations about history now with Auburn AD Justin Duke. Since taking over the program last season, Duke has yet to lose a regular season game. That’s a streak of 11 straight regular season wins. Despite the history surrounding Auburn, Duke has the best record of any Auburn AD to start their tenure at 14-1. For long-time readers who are curious, Matt Pack went 6-5 in Season 1 with Auburn.
Bulldog Defense Bullies
So I’ll add the caveat that Oklahoma had Georgia’s number this week. In the 52-27 win, Oklahoma and star freshman QB Himoteo Del Este continued to shock the CFSL world, and Georgia was their latest victim. Georgia’s defense in particular let up 590 total yards to Oklahoma and certainly that is something they will work on for next week. However, while the yardage given up has not been pretty, no one in the CFSL has been better at generating pressure, and fear, quite like the Bulldogs have.
After three weeks of play, Georgia is tied for the CFSL lead with Texas with 16 sacks on the season. Despite averaging the 3rd most yards given up per game in the CFSL, this pressure translates to Georgia having multiple players on the individual CFSL leaderboards.
FS Malik Austin is the current leader in the CFSL with 34 tackles. Teammate MLB Jad McPhearson is right behind him with 32 (tied for 3rd in the CFSL). McPherson was tied for the league lead this week as well with 16 tackles. DE Tode Danger is tied for 1st in the CFSL with 8 TFLs, and tied for 2nd with 5 sacks. Georgia will need to adjust to allow fewer yards and therefore fewer points, but the pieces are there for Georgia to make those improvements entering conference play.
Players That Stood Out This Week
I’ve already mentioned Auburn’s offensive stars and Georgia’s defensive stars. Around the league, we saw Florida QB Jack Schmidt nominated for Offensive Player of the Week for the second week in a row. I wrote more last week about Florida’s offensive resurgence, and Schmidt once again was excellent, throwing for over 500 yards and 6 passing touchdowns (plus another rushing TD) in the Gators’ 55-38 win over Texas A&M.
Staying with the Gators, WR CJ Jackson might win All-Purpose Player of the Week this week after a great performance versus Texas A&M as well. He had 159 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns on offense while adding 6 kick returns for 179 kick return yards. Jackson is 2nd in the CFSL with 477 kick return yards.
Another SEC player is in first, with Tennessee WR Ace Shephard at 542 kick return yards on the season.
SEC Results Week 3
Auburn beats, LSU 66-24
Alabama falls to Texas, 69-38
Florida beats Texas A&M, 55-38
Tennessee falls to Colorado, 44-22
Georgia falls to Oklahoma, 52-27
Kentucky beats West Virginia, 34-24
SEC Schedule Week 4
Monday
Alabama vs Kentucky (6:30 PM, Twitch)
Wednesday
Georgia vs Auburn (6:30 PM, YouTube)
Thursday
Tennessee vs Florida (6:30 PM, YouTube)
Potential SEC Game of the Week
I hate to go with the obvious pick, and I think Tennessee vs Florida should be a fun one, but the answer this week is Alabama vs Kentucky.
Two top teams. Each with one loss. With Auburn seemingly not losing any time soon, this game very easily could decide who gets that all-important second playoff spot in the SEC. Kentucky is coming off a win over West Virginia, while Alabama just got mauled by Texas. Alabama has a lot to prove this week to show last week was just a fluke, while Kentucky needs to keep rolling as well to show the Wildcats still are the class of the conference. There is a bunch of playoff meaning on the line here, so tune in for what should be a great showing.
