Week 12: Around the SEC, Part 1

OK, now that we've gotten a few things off of our chests, it's time to get down to the business of looking at SEC football.  There weren't really any big surprises this week.  All the clear favorites won, and there was really only one game that appeared to be a 50-50 game going in.  As expected, one of them won it.  Does it really matter who?

Oh, OK, I guess it matters, especially to Vandy.

This week, instead of looking at the games in chronological order, we'll just take a look at them in random order.

Vandy 31
Kentucky 24

Did anyone notice that the Kentucky basketball team lost to VMI on Friday night?  Well, the weekend didn't get any better for Kentucky athletics.  Staring an opportunity for a pretty good bowl in the face, Kentucky fell behind early and never recovered.  Now, instead of sitting at 7 wins with a winnable game against Tennessee looming in the future, they sit at 6 wins with a losable game and a date in the I-Bowl still a possibility (on the low side).

Yes, I know that Vandy is a solid team.  And congratulations to them for gutting out a much-needed win.  They rode out a career night by the normally inconsistent Chris Nickson (155 yards passing with 3 touchdowns, 118 yards rushing) and the versatile DJ Moore (two touchdown receptions and two interceptions).  I have a feeling one of those guys will be in consideration for an award later on this week.

Now Vandy is one of 8 bowl-eligible teams in the SEC, and there probably won't be any more added to the list.  They have two more games in which to jockey for position.

Georgia 17
Auburn 13

A missed extra point came back to bite Auburn, who actually showed a bit of life in this game.  I wouldn't have expected this one to be this close, but Georgia did a good job of putting up enough yards and points to get the win.  It wasn't easy.  

After trading punts for a while, Auburn scored the first points of the game late in the first, but missed an extra point.  They maintained the lead for most of the second quarter, but fell behind 7-6 by halftime.  Auburn re-took the lead in the 3rd quarter, and Georgia again took the lead with a pretty touchdown pass to AJ Green.

Auburn was driving late and got into the red zone, but couldn't get into the end zone, failing on a 4th down attempt, finally sealing the game for the Bulldawgs.  Had they made the extra point on their first touchdown, they could have kicked a field goal.

UGA remains the clear #3 team in the conference with 9 wins, poised for a Cap One Bowl slot unless they somehow sneak into the BCS.  It's a disappointing season that was supposed to see Georgia play for the BCS National Championship, but injuries along the line seem to have killed that possibility.

Auburn remains at 5 wins, and time is running out to get a 6th.  They have one more game, and it's the Iron Bowl.  I know that anything is possible in the SEC, but this is a real long shot.

Ole MIss 59
UL-Monroe 0

Well, this certainly wasn't the 2007 ULM-Bama game.  LSU didn't have the biggest quarter in the SEC this week.  Ole Miss scored 31 points in the second quarter, scoring a touchdown on the first play and a field goal on the last, along with 21 points in between.  

In beating ULM, Ole Miss is now bowl-eligible, and they head to Baton Rouge as a pretty hot team, winners of 3 in a row including this blowout.  The team they just blew out, by the way, beat Troy earlier this year.