Questions Ahead of Week 5 of SEC Football

By Tucker Harlin

Let’s start with a recap of the questions I asked in Week 4.

Yes, Josh Heupel was able to crush his narrative of failure on the road. As for Hank Brown or Taylen Green taking his team higher, Green didn’t get benched so technically he did, although Arkansas was less than stellar in their showing on the plains.

The better version of Vanderbilt showed up at Missouri, and Mississippi State was the only team to flop in the game in Starkvegas last weekend.

Week 5 is the first week of the season where the vast majority of the matchups are SEC battles, the part of the season where the men separate themselves from the boys.

There’s one gargantuan matchup, two others that are worth monitoring, and two more that will likely end in blowouts.

Here are four questions ahead of Week 5 of SEC football.

IS KENTUCKY THE FIRST TRUE TEST FOR OLE MISS?

Credit: Ole Miss Athletics

This was absolutely the case when these two met in Oxford back in 2022.

The Rebels won 22-19 over the Wildcats, but the Rebels’ four games to that point were wins over subpar non conference foes, the best win a 42-point shutout over a Georgia Tech team who was yet to chase Geoff Collins out the door.

Ole Miss has played a similar schedule in 2024, and personally I’d argue Wake Forest is worse than the 2022 Georgia Tech team.

Ole Miss is definitely better this season than it was in 2022, but there’s a general assumption this team is going to contend for the playoffs before it has seen an actual test.

Even though he’s letting his true colors show with the Tennessee Titans, Will Levis was more reliable at quarterback for the Wildcats than what they’ve gotten out of Brock Vandagriff through four games.

Vandagriff was miserable in the blowout loss to South Carolina, and he’s definitely not the reason the Wildcats stayed competitive with Georgia in Week 3.

The Rebels are favored by 17.5, not indicative of a true test. But weekends are always full of surprises, so maybe it is a test for the Rebels.

WHICH TEAM OUTRUNS THE OTHER IN DALLAS?

Credit: Texas A&M Athletics

Running the football is the name of the game for both Arkansas and Texas A&M this season.

Ja’Quinden Jackson has been a quality add for the Razorbacks. A 6-2 230-plus pound bruiser, the Utah transfer leads the SEC with 472 yards through four games and trails only Dylan Sampson at Tennessee for most touchdowns scored by an offensive skill player in the SEC. Jackson has some of the attention taken away by his tall, athletic quarterback Taylen Green on the ground, who has run for 325 yards and four touchdowns.

Texas A&M’s run game is also potent, but its runners aren’t nearly as physically imposing as the Razorbacks’ are.

Quarterback Marcel Reed can make important plays with his legs, but he’s far twitchier a runner than Green. Le’Veon Moss and Amari Daniels will accompany Reed in production on the ground, Moss getting most of the carries.

Both defenses have been nice against the run. The 198 yards Texas A&M surrendered to Notre Dame in Week 1 is the highest output by an opponent against either defense on the ground.

When two teams that run the ball well and defend the run well, something has to give.

IS MICHAEL HAWKINS THE QUARTERBACK OF OKLAHOMA’S FUTURE?

Credit: University of Oklahoma Athletics

Early returns suggest Jackson Arnold was a recruiting miss by the Sooners at quarterback. If Oklahoma fans didn’t learn in the 38-24 Alamo Bowl loss to Arizona, they learned in the 25-15 loss to Tennessee last week.

Simply put, you don’t accidentally turn the ball over three times or more in a game.

Brent Venables opted for change in the waning stages of the first half of the Tennessee loss, trotting Michael Hawkins out to give the Sooners a shot. Hawkins was able to lead a pair of touchdown drive albeit against a prevent defense.

Oklahoma hasn’t played on the road against an SEC opponent since its trip to Knoxville in 2015. Auburn is far from the toughest opponent the Sooners will see all season, but the defense has held its own against subpar quarterback play.

We’ll know if Hawkins is cut out for the job very quickly.

WHAT IS LIFE WITHOUT RATLEDGE LIKE FOR GEORGIA?

Credit: University of Georgia Athletics

All-American guard Tate Ratledge is out for the Bulldogs’ trip to Alabama this weekend.

Ratledge has undergone tightrope surgery for his ankle, the same procedure that kept prolific Bulldogs tight end Brock Bowers out between the Vanderbilt and Tennessee games in 2023.

Sure, Nick Saban isn’t on the other sideline for Alabama anymore, but that doesn’t mean the Tide defensive front can’t get after it.

Tim Keenan was a game wrecker for the Tide’s interior in its win over USF back in Week 2. Not that USF’s offensive front is in any way comparable to Georgia’s, but Ratledge’s injury changes the outlook of this game for the offense.

Big plays have come at a premium for the Bulldogs’ offense through three games, and it doesn’t help for it to go to Tuscaloosa without one of its big play guys in London Humphreys either.

Georgia desperately needs its defense to keep explosive plays to a minimum because Alabama is much better set to terrorize it with the deep ball than the other way around.