Week 3 SEC Letter Grades: Tennessee Through Vanderbilt

By Tucker Harlin

TENNESSEE: A

Credit: University of Tennessee Athletics

Hard to give a team that scored 65 in a half anything worse than an A. The 71 the Vols scored on Kent State is the most they’ve scored in the “modern era” of college football and the most they’ve scored since the pair of 101s they put up in 1915.

If Peyton Lewis had gained another yard on the ground, the Vols could’ve had three running backs with 100 rush yards in the same game as Dylan Sampson finished with 101 and DeSean Bishop had 120.

Gaston Moore came in during the second quarter and somehow finished with a cleaner statline than Nico Iamaleava, throwing touchdown passes to both Miles Kitselman and Mike Matthews.

Speaking of Matthews, that guy is going to be a problem for SEC defenses in the coming seasons. He also appears to have some capabilities as a returner.

The defense only surrendered 112 yards to Kent State, but that’s hardly a challenge when the offense has constant trouble snapping the football.

The four straight games without allowing an offensive touchdown is the best by a Tennessee defense since General Neyland’s 1938 and 1939 seasons when no opponent scored.

TEXAS: A

Quinn Ewers left the Longhorns’ 56-7 win over UTSA early in the second quarter with a pectoral injury. It doesn’t sound like the injury is as serious as doctors previously thought, and the drop from Ewers to Arch Manning isn’t a steep one by any means.

Arch ran for a 67-yard touchdown on his first possession of the game. He finished with a cool 9/12 passing for 223 yards and four passing touchdowns.

Defensively, Texas finished the day with 12 tackles for loss and a pick six in the second half while holding UTSA to 260 yards of offense.

The Roadrunners (meep meep) aren’t the group of five juggernaut they were two seasons ago, but Jeff Traylor’s bunch should still float near the top of the standing in the American conference.

TEXAS A&M: A

110 yards worth of penalties is the only thing keeping Texas A&M from an A+ in its Week 3 road win over Florida.

The Aggies picked Florida off three times in its house (scoring on one) and taking any and all wind out of the sails of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. The offense bullied the Gators for 310 rush yards, and quarterback Marcel Reed and Theo Mehlin Ohrstrom connected for a deep touchdown pass to counter a Gators score at the beginning of the third quarter.

The Aggies led this game by as much as 26 in the second half, an emphatic victory for a couple of reasons.

For one, not only does Mike Elko get his first significant win at Texas A&M on the road, but Texas A&M gets its first road win since it won 35-14 at Missouri back in 2021.

Secondly, the Aggies may have something cooking with Reed at quarterback as opposed to Conner Weigman.

Reed got the start against Oklahoma State in the Texas Bowl with just about every other quarterback on the roster hurt/opting out/benched. While it didn’t end well for the Aggies, Reed showed promise he could succeed either at Texas A&M or elsewhere.

Maybe I’m judging Weigman too harshly, but he was a big reason why the Aggies couldn’t break through against Notre Dame in Week 1 and wasn’t going to be challenged in Week 2 by McNeese.

At the very least, Reed has put himself in a conversation to start for the Aggies going forward.

VANDERBILT: F-

Tennessee is no longer the only program in the SEC to have lost to the mighty Georgia State Panthers in the last five seasons.

Vanderbilt had me thinking it was making long strides in a positive direction and that Clark Lea had a chance to find his way to his first bowl in four years on the job.

But Vanderbilt remembered how to be Vanderbilt.

The Commodores essentially played from behind up until the final minute of the game. Similar to the start of the Tennessee game back in 2019, the Panthers recovered a fumble on the opening drive that led to a quick field goal.

Georgia State held a 29-17 lead up until the late stages of the fourth quarter. Vandy was able to score a touchdown with just over two minutes to go, force a three and out that took just 21 seconds off the clock, field a punt at the Georgia State 39, and score another touchdown to give it a 32-29 lead with just over a minute to go.

The Panthers took some time going down the field, but quarterback Christian Veilleux unloaded on 3rd and 5 to receiver Ted Hurst over the shoulder for a 25-yard touchdown with just 15 seconds to play.

Georgia State is projecting as the worst team in the Sun Belt East as Dell McGee is picking up the pieces of the mess Shawn Elliott left behind.

Here’s the big question I leave this game with: how bad is Virginia Tech?