Week 5 SEC Football Letter Grades: ALabama Though Georgia

Credit: University of Alabama Athletics

By Tucker Harlin

This is the final edition of SEC letter grades for the month of September.

Similar to last week, you’ll notice I’m not grouping teams the way I did the first three weeks of the season. Florida, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Vanderbilt all had the week off so they will not receive letter grades for a performance.

Here’s the first group.

ALABAMA: B+

This may be a little harsh, but you can’t fall asleep at the wheel against an opponent like Georgia. Alabama led by as much as 28 in the first half and allowed for the Bulldogs to take the lead late in the game.

If it’s against anybody less than a Top 5 team I’m probably docking them to a B-, but they

Everything about Jalen Milroe looks better this season than last. The designed quarterback runs worked to perfection in the first half, and the accuracy and spiral tightness he was throwing with was scary.

What’s even scarier is the fact a 17-year old kid is the most electrifying receiver in the SEC and possibly all of college football.

Ryan Williams channeled his inner Antonio Freeman late in the third quarter with a spectacular juggling act. If that wasn’t enough for you, Williams put one of the filthiest spin moves you’ll ever see to answer Georgia’s go ahead score.

The defense played stellar for about a half, but it featured some serious breakdowns at points in the second half. It ultimately redeemed itself at the end with Zabien Brown’s end zone pick to close out the win.

ARKANSAS: F

I was conflicted between D and F, but too much went wrong for Arkansas for me to justify a D.

Arkansas has run the ball well all season, yet for some reason it decided to go away from the run game against Texas A&M. Sure, A&M has one of the better run defenses the Razorbacks have seen all year, but there was a never a point in which the deficit was too large to stray from the run game.

The Razorbacks orchestrated a successful fake punt in the first quarter to continue their second touchdown drive, so Sam Pittman decided to try and do the same in the third quarter with a fake field goal. It ended very poorly.

Then there’s the enigma of Taylen Green.

For every beautiful deep touchdown pass Green throws, there are at least two awful turnovers. In the Southwest Classic, it was a botched exchange with Ja’Quinden Jackson, an interception in which he didn’t locate the safety behind his receiver, and a strip sack on his last possession of the game in which he had no feel for the Texas A&M edge rusher.

The unfortunate part is the fact the defense did everything in its power to keep this a game, but the offense repeatedly shot itself in the foot.

AUBURN: F

Watching Auburn football is like watching a movie called “Insanity” and expecting different results in each viewing.

The defense did enough to win the Tigers the game. Aside from the long rush touchdown Oklahoma scored on the first possession and the touchdown drive early in the fourth quarter, there weren’t any serious breakdowns worth raising a stink over.

But interceptions continue to plague this bunch.

Payton Thorne only threw one interception this time compared to four in the loss to Cal, but the one was a pick six in a situation in which the Tigers needed conservative play calling.

The pick six ultimately took any and all wind out of the Tigers’ sails the rest of the way. The Sooners’ defensive line smelled the blood in the water and put Thorne on the ground repeatedly in the Tigers’ final possessions.

Safe to say there’s not much optimism on the plains for the Tigers trip to Athens next week.

GEORGIA: D

Georgia gets a D because it fought its way back to a brief lead at Alabama. You simply can’t bank on a large comeback to bail you out of disaster against Top 5 opponents.

The loss exposes pair of serious issues with Georgia’s offense.

The first issue is Carson Beck. Beck looked totally lost at several points in the first half, throwing two awful interceptions and several passes that were fortunate to not reach the breadbaskets of Tide defenders. Beck’s final interception was on an unnecessary shot to the end zone on 1st and 10 from the Alabama 20.

Beck relied heavily on Brock Bowers and Ladd McConkey to make the big plays last season, which leads me to the next problem. Who is making the big plays for Georgia this year?

Dominic Lovett, Arian Smith, and Dillon Bell are all important skill players who every SEC team would happily add in the transfer portal, but none of them have the explosive capability of Bowers or McConkey.

The test obviously get easier from here with the exception of Texas, but a lot of work needs to be done in order to call this group a national title contender.