Week 6 SEC Letter Grades: Alabama through Florida

Credit: University of Tennessee Athletics

By Tucker Harlin

This sleepy weekend in early October turned into one of the wackiest weeks of college football in quite some time. The SEC featured three significant upsets, one of which will go down as monumental upset in SEC history.

Letter grades were very hit or miss this weekend because most SEC teams either rose to the occasion or completely folded with their performance on the field.

Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi State, Oklahoma, and Texas all had the week off so they’re not receiving grades this week.

Let’s start with the front end of the surprise of the weekend.

ALABAMA: F

No one is exempt from Bama hangover… including Bama. I never thought I’d see a day in my life in which the Crimson Tide would play from behind for an entire game against Vanderbilt.

Despite scoring a season-low 35 points, the offense wasn’t the primary subject of concern for the Tide coming out of the loss. The pick six Jalen Milroe threw was less about him making a mistake as it was Vandy making a nice play. The two big issues on offense were the slow start and strip sack Milroe took late in the game.

The part of this game that should worry Alabama fans is the play of the defense.

The Tide let a mundane, option-based, ball control offense that was perfectly happy with three to four-yard play eat clock and play keep away score 40 on you.

I haven’t even mentioned the fact Alabama was the #1 team in the country and its former coach went on national television a few weeks ago and said Vanderbilt isn’t a hard place to play.

Welcome to life without Nick Saban, bandwagons.

ARKANSAS: A-

I was vacillating between an A- and B+ for Arkansas, but breaking a trend of close losses against ranked opponents in search of a meaningful win has me bumping it to an A.

Aside from the opening stages of the second half the defense did a nice job. The Hogs only surrendered one long run play and one long pass play all night while making for the worst half of offensive football for Josh Heupel at Tennessee.

The offense experienced occasional stagnance in the first three quarters, but there were more positives than negatives for the Razorbacks.

Taylen Green’s worst mistake of the night was not seeing Isaac TeSlaa streaking wide open to the end zone on a deep route. He didn’t turn the ball over, and in many cases he was fitting throws into tight windows on deep passes.

134 isn’t as much as the Razorbacks would’ve liked to rush for, but both Ja’Quinden Jackson and Braylen Russell bailed them out of precarious situations throughout the night.

This win completely changes the narrative of Sam Pittman’s seat as the warmest in the SEC.

AUBURN: C-

Auburn gets a C because it challenged Georgia in Athens for three quarters.

For the first time all season, the Tigers didn’t turn the ball over against a power four opponent. They opened the second half by forcing the Bulldogs to a three and out and followed with a 38-yard rush touchdown from Jarquez Hunter.

The defense held Georgia in check until the drive following Hunter’s touchdown. From there, the Tigers ran out of gas.

Maybe this was an instance of the Bulldogs struggling out of the gate due to an emotional loss that kept the Tigers in the race?

Either way, the road isn’t any easier for the fighting plainsmen

FLORIDA: A

One could argue the Gators’ win over UCF was their most impressive in this young season.

Billy Napier’s bunch set the tone on the opening drive with a 15-play touchdown drive to eat over half the first quarter off the clock.

The Knights kicked a field goal on the next possession, but that was also the last time they scored in the half.

The defense held a potent rush attack to just 108 yards on the night while consistently forcing punts and turnovers on downs. This is the same defense that struggled to limit the production of a bad Mississippi State offense just two weeks ago.

The offensive output wasn’t staggering, but the result of the first half mixed with the play of the defense didn’t require it to perform extraordinarily.

The win is a critical one for Napier and the Gators ahead of the meat of SEC play.