Week 6 SEC Letter Grades: Tennessee Through Vanderbilt

Credit: @BangTimeBurks on X

By Tucker Harlin

TEXAS A&M: A+

I thought starting Conner Weigman over Marcel Reed was a bad move before the Aggies they kicked off against Mizzou. I stand corrected.

Between Duke and Texas A&M, Mike Elko isn’t known to score bevies of points in order to take down his opponents. The Aggies scored 34 before the Tigers could get on the board, 24 of which came in the first half.

Weigman was light years better than the guy who lost to Notre Dame in the opener, finishing the day 18/22 for 276 yards in the air and spreading the wealth across the receiving core. The Aggies’ bruising rush attack terrorized the Tigers for 236 yards and five touchdowns, including a 75-yard knockout punch on the first play of the third quarter.

Believe what you want about the blanket Theo Wease got in the hotel, but the Aggies made life miserable for Brady Cook and the Tigers offense all game long. Nic Scourton lived in the backfield, finishing with 1.5 sacks for Texas A&M.

The Aggies have emerged as one of the top “surprise teams” in the SEC this season.

TENNESSEE: F

I get it’s difficult to go on the road and win in the SEC, but there was too much going wrong for the Vols in Fayetteville to call themselves the #4 team in the country.

The defense bent but didn’t break in the first half, but nothing went right on the offensive side of the ball. The second half started positively as Dylan Sampson scored a pair of rush touchdowns to go up 11.

But the offense encountered somewhat of an identity crisis in the fourth quarter.

It kept the ball on the ground on a drive when it needed to go down and score a touchdown, and it tried to air the ball out on a later possession in which it needed to chew clock. Both of the passes were incomplete, leaving Arkansas plenty of time to go down and score.

The defense was late getting a man on the field on the next possession, a play that allowed for the Razorbacks to get into field goal range at the very least.

Then there’s the last possession.

Clock management was inept at many points, and then Nico Iamaleava ran out of bounds on the last play, similar to another quarterback at Tennessee.

VANDERBILT: A+

The Commodores got their first win over AP #1 in 61 tries and their first win over Alabama in four decades. You have to give your A+ effort against Alabama in order to secure a win, and Vandy did just that.

There wasn’t a second in that game where Diego Pavia didn’t have total control. Option-based offenses look mundane, but it’s by design in order to wear down on a defense.

Not only do you have to play your A+ game to beat Alabama, but Alabama has to beat itself for you to beat it.

The Commodores got a pick six on a tip drill in the first quarter, and Jalen Milroe later fumbled to set up Vandy’s final touchdown of the game. I can’t imagine there are many people who have written a sentence about a team losing to Georgia State and beating Alabama in the same season, but here I am.

Vandy is no longer a doormat in the SEC.