Week 7 SEC Letter Grades: Alabama Through Kentucky
Credit: University of Alabama Athletics
By Tucker Harlin
Another crazy week of SEC football is in the books.
This week was quiet on the upset front, but four SEC matchups came down to the wire in Week 7 that weren’t forecasted to play out that way.
Arkansas, Auburn, and Texas A&M all had the week off so they will not receive letter grades. With the lack of upsets but prevalence of close finishes, there are more middling grades than A’s and F’s this week.
ALABAMA: C
The Crimson Tide played poorly in the middle portion of its win over South Carolina.
You would have thought the opening drive Jalen Milroe led was a tone setter for the rest of the afternoon. But Milroe ended the half with a disaster class performance.
Alabama led 14-0 near the end of the second quarter. It surrendered a touchdown on 4th and 9 from 36 yards out that cut the lead to one score.
A personal foul on the kickoff pinned the Tide at its goal line, and a grounding call on Milroe resulted in a safety. The Gamecocks gifted Bama a fumble but Milroe threw a pick right back to allow them to cut their deficit to two at half.
Bama’s inability to get off the field on defense put it in a five-point hole in the third quarter. Milroe later had a route jumped for his second interception in the end zone.
Ultimately, the breaks began to go Alabama’s way, but Milroe and the run game had to do the job on the ground because passing was suspect at best.
The Tide led 27-19 in the final minutes but had a near meltdown, giving up a touchdown and an onside kick with 13 seconds to play.
Alabama will take the win after a humiliating loss in Nashville last weekend, but there is some early dissent from the fan base toward Kalen DeBoer.
FLORIDA: D
I think when the Gator fans around me kept yelling “Move back, you suck!” they were telling Billy Napier to move back to the Sun Belt.
Florida should’ve scored a minimum of 17 in the first half.
Tennessee fumbled on a botched exchange on the opening possession, but the Gators were forced to punt just five plays into their first possession.
Graham Mertz lost a fumble at the goal line, but the Vols gifted the Gators a pick in plus territory. Still, they were unable to score more than the field goal in the middle of the first quarter.
Mertz completed a touchdown pass to Arlis Boardingham early in the second half but left the game on that play with an injury.
In theory, D.J. Lagway would be just fine since he was playing every third series. Right?
Wrong.
After Tennessee scored its first touchdown, Lagway threw a pick to put the Vols in plus territory.
The Gators had the right combo of a nice punt return and the parting of the red sea on a touchdown pass to force overtime. But their failure to stay ahead of the chains bled into overtime, something that ultimately forced kicker Trey Smack to kick a longer field goal than desirable and to miss said field goal.
After a three week break, the Billy Napier hot seat discussion is about to resume in Gainesville
GEORGIA: C+
The spread was 34 points in the direction of Georgia going into the weekend. That missed by three scores.
Carson Beck threw a pick two plays into the Bulldogs’ first offensive possession. The pick had more to do with two defenders making incredible plays, but Georgia still found itself trailing early as a result.
Georgia scored on six of its next seven possessions, leading 34-10 early in the third quarter.
Mississippi State scored a touchdown to cut Georgia’s lead to 17. Georgia had another scoring drive in the works, but Beck threw a pick at the goal line in the direction of a well-covered Lawson Luckie.
State made it pay with an 80-yard touchdown drive to cut the lead to 10. Georgia had to punt on the next possession and put faith in a suspect defense to force Mississippi State to do the same.
Georgia stretched the lead back to 17 on a drive capped by a Trevor Etienne touchdown with just over three minutes to play, but State answered with a touchdown drive to put the game at its 41-31 final.
Playing with your food will not earn you a high grade.
KENTUCKY: F
Mark Stoops is amazingly bad out of his bye weeks.
I understand Vanderbilt is considerably better than what the SEC is accustomed to, but that fact alone can’t be used to excuse the Wildcats repeatedly shooting themselves in the feet.
First you get a pick in a 7-7 game and set yourself up for a chance to take a lead. But Dane Key lost a fumble thanks to a hit seven plays into the Kentucky drive.
The Wildcats surrendered a second touchdown right before halftime and allowed for Vandy to run half the third quarter off the clock for a drive that ended in a field goal.
Trailing 17-7 in the third quarter, Kentucky had an opportunity to cut the deficit to a touchdown if it made a field goal. The snap was bad so holder Wilson Berry threw the ball into a crowd that looked like it was playing jackpot. Vandy picked off Berry and turned into a field goal in the other direction.
The Wildcats later scored a touchdown and got the defense off the field quick to set up a game-tying drive. But they got behind the chains on a mixture of sacks and holding penalties, something that led to their downfall.
The holdings were two of 12 penalties enforced for 105 yards on Kentucky, something you absolutely can’t do and expect to win.
