Week 9 SEC Football Letter Grades: Ole Miss Through Vanderbilt

By Tucker Harlin

OLE MISS: B

A slow start to the game is my primary rationale for Ole Miss sitting in the B tier this week.

The Rebels came out with a strong opening march, but the Sooners defense made ball movement challenging. A Sooners touchdown pass late in the first half put them ahead of Ole Miss 14-10.

Ole Miss got off the field on its first defensive possession of the second half and scored points on each of the next three. The Oklahoma defensive front was aggressive, so Jaxson Dart had to do the heavy lifting in the air with 311 pass yards and a touchdown.

The Rebels’ defense was far more aggressive, tackling Sooners 15 times behind the line of scrimmage.

TEXAS A&M: B+

10 penalties for 97 yards and a little over two quarters of struggles at home are the reason Texas A&M gets a high B.

If Marcel Reed is in the game sooner I probably give the Aggies an A. He looked like Lamar Jackson running the football against LSU’s defense.

Once it made the switch, Texas A&M was unstoppable on the ground. The Aggies finished the night with 242 yards and five touchdowns on the ground, and three of those five touchdowns were from Reed alone.

The defense also stepped up and made life difficult for Garrett Nussmeier and one of the best offensive lines in the country.

Two of the picks were well read by the Aggie defensive backs while Nussmeier should never have checked down on the third. A special teams blunder on a field goal try also went in favor of Texas A&M.

The Aggies now sit alone in first place in the SEC standings.

TEXAS: B

Everyone in the SEC has acknowledged Vanderbilt is no longer the cupcake it traditionally is, so it’s not overly surprising to see Texas get out of Nashville with a victory that ended in a closer score than expected.

That said, Texas had an opportunity to blow this one open in the first half.

The Horns recovered a fumble near midfield up 21-7 late in the second quarter. Instead of turning the fumble into points, it punted after losing a yard on three plays.

Quinn Ewers’ second interception of the game was turned into points in the other direction late in the third quarter. What could’ve been at least a 21-point lead was sitting at seven in the final quarter.

The Longhorns made a field goal late in the game to extend the lead to 10, something that proved essential as Vandy needed just over a minute to cut the lead to three in the closing minutes.

Given how uncomfortable the experience is against Vanderbilt this season, Texas will take what it got in a 27-24 win.

VANDERBILT: C

Vandy jumped out to an early lead thanks to a pick on the Texas side of the 50.

The defense wasn’t so fortunate the rest of the first half as the Longhorns moved well on each of their touchdown drives, all three of which had at least one play of over 20 yards.

The Commodores could have let this game get out of control in the second quarter, but a crucial three and out left the door open.

Miles Capers made a heads up play to pick off a tipped pass in the backfield, and the Dores strung together an 8-play, 38 yard drive to cut the deficit to seven.

Vandy couldn’t make anything out of its next two offensive possessions, and the Longhorns kicked a field goal that put the game out of reach.

Losing at home isn’t fun, but at least the Commodores were three score underdogs to the #5 team in the country..