clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

SEC Football Topics for Discussion // Week 9

What would you like to see Cam Newton attempt next? The Auburn quarterback and Heisman Trophy front-runner caught a touchdown pass Saturday, adding to the two he passed for and the 254 yards of total offense he generated. Be creative here -- the obvious answers are punting and kicking field goals, but it might be interesting to see him try his hand at defense. After all, one's Heisman resume can never be too diverse.

Time for our weekly question: Who is the current favorite in the SEC East? South Carolina let Tennessee back into the game after it had a 24-10 lead in Columbia; in Jacksonville, meanwhile, Florida allowed Georgia back into the game after it had a 21-7 lead. In other words, this still might be a question of who wants to lose the division least rather than who wants to win it most.

Do you find it more interesting that Ryan Mallett passed for 409 yards or that Vanderbilt passed for 36? To put that into context, Mallett's longest pass went for 52 yards. Mallett averaged 9.3 yards per attempt; the number for the Commodores was 2.1. The combined passer rating for the Vanderbilt quarterbacks was 48.96; I'm not sure I've ever seen a 48.96 for an entire team for an entire game. For those not familiar with passer ratings, Georgia Tech's Joshua Nesbitt had a -5.47 in a weird game against South Carolina State to open the season, but has not had a rating of lower than 75.11 in any game since. Put simply, this was an epically bad performance by the Commodores quarterbacks at the same time that Mallett was having a great day.

Will Tennessee win an SEC game this year? The Vols are now 0-5 in the conference, but they also face all three of the league's one-loss teams (Kentucky, Ole Miss, Vanderbilt). Then again, LSU remains the only SEC team that has played Tennessee and not defeated them by at least two touchdowns. Wins against the remaining SEC teams on the schedule and Memphis would put Tennessee in the postseason, but a single loss would leave Tennessee in Knoxville for the holidays for the second time in three years.

Where will the SEC East Champion play its bowl? Let's say for the purpose of argument -- and because it's the most plausible scenario right now -- that the SEC West representative wins in Atlanta in December. The Outback Bowl is the first bowl required to take a team from the East. The other opportunities for the conference runner-up would be the BCS (please, stop laughing) or the Capital One Bowl. (Granted, the Cotton Bowl could take leave of its senses completely and agree to select a team from the East after the Outback, but we'll go with the Outback Bowl being the only one that's going to be its usual bizarre self.)