SEC Notebook: Upset Saturday hits the SEC
It was inevitable that two of the eight SEC teams in the Associated Press Top 25 were going to lose since two games Saturday matched teams appearing in the weekly poll.
But five?
Talk about an Upset Saturday.
The upsets started with unranked Vanderbilt rallying to knock off No. 15 Georgia, 31-27, and Tennessee kicking a field goal as time ran out for a 23-21 win over No. 11 South Carolina.
The day continued with No. 24 Auburn coming back from a 10-point deficit to beat No. 7 Texas A&M, 45-41, and it ended with unranked Ole Miss beating LSU, 27-24, on a field goal with two seconds remaining.
Missouri also knocked off No. 22 Florida, though that wasn't really an upset since the unbeaten Tigers were ranked No. 14 going into the game.
Still, the final score of 36-17 was a bit of a surprise since the Gators hadn't given up more than 21 points in any game this season.
The only ranked team to take care of business against an unranked opponent was No. 1 Alabama, which destroyed Arkansas 52-0.
The results had a major impact on both divisions.
In the Eastern race, Missouri now has a two-game advantage in the lost column over traditional powers Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina.
But the Tigers can't get too comfortable because they have played only three conference games and still have the Gamecocks, Ole Miss on the road, and Texas A&M among their remaining five contests.
At 4-0, Alabama still has a firm grip in the Western Division, but with both LSU and Texas A&M losing, the Crimson Tide's closest challenger now is surprising Auburn, which is 3-1.
Those two teams meet Nov. 30 at Auburn.
Before then, Alabama has a home date with LSU on Nov. 9 and Auburn has a home game against Georgia among its last four.
The upsets ended up knocking only two of the losers completely out of the poll with Florida and Georgia dropping out, each with its third loss.
FIVE BIGGEST TAKEAWAYS FROM WEEK 8 IN THE SEC
1. LSU's offense seems to have lost a gear. After averaging nearly 489 yards a game through their first six contests, the Tigers have averaged only 357.5 in their last two, a win over Florida and the loss at Ole Miss.
2. Missouri and Auburn are in a race to see which will complete the greatest comeback season. Mizzou is 7-0 after its win over Florida after struggling to a 5-7 mark in 2012, its first year in the SEC, while Auburn has rebounded from last year's 3-9 debacle to 6-1 this fall.
3. Going to your backup quarterback isn't necessarily a bad thing. Missouri redshirt freshman Maty Mauk started in place of injured starter James Franklin and beat Florida, and redshirt freshman Patton Robinette had to take over when senior Austyn Carta-Samuels was injured in the second quarter and guided Vanderbilt to a second-half rally for a win over Georgia.
4. Texas A&M sustained a double whammy in losing to Auburn. The second conference loss pretty much squelched whatever slim chance the Aggies had of getting a share of the Western Division title, and it also put at least a small dent in QB Johnny Manziel's reputation as a miracle worker despite his huge night in total offense.
5. Statistics sometimes are for losers. The top three rushers in the league (Mike Davis of South Carolina, Jeremy Hill of LSU and Alex Collins of Arkansas) and the top three passers (Johnny Manziel of Texas A&M, Aaron Murray of Georgia, and Zach Mettenberger of LSU) all saw their teams lose Saturday.
