It's Florida-Georgia week but all eyes are on Lane Kiffin

(Photo by Chris Spears)

It is Florida-Georgia week and the Gators (3-4, 2-2 SEC) will go into the annual clash in Jacksonville under the direction of interim coach Billy Gonzales. With five games remaining in the regular season, the Gators can still become bowl eligible if Gonzales is able to lead them to three wins. That is a monumental task considering the schedule includes 5^th-ranked Georgia, 8^th-ranked Ole Miss (in Oxford) and 17^th-ranked Tennessee. If Gonzales were to lead the Gators to a bowl game it might seal the deal for him to become the head coach at his alma mater, Colorado State.

There are plenty of good story lines for Florida-Georgia, but they will all be overshadowed this week by Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin. Kiffin is the height of expectation by the Florida fan base, which wants to see him as the next coach at Florida. A well-placed source whose information tends to be on the mark, told Gator Bait last week that Kiffin has a contract on his desk that will pay him $13.5 million over six years to leave Oxford for the University of Florida.

Any contract Kiffin has on his desk would have to come through back channels, from the search group in charge of targeting candidates for the University of Florida and from Kiffin’s agent, Jimmy Sexton. To leave Ole Miss, Kiffin has a buyout of $4 million.

Saturday at Oklahoma, Kiffin put up 34 points and 431 yards against the nation’s No. 1 defense. It wasn’t a great offensive performance by the Rebels but it was the most points anyone has scored against Oklahoma. Prior to Ole Miss, the most yards the Oklahoma defense had given up was 302 in a loss to Texas.

With the win, Ole Miss moved to 7-1 overall and 4-1 in SEC play. The Rebels trail Texas A&M and Alabama by a game in the SEC standings. The Rebels don’t have a ranked team remaining on their schedule – South Carolina, The Citadel, Florida and Mississippi State – and all but the finale against MSU will be in Oxford. None of the teams has a winning record so Ole Miss seems to be on a collision course with an 11-1 record. That might not get the Rebels into the SEC Championship Game but it almost certainly will land them in the College Football Playoff. Currently Ole Miss is ranked eighth nationally in both the Associated Press and AFCA Coaches polls.

Here is a look at SEC teams with a shot at making the College Football Playoff:

No. 3 Texas A&M (8-0, 5-0 SEC): The remaining games are at No. 15 Missouri, South Carolina, Samford and at No. 22 Texas. Prediction: Aggies run the table, make it to Atlanta and a top four seed in the CFP.

No. 4 Alabama (7-1, 5-0 SEC): Left on the schedule for the Crimson Tide are No. LSU, No. 13 Oklahoma, Eastern Illinois and at Auburn. Prediction: Four wins, Atlanta and the CFP.

No. 5 Georgia (6-1, 4-1 SEC): Georgia’s five remaining games are Florida (in Jacksonville), at Mississippi State, No. 22 Texas, Charlotte and at No. 7 Georgia Tech. Prediction: One more loss but makes the CFP.

No. 8 Ole Miss (7-1, 4-1 SEC): Remaining games are South Carolina, The Citadel, Florida and at Mississippi State. Prediction: 11-1 regular season and the CFP.

No. 10 Vanderbilt (7-1, 3-1 SEC): The last four games are at No. 22 Texas, Auburn, Kentucky and at No. 17 Tennessee. Prediction: A 10-2 regular season, just missing the CFP.

No. 13 Oklahoma (6-2, 2-2 SEC): The remaining games are at No. 17. Tennessee, at No. 4 Alabama, No. 15 Missouri and No. 20 LSU. Prediction: 8-4 regular season.

No. 15 Missouri (6-2, 2-2 SEC): The last four regular season game are No. 3 Texas A&M, Mississippi State, at No. 13 Oklahoma and at Arkansas. Prediction: 9-3 regular season.

No. 17 Tennessee (6-2, 3-2 SEC): The rest of the schedule is No. 13 Oklahoma, New Mexico State, at Florida and No. 10 Vanderbilt. Prediction: 9-3 regular season.

No. 22 Texas (6-2, 3-1 SEC): Remaining games on the schedule are No. 10 Vanderbilt, at No. 5 Georgia, Arkansas and No. 3 Texas A&M. Prediction: 8-4 regular season.

SEC FOOTBALL

No. 3 Texas A&M (8-0, 5-0 SEC) 49, No. 20 LSU (5-3, 2-3 SEC) 25: The Aggies came out of the halftime locker room trailing 18-15. In the third quarter, the Aggies outscored LSU 21-0 and outgained the Tigers 132-14. The vaunted LSU defense had no answers for Marcel Reed, who accounted for four touchdowns (202 yards, 2 TDs passing; 108 yards, 2 TDs rushing). The Aggie defense held the Tigers to 278 yards (60 rushing, 218 passing) with seven sacks for -49 yards. Garrett Nussmeier, who began the season as one of the top three Heisman Trophy candidates, went 22-35 passing for 168 yards (4.8 yards per attempt) and one TD with one interception.

This was supposed to be the year Brian Kelly finally got LSU to the College Football Playoff but with three losses that dream has turned into a nightmare. Hired from Notre Dame with the promise of winning championships, Kelly is 34-14 in three-plus seasons with a minimum of three losses per year. Fans screaming for LSU to fire Kelly Saturday night are faced with this reality: His buyout is $53.333 million.

No. 4 Alabama (7-1, 5-0 SEC) 29, South Carolina (3-5, 1-5 SEC) 22: Germie Bernard scored two touchdowns in the final 2:16 as Alabama came from behind to eke out a win over unranked South Carolina. Dead in the water through three quarters, Alabama went on a 14-play, 79-yard scoring drive in the fourth quarter, culminating with a 4-yard Ty Simpson to Bernard touchdown pass and 2-point conversion to tie the score at 22-22 with 2:16 left in the game. After recovering a fumble at the South Carolina 38 by LaNorris Sellers, Alabama needed five plays to put up the winning TD. Taking a wildcat snap on third-and-10 from the South Carolina 25, Bernard faked a reverse, then sprinted around the right end and down the sideline for the game-winning score.

Alabama struggled all day against the South Carolina defense, which held the Crimson Tide to 325 yards, only 72 on the ground. Simpson threw for 253 yards but it took 43 pass attempts (5.88 yards per attempt). South Carolina, which managed just 333 yards, was done in by a pair of Sellers turnovers, a pass interception that was returned for a first quarter TD and the costly fumble at the end of the game.

No. 8 Ole Miss (7-1, 4-1 SEC) 34, No. 13 Oklahoma (6-2, 2-2 SEC) 26: Ole Miss came from behind, outscoring Oklahoma 9-0 in the fourth quarter to remain one game behind in the Southeastern Conference loss column. Ole Miss put together an 11-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that Trinidad Chambliss finished with an 8-yard pass to Trace Bruckler, then clinched the win on a 37-yard field goal by Lucas Carneiro with 4:09 to go in the game. The win kept the Rebels in the hunt for both the SEC championship and the College Football Playoff. With two losses, Oklahoma can’t afford another loss if the Sooners are to make the playoff.

Inconsistency plagued Ole Miss offensively even though the Rebels outgained Oklahoma 431-359, controlling the ball for more than 35 minutes. Ole Miss had 21 third downs, converting nine of them. Kewan Lacey gained 74 yards and scored two touchdowns, while Chambliss threw for 316 yards and a TD. The Rebels had to settle for field goals four times. Special teams produced two points on a safety after a blocked punt. Oklahoma got 109 rushing yards and two touchdowns from Xavier Robinson.

No. 10 Vanderbilt (7-1, 3-1 SEC) 17, No. 16 Missouri (6-2, 2-2 SEC) 10: Diego Pavia dived across the goal line from a yard out with 1:56 left in the game to clinch the win for Vanderbilt, which remains a game behind SEC co-leaders Texas A&M and Alabama. Vanderbilt recovered a Jamal Roberts fumble at the Mizzou 44 with a little more than seven minutes remaining, then drove the ball to the one where Pavia scored the game-winning TD. Pavia was far from perfect with just 119 passing yards and only 20 on the ground, but once again he was clutch for the Commodores, whose other TD came on an 80-yard run by Makhilyn Young in the third quarter.

It was a costly loss for Missouri, which dropped two games behind A&M and Alabama in the SEC standings. QB Beau Pribula suffered a dislocated ankle that was popped back into place. Freshman replacement Matt Zollers threw for 138 yards and a TD. The Tigers outgained Vanderbilt 376-259, but penalties (8-88) and troubles converting on third down (5-16) killed their chances for a win.

No. 17 Tennessee (6-2, 3-2 SEC) 56, Kentucky (2-5, 0-5 SEC) 34: Joey Aguilar threw for 396 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Vols past Kentucky. Aguilar completed 20-26 passes for touchdowns of 35, 56 and 13 yards, offsetting the best game of Kentucky redshirt freshman Cutter Boley’s career. Boley completed 26-35 passes for 330 yards and five touchdowns.

The Vols produced three receivers with more than 100 yards: Chris Brazzell III (4-138, 1 TD), Mike Matthews (6-107, 1 TD) and Braylon Stanley (6-105). Kentucky’s DJ Miller had five catches for 120 yards and two touchdowns while Kendrick Law had two catches for 103 yards and a TD.  

No. 22 Texas (6-2, 3-1 SEC) 45. Mississippi State (4-4, 0-4 SEC) 38, OT: For the second straight week the Longhorns pulled off a win in overtime. The Longhorns trailed Mississippi State 38-21 in the fourth quarter when they mounted a furious comeback behind Arch Manning, who finished the game with 346 passing yards and three TDPs. Critical to the comeback was a 79-yard touchdown on a punt return by Ryan Niblett with 1:47 left that tied the game at 38-38. Once in overtime, Mississippi State knocked Manning out of the game on a 13-yard scramble out of the pocket. With Manning out, Texas scored on a 10-yard touchdown pass from backup QB Matthew Caldwell to Emmett Mosely. The win kept Texas within a game of the SEC lead.

Blake Shapen was outstanding for Mississippi State, throwing for 381 yards and four touchdowns without an interception. Davon Booth ran for 99 yards and caught three for 85 including a 62-yarder for a touchdown. Ryan Wingo caught five passes for 184 yards for Texas.

Auburn (4-4, 1-4 SEC) 33, Arkansas (2-6, 0-4 SEC) 24: Auburn got its first SEC win by outscoring Arkansas 23-3 in the second half. Auburn took the lead (27-24) with 9:15 left in the game on a 43-yard pick six by Rayshawn Pleasant. Two Alex McPherson field goals added insurance that Auburn was going to break a 4-game losing streak. For Arkansas it was a fifth straight loss.

Key to Auburn’s win was Hugh Freeze benching Jackson Arnold after a third quarter interception. Ashton Daniels came off the bench to lead the final three scoring drives. Daniels completed 6-8 passes for 77 yards while adding 35 on eight carries. Jeremiah Cobb led Auburn with 153 yards on 28 carries. The Auburn defense picked off Taylen Greene three times and forced a fumble.

NEXT SATURDAY

FLORIDA (3-4, 2-2 SEC vs. No. 5 Georgia (6-1, 4-1 SEC), in Jacksonville

South Carolina (3-5, 1-5) at No. 8 Ole Miss (7-1, 4-1 SEC)

No. 10 Vanderbilt (7-1, 3-1 SEC) at No. 22 Texas (6-2, 3-1 SEC)

No. 13 Oklahoma (6-2, 2-2 SEC) at No. 17 Tennessee (6-2, 3-2 SEC)

Kentucky (2-5, 0-5 SEC) at Auburn (4-4, 1-4 SEC)

Mississippi State (4-4, 0-4 SEC) at Arkansas (2-6, 0-4 SEC)