Best and Worst SEC Football Performances: Week 7
By Ryan Summers
Oct 17, 2015; Athens, GA, USA; Missouri Tigers quarterback Drew Lock (3) passes against the Georgia Bulldogs during the second half at Sanford Stadium. Georgia defeated Missouri 9-6. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports
Georgia and Missouri’s offenses
– If you were looking to be bored out of your mind over the weekend, you should have turned on the Georgia vs. Missouri game. Without the explosiveness of Georgia running back Nick Chubb and a lackluster Tigers offense, these two teams couldn’t find the end zone.
Call it what you wish: a defensive battle, two struggling teams, old school football or whatever. But I’ll call it what it is: opening up the door for the Florida Gators to run away with the East and for Tennessee to be a close second.
Missouri hasn’t shown anything this season besides they can keep games close and Georgia, I think, is far worse without their star RB.
The two team’s struggles are really exemplified by the play of the two starting quarterbacks.
Missouri’s Drew Lock threw for 143 yards on 11 of 26 passing attempts, averaging 5.5 yards per throw. Greyson Lambert was 23 of 32 for 178 yards and an interception. Lambert only averaged 5.6 yards per throw. Terrible performances from the supposed leaders of the offenses. No one found the end zone either for both teams, obviously, in the test of which team’s kicker was better.
Johnny McCrary, QB, Vanderbilt
– Vanderbilt hasn’t won an SEC game since 2013. That trend continued Saturday as the Commodores couldn’t take down a team who just lost their long time head coach.
Oct 17, 2015; Columbia, SC, USA; Vanderbilt Commodores quarterback Johnny McCrary (2) drops back to pass during the second quarter between Vanderbilt and South Carolina at Williams-Brice Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports
What stood out to me besides the fact that Vanderbilt can’t even take advantage of a team that might be left in a little bit (understatement altert) of turmoil after a coaching change, was the terrible play of starting quarterback Johnny McCrary.
McCrary threw for 177 yards, 1 touchdown and three interceptions. He only averaged 4.2 yards per throw.
Making it even worse, he only connected with an actual wide receiver 10 times during the game and the top two players in the receiving category were a tight end and a running back.
The Ole Miss secondary
That number quickly escalated Saturday when the Rebels faced off against an explosive passing attack from the Memphis Tigers. Quarterback Paxton Lynch threw for 384 yards and three touchdowns as the Tigers toppled the Rebels, 37-24.
Lynch was able to get in a grove against the secondary from Ole Miss and connected with six different receivers three or more times each. That is terrible efficiency from the backline of the ‘Landshark’ defense if you ask me.
The secondary only tallied five pass breakups and one interception against the Tigers. Memphis is making a case for being the best team outside of a power five conferenc,e as well being undefeated. With the loss I think Ole Miss is definitely out of the CFP picture and they may even be out of contention for the remainder of their games with Robert Nkemdiche out with a concussion. I guess we will see.