SEC Football, the Hurry Up: Biggest Takeaways from the SEC East (Week 12)

By John Richardson | Nov 23, 2015

In the weekly Hurry Up from Southbound and Down, I’ll provide that one thing that stuck out most to me from each SEC team from the weekend. After that it is up to you. We’ll leave the comments section open and you are free to tell me I’m an idiot, agree, or explain why you know something we don’t. This is an SEC page, after all, home of some of the most boisterous fans in the country. As always, we’ll go in the order the teams played.

One tweak to pass versions of the Hurry Up that we began last week and have continued is that we cover the quick hits of the SEC West and SEC East separately. First up was the SEC West; now we’ll turn our attention to the SEC East.

Florida

Unless Treon Harris miracu lously turns into Will Grier, the Gators won’t win another game this season. It’s sad because the Gators are immensely talented. If Grier was still the Gator’s quarterback, there’s a good chance they’d be undefeated and favored in the SEC Championship. Instead they’ll have to hope for shutdown performances from their defense in order to compete against Florida State and in both the SEC Championship and their bowl game. That’s the level of doubt you get after needing overtime to defeat 2-win Florida Atlantic.

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South Carolina

Interim Head Coach Shawn Elliott resigned, except he didn’t. After losing to The Citadel, he probably should have. Nothing to say here. The good news is the SEC East is in disarray, meaning the next coach should not have too much trouble returning the Gamecocks to bowl games.

Georgia

Mark Richt continues to hear about the rumors of his demise grow louder and louder. Needing overtime to do away with Georgia Southern won’t help matters. If the same team shows up to play Georgia Tech, the Bulldogs will get dismantled and lose their 4th game of the season in a year where they were supposed to be a College Football Playoff contender. Things are far from settled Between the Hedges.

Tennessee

The Volunteers won a tough, low scoring game. That isn’t something that Tennessee would have been able to come out on top of earlier in the season, so props to them for that. The Volunteers are taking advantage of a softer schedule to build momentum as they head into bowl season. There is no doubt the hype train will be parked in Knoxville again during the 2016 off season.

Missouri

Nov 21, 2015; Columbia, MO, USA; Missouri Tigers head coach Gary Pinkel reacts to a call during the first half against the Tennessee Volunteers at Faurot Field. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

The Tigers simply do not have an offense. The defense showed up yet again, holding Tennessee to just 19 points. Mizzou did all they could to send Gary Pinkel out on top in his last home game for the Tigers, they just simply did not have enough offensive firepower to hang in the game. A disappointing season for the Tigers will only get worse if they cannot find a way to become bowl eligible against Arkansas this Saturday.

Vanderbilt

It isn’t very often that you can say a defense played well when their team loses by 25. That is exactly what happened Saturday, though. Derek Mason continues to get the most out of his players on the defensive side of the ball, only surrendering a big score late in the game. If Vanderbilt had anything that resembled an offense they would be bowl eligible. Be patient Commodores, Vandy is on the right track under Mason.

Kentucky

This was the SEC East’s version of Auburn-Idaho. Expecting anyone to care too much about this game (including most Kentucky fans as basketball season already started) is asking a little much. Kentucky dominated a foe it was supposed to, which is notable. Kentucky was on a 5-game losing skid before this one. The biggest takeaway from this game is that it makes the season finale with Louisville much more interesting, as Kentucky could become bowl eligible with a win.

Next: SEC West-Deepest Division in College Football

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