SEC Football: What we learned from Week 7 of the season

Seven weeks of the SEC football season are in the books, and as is the case every week, we learned something that we didn’t know the week before.

The most surprising result of the SEC football weekend was LSU’s 20-point comeback over Auburn. Not only did it say that LSU was a little better than we thought, but more importantly, it showed that the team has not given up on Ed Orgeron. Alabama and Georgia once again won in blowouts, although Missouri did give the Bulldogs some issues for a quarter and a half.

South Carolina and Kentucky are still in the SEC East race. Will Muschamp is now 6-0 as a head coach against Tennessee, as the seasons in Knoxville and Gainesville have gone from bad to worse. Here’s everything we learned from Week 7 of the SEC football season.

LSU is not dead yet

After losing to Troy two weeks ago, Orgeron and the Tigers were basically left for dead. LSU was 3-2 with all of their toughest games remaining on their schedule. How did the Bayou Bengals respond? They went into Gainesville and beat the Gators 17-16 last week, then overcame a 20-0 halftime deficit to beat Auburn for the ninth consecutive time in Baton Rouge. With just one loss in the conference, the Tigers’ Nov. 4 date with Alabama could still decide the SEC West like many anticipated in the preseason.

After Saturday’s 27-23 loss to LSU, Gus Malzahn is once again firmly on the hot seat. (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images) /

Gus Malzahn is still on the Hot Seat

Malzahn was one of four SEC coaches that entered the season on the hot seat, along with Bret Bielema, Butch Jones, and Kevin Sumlin. After six weeks, Bielema and Jones’ seats have gotten even hotter, while Sumlin’s seat has cooled off a little.

Malzahn appeared to be removed from the Hot Seat discussion after the Tigers’ 5-1 start and no. 10 national ranking, but after this week’s loss to LSU, it’s as if that good start never happened. Sitting at 5-2, Auburn still has dates with Texas A&M, Georgia, and Alabama remaining on the schedule, making an 8-4 season a realistic possibility, and I don’t think Malzahn would survive that.

Florida is worse off than we originally thought

Florida has won the SEC East in each of the first two seasons of the Jim McElwain era, but they’ve done so using smoke-and-mirrors, and it appears to be catching up with them. McElwain has failed to recruit at the level that Florida is accustomed to, and now with the majority of his players on the roster, it’s showing on the field. And they had the uniforms to match their lousy play against Texas A&M on Saturday.

McElwain came to Gainesville as an offensive coach, but he has failed to produce any resemblance of an offense, and without the dominant defense left over from Will Muschamp, they’re struggling. Florida is now 3-3, and don’t look now, but the Gators might not make a bowl game this season. They still need three more wins to become bowl eligible, and they close their schedule with Georgia, at Missouri, at South Carolina, UAB, and Florida State. I see at least two more losses in the Gators’ final five games, and their two road trips to Missouri and South Carolina won’t be cake walks. Right now, I see Florida finishing 5-6.

Georgia’s defense can be thrown on

Georgia’s defense has been absolutely dominant this season, but on Saturday they were exposed my Missouri. They failed to record a sack for the second consecutive week, and Drew Lock made them pay. He went 8-for-10 for 170 yards and three touchdowns on the first five drives of the game, with the score tied at 21.

However, the Bulldogs did make adjustments and held Lock to 7-for-15 for 83 yards with a touchdown and an interception the rest of the way. If Georgia is going to be beaten this season, it will be by a team who can protect the quarterback and stretch the defense, and I’m not sure there’s anyone else on their schedule who is capable of doing that.

The Vanderbilt defense was a mirage

Remember when Vanderbilt was 3-0 with the no. 1 ranked defense in the country and were demanding to be respected by the college football world? Yeah, it feels like ancient history. They outscored their opponents 84-13 in the first three games, but that was clearly a mirage.

The last four weeks the Commodores have been dominated. They’ve allowed 49.8 points and 574 yards per game the last four weeks. Vanderbilt is now 88^th in the nation in total defense and tied for 89^th in the nation in scoring defense. I think they got just as much respect as they deserved.

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