Those are among the 10 things I\u2019m absolutely overreacting to after Week 11 in and around the SEC.<\/p>\n
10. Texas A&M deserves to be No. 1<\/p>\n
It doesn\u2019t matter who\u2019s No. 1 and probably won\u2019t matter until we get to the Playoff semifinals, but if the Playoff Selection Committee truly is living in the moment and starting anew each week, there\u2019s zero debate about which contender was the most impressive in Week 11.<\/p>\n
The Aggies improved to 3-0 against ranked teams with an emphatic beatdown at No. 19 Mizzou \u2014 and all 3 of those wins were on the road.<\/p>\n
Nobody else in the country has a resume even remotely close to that. No. 1 Ohio State is 2-0 vs. ranked teams \u2014 but only 1-0 on the road. Ditto No. 2 Indiana, which was fortunate to survive Week 11 unscathed.<\/p>\n
The Aggies again were without Le\u2019Veon Moss, and it didn\u2019t matter. Backup-turned-emerging-threat Rueben Owens ripped off a 100-yard game and scored twice, once on a 57-yard sprint through the heart of Mizzou\u2019s line. Marcel Reed did Marcel Reed things (221 yards passing and 2 TDs, just enough rushing to keep safeties peeking). KC Concepcion continues to pad his case as the SEC\u2019s MVT: Most Valuable Transfer.<\/p>\n
At minimum, Texas A&M deserves to move up to No. 2 in Sunday\u2019s AP Poll \u2014 and in Tuesday\u2019s Round 2 of the Playoff rankings. They haven\u2019t been No. 2 in the AP Poll since 1975. They haven\u2019t been No. 1 since 1957 with Bear Bryant. They haven\u2019t finished No. 1 since 1939.<\/p>\n
This team has the pieces to write its own history.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t need to convince Mike Elko<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI think they know what they want, and we got great leadership,\u201d Elko told reporters. \u201cWe got great players out here and we are going to go finish things the right way.\u201d<\/p>\n 9. 11 weeks in, and I still have no idea how good Alabama is<\/p>\n I was hoping the LSU game<\/a> would trigger confidence \u2014 one way or another.<\/p>\n Instead, I found myself wavering, more convinced than ever that Alabama and Georgia are the same team.<\/p>\n One week, they look unbeatable. The next week, fortunate to win. Other weeks, good enough to go through the motions and win.<\/p>\n I keep reminding myself that college football is all-in on the Parity\/Portal Era \u2026 the gap between good and great has never been closer, and to expect Dynasty performances each week is fruitless.<\/p>\n I still believe Ty Simpson is the most capable SEC QB to pull off the SEC Triple Crown of Heisman\/SEC title\/national championship \u2026 but that doesn\u2019t mean I trust Simpson and the Tide to actually get it done. He\u2019s a better quarterback than Marcel Reed, but give me the Aggies all day if they ever meet.<\/p>\n In fact, I trust Simpson more than I trust his teammates. Bama\u2019s running game is non-existent \u2014 a sentence never written in the Saban era. They entered the LSU game ranked 14th in the SEC at 118.8 rushing yards per game. Just 9 rushing touchdowns in 8 games.<\/p>\n Alabama ran for 56 yards against LSU. Save the Derrick Henry jokes; Jalen Hurts would outrush this Tide team. When it needed to run to eat clock Saturday, the Tide turned to a trick pass play to convert 4th-and-3.<\/p>\n That can\u2019t bode well for what lies ahead.<\/p>\n 8. Making sense of the B1G scramble<\/p>\n It was a tough week for the Big Ten.<\/p>\n It didn\u2019t start that way, of course. The Playoff Selection committee wedged 4 Big Ten teams into the final 6 teams it ranked. Why? Saying 7 Big Ten teams were ranked sounds a lot better than the 5 it should have had. No SEC bias here, boys!<\/p>\n I\u2019m not falling for it.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve said since Week 3 that the Big Ten only deserves 3 Playoff teams and the rest of the league stinks. The first Playoff ranking, however, set up the opportunity for late-season quality wins over \u201cranked\u201d teams to create a narrative for 4 teams.<\/p>\n About that \u2026 No. 20 Iowa (which shouldn\u2019t have been ranked) suffered its 3rd loss of the season. No. 23 Washington (which shouldn\u2019t have been ranked) suffered its 3rd loss of the season, this one to woeful Wisconsin. No. 21 Michigan was idle.<\/p>\n But the B1G is top-heavy, remember?<\/p>\n OK. No. 1 Ohio State looked good in dominating Purdue. Jeremiah Smith showed why he\u2019s a Heisman contender<\/a> and my pick to win the award.<\/p>\n No. 2 Indiana got pushed around but ultimately responded against a Penn State squad that fired its coach and now has lost 6 consecutive games. Credit the Hoosiers\u2019 resiliency, however. They are the Big Ten\u2019s version of Vandy.<\/p>\n No. 9 Oregon is lucky to still be in the Playoff race, needing a last-minute field goal to knock off Iowa. The Ducks scored just 1 touchdown. Ultimately, I think Oregon loses again, probably to USC.<\/p>\n Is it possible that the B1G only gets 2 teams in the Playoff?<\/p>\n 7. Notre Dame is the ultimate Playoff X-factor<\/p>\n I was only interested in 1 team\u2019s Playoff ranking Tuesday: Notre Dame\u2019s.<\/p>\n The Irish control the math. If they make the Playoff, it\u2019s going to be all but impossible for the SEC to get 5 teams, no matter how deserving that 5th team might be.<\/p>\n The committee slotted the Irish at No. 10. Not good for SEC purists.<\/p>\n The Irish started 0-2 \u2014 both losses to top-20 teams, by a combined total of 4 points.<\/p>\n Now? They just whipped Playoff-hopeful Navy (yes, I realize how crazy that sounds; welcome to 2025) in Week 11 for their 7th consecutive victory. All 7, by the way, by double digits. That includes a 10-point, Week 8 victory against ranked and sudden-Playoff hopeful USC.<\/p>\n The Irish are rolling into a must-win showdown at ranked Pitt in Week 12.<\/p>\n The Irish can\u2019t lose again and make the Playoff, but they probably won\u2019t lose again. That\u2019s terrible news for SEC bubble teams.<\/p>\n 6. In 2025, the SEC will break the record for most coaches fired<\/p>\n The record for coaching changes is 5 \u2014 set after the 2017 season. That deserves an asterisk, however, because Dan Mullen voluntarily left Mississippi State to go to Florida, which fired Jim McElwain. <\/p>\n So only 4 SEC coaches were actually fired.<\/p>\n Four SEC coaches already have been fired this season. That matches the record for most firings in 1 season, set in 2017, then matched 2019 and 2020 when Nick Saban<\/a> was getting everybody fired. (We\u2019re not counting 2012, which also had 4 changes, because John L. Smith wasn\u2019t fired; he was Arkansas\u2019 interim coach and subsequently replaced.)<\/p>\n So, who are the next to go? In Week 6 \u2014 in response to Arkansas firing Sam Pittman<\/a> and pouring fuel onto Firing SZN \u2014 I named the next 5 Power Conference coaches to go<\/a>. Because ADs are such avid readers of Overreactions and take everything written here as gospel, 3 already are gone: Billy Napier<\/a>, James Franklin and Freeze. Dave Doeren<\/a> and Mark Stoops<\/a> are hanging on.<\/p>\n Focusing on the SEC and its never-ending quest to live up to its \u201cjust means more\u201d moniker, here\u2019s the updated Hot Seat list after Week 11 as the league closes in on the record. I\u2019ll be shocked if either coach is back in 2026.<\/p>\n 1. Shane Beamer<\/a>, South Carolina: I should have included him in the initial list. We all make mistakes. Kind of like Beamer\u2019s choices in offensive coordinators.<\/p>\n 2. (Still) Stoops: The $37 million buyout<\/a> is ridiculous, but so are empty seats and growing negativity. Negotiate a settlement and let him walk away knowing he built Kentucky football to the point where Wildcats fans couldn\u2019t wait to fire the winningest coach in program history<\/a>. (Celebrate his 5th victory over Florida \u2014 before Stoops, Bear Bryant was the only Kentucky coach to accomplish that feat \u2014 and the fact that if he leaves this year, he\u2019ll leave with a winning record. That was in danger had he not beaten Florida again. Nobody wants to be on the list of teams whose winningest coach had a losing record, right Indiana<\/a>?)<\/p>\n 5. Predicting the SEC\u2019s 5 Playoff teams after Week 11<\/p>\n I\u2019ll play along. The Playoff committee put 6 SEC teams in the top 12 and had 7 in the top 16. I\u2019ve made the case for weeks that the SEC deserves 5 Playoff bids, but will probably get 4 because I\u2019m not convinced the politics will allow for a 3-loss SEC team to make the final field over, say, a 10-2 Notre Dame squad or a 10-2 ACC\/Big 12 runner-up.<\/p>\n No matter. Here are the 5 SEC teams that deserve to make the Playoff after Week 11 (and only after Week 11):<\/p>\n 1. Texas A&M: I\u2019ve had the Aggies as the SEC\u2019s best team for weeks. Others are just now catching on. Grab a seat in the back.<\/p>\n 2. Ole Miss: Make fun of a cupcake win all you want. Just don\u2019t tell me how impressed you were that Oregon rallied to knock off Iowa in the last second of a field-goal fest or that Indiana rallied to beat a now 3-6\/0-5 Penn State squad in the final minute. (Now, Omar Cooper Jr.\u2019s game-winning TD catch<\/a>? Absolutely. That was the most impressive play I\u2019ve seen all year.)<\/p>\n 3. Alabama: Alabama owns the series with Texas A&M, but history don\u2019t make plays, Pawwwwl! <\/p>\n 4. Georgia: The Dawgs finally unleashed their ground game. They ran for a season-high 303 yards \u2014 after averaging 170.3 in 6 previous SEC games. And, yes, it came against a Mississippi State defense that ranked No. 15 in rushing defense \u2014 but nobody ran on them like Georgia did. The Dawgs are at their best when Gunner Stockton gets to manage the game instead of being required to win it.<\/p>\n 5. Vanderbilt: Call me stubborn for not selecting Texas over Vandy when Texas has the head-to-head win, but I love a great story. Vanderbilt\u2019s rise is the SEC\u2019s Story of the Year. Down again in the 2nd half Saturday, the \u2018Dores rallied again, this time all the way back to knock off Auburn. I know that doesn\u2019t sound terribly impressive \u2014 unless you watched it unfold. Diego Pavia threw for 377 yards and 3 TDs \u2014 and added another 112 yards rushing and a TD. That\u2019s almost 500 yards of total offense and 4 TDs. That\u2019s Manziel-level wizardry from college football\u2019s Most Valuable Player.<\/p>\n 4. Ranking the SEC-led Interim teams<\/p>\n The interim coaches went 0-3 with a bye in Week 11. Bygones. <\/p>\n Great news! Even in a terrible season, somebody\u2019s about to be crowned No. 1!<\/p>\n 1. Auburn (DJ Durkin): Who knew the only thing holding back Auburn\u2019s offense was alleged offensive guru Hugh Freeze? The Tigers scoring an SEC-best 38 points in their first game without Freeze \u2014 on the road against a ranked Vandy team with Playoff hopes \u2014 tells you everything you need to know about Freeze as a play-caller in 2025. The Iron Bowl<\/a> just got a whole lot more interesting. Now, about that defense \u2026 Durkin, weren\u2019t you the defensive coordinator?<\/p>\n 2. LSU (Frank Wilson): Alabama could have beaten LSU 83-0 instead of 20-9 Saturday and it wouldn\u2019t change this ranking. However, I\u2019m not a fan of benching Garrett Nussmeier. Want to give Michael Van Buren an occasional series? Fine. But don\u2019t pin this mess on Nuss.<\/p>\n 3. Florida (Billy Gonzales): Chin up, Gators. Mark Stoops<\/a> claimed his 4th victory in 5 years against the Gators<\/a> \u2014 against 3 different coaches. If Stoops could play Florida every game, he\u2019d be the Curt Cignetti of the SEC. As for Gonzales, has an interim ever been fired? If so, did he get a buyout, too? Benching DJ Lagway was certainly a choice \u2014 even if, in the moment, after 3 INTs, it was the correct one.<\/p>\n