Biscuits & SEC Week 9 game-by-game recaps 2024
The Aggies make a statement in College Station, taking sole possession of first in the SEC.
By: Bossman, Hammer
No big upsets materialized in Week 9, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t have some interesting games go down to the wire. And how about what we saw in College Station? LSU looked like they were about to put the Aggies away before Frozone came in and made A&M look like a completely different team.
Let’s check out how the B&S crew fared in Week 9:
Bossman was red hot this week in the straight-up column, with his Auburn pick helping him get back to even with Hammer. Meanwhile, Waco Kid kept pace in the ATS column, pushing his lead up to three games with a 5-1 record in Week 9.
Let’s hit the recaps.
Bossman: The only thing that didn’t go as expected for me in this game was Ole Miss not covering. It was a large spread, but I thought the Rebels would cover late. Shame on me, this OU defense can still play, but the Sooners offense remains pedestrian, even under new management. Oklahoma looked like they might have something in the first half on offense, but Ole Miss battened down the hatches and their defensive front got home 25 times in Oklahoma’s backfield. That’s not a recipe for winning. The whispers are growing louder in Norman, while Ole Miss gets back on track and still has everything in front of them if they can win out.
Hammer: Despite coming off a bye week, the Ole Miss offense still looks like it's in quicksand at times. The Rebs got a win here and shut out Oklahoma in the second half, and Oklahoma has a solid defense. But for Ole Miss to get to where they want, things need to improve on offense. Oklahoma totaled nine TFls, and one sack, and held Ole Miss to just 69 yards rushing on 31 carries. Simply put, the Rebel offensive line has still not figured it out. But the Rebel defense has figured it out. This is one of the craziest stats I have seen, especially since OU was in this game into the second half, but Ole Miss tallied 10 sacks and 15 TFLs in this game. Oklahoma’s offensive line is putrid. I know they have been dealing with injuries, but this is just pathetic. Everyone tried to warn OU and Texas that to compete in the SEC, you have to have great players on both lines of scrimmage. Oklahoma clearly did not get the memo, cause they haven’t been able to block anyone all year long. Jackson Arnold, to his credit, looked pretty good given how much duress he was under. It looks to me like the Sooners panicked earlier this year by benching him because he is a better QB than Michael Hawkins. The issues are more on the rest of the offense, not the QB. Solid win for Ole Miss at the end of the day to steady the ship and get back into the win column.
Bossman: Another miss here, with the way the Bulldogs offense had played the last couple of weeks, I thought they would be able to cover against Arkansas. Bobby Petrino obviously read my preview and took offense, because he decided this was going to be the week he would carpet bomb the opposition like he was making a run over North Vietnam. It was an explosion of offensive firepower from the Hogs. You get one, and you get one, and you and you and you! Mississippi State still has a ton to work on, and at this point, I don’t think they’ll get an SEC win this season (barring an insane Egg Bowl – which is always possible). Solid win for Arkansas to wash the stink from the LSU game off their back.
Hammer: Yikes. What the hell happened in this one? Mississippi State looked to be making some progress in the last few weeks, while Arkansas seemed to be stuck in neutral, especially on offense against LSU. Whatever happened to the Hogs against LSU, they completely flushed that game and looked like a completely new team. This was a get-right game for the Hogs and the big uglies up front made Sam Pittman proud in this one as Arkansas ran for 359 on just 37 carries. That is averaging 9.7 YPC! Taylen Green looked good throwing the ball as well, finishing 23/29 for 314 yards, five TDs, and just one interception. Spectacular performance for the Razorbacks offense in this one. For Mississippi State, I don’t have much to say. This was likely their best chance to win an SEC game (although Mizzou might have something to say about that) and they fell flat on their face. Michael Van Buren and the offense played decently but the defense just couldn’t keep this one remotely close. Tough times in Starkville.
Bossman: Alright, I’ve been saying it for weeks. I think we can all agree now that Mizzou is just not a good team this year. I know, I know, they had Brady Cook go down with an injury early in this one and had to rely on Drew Pyne, which was the beginning of the end. The offense isn’t the only issue though, this Alabama offense has struggled to run the ball all year, but this week that hung nearly 300 yards on the Tigers. Mizzou returned a ton of production from last year’s 10-2 team, but they lost some big names on the defensive side of the ball that they haven’t been able to replace. Alabama looked solid in the second half of this game after struggling to a 13-0 lead at halftime, and Jalen Milroe got things going in the passing game with 215 yards passing. Good win for a desperate Tide team while Mizzou fades back to the middle of the pack in the SEC.
Hammer: Is Bama’s defense back? Well, they just pitched a shutout against Missouri. The Brady Cook injury ended this game. Sorry Mizzou fans, but Drew Pyne is not a good QB, and I’m not telling you anything you don’t know. Alabama just put the clamps on Missouri and even if Cook remained healthy, the Tide were not losing this game. We finally saw Alabama run the ball effectively for the first time in SEC play. They steamrolled Missouri’s defense, just like Texas A&M did a few weeks ago, effectively exposing the Mizzou defense as frauds. Bama totaled 271 yards rushing and combined for 4 TDs between Justice Haynes, Jam Miller, and Jalen Milroe. The Bama running game, along with forcing three Drew Pyne picks while Alabama did not turn it over, was the story of this game. For Tide fans, it has to be great to see Milroe take care of the football and see the running backs get going. We’ll see if they can keep that momentum going, but it was a welcome sight for this week.
Bossman: Woahhh Nelly. I picked the Horns to cover in this one because I continue to underestimate the Commodores. I should have known better with Texas coming off a smashmouth game against Georgia that they might struggle, especially with the different offense that Vandy runs. It was also another shaky game for Quinn Ewers who threw two picks to the black and gold. In the end, the Horns held on in Nashville and keep moving forward with a W.
Hammer: No surprise here. Texas goes on the road against a competent Vandy team and can’t pull away. Vandy is so tough, man, and they just never give up. Diego Pavia did not have his best stuff today, throwing two interceptions. But he kept getting up and throwing punches, until the final whistle. Pavia finished with 143 yards passing, 67 yards rushing, and three total TDs. He continues to put the team on his back but came up just short today. Now for Texas, you got a win, and Vandy is no slouch. But this was pretty sloppy here and the Longhorns could never pull away. In fact, they only managed two field goals the entire second half. Quinn Ewers looked good for the most part in this game and never gave Sark a reason to bench him, but he still threw two picks. Going 27/37 for 288 yards and three TDs is very good, but those picks loom large. The Texas offensive line got bullied again, and that isn’t something I thought would happen. Getting bullied against Georgia is one thing, but this is Vandy. Texas only managed 3.3 yards per carry, and they sacked Quinn Ewers four times and tallied nine TFLs. NINE. On the flip side, Texas only managed two TFLs on defense. Never apologize for road wins in the SEC, even at Vandy. But I have a hard time coming away from this game with a ton of positive momentum for Texas. They just looked like they went through the motions and were the second most physical team on the field for the second week in a row.
Bossman: There’s only one name you need to say regarding this game: Marcel Reed. The kid balled out and LSU had no answer for him in the second half. Five drives, four touchdowns, and a field goal, and A&M should have punched in a TD on that fifth drive if not for a penalty that backed the Aggies up in a goal-to-go situation. Reed the Steed dazzled with the zone reed and Le’Veon Moss and Amari Daniels added the icing on top. The offensive line had trouble blocking in the first half for the Aggies in pass protection, but once Reed was in, they were opening up gaping holes and wore the LSU defense down. This was a classic game of the tale of two halves. LSU had all the momentum going into halftime, then Reed came in and it was a completely different game from there. Hats off to Mike Elko for making the call to go to Reed in a tough spot. It’s obvious this is Reed’s team at this point. Can’t go back to Weigman after Reed’s performance. Also, have to shoutout the Aggie defense who suffocated the Tigers run game all night and forced Garrett Nussmeier and that offense to be one-dimensional while under duress, which eventually led to three second-half interceptions. LSU still has much to play for, but now their backs are against the wall with two losses. Time for Brian Kelly to pound the table a little harder to see if that works.
Hammer: What a wild game in College Station, TX on Saturday night. Kyle Field was on another level, and this game absolutely delivered. LSU started the game white hot, with Garrett Nussmeier and his wide receivers ripping off big chunk plays and throwing the ball all over A&M. Conner Weigman and the Aggies offense struggled. LSU missed a few field goals in the first half and despite dominating statistically, only led 17-7. Everything changed early in the third quarter when Mike Elko made the move to replace Conner Weigman with Marcel Reed after A&M went three and out on their first two second-half drives. Nussmeier made his first mistake of the night and threw a pick to Aggie DB BJ Mayes who returned it to the LSU eight-yard line. Marcel Reed came into the game and ran for a touchdown on his first snap, making it 17-14. Texas A&M never looked back and absolutely bullied LSU from that point on. Marcel Reed led A&M’s offense to four straight touchdown drives, then a field goal late in the game, all while only throwing two passes. Texas A&M inserted Reed into the game, and just ran the ball down LSU’s throat the entire second half. The Tigers got absolutely bullied and the more physical team won this game. Sure, Garrett Nussmeier can throw the ball all over the yard, and LSU has great wide receivers. But games in the SEC are still won in the trenches, and the Aggies proved to be the more physical team on Saturday night. A&M finished with 242 rushing yards on 49 carries and held LSU to 24 yards rushing on 23 attempts. LSU’s inability to run the ball at all forced Nussmeier to throw the ball 50 times, and he simply ran out of gas, especially when A&M began getting pressure consistently. The Aggies look like a different team with Reed at quarterback and they have firm control of the SEC title race right now. LSU meanwhile suffered their first conference loss and needs to find some physicality if they want to contend for the SEC and CFP.
Bossman: Got’em! Auburn’s been losing close games in spectacular meltdown fashion this year, but the games have been close. This was the week I thought they could jump up and get someone, and they did. Finally. And dang it, Hugh Freeze finally remembered that he has a guy named Jarquez Hunter who looks like a superhero action figure and can run the ball down people’s throats. Good thing Hugh figured that out in the eighth game of the year. Hunter hunted Kentucky’s defense all night and looked like a Heisman back on Saturday. On Kentucky’s side, man…hard to figure out what is going on in Lexington. It looked like this team could be decent after giving Georgia a run for their money and taking down Ole Miss. Unfortunately, it’s been downhill ever since then. This offense can’t get anything going, Brock Vandagriff has been underwhelming to put it politely, and the defense has been beaten up the last few weeks after looking solid in the first half of the season. This may just be a down year for Mark Stoops as he’s had in the past before a bounce back, but Kentucky fans are not happy with where the program is after last season and this one.
Hammer: Hugh Freeze finally got his head out of his ass and did what I (along with many Auburn fans) have been begging him to do all season: feed Jarquez Hunter. Hunter led the Tigers with 23 carries for 278 yards and 2 TDs. FINALLY! As a team, Auburn ran for 326 yards on 50 carries. They just mauled the Kentucky defense, which has been solid so far this year. A very welcome sign for Auburn fans. On the Kentucky side, what the hell are Mark Stoops and Kentucky doing? It seems like he tried to take the A&M job this past offseason and then either quit trying to coach or just totally forgot. Aside from the one blip in the radar in their upset of Ole Miss, the Wildcats have been dreadful. Kentucky needs to win three of their next four games to even make a bowl game, and their final four games include at Tennessee and at Texas. They are staring a 5-7 or 4-8 team right in the face and this team might be giving up. Really tough times in Lexington.
