The goings on of the rest of the SEC are somewhat difficult to truly follow. Because of the number of times that Brian Walker's Elbow and I have seen uninformed fans make sweeping judgments of opposing teams based solely on their quarterback and halfback, we decided to start a segment where, though we will talk about halfbacks and quarterbacks, we'll also talk about the other players on teams that are succeeding or failing.
Brian Walker's Elbow's rundown of the SEC East is here. Read it. It's quite good.
ALABAMA 6-0 (3-0 SEC)
I know he's the quarterback, but in case you hadn't noticed, Greg McElroy has thrown the ball 153 times with only one interception. Yeah. I'd take that in a New York minute over 139 passes with nine interceptions. McElroy hasn't just not sucked. he has played well, passing for over 200 yards a game with Julio Jones not having shown up for the season. I hoped that when Kirk Herbstreit said McElroy would be immediately better than JPW, that he was just being Kirk Herbstreit. Unfortunately, I was wrong. The Crimson TURDS (see... like poo) kick off at 6:45 PM vs. South Carolina. You can check it out on ESPN or ESPN360.com.
ARKANSAS 3-2 (1-2 SEC)
I was just looking over Arkansas' defensive statistics, and something struck me as odd. Remember Darius Winston, the five-star cornerback recruit that everyone in the world wanted? Yeah. He has played in one game for Arkansas and has recorded one tackle. Remember, this isn't Alabama I'm talking about. This is a defense that ranks dead last in the SEC in passing yards allowed. If Winston was what people expected, he would have a starting job locked up by now. He'll probably be good in time, but as of right now, Arkansas fans have to be worried about the future, and current, status of their secondary. The Razorbacks keep trucking through tough teams, traveling to Gainesville this week to play the Gators in The Swamp. Catch the game at 2:30 PM on CBS.
AUBURN 5-1 (2-1 SEC)
Well the unjustified hopes of an undefeated season came crashing down. Many a head exploded in Fayetville among Arkansians watching the game. Was Gus Malzahn's offense so bad that it couldn't put up points against a terrible Arkansas secondary? Anyway, on to Auburn, the good news to be taken from the game is that Ben Tate is still a beast. Tate rushed for over 8 yards a carry and had a gorgeous 60 yard scoot into the end zone. The underlying story of Auburn's season, in my humble and somewhat uninformed opinion is that Mario Fannin has to be involved in the gameplan. He made an impact in every one of the Tigers' first five games only to touch the ball twice for a loss against Arkansas. Get him the ball in space. He does pretty things with it. This week, Auburn gets to lick their wounds, staying home to face the Wildcats. 6:30.... ESPNU... be there or be square.
LSU 5-1 (3-1 SEC)
I think that a point that is somewhat lost in LSU's struggle against Florida is how much their offensive line was blown up and how little pressure their defensive line got on Tim Tebow. I know that Florida's defense is scary, but for LSU to have surrendered five sacks on a total of 22 called passes is dreadful. While I'm not 100% sure that this high sack count isn't mostly the result of Brandon Spikes being a freak (with three sacks in the game), with an offensive line that returned Ciron Black, who was widely considered to be one of the top two or three left tackles in the conference, LSU is struggling. On the other side, the Tigers gave up four yards per carry even with Tim Tebow's horrendous 17 carries at 2.2 yards per tote. LSU has a bye this week, and it couldn't come at a better time for the Tigers. If they want to compete for the West crown, LSU needs to get more physical on both sides of the trenches. Alabama isn't going to be any worse on either line than Florida was.
STATE 2-4 (1-2 SEC)
So registering one sack as a team against a team that threw the ball 52 times probably isn't a good way to make do on your promise to lead the SEC in sacks MSU. I know there was a questionable call that many state fans are saying lost them the game. Here's the kicker. The call was made in the third quarter. I'm sorry. Don't point to a call made with 20 minutes left in the game when you have the lead when trying to explain a loss. You went for it on fourth down and nine when you were up by three in the third quarter. Sorry that didn't work out for you. MSU plays MTSU this Saturday at 11:30 PM in Murfreesboro. If you suck, watch it on ESPNU.