Week 12 in the SEC Vale of Tears: Pandelirium

Here's my most annoying character flaw: I love saying "I told you so." Here's what I said about Auburn last week:

Bold prediction: Georgia plays Auburn tough. I can't even call an Auburn victory. If I were a cold blooded gambling fool, I'd take Georgia plus the 10.

In a week of pandelirium, Auburn was scarcely unique. Clemson and Michigan fell from the ranks of the unbeaten with last second field goals. Washington got exposed by Southern Cal. And Ole Miss' super recruit QB pulled off a comeback against #8 Texas A&M. Let's sort through all the crying, trying not to get snot all over our sleeves. We're gonna do lots of Auburn analysis as we move along.

1. The biggest crying has to come from Auburn. Favored by 10 on the road in Athens -- by the way, being a big favorite in Athens is like running up to the attic when the chainsaw murderer is on the loose -- Auburn needed this one win to set up its biggest game in years, a showdown with Bama for the SEC West and a likely trip to the championship playoff. Win or lose against Bama, a season that began with embarrassment would conclude with satisfaction.

But Auburn was crippled. Prior to the season, Auburn lost three high quality running backs. Peyton Barber left early for the NFL. Roc Thomas decided he wanted the ball more and demoted himself to Jax State. Most damaging of all, the splendid Jovon Robinson proved a problem for team morale and got booted from the team. Meanwhile, Auburn started the season with no clear leader at QB. Through the first three games, things still looked grim.

Then Kam Pettway emerged as a monster running back, second only to LSU's Leonard Fournette. The revitalized running game fueled itself with dominant run blocking, and QB Sean White emerged as a tough and efficient leader. Auburn rolled six straight opponents. But Pettway pulled a muscle against Vandy, and White still hasn't recovered.

Auburn's coaches cobbled together a dazzling run package for the tough Georgia defense. And Auburn got through the first half with a 7-0 lead. But one thing was evident: Sean White was not ok. Auburn ran versions of wildcat and used John Franklin III at QB. Not once did White throw downfield. Georgia figured it out too, and things got ugly. Of White's 6 completions -- six! -- two occurred on little jet sweep tosses. Auburn is done.

2. Kentucky had never lost a game in which it rushed for 400 yards. Five Wildcats rushed for 70+ yards each in Knoxville Saturday. Who does that? But Kentucky yielded 49 points to the Vols and crashed back to earth. Kentucky has never won the East, and this is the closest the Cats have gotten. Still, beating Peay (we do it every week) will get the Cats to a bowl game. Mark Stoops will return. In case you're wondering, Austin Peay is 0-10.

3. Texas A&M has crashed to reality. The Aggies didn't really expect to beat Bama, but they had to feel kinda comfy holding a 21-6 lead against a wounded Ole Miss squad. The Rebs drew close, but A&M apparently closed the deal with 6:41 left and a 28-19 lead at home. While everybody's hootin' & hollerin' over Jacob Eason over in Athens, Ole Miss' Shea Patterson led the comeback with 338 passing yards. More on him below.

4. Vanderbilt's bowl hopes effectively ended in Columbia, Missouri. All along the Vandy defense has been better than average in the SEC, a genuine accomplishment, though Mizzou moved the ball pretty well, especially early. Hope has emerged with QB Kyle Shurmur's improvement. Down 6-0, however, Shurmur threw an inexplicable pick-six to put the Dores in a hole. Mizzou took a 19-0 lead, Vandy crawled back to 19-17, but the Dores just couldn't climb the ladder. 4-8 will taste much worse than 5-7 in Nashville.

5. South Carolina was helpless at Florida. Jake Bentley played OK -- we've been praising him all along. But he also took or suffered 5 sacks. Which is it? That's yours to call. The Cocks face 2-8 Western Carolina to earn their bowl bid. That'll feel nice, but there's nothing to brag about. I do think Will Muschamp will make this program tough again.

6. If you can really run the ball, you want a shot against Arkansas. We're big fans of freshman QB Austin Allen at QB, but LSU's splendid defense garned two picks off him. Meanwhile, LSU's Derrius Guice outshined Fournette with 252 rushing yards, including a 96 yard dash as a fourth quarter exclamation point. If your running game ain't so great, though, you'd rather not see the Hogs.

7. Bama 51, Mississippi State 3. What else did you expect? Nick Fitzgerald has done well so far, another promising freshman QB, but he wasn't ready for Tuscaloosa. Last week's bold prediction that Moo State would go bowling is looking a little rash now that Ole Miss has found its fighting spirit. Hard to see the Bullies managing both Arkansas and Ole Miss.

8. Missouri's win over Vanderbilt has to lessen the sting of a truly wretched season. It was Mizzou's first (and last) conference win of the season. Drew Lock played well against Vandy's fierce defense, and the Tigers also established some running consistency, especially early. I don't see any wins the rest of the season, and Mizzou will have lots of work to do in the off-season. But let's face it: a single conference win feels far better than 0-8.

It gets hard to rank happy teams from this point on.

9. Tennessee had to be feeling some bad mojo as Kentucky came to town, but the Vols clearly pulled together. Dominated by the UK running game, Tennessee countered by scoring in bunches. Tennessee looks likely to finish with a 9-3 record that must feel like a huge disappointment. That assessment shows how far Butch Jones has brought the Vols, but it also suggests that something's missing. Tennessee must hope for LSU to take down Florida in order to for Smokey to earn a rematch against Big Al in the conference championship game. Unfortunately for Tennessee, Florida isn't good enough to prevent that rematch. If the Vols beat Mizzou and Vandy, expect them to roll over and play dead against Bama. That's ugly to say, but did you see what Bama did to Tennessee?

BONUS: If I give myself credit for alerting us of the peril Auburn was in, there's a little crow to eat. I said Ole Miss was done and wouldn't make a bowl. Well, Shea Patterson. It'll be fascinating to see how the Rebs negotiate the combination of a disappointing season, an NCAA investigation, and a stellar new QB.

10. Florida yawned its way to victory over South Carolina, setting up a huge game with LSU. Beat the Tigers, and Florida wins the East. We have two thoughts. (1) Tennessee has already seen enough or Bama, but Florida doesn't know what it's getting into. (2) But Florida just isn't good enough to overcome the Bengal Tigers.

11. Is Alabama disappointed that the defense failed to score against Mississippi State? Otherwise, the Tide pulled off a truly dominant performance. In my view, Bama's passing game looks great against inferior teams, just okay against good ones. The Tide OL just isn't that dominant. But when the defense puts pressure on the opponent, and the offense gets that sweet field position, Jalen Hurts might just hang 4 TDs on you. Bama's receivers remain outstanding.

12. LSU rebounded from a tough loss to Alabama, which says everything for Ed Orgeron as a coach. Bama usually inflicts deep, invisible wounds on opponents, making it tough to play well the following week. But LSU played a complete game against, Arkansas, and Derrius Guice reminded us how explosive he truly is. Easy to forget that Guice leads LSU with 881 yards, averaging 8.7 yards per carry. That's huge! Look at the speed on this run.

13. For all the Jacob Eason love, Ole Miss may have found a savior in super-recruit QB Shea Patterson. Huge Freeze had been holding out Patterson for a redshirt year, but Chad Kelly's season-ending injury left the Rebs in a desperate spot. It's a big risk to rip the redshirt off a kid late in the season, but Patterson was ready. Once falling apart, the Rebs are likely to end 7-5 and feel optimistic heading into 2017 with Patterson and those spectacular receivers. Pending results from the NCAA, of course.

14. Ugh. I mean, UGA. Now having beaten Kentucky and Auburn, Georgia has to feel a lot better about itself. Auburn's a huge rival for the Dawgs, who now sit 6-4 and think 8-4 is possible. The tough UGA defense was well prepared, and when Kirby Smart saw Auburn's offensive limitations the adjustments were devastating. I've never been a critic of Jacob Eason. He looks like the real deal. Eason played well, and Georgia got some flow on offense against a vicious Auburn defense, but let's not get ahead of ourselves: Georgia's offense never managed to find the end zone against Auburn. Georgia is riding high today, as it should, but they're not a good team yet.

BONUS: Freshman QBs have exerted an enormous impact in the SEC, almost entirely positive. Bama's Jalen Hurts conducts an offense that ranges from effective to explosive. Highly recruited Shea Patterson should have future opponents extremely anxious, and his peer Jacob Eason is doing exactly what a future star should. Nick Fitzgerald and Jake Bentley are better than solid at State and Carolina, respectively. And we especially like Austin Allen at Arkansas.