Beating winless Purdue isn’t exactly a landmark victory for the Tigers, but they’ll take it. Drew Lock did his job by throwing for 375 yards and three touchdowns, but the defense is a serious concern moving forward.
After all, they gave up 572 yards through the air to the Boilermakers offense. Things won’t get easier next week when Georgia rolls into down. Missouri’s only chance of pulling off the upset is to force turnovers and win a shootout against the ‘Dawgs. To put it mildly, they’ll need to play much better than they did at Purdue.
Credit the Gators for bouncing back after last week’s disappointing loss at Kentucky. Colorado State isn’t a marquee opponent, but Florida needed a comfortable win and that’s precisely what it got.
This team is still going to struggle this season unless Feleipe Franks get it going. He only threw for 119 yards against the Rams with one interception. Quarterback continues to be a massive concern for Dan Mullen and his coaching staff.
The Gamecocks were hoping to get back on the right track against Marshall, but Hurricane Florence had other plans. Instead, South Carolina gets to turn its attention to a really tricky game at Vanderbilt next week.
That’s the beginning of a three-game slate of winnable but also losable run of games for Will Muschamp’s team. If they can knock off the Commodores, Kentucky and Missouri, they have a chance to climb back into the SEC East race. If they lose one of those games, they’ll remain mired in the middle of the SEC standings all season long.
Vanderbilt fans have to be frustrated by all of their team’s missed opportunities at Notre Dame last weekend. Make no mistake about it, the Commodores should have knocked off the Fighting Irish. Three turnovers doomed Derek Mason’s team to a deflating loss.
Next week’s game against South Carolina represents a huge opportunity for this team to get back on track. The Gamecocks have an edge in terms of overall talent, but Vanderbilt has enough ability to beat them at home. This team needs to bank every SEC win it can before the schedule gets really difficult down the line.