THE SEC REPORT
The SEC Report: A&M goes to Baton Rouge and The Iron Bowl is back
Nov 26, 2019, 6:27 am
THE SEC REPORT
Born with a comic book in one hand and a remote control in the other, Cory DLG is the talent of Conroe's very own Nerd Thug Radio and Sports. Check out the podcast replay of the FM radio show at www.nerdthugradio.com!
LSU hurt Arkansas real bad last weekend winning 56-20 and getting some monster offensive production out of some key guys. A&M fell a little short of their goal of ruining Georgia's season but they played a close game and didn't let Swift get crazy on them as other teams had. Alabama crushed poor Western Carolina and now sits patiently in fifth place nationally, if they take care of business this week and then Georgia plays LSU and loses in a conference championship, it's likely Alabama jumps right back into the playoff picture. How cruel would that be to the rest of College Football?
Joe Burrow, Quarterback of LSU. So who exactly is supposed to be his competition for The Heisman at this point? He padded the resume in a blow out throwing for three more touchdowns and putting a mere 327 yards up while completing a mere 82% of his passes.
Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Runningback of LSU. He must have had a forcefield on or something he was wearing the cleanest jersey I've ever seen a runningback have after a game although I suppose it helped that he only had six carries, but scored three touchdowns and ran for 188 yards. You almost wonder if Arkansas just wanted off the field on some drives.
Mac Jones, Quarterback of Alabama. it isn't so much for the fact that he beat up a cupcake of an opponent, but it's the efficiency and confidence with which he did it. 10-12 for 275 yards and 3 touchdowns. Mac's played a little bit already this year but it was important for the nation and for him to see him come out and perform well this week. Help reassure a certain selection committee they won't make a mistake by putting Alabama back in the dance.
A little Thanksgiving SEC football is always nice, so Thursday night feel free to turn on Ole Miss at Mississippi State. This coming weekend while you're buried in leftovers there are some great games to check out including both South Carolina and Texas A&M taking another shot at upsetting two great seasons as Clemson comes to South Carolina, who earlier upset Georgia (who obviously has recovered) and A&M goes to Baton Rouge and plays LSU, where a loss could derail everything The Tigers have built this year. Alabama goes to Auburn and a win could be rank-busting. If Alabama wins and Clemson loses then Alabama is in the top four without an SEC championship game potentially. If LSU loses and Alabama wins then suddenly, LSU still goes to the SEC championship game and plays Georgia but Alabama may somehow be ranked into all of this at that point, they can't sit still if they beat #15 Auburn and either #1 LSU, #3 Clemson or #4 Georgia loses. The polls would be forced to slide Alabama up somewhere.
Kyle Trask, Quarterback of Florida. This is the game he needs to shine in. Playing their in-state rival Florida State at home, a win hopefully puts them into the Top Ten for the season, which would be a great finish for a team that lost a starting quarterback very early and therefore played a lot of ugly football early in the season.
Mac Jones, Quarterback of Alabama. We've talked about it all over this piece today but this is a big game, he's the back up and The Crimson Tide has no margin for error. They need this win like a fish needs water, there's just no getting around the fact that at this instant they are on the outside looking in on the four team playoff potentially.
Bryan Edwards, Wide Receiver of South Carolina. For the Gamecocks to have a chance they need explosive plays and they need to be able to threaten the secondary and have a guy they can go to on long third downs, so a wide out who can get it done. This is the big game for Edwards.
The Houston Texans have a big challenge in store as they look to start the season with a win against the Colts this Sunday. When these two teams met in Week 2 last year, the Colts dominated the Texans, despite losing their QB Anthony Richardson to a concussion after the first quarter.
Keeping Richardson contained on Sunday will go a long way in increasing the Texans' chances of coming home with a win. The Texans defense will have their hands full containing the Colts backs and tight ends in the passing game.
Scoring touchdowns with their wide receivers could prove difficult, as the Texans allowed the second-fewest TDs (10) to the receiver position in 2023.
Limiting running back Jonathan Taylor will also be a top priority. While the Texans had an elite defense against the run last season, they struggled with Taylor in Week 18 as he almost rushed for 200 yards.
Houston's D allowed only four carries to running backs in 2023 that went for 20 or more yards. Two of which were to Taylor in the final game of the regular season.
Finally, DeMeco Ryans and company have to find a way to get pressure on the QB. They only had one QB hit and zero sacks on Richardson and Garner Minshew the first time they faced off last year.
On offense, the Texans have two big x-factors to watch for on Sunday. The offensive line that suited up to play the Colts in Week 2 last season is completely different from this year.
The o-line was ravaged with injuries to start the 2023 campaign, so we expect a big jump in productivity in the trenches this year.
Another big addition in 2024 is the presence of running back Joe Mixon. The running game only produced 2 yards per rush in Week 2 against Indy last year, so there's clearly room for improvement.
Be sure to watch the video above for our in-depth preview of Texans-Colts!
And catch Texans on Tap (a Texans podcast) live on our SportsMapTexans YouTube channel following every game this season!