SEC Extra Points with Barrett Sallee: Dillon Day Justly Suspended, Mediocre East
Getting It Right
After trouncing LSU 34-29 in Death Valley on Saturday night in a game that wasn't as close as the score indicated, Mississippi State was the talk of the college football world for all the right reasons—and all the wrong reasons.
Center Dillon Day was suspended for one game for what the SEC phrased in an emailed release as "multiple flagrant and unsportsmanlike acts during the [LSU] game, as well as previous disciplinary action for similar behavior."
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
Day stomped on two players in the LSU game, both of which caused play to be stopped.
He issued an apology Monday afternoon on Twitter.
The SEC clearly didn't believe Day's "apology," nor should it have.
Day has a track record with similar dirty play. He was suspended for a half last year for stomping on an Auburn player, according to Michael Bonner of the The Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, Mississippi), and the two incidents on Saturday were clearly intentional with the intent to injure.
Had Day not wanted to step on opposing players, he would have twisted, rolled, or moved to avoid the contact. Yes, he's a 299-pound offensive lineman, but he's a 299-pound offensive lineman who not only earned an FBS scholarship but starts in the SEC. It's not like he's a statue.
Let's be real, similar incidents happen during football games all the time. Typically, though, they happen in piles and in the trenches, out of the view of television cameras. When they happen out in the open, though, the conference has no choice but to crack down to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future.
Will the Real SEC East Contender Please Stand Up?
After Week 1, it was Georgia that looked like it wanted to step up to the big-boy table and contend with the SEC West powers. Two weeks later, South Carolina topped the Bulldogs and announced themselves as "back." That same week, Missouri cruised to a 3-0 record only to fall to—gasp—Indiana the following week.
The SEC East is looking like a division where the team that wants to lose least will play in the Georgia Dome for the SEC championship. Which team or teams fit that description could be determined this weekend.
Tennessee (2-1, 0-0 SEC) will travel to Georgia (2-1, 0-1 SEC) and Missouri (3-1, 0-0 SEC) will make the journey to South Carolina (3-1, 2-1 SEC) in two pivotal games within the division.
The winners of each will and should be considered the favorites. The two road teams haven't played SEC games yet, and wins over teams that already have losses would be huge in tiebreaker scenarios. The two home teams can't afford more conference losses, and avoiding them while giving the two remaining unblemished teams loses would create more chaos.
Chaos for Georgia and South Carolina equals opportunity.
As for the division power being slanted toward the West, where six of the seven teams are ranked in the AP Top 17, it's "just one of those years."
"These are things that all kind of run in cycles," said head coach Nick Saban. "You run in cycles from team to team, and you run in cycles from division to division. This just happens to be one of those years where it seems like the West has a lot of really good teams. There have been years where the West has a lot of good teams and the East has good teams too, and I think they [East] have a lot of good teams this year."
"Good" relatively speaking, of course.
Keeping Them Honest
Texas A&M has become known as one of the most explosive teams in the SEC since head coach Kevin Sumlin took over prior to the 2012 season, and this year is no different. The Aggies lead the conference in plays of 30 or more yards with 18—six more than second-place Kentucky.
That'll be the key for the Aggies' offense Saturday afternoon at AT&T Stadium against Arkansas.
The Hogs are 3-1 but have been susceptible to the big play on defense, giving up six of their own—eighth in the SEC.
Arkansas head coach Bret Bielema prides himself on winning the time-of-possession battle, but if A&M scoring quickly contributes to that, winning that battle could be a bad thing for the Hogs.
Keep an eye on the secondary. Beilema said that safety Rohan Gaines, who suffered a stinger against Northern Illinois, is back, healthy and had three picks during Tuesday's practice. If Gaines and the rest of that Arkansas secondary can limit those big plays and perhaps force a turnover or two, it might be all Arkansas needs to spring an upset.
Polishing up the Offenses
LSU and Auburn won't play each other until the first weekend of October, but each has the chance to get right offensively this weekend against group-of-five FBS programs.
Auburn will host Louisiana Tech on Saturday afternoon, and job No. 1 for head coach Gus Malzahn is to get the ground game cooking again after Kansas State held the Tigers to just 128 rushing yards last Thursday night.
Was quarterback Nick Marshall making poor decisions in the zone read? Malzahn isn't worried.
"I'm very happy with his decision-making," he said. "There have been some things around him that haven't been completely cleaned up, but I've been happy."
As for Marshall's progress through the air? There shouldn't be a concern. Sure, he missed a few passes against the Wildcats, but he still managed 231 yards and fell victim to numerous big drops from his wide receivers. Had they held on to the balls, most of which were perfectly placed and, at times, in tight coverage, Marshall could have been dancing around 350 passing yards.
Clean those two things up, and Auburn will be just fine.
LSU might not be, though.
Only Vanderbilt has completed a fewer percentage of passes than head coach Les Miles' crew. Anthony Jennings has completed just 51.3 percent of his passes—last in the SEC among qualifying quarterbacks. True freshman Brandon Harris came in for mop-up duty against Mississippi State and nearly led one of the most miraculous comebacks in college football history.
You'll see both against New Mexico State.
"We'll play in a like fashion that we have in the past, with Brandon Harris getting a little more playing time," Miles said.
Miles better figure things out in a hurry. Auburn boasts the nation's 11th-best rush defense (86.00 YPG) and is seventh in terms of yards per carry (2.48). The Tigers from the Plains force whoever is taking the snaps to beat them through the air, and Miles needs to not only figure out who that is but let that person gain confidence this week vs. the Aggies.
Otherwise, it'll be a long night on the Plains next weekend.
Quick Outs
- Vanderbilt still has an "or" on the depth chart at quarterback. This time, it's between Patton Robinette and true freshman Wade Freebeck. This isn't a game of musical quarterbacks anymore, though. Robinette suffered a concussion last week, and while Freebeck will have packages in the offense regardless, the uncertainty now has more to do with Robinette's status than anything else.
- Tennessee announced a meeting with UMass on Nov. 4, 2017. Considering the Vols' gauntlet this season and meetings with Oklahoma, Virginia Tech, West Virginia and USC appear on its future schedule, a cupcake here or there is acceptable.
- Psst...Ole Miss, beware of Memphis. The Tigers have notched 11 sacks and 26 tackles for loss through three games, and if Ole Miss gets behind the chains, that front four can pin its ears back against a Rebel offensive line that's been on the express to struggletown this year (22 TFLs).
- No, this slate of SEC games isn't great. Yes, everybody is looking forward to Oct. 4. Don't sleep on this weekend, though. This weekend features matchups between teams that have several unanswered questions, which means shenanigans could be on the horizon. Let's get weird.
Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and video analyst for Bleacher Report as well as a co-host of the CFB Hangover on Bleacher Report Radio (Sundays, 9-11 a.m. ET) on Sirius 93, XM 208.
Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. All stats are courtesy of cfbstats.com, and all recruiting information is courtesy of 247Sports. Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
