FWtCT's MMQB: Week 6 Edition

The Mississippi State Bulldogs took on the bye week, and from all accounts, it looks as if they were successful in that campaign.  With the break behind them, the team will now look ahead to their upcoming matchup with the Texas A&M Aggies.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

With no Mississippi State game this week, we take a look at the season to this point for the Bulldogs.

The Good: Most everything has been good for Mississippi State.  The running attack has looked great, the offensive line has held up, Dak Prescott has taken care of the ball, and the defense has looked solid.  The Bulldogs have survived on test, and now they must get past a couple more in the next two weeks.

The Bad: If not for UAB assaulting the Bulldogs on the long ball, there would be nothing to fairly criticize this team over. As of right now, those passes still leave some fear in fans and questions in the minds of writers about the ability of the MSU defense to survive a serious passing attack.

The Ugly: The Dillon Day sage proved to be an ugly one.  While one can agree or disagree with the suspension, the hysteria and paranoia surrounding whether or not punishment will be handed to CJ Johnson and other Ole Miss players has been a little much. When the league does not announce anything Monday, it will ramp up even more.  I suggest everyone holds on until Tuesday, the day the league announced the Day suspension.

SEC Recap

No. 12 Georgia 35, Tennessee 32: Tennessee is going to spring a big loss on someone trying to make a move in the SEC.  That team was almost Georgia, but the Bulldogs survived.

Kentucky 17, Vanderbilt 7: Break up the Wildcats!  The crew from Lexington ended their winless drought in the SEC by knocking off the Commodores.

No. 5 Auburn 45, Louisiana Tech 17: The Tigers took it to their foes from Louisiana in a bit of a tune-up game for their matchup with LSU this weekend.

Missouri 21, No. 13 South Carolina 20: A week after losing to Indiana, the Tigers bounce back to make the Gamecocks' road to the SEC championship a bit tougher.

No. 10 Ole Miss 24, Memphis 3: The Tigers could not get out of their own way on offense, and the Rebels picked up the win to bring College Gameday to the Grove.

No. 17 LSU 63, New Mexico State 7: The Tigers bounced back from their loss to Mississippi State in a big way Saturday.

No. 6 Texas A&M 35, Arkansas 28: The Razorbacks looked like they had solved the riddle of the Aggies, but at the end of the night, the crew from College Station found a way to score 21 unanswered points for the win.

SEC Awards:

Offensive Player of the Week: Todd Gurley, RB, Georgia: There may not be a better running back in the country than Gurley, who picked up 208 yards and two touchdowns on 28 carries against the Volunteers.

SEC Power Poll:

1. Alabama (1): Through four games, Alabama has slowly morphed from a team with serious question marks to one that is not showing many flaws.  With play shifting to the SEC West, the Crimson Tide will soon be tested weekly, and we will know if the flaws are still there or not.

2. Auburn (2):  The Tigers have already taken on a tough, out-of-conference road game and survived.  The offense does not have the look of the team from last year, and one has to wonder if that will eventually bite them.

3. Mississippi State (4):  While they may have been off last week, the Bulldogs still had the opportunity to move up the charts because of some of the play of others in the conference.

4. Georgia (6): The Bulldogs survived a tough test against the Tennessee Volunteers over the weekend.  If not for the play of South Carolina in the Bulldogs' loss to the Gamecocks, the Bulldogs would have the easiest path to the SEC East championship.

5. Ole Miss (7): The Rebels did enough to get past the Memphis Tigers last weekend, but the real test comes Saturday.  In one of the biggest games in a long time for the Ole Miss, can they meet the challenge of the Crimson Tide.  If they are going to do so, Bo Wallace has to clean up his play.

6. LSU (8): The Tigers face a must win scenario Saturday if they have any hopes of winning the SEC West.  While this will most likely not be their year, this team is going to be loaded in two years.

7. Texas A&M (3): After watching the Aggies survive Arkansas, football fans realize this team can come back quickly, and they are gritty.  They also look like a team that can be pushed around by a power running attack, something that does not shape up well for them to survive the SEC West.

8. Arkansas (9): Yes, they may be right in the middle of the conference, but they are currently in last place in the SEC West.  This is not the Arkansas team of last year, and this team just physically beats folks up.  They are going to ruin someone's hopes of a West title this year.

9. Missouri (11): Outside of Georgia, the Tigers might be the best team in the East, and they could win the whole thing.  Something about that loss to Indiana still does not sit right when trying to determine how strong this team is.

10. Tennessee (10): The Volunteers gave a strong effort against the Bulldogs, but they just came up short.  One has to wonder what happens if they have their starting quarterback for the entirety of the contest.

11. South Carolina (5): South Carolina might be the exposed team of the weekend.  They got hammered by A&M to open the season, somehow got past Georgia, but then lost to Missouri this weekend.

12. Florida (12): Until the Gators pick up a big win, it is going to be hard to feel very good about this team.

13. Kentucky (13): The Wildcats ended their SEC drought this weekend by knocking of Vanderbilt.  This team feels like they will get a big, upset win this season.  One has to wonder which team will suffer that loss.

14. Vanderbilt (14): What a difference one year makes.  Things are just ugly in Nashville right now.

Five Thoughts from the Weekend:

1. I am still shocked at how much exposure football in the Magnolia State will get this weekend.  The two biggest college football shows will both take place in Mississippi.  No matter how things play out on the field, this is a great weekend for football in Mississippi, but for the script to play out correctly, the in-state teams need to win on the field.

2. After watching Florida State struggle against North Carolina State, it was nice to finally see someone drop them in the polls.  If there is any sort of cosmic justice out there, this team will never succeed with Jameis Winston as their quarterback.  His antics two weeks ago still make me angry.

3. What a dumpster fire Michigan is becoming!  Brady Hoke already has the pitchfork brigade after him because of his team's play on the field, and he really made a mistake by putting Shane Morris back into Saturday's game.  Morris, who was already playing hurt and may not should have been on the field, took a shot that if it did not concuss him would be a slight miracle. After coming off the field, Morris had to come back in for one play because Devin Gardner's helmet popped off during a play.

4. Speaking of pitchforks, I wonder if they will soon come out for my Pittsburgh Steelers.  That loss against Tampa Bay was just bad.  It seems as if the Steelers lose more of those games than they win, and that is never good for a coaching staff.

5. I am still a fan of playing a few games NFL games in London each year, but the NFL has to send better games over there.  When the game in London isn't even good enough to be the No. 1 game in the US, the NFL is not sending the best possible product across the pond.

6. BONUS-What a terrible Ryder Cup for the US squad.  That might have been the worst US performance ever. The Americans, at one time, always felt that they could overcome nearly any lead because of the Sunday Singles.  That doesn't even seem likely anymore as the team only got 5.5 points on Sunday on their way to a five-point loss.