SEC Football Four Downs: Wrapping Up Week 4

Some SEC football ramblings as we look back on week four of the season:

First Down: Mississippi State’s Dak Prescott is pretty good. All he did against LSU was go 15 of 24 for 268 yards and two scores, while rushing for 105 yards and a TD on the ground on 22 carries. Of course, the fact that he’s talented is old news to Bulldogs fans, but when you do what he did against a perennial national power, that’s a different story. A few more performances like that and he’ll be firmly in the Heisman discussion and will most definitely hear his name called at the NFL Draft next year (if he makes the jump). The Bulldogs have an off week to prepare for Texas A&M, and if they win that one, look out.

Second Down: LSU, meanwhile, takes a huge hit in its quest to win the SEC West. If they couldn’t beat Mississippi State, how will they fare against Auburn at Jordan-Hare in a couple of weeks? (They do have the Sun Belt’s New Mexico State coming in to kick around before heading over to Dixie.)

Third Down: Someone tell Will Muschamp at Florida that it’s one thing to beat Eastern Michigan and Kentucky (which went to overtime, by the way). It’s quite another to beat Alabama, which wasn’t as close as the 42-21 score would indicate (645 yards allowed on offense?). Dan Quinn isn’t walking through that door anytime soon.

More from SEC News

• SEC Football Power Rankings: Week 2
• SEC Football: Could ACC realignment bombshell see Clemson, FSU, UNC, or others move on to SEC?
• SEC announces contract extension for Commissioner Greg Sankey
• South Carolina Football: Gamecocks’ schedule to be revealed on primetime television
• SEC Spring Meetings: SEC to play 8-game +1 schedule in 2024

Fourth Down

: What’s up with the SEC East? The Gamecocks struggled against Vanderbilt before pulling away, Florida got torched by the Tide, Mizzou was upset by Indiana at the other Columbia, and Kentucky is, well, Kentucky. I’m interested in seeing how Tennessee does against Georgia this weekend between the hedges in Athens. If, and only if, the Vols somehow are able to escape Sanford Stadium with a win, that would, I think mean that the East would be the Gamecocks’ to lose. At least, I think it would…well, they just need to beat Mizzou this weekend.

Extra Point: Here’s a stat that will make USC fans cringe. Before Saturday, Vandy sophomore Darrius Sims had brought back a grand total of zero kicks for touchdowns in his short career. On Saturday, of course, he returned two. How many other players before Sims in the nearly 125-year history of the Vanderbilt University football program had returned two kickoffs for touchdowns–not in the same season, but in their entire career? None.