By Marc Lawrence, PlaybookSports.com — What Kirby Smart told the Bulldogs in the locker room with his team trailing 14-3 at the half, is between Smart and the Bulldogs, though the language probably veered into the TV-MA territory.
The message was delivered, and it was received, per Paul Myerberg of USA TODAY. Georgia held the Gamecocks scoreless in the second half and won 24-14.
It was one of several memorable performances on Saturday. Heading the list of ‘winners,’ though, was a 29-16 victory by FLORIDA against No. 9 Tennessee at The Swamp in Gainesville. In terms of breathing fresh life into Napier’s tenure and providing a glimpse into his end goal: a physical team looking to run at and through opponents to take pressure off quarterback Graham Mertz.
Another ‘winner’ was MISSOURI, who, after a make-your-blood-boil delay of game penalty with seconds left, kicker Harrison Mevis won the game. The “Thicker Kicker” drilled an SEC-record 61-yard field goal with room to spare to lift Missouri to the 30-27 win.
Topping the ‘loser’ list was ALALAMA, who won their game but continued to damage their reputation with a lethargic 17-3 win over South Florida. Not only did the Tide use three different QBs looking to find a spark, they tacked on a late TD with 30 seconds remaining to ‘pad the score.’ This appears to be Saban’s weakest and most flawed team since his debut season in 2007.
