College football Week 8: Updates, top plays and takeaways

There are 16 teams successful the SEC, and astir each 1 is either aiming for the playoff oregon considering a coaching change, with lone Kentucky contractually obligated to determination connected to hoops play by the extremity of October. The point, however, is the stakes were precocious Saturday.

The SEC has a saying: "It conscionable means more," which is lone somewhat much celebrated than its bowl-season motto, "if we mislaid past it wasn't truly important anyway." And this Saturday, arsenic SEC communications guru Chuck Dunlap pointed out, determination were much SEC games than ever before. So logic suggests that nary Saturday has ever had arsenic overmuch meaning arsenic this one.

Some flimsy SEC past connected pat this coming Saturday, arsenic determination volition beryllium 8 league games played successful a azygous time for the archetypal clip ever. This did not hap successful 2024 and volition not hap again this season.

At stake: Georgia 's presumption arsenic a ace power, Alabama's dominance implicit rival Tennessee successful Tuscaloosa, Billy Napier's job, Texas A&M rubric hopes, Lane Kiffin's Twitter mentions, Diego Pavia's AARP membership, astir a 1000 Arch Manning jokes and the stitching connected the pillow Brian Kelly screams into aft different LSU loss.

So yeah, it was a large week successful the country's deepest conference, and if Saturday didn't present galore emphatic statements, it did connection a revival successful Athens, past successful Nashville, and vengeance successful Tuscaloosa.

Georgia spent astir of Saturday playing catchup, conscionable arsenic it had successful past showdowns with Tennessee, Alabama and Auburn. If this isn't a Bulldogs squad connected par with the endowment of the back-to-back nationalist champions of 2021 and 2022, they person astatine slightest proven to beryllium Dawgs with each spot arsenic overmuch fight. They've approached each crippled similar past telephone astatine Flanagan's, refusing to telephone it quits until they're ushered them retired the doorway shouting they conscionable privation to perceive the extremity of "Knuck If You Buck."

On Saturday, Ole Miss led from 2:10 successful the 2nd 4th until midway done the fourth, but Georgia had answers astatine each turn.

Gunner Stockton was superb, answering immoderate questions astir his quality to triumph a shootout, throwing for 4 touchdowns and moving for a fifth. Stockton, a QB truthful quintessentially Georgia the SEC ought to fto him deterioration a helmet shaped similar a John Deere chapeau conscionable to implicit the look, delivered 1 dagger aft another, igniting the discourtesy with the benignant of downfield explosiveness truthful often lacking a twelvemonth ago.

But if Stockton was the star, the humor and guts of Georgia's triumph came connected the ground, wherever Nate Frazier and Co. ran for 221 yards -- mostly hard, carnal pushes done a crowded enactment of scrimmage -- that felt similar a connection that this squad wasn't conscionable susceptible of taking a punch, but would respond with a flurry of assemblage blows worthy of the top heavyweights.

Alabama could airy up immoderate stogies aft upending Tennessee,...