SEC top 10 from Week 3: MAC, Sun Belt strike back

Georgia, LSU and Texas A&M opened their league schedules with victories in the third week of the SEC’s 92nd football season on Saturday. Against non-conference competition, the SEC went 10-2 during Week 3, including a victory in a ranked matchup by Missouri, to bring the SEC’s mark to 34-8 in 2024. Here are 10 stats from SEC Football by the Numbers about Week 3:

0 Offensive TDs have been allowed by the defenses of Georgia, Ole Miss and Tennessee during the 2024 season. The Bulldogs have outscored Clemson, Tennessee Tech and Kentucky 95-18 while allowing six field goals. The Rebels have outscored Furman, Middle Tennessee and Wake Forest 168-9 while allowing three field goals. The Volunteers have outscored Chattanooga, North Carolina State and Kent State 191-13 while allowing two field goals. (N.C. State scored a TD on an 87-yard interception return.) Tennessee’s 178-point scoring margin is the largest through three games in SEC history.

1 Alabama player has passed for at least three touchdowns and run for at least two touchdowns in the same game – QB Jalen Milroe, who did so for the fourth time in the Crimson Tide’s past 17 games in Saturday’s 42-10 victory over Wisconsin. Milroe had three TD passes and two TD runs against the Badgers, as he did in a 63-0 victory in the season-opening game against Western Kentucky on Aug. 31 and in a 56-7 victory in the 2023 season-opening game against Middle Tennessee. In Alabama’s 49-21 victory over Kentucky on Nov. 11, Milroe had three TD passes and three TD runs. Milroe is responsible for more points than any player in the nation this season with 84 with eight TD passes and six TD runs in three games.

1 Opponent has held Georgia to fewer than 24 points in the Bulldogs’ past 46 games – Kentucky. Georgia defeated the Wildcats 13-12 on Saturday, snapping the nation’s longest active streak of scoring at least 24 points at 20 games. The Bulldogs’ most recent game without at least 24 points was a 16-6 victory over Kentucky on Nov. 19, 2022. The 262-yard output by Georgia’s offense on Saturday was fewest by the Bulldogs since 260 yards in a 19-13 victory over Texas A&M on Nov. 23, 2019.

1 Fumble was lost by Ole Miss during its 40-6 victory over Wake Forest on Sunday. The fumble that ended the Rebels’ second series of the game was the first lost by Ole Miss since the first quarter of the 2023 season-opening game against Mercer. The Rebels had recovered all 10 of their fumbles between the two.

4 TD passes for Auburn QB Hank Brown in the Tigers’ 45-19 victory over New Mexico on Saturday in the first start of his career. The redshirt freshman completed 17-of-25 passes for 235 yards with four TDs and no interceptions as he became the first Auburn QB with four TD passes in his first start since Jeremy Johnson had four in a 62-3 victory over Western Carolina on Oct. 12, 2013.

5 TDs were produced by Texas QB Arch Manning in the Longhorns’ 56-7 victory over UTSA on Saturday. A redshirt freshman, Manning became the first Texas freshman with a five-TD game since Colt McCoy in a 63-31 victory over Baylor on Oct. 14, 2006. Manning entered the game having completed 7-of-11 passes for 125 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions and run for 7 yards and one touchdown on six carries. Entering Saturday’s game in the second quarter for starter Quinn Ewers, Manning completed 9-of-12 passes for 223 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions and ran three times for 53 yards and one touchdown. Manning had TD passes of 19, 51, 75 and 12 yards and ran 67 yards for a TD.

10 Consecutive losses had been suffered by Texas A&M on its opponent’s home field until Saturday’s 33-20 victory over Florida at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Florida. The Aggies hadn’t defeated an opponent on its home field since a 35-14 victory over Missouri at Memorial Stadium in Columbia, Missouri, on Oct. 16, 2021. In between, Texas A&M lost at Ole Miss and LSU twice apiece, and Mississippi State, Alabama, South Carolina, Auburn, Miami (Fla.) and Tennessee once each. In beating Florida, the Aggies rolled up 310 rushing yards, had scoring drives of 92 and 99 yards and got a 73-yard touchdown pass from QB Marcel Reed to WR Cyrus Allen.

13 Losses for SEC teams against both Mid-American Conference and Sun Belt Conference opponents, with two of the losses occurring on Saturday, when the MAC’s Toledo beat Mississippi State 41-17 and the Sun Belt’s Georgia State defeated Vanderbilt 36-32 on a TD with 15 seconds to play. It marked the first time in conference history that the SEC sustained losses against MAC and Sun Belt opponents in the same season. SEC-vs.-MAC games are 81-13 in the SEC’s favor. The SEC has a 143-13 record when playing against Sun Belt opponents. Before Saturday, the Sun Belt’s most recent victory against the SEC came only two seasons ago, when Appalachian State defeated Texas A&M 17-14 on Sept. 10, 2022. The MAC’s previous victory over the SEC occurred on Sept. 12, 2015, when Toledo defeated Arkansas 16-12. Between Toledo’s victories, the SEC ran off 24 victories against MAC opponents.

37 Points were scored by Tennessee in the first quarter and 65 points were scored in the first half of Saturday’s 71-0 victory over Kent State. Both set SEC-era records for the Volunteers, who had scored 35 points in the first quarter of a 63-20 victory over Arkansas on Nov. 11, 2000, and 52 points in the first half of a 65-24 victory over UT Martin on Oct. 22, 2022, for the previous highs. The final point total also was an SEC-era best for Tennessee, surpassing the output in a 70-3 victory over Louisiana-Monroe on Sept. 30, 2000. Against Kent State, the Vols also set a school single-game record for yards of total offense with 740, topping the previous mark of 724 in a 66-24 victory over Missouri on Nov. 12, 2022. Coupled with a 69-3 victory over Chattanooga on Aug. 31 and a 51-10 victory over North Carolina State on Sept. 7, Saturday’s result made Tennessee the second team in SEC history to open the season with three straight 50-point games, joining Alabama’s 2018 squad.

44 Years since the previous time South Carolina had two runs from scrimmage of at least 66 yards, as the Gamecocks did against LSU on Saturday, when QB LaNorris Sellers had a 75-yard TD run (the longest by a quarterback in school history) and RB Raheim “Rocket” Sanders had a 66-yard TD run. In South Carolina’s 37-0 victory over Pacific on Sept. 6, 1980, Carl West had an 84-yard run and George Rogers had a 72-yard run. Even though Sellers played only one series in the second half because of an injury, South Carolina posted its highest point total against LSU with 33, surpassing the 29 scored against the Tigers on Oct. 27, 1973. But like the 1973 game, which the Gamecocks lost 33-29, South Carolina lost on Saturday, too, with LSU rallying for a 36-33 victory. The Tigers overcame a 17-point deficit to win, matching the second-biggest comeback away from Baton Rouge in the SEC era. On Oct. 29, 1977, LSU overcame a 21-point deficit to defeat Ole Miss 28-21 in Jackson, Mississippi. The Tigers also came back from 17 points down to beat Ole Miss 28-24 in Jackson on Nov. 3, 1979, and to beat Wisconsin 28-24 in Houston on Aug. 30, 2014.