In case you skipped Saturday night’s Florida-LSU game on the SEC Network — perhaps you were sticking with Georgia’s demolishing of Ole Miss on ESPN or had punted football altogether after Tennessee’s showing at Missouri — you missed history unfolding.
Tigers fifth-year senior quarterback Jayden Daniels became the first FBS player to amass more than 300 passing yards and 200 rushing yards in a single game. His 372 aerial yards and his 234 yards on the ground were more than enough to defeat reeling Florida 52-35, and it instantly gave Daniels his Heisman Trophy moment.
Which may or may not be enough for the Baton Rouge school to claim a second stiff-armed statue in five years, with quarterback Joe Burrow having won it in 2019.
“He’s a phenomenal athlete,” LSU coach Brian Kelly said late Saturday night in a news conference. “He’s the best quarterback in the country. He’s the best playmaker in the country. He’s the best player. You can say that we’re 7-3 and whoever else is undefeated, but that doesn’t mean anything.
“What matters is who’s the best player, and he’s the best player. If he didn’t win it tonight, he’s got to be the leading candidate.”
Despite Saturday’s performance and despite Daniels leading the nation with 408.2 yards of total offense a game, Oregon quarterback Bo Nix and Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. remained the top two favorites for the award Sunday afternoon. Ohio State receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. is the top non-quarterback in the mix, while the hardest-charging candidate is Georgia quarterback Carson Beck.
Daniels should be given a legitimate chance, having thrown for 3,164 yards and having rushed for 918 this season. His 10.55 yards per play easily outdistances the plenty impressive 9.08-yard clip of Penix, and Daniels also leads the nation with a 202.12 efficiency rating.
When asked whether Saturday night was his Heisman moment, Daniels smiled and said, “I would say so, as humbly as possible.”
Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III won the 2011 Heisman Trophy with a 9-3 regular-season record, as did Louisville quarterback Lamar Jackson five years later. Where Daniels likely will be hurt the most is by not playing on conference championship weekend, which is expected to have a much-hyped rematch between Nix and Penix for the Pac-12 title.
Even if Daniels comes up short in this quality race, he sure put on a latest show to remember.
“Their quarterback is exceptional,” Florida coach Billy Napier said, “and ultimately his legs are the difference in the game.”
The SEC title pairing is set with the predicted matchup of East champion Georgia and West winner Alabama.
Nick Saban’s Crimson Tide punched their ticket Saturday afternoon with a 49-21 thrashing of Kentucky in Lexington to improve to 9-1 overall.
“I’m really proud of this team,” Saban said. “This team has come a long way. These guys have worked hard, and there is great togetherness and good leadership on this team. Obviously it’s great that we won the West.
“I think there are very few people after the Texas game and the South Florida game — there were a lot of naysayers who never believed in these guys, but I’ve always believed in this team.”
Kirby Smart’s Bulldogs clinched the East with Tennessee’s 36-7 loss at Missouri but improved to 10-0 hours later with their 52-17 rout of the Rebels. Georgia claimed three straight East crowns from 2017-19 and has won the past three as well.
“It’s the expectation,” Smart said. “It’s what we expect to do.”
Georgia junior tight end Brock Bowers returned from his ankle injury and tightrope surgery with three catches for 34 yards, including an 8-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter.
Smart said Saturday night that while Bowers was rehabbing his ankle, agents were encouraging him not to play.
“People called him and told him that, and those people will not be representing him, I can promise you that,” Smart said. “All that did was piss him off. He said, ‘I’ve had people call and tell me that I shouldn’t play, Coach, and that just drives me crazy and makes me want to play more to prove them wrong.’ He said, ‘Why am I in this game if I’m not going to come back and play?’
“He’s not risking millions. He has an opportunity to get more millions. The NFL knows people heal from that injury. All he did was go out and stamp himself as a warrior.”
Tennessee needed a win at Missouri and a Georgia loss to Ole Miss to have this Saturday’s game in Neyland Stadium be for all the SEC East marbles.
Obviously neither happened and neither was close, with the Volunteers suffering their most lopsided loss of the Josh Heupel era. They opened Sunday as 10.5-point underdogs against the Bulldogs.
“We want to wipe this one clean, but next week is very important,” Vols sixth-year senior quarterback Joe Milton III said. “Once we get off that plane, it’s a whole new week. It’s an opportunity for us to go out there and showcase our talents. Having them come into our stadium next week — there is only one way we can play when we get inside that stadium, so that’s what we’re going to try and do.”
While Alabama and Georgia were winning division titles, Missouri was earning a state championship.
“We’re the Tennessee state champs,” Tigers coach Eli Drinkwitz said. “We beat Vandy, Tennessee, Middle Tennessee and Memphis this season, so we’ll go ahead and take that honor.”
Drinkwitz also discussed how Mizzou held Tennessee’s rushing attack, which had led the league with 227.8 yards per game, to 23 carries for 83 yards.
“We went to a sub package with a three-down front,” Drinkwitz said. “We kind of chopped up their front a little bit. We had some of their keys. Jake Olson, one of our analysts, had identified a couple of tendencies that they had.
“Not signals. Not Connor Stalions.”
Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin watched his Rebels play Georgia to a 14-14 standstill before the Bulldogs broke free on a 38-3 run.
“Add us to the list. It’s 43 of their last 44,” Kiffin said of the continued winning ways of the Bulldogs. “We’ve signed one five-star, and they’ve signed like 24, and those do show up at some point. We really hadn’t played, and this is no disrespect, against a really elite quarterback for a while, probably since LSU.
“It was a concern that showed up tonight.”
Auburn claimed its sixth victory in Hugh Freeze’s first season in a most impressive way, routing Arkansas 48-10 in Fayetteville.
“To gain bowl eligibility on the road and to get another SEC win is something that I’m really proud of,” Freeze said. “I thought we played our most complete game of the year.”
The Tigers averaged 7.3 yards on first down and were 7-of-12 on third-down conversions while holding Arkansas to a 1-of-12 rate. Auburn led 21-0 less than nine minutes into the game.
“A lot of times you talk about getting the momentum back,” Arkansas coach Sam Pittman said. “We just never had it.”
Auburn’s roughly $21.5 million buyout of former coach Gus Malzahn following the 2020 season was nearly quadrupled Sunday by Texas A&M, which fired Jimbo Fisher and reportedly owes him as much as $77 million.
Both Fisher and Malzahn were fired within 24 hours of defeating Mississippi State by the combined score of 75-20.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.