SEC Football by the Numbers: Top 10 from Week 4

SEC Football by the Numbers: Top 10 from Week 4

During the fourth Saturday of the SEC’s 2023 season, the league’s schedule featured five conference games and a 4-0 record in non-conference games. In SEC play, Alabama defeated Ole Miss 24-10, Kentucky defeated Vanderbilt 45-28, LSU defeated Arkansas 34-31, South Carolina defeated Mississippi State 37-30 and Texas A&M defeated Auburn 27-10. In non-conference contests, Florida defeated Charlotte 22-7, Georgia defeated UAB 49-21, Missouri defeated Memphis 34-27 and Tennessee defeated UTSA 45-14. Here are 10 numbers about the SEC’s Week 4 games:

2 Of the three longest regular-season streaks for scoring at least 20 points in SEC history ended in the past two weeks. Ole Miss had gone 39 consecutive regular-season games with 20 or more points before Alabama defeated the Rebels 24-10 on Saturday. The game was the first regular-season contest for Ole Miss under coach Lane Kiffin without at least 20 points. Kiffin joined the Rebels in 2020, and the streak dated from a 20-14 loss to Auburn on Nov. 2, 2019. The 39-game streak was more than twice as long as the school runner-up – 17 games across the 2015 and 2016 seasons – and ranks as the third-longest in SEC history. Alabama holds the SEC record for consecutive regular-season games with at least 20 points at 60, a streak that started with a 51-14 victory over Louisville on Sept. 1, 2018, and ended in a 17-3 victory over South Florida on Sept. 16. Florida had a 53-game streak in the 1992 through 1997 seasons.

2 Interceptions were returned for touchdowns by Kentucky CB Maxwell Hairston during the Wildcats’ 45-28 victory over Vanderbilt on Saturday. Hairston scored on a 29-yard interception return as Kentucky took a 14-0 lead with 8:14 left in the first quarter and a 54-yard interception return as the Wildcats went up 45-21 with 4:15 to play. Hairston became the sixth player in SEC history to return two interceptions for touchdowns in one game. The others have been Florida’s Joe Brodsky in a 26-0 victory over Mississippi State in 1956, Georgia’s Jake Scott in a 35-14 victory over Kentucky in 1968, Georgia’s Darryl Gamble in a 52-38 victory over LSU in 2008, Mississippi State’s Johnthan Banks in a 29-19 loss to Florida in 2009 and Alabama’s Minkah Fitzpatrick in a 41-23 victory over Texas A&M in 2015.

2 Games in LSU history have featured two wide receivers with at least 130 receiving yards, including Saturday’s 34-31 victory over Arkansas. Brian Thomas had five receptions for 133 yards and two TDs and Malik Nabers had eight receptions for 130 yards and two TDs against the Razorbacks. In LSU’s 45-38 victory over Texas on Sept. 7, 2019, Justin Jefferson had nine receptions for 163 yards and three TDs and Ja’Marr Chase had eight receptions for 147 yards.

3 Consecutive games with at least 100 receiving yards for Missouri WR Luther Burden III after he had 10 receptions for 177 yards in the Tigers’ 34-27 victory over Memphis on Saturday. Burden became the fifth Missouri player to record three consecutive 100-yard receiving games, and his output against Memphis was the most for a Missouri player since Jonathan Johnson had 185 receiving yards in a 38-33 loss to Oklahoma State in the Liberty Bowl on Dec. 31, 2018. Burden had eight receptions for 117 yards in a 23-19 victory over Middle Tennessee on Sept. 9 and seven receptions for 114 and two TDs in a 30-27 victory over Kansas State on Sept. 16. He also reached 100 in Missouri’s season-opener, with seven receptions for 96 yards and one TD in a 35-10 victory over South Dakota. Burden is the second Missouri player with at least seven receptions in each of the first four games of a season, joining TJ Moe, who accomplished the feat in 2010.

4 Consecutive games with at least one touchdown for Kentucky RB Ray Davis after he ran for 78 yards and two TDs on 17 carries in Saturday’s 45-28 victory over Vanderbilt. Davis became the first Kentucky player to score a touchdown in each of the first four games of a season since La’Rod King in 2011. Davis ran for two TDs in a 44-14 victory over Ball State on Sept. 2, caught a TD pass in a 28-17 victory over Eastern Kentucky on Sept. 9 and had one TD run and one TD reception in a 35-3 victory over Akron on Sept. 16.

FOR MORE OF AL.COM’S COVERAGE OF THE SEC, GO TO OUR SEC PAGE

5 Seconds remained in the Arkansas-LSU game on Saturday when K Damien Ramos made a 20-yard field goal to give the Tigers a 37-34 victory over the Razorbacks in the fourth consecutive Battle for the Golden Boot game decided by three points. LSU defeated Arkansas 13-10 in 2022 and 27-24 in 2020, and the Razorbacks defeated the Tigers 16-13 in 2021.

6 Players in major-college football history have had at least 10,000 passing yards and 2,000 rushing yards, including LSU QB Jayden Daniels. In the Tigers’ 37-34 victory over Arkansas on Saturday, Daniels completed 20-of-29 passes for 320 yards with four TDs and one interception to boost his career total to 10,234 passing yards. Daniels had 36 yards on nine carries against the Razorbacks to run his rushing-yard total to 2,366. The other players with at least 10,000 passing yards and 2,000 rushing yards are TCU’s Trevone Boykin, Baylor’s Robert Griffin III, Nevada’s Colin Kaepernick, Central Michigan’s Dan LeFevour and Oregon’s Marcus Mariota.

56 Passing yards were produced by three Auburn quarterbacks, who combined to complete 9-of-23 passes with no touchdowns and no interceptions and were sacked seven times, in Saturday’s 27-10 loss to the Texas A&M. The Tigers posted their fewest passing yards since they had 37 in a 13-7 loss to Georgia on Nov. 12, 2016. The game was the fifth in a row against a Power 5 opponent in which Auburn failed to reach 100 passing yards. The Tigers had 75 against Mississippi State, 60 against Texas A&M and 77 against Alabama last season and 94 against California and 56 against Texas A&M this season. While that was going on, Auburn also had 122 passing yards against Western Kentucky last season and 203 against Massachusetts and 340 against Samford this season.

81 Yards on a TD run by QB Joe Milton III on the first snap of Tennessee’s 45-14 victory over UTSA and 76 yards on a TD pass from QB Spencer Rattler to WR Xavier Legette in South Carolina’s 37-30 victory over Mississippi State as Saturday produced the longest rushing play and the longest pass play in the SEC so far this season. Legette also scored on a 75-yard pass on the first play of the second half against Mississippi State.

256 Yards and one TD on seven receptions for Mississippi State WR Lideatrick Griffin in the Bulldogs’ 37-30 loss to South Carolina on Saturday – tied for the 10th-most receiving yards in one game by an SEC player. Griffin set the MSU record for receiving yards in a game, surpassing the 220 yards on nine receptions by Jameon Lewis in a 44-7 victory over Rice in the Liberty Bowl on Dec. 31, 2013. The previous school record for receiving yards in a conference contest had been 208 yards by Danny Knight in a 27-17 loss to Florida on Sept. 25, 1982, and Jamayel Smith in a 45-35 loss to Arkansas on Nov. 17, 2007. Griffin’s output was part of the 487 passing yards for MSU QB Will Rogers against the Gamecocks, the 20th-most passing yards in a game by an SEC player. Rogers completed 30-of-48 passes with one TD and one interception as he jumped from sixth to third on the SEC’s list for career passing yards, passing Tennessee’s Peyton Manning, Florida’s Chris Leak and Georgia’s David Greene.

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.