The SEC entered Week six with four teams ranked in the Associated Press Top 10. Exiting it, the conference will very likely see that number cut in half come Sunday afternoon.
No. 1 Alabama and No. 2 Georgia easily took care of their business this weekend. No. 5 LSU, though, fell to No. 22 Florida and was saddled with its first loss of the 2018 season. A couple of hours later, No. 8 Auburn was tripped up as well.
Mississippi State jumped out to a 13-3 halftime lead on Auburn in Starkville, then hung on for a huge 23-9 win over the Tigers. Trailing 16-9, a blocked 31-yard field goal attempt -- and a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the Bulldogs tacked on at the end -- with under eight minutes left in the fourth quarter gave the Tigers life, but a failed 4th & 3 a minute later handed the ball back to MSU at their own 30-yard line.
Thanks in large part to quarterback Nick Fitzgerald and running back Kylin Hill, MSU was able to bleed nearly five minutes off the clock in a punishing drive that ended with a 21-yard Fitzgerald touchdown run with just over two minutes left that put the game away for the 4-2 Bulldogs. On that drive, Fitzgerald ran for 26 yards while Hill accounted for 33.
MSU ran for 353 yards in the win, the first in SEC play for first-year head coach Joe Moorhead. Hill had 126 of those, while Fitzgerald’s game-high 195 helped set an all-time SEC record.
HISTORY.
— Mississippi State Football (@HailStateFB) October 7, 2018
No quarterback in @SEC history has rushed for more yards than @nickfitz07!#HailState🐶 pic.twitter.com/z60art0FwB
Auburn is now 1-2 in SEC play and 4-2 overall, sandwiching a win over hapless Arkansas between league losses to LSU and Mississippi State.
While two SEC Top-10 teams tumbled, No. 13 and unbeaten Kentucky gave the SEC a chance to replace one of those teams in the rankings. However, the Wildcats fell to Texas A&M to tumble from the ranks of the unbeaten.