OXFORD, Miss. — Tennessee started it all, toppling then-No. 11 South Carolina, but it couldn’t have known it was just the first of many dominoes.
Vanderbilt and Missouri came next, taking down No. 15 Georgia and No. 22 Florida, respectively, and effectively turning the Southeastern Conference on its head.
By the time No. 6 LSU kicked off its game with Ole Miss, even reigning Heisman Trophy-winner Johnny Manziel and No. 7 Texas A&M had fallen victim to Saturday’s SEC shake-up, losing to Auburn in another stereotypical 2013 SEC shootout.
But LSU (6-2, 3-2 SEC) still never saw what was about to hit it Saturday night, as Ole Miss (4-3, 2-3 SEC) put one final exclamation point on a historic day of SEC upsets with a 27-24 victory on a game-winning field goal.
The only SEC powerhouse whose Saturday went according to plan was No. 1 Alabama, which treated a hapless Arkansas squad the way the No. 1 team in the country is expected to, hanging a 52-0 score on the board.
Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze, overly excited after the Rebels’ triumph over the conference’s second-highest ranked team, quoted the Bible in his post-game interview.
“Sometimes God wets the wood before he lights it,” Freeze said. “That’s a little story in Kings 1. We’ve gone through our share of being drenched a little.”
LSU coach Les Miles had a more earthly response to his team’s performance, taking all the blame for not preparing the Tigers to play both emotionally and schematically.
LSU senior quarterback Zach Mettenberger likewise accepted responsibility for his team’s loss after throwing three interceptions in the first half. It was only the second multi-interception game of his LSU career — the other being his two-pick game against Ole Miss last season.
“Obviously, you can’t go anywhere in this conference, turn the ball over and expect to win,” Mettenberger said. “This game is really on me.”
Miles credited Mettenberger’s interceptions to aggressive play calling on his part, but the senior quarterback insisted the plays were fine, and he just made “stupid throws.”
Whether it was God’s bidding or something less divine, Saturday’s powerhouse slaughter session did a number on both the SEC East and West divisional races.
In its second year in the conference, Missouri now sits two games ahead of second-place teams Georgia, Florida and South Carolina. Even with a loss in one of its three remaining conference games, Missouri would still claim the division title outright.
Similarly in the West, undefeated Alabama sits in the driver’s seat. But despite its loss to LSU earlier this month, Auburn would own the tiebreaker if it were to win out and upset the Tide in the last regular game of the season.
LSU, Georgia and South Carolina, picked by many as National Championship contenders this season, saw those aspirations slip away with their respective losses.
But if Saturday showed anything, it’s that anything can happen in 2013’s version of the SEC, according to LSU junior defensive tackle Ego Ferguson.
“We just have to keep playing because you never know what can happen,” Ferguson said.