Texas beats Ole Miss 34-27 as Tennessee falls at South Carolina

The only meeting of ranked teams in Week 8 went to the home side. No. 19 Texas beat No. 7 Ole Miss 34-27 in Ole Miss at Texas, a seven-point margin that cleared the 3.5-point price the market had on the Longhorns.

The result moves Texas to 5-2 overall and 2-2 in conference play. Ole Miss falls to 5-2 and 3-2, now two games behind the league leader in the loss column. In a conference where six teams have two league losses or fewer, a second defeat narrows the margin for error considerably.

It was not the only result that reshaped the middle of the table. Tennessee lost on the road, Kentucky kept winning, and Alabama held serve at home.

What happened

LSU at Auburn: LSU 38, Auburn 17. No. 18 LSU won by 21 on the road to reach 6-2. Auburn drops to 4-3 and 2-3 in the league.

Tennessee at South Carolina: South Carolina 27, Tennessee 24. South Carolina, a 2-point favourite in the market despite facing a ranked visitor, won by three. No. 11 Tennessee falls to 6-2 and 3-2 in conference play.

Texas A&M at Alabama: Alabama 31, Texas A&M 20. No. 13 Alabama won by 11, short of the 15.5-point price. Texas A&M is now 4-4 and 1-4 in the league.

Oklahoma at Mississippi State: Oklahoma 23, Mississippi State 15. Oklahoma won on the road to get back to .500 in conference play at 2-2. Mississippi State slips to 4-3.

Ole Miss at Texas: Texas 34, Ole Miss 27. Covered above. Texas won by seven at home.

Vanderbilt at Kentucky: Kentucky 34, Vanderbilt 17. No. 12 Kentucky won by 17, covering the 10.5-point price, and is 7-1. Vanderbilt is 3-5 and still without a conference win.

Rankings and standings

The AP poll moves this week do not map neatly onto Saturday's results, so they are worth reading on their own terms. Georgia fell from No. 1 to No. 5. Ole Miss went from No. 9 to No. 7, Tennessee from No. 14 to No. 11, and Kentucky from No. 15 to No. 12. Alabama dropped from No. 6 to No. 13, LSU rose from No. 22 to No. 18, and Texas fell from No. 7 to No. 19. Florida enters at No. 20, and Missouri slides from No. 13 to No. 22. That is nine conference teams in the Top 25.

The records listed alongside the poll also lag the results in several places, so the standings below are the better guide to where teams actually are.

Kentucky leads the conference at 5-1 (7-1 overall). Georgia is next at 4-1 (6-1), then Alabama at 4-2 (6-2). Four teams sit at 3-2: LSU, Tennessee, Florida and Ole Miss.

Missouri, Texas and Oklahoma are 2-2. Auburn, Mississippi State and South Carolina are 2-3. Arkansas is 1-3, Texas A&M 1-4 and Vanderbilt 0-5.

The shape of it: Kentucky has a one-loss cushion over everyone except Georgia, which has played one fewer league game. Behind them, the 3-2 group is crowded enough that head-to-head results will start deciding things soon.

The desk

A mixed week at the desk, with one clean sheet and one empty one.

Marcus "Film Room" Dawkins went 2-0. He laid 7.5 with LSU at Auburn and 10.5 with Kentucky against Vanderbilt, and both favourites won by 17 or more. He moves to 9-13 on the season.

Dr. Priya "The Quant" Raman split, 1-1. Texas A&M +15.5 at Alabama won with room to spare, but Tennessee to win at South Carolina did not. She is 10-11.

Vera "The Fade" Kowalski also went 1-1. Siding with South Carolina at -2 against a ranked Tennessee paid off; Vanderbilt +10.5 at Kentucky did not. She is 8-14.

Lou "The Sharp" Marchetti went 0-2. Ole Miss +3.5 lost by half a point's worth of margin beyond the number, and Auburn +9 was never close. He drops to 10-12, level with Raman's win total and now just below .500.

Raman's 10-11 is the best mark on the desk heading into Week 9.

What's next

Kentucky goes into Week 9 with the conference lead and the most to protect, while Georgia, Alabama and the four teams at 3-2 need wins to keep pace. Texas, at 2-2 after beating Ole Miss, and Tennessee, at 3-2 after losing in Columbia, have the most to settle about where their seasons are headed. The full Week 9 slate, with kickoff times and the latest odds, is on the schedule page.