Saturday is Moving Day SEC Preview Week 6
Regardless of how the SEC is standing this year, Saturday is ‘Moving Day’ In the SEC, where we’ll see actually how good the four of the top five SEC teams are….when they play each other.
The CBS game – which must infuriate all fans looking for the all-day Gator get-together/bender in Gainseville, is showing Florida entertaining LSU, while on Saturday night Georgia visits South Carolina and their Dawg Nation’s vaunted enemy, Steve Spurrier.
It’s going to be a great weekend, folks…….let’s enjoy the ride.
LSU vs Florida
This game always stands out on the calendar, and many can see why: It’s usually a good one. Our favorite part from recent years was back in 2010, when a fake field goal with 11 seconds left won in for the Tigers. It was a moment of pure YouTube-able madness. But this year, LSU fans have been driven mad by the struggles of Les Miles and his merry men. In the last three games, they’ve been mistake-ridden, and it was all compounded in Saturday’s Towson game when they only won 38-22 – an upset in itself. And to make matters worse for LSU, their primo quarterback, Zach Mettenberger, can’t hold a concrete block. Anyway, the Tigers are rolling into The Swamp, where the Florida Gators are on a high at the moment. The underdog Gators recovered from two half-time deficits to win on the road at Tennessee and Texas A&M, and while the offense still has to fire on all cylinders, we like the improvement in QB Jeff Driskel. Oh, and the defense can play with anybody – they’ll just have to deal with LSU’s rushers.
THE BOTTOM LINE: Gators roar (excuse the mixed soliloquy) in Gainseville. Florida wins by a field goal.
Georgia at South Carolina
Last year’s game between the ‘Cocks and Dawgs was a doozy at Sanford Stadium may well have been the best game between these two rivals EVER. This year’s clash – which features two unbeaten divisional teams in a National Top 10 match-up – is the most important. Georgia announced something really worrying for Dawg Nation this week: Wide receiver Michael Bennett, who leads the team in receptions, yards and touchdowns, is out with a torn ACL. He’s done for the season. And you know what? That’s a safe pair of hands for Aaron Murray to throw to, dawg. Don’t get me wrong, Marlon Brown and Tavarres King aren’t bad options, but Bennett’s a huge loss. Georgia’s going to HAVE to do well against South Carolina’s fearsome pass rush which leads the SEC in sacks and is fourth-best on rush defense – so pray for Todd Gurley and Keith Marshall to have a monster game, Bulldogs fans. On the other side of the ball, Connor Shaw’s speed and arm is going to worry a to-now shoddy Georgia secondary, for whom Baccari Rambo didn’t exactly inspire last week. And Georgia’s mediocre rushing defense could well struggle against Marcus Lattimore.
THE BOTTOM LINE: South Carolina by 7 in another classic – and this one’s going to be pretty high-scoring, too.
Arkansas at Auburn
Well, something’s going to have to give. These are two dreadful programs facing off against each other, both trying to avoid the embarrassment of total suckage during the season. Hey kids, this Arkansas defense could make Kiehl Frazier seem like Joe Montana. Oh, and as for Tyler Wilson and Kyle Davis? They’d better pray that Cobi Hamilton still has his receiving skates on, because they are going to desperately need them. And as for Auburn fans? Y’all are going to need to be out-of-your-mind drunk to watch this one. Get the bourbon in, boys!
THE BOTTOM LINE: Auburn wins by 10 in a game deserving of its 11am CT start. Not for the faint-hearted.
Mississippi State at Kentucky
Kentucky put in their best performance of the season when they played incredibly to take a 17-7 lead in against South Carolina last week. If there hadn’t been some inept clock management right at the end, if could have been 20-7 or even 24-7. Kentucky had the Gamecocks by the wings and they were plucking them. Mississippi State would do well to watch this. Sure, we know that MSU’s unbeaten, but they’ve only shown us they can beat Auburn, which is suddenly showing us even less than we thought. The second half might give King Cowbell some more security. South Carolina’s offense went through the Wildcats like butter, and had the game completely sown up as soon as they took the lead. MSU would do well to watch that, too.
THE BOTTOM LINE: Cowbell dings, but not as comfortably as some think. By 14.
Texas A&M at Ole Miss
There is time to give more love to a team in defeat than in victory, and this is it. Ole Miss, you played out of your skin against Alabama. Congratulations for confounding the critics and giving everyone in Oxford hope that things might at last be improving. There’s a smell of a bowl game in the air, and everyone’s excited (some too excited!). Anyway, Texas A&M actually won this weekend, with Johnny Football putting up 557 total yards against Arkansas. He was spectacular – even against a spectacularly BAD Razorbacks ‘D’. Anyway, A&M go on the road for their first true road test of the year – and boy, are they going to get one from Bo Wallace & Co.
THE BOTTOM LINE: A&M wins by 3 in a tight one. This Ole Miss SEC funk is going to end soon, folks. We can feel it with Freeze-ing our bones.
Vanderbilt at Missouri
If Auburn and Arkansas weren’t playing each other today, this would be the match-up of the SEC’s most disappointing teams. True, Missouri’s struggled with a true lack of identity at quarterback. Vanderbilt’s just struggled. The Tigers might be on the up a little bit because of their road with at UCF (in which they were actually the underdog), but they still aren’t a great team. Oh, and news has just come through: Dorial Green-Beckham’s just been suspended for weed possession. Nice one, Nation’s No.1 recruit who hasn’t done very much this year….
THE BOTTOM LINE: This will make uncomfortable viewing. Missouri wins by 7 in a low scorer.