Can Texas A&M upset Alabama? SEC game previews
It’s been a helluva week in college football. Spurrier’s out, Sark’s out, Grier’s out (for a year) and Tunsil’s out (until next week). Oh, and it’s one of the biggest weeks for games, too.
In the SEC we’ve got our fair share of ’em. Some of them look less than they might have (Georgia vs Missouri), and some of them look far bigger than Preseasoners like us would have predicted (LSU vs Florida). And some games are and were always going to be pretty monstrous (Alabama vs Texas A&M). And some are pretty big now, because the HBC is gone golfing (South Carolina vs Vanderbilt).
So here are our game predictions (and rankings) for the games out there this weekend
- Alabama at Texas A&M
Alabama looked like a machine on the road at Georgia. There’s no two ways about it. And then the Tide looked a lot poorer against Arkansas. And yes, we watched the game. It wasn’t a problem with stopping Alex Collins. The Tide managed that. It was just – you know – poor. This week Nick Saban & Co are walking into what will be a very, very noisy Kyle Field, with a Texas A&M side on fire at the moment. Christian Kirk is a livewire, and good luck to the Alabama offensive line stopping Myles Garrett AND Daylon Mack. And good luck to A&M’s defense stopping Derrick Henry. We expect a shoot-out.
PREDICTION: Alabama is a four-point favorite. We’re calling Alabama by 7 in a great game.
2. Florida at LSU
It’s one of the SEC’s biggest – if not oldest (they’ve “only” been playing annually since 1971) – rivalries, and Saturday night in Death Valley between two ranked, very-hyped teams should be a lot of fun. Leonard Fournette is going to be the name on everyone’s mouths, but if Florida watches the South Carolina tape, they’ll work out how to stop him: The old-fashioned gang tackle. We see Fournette getting suffocated by Florida’s defensive line, forcing Brandon Harris to throw. That could be ugly, if you consider UF’s secondary, led by Vernon Hargreaves. Florida, on the other hand, just saw QB Will Grier get suspended for taking over-the-counter medicine, and so suddenly a settled QB position is looking a lot worse with Treon Harris under center.
PREDICTION: LSU a 7-1/2 point favorite with Vegas? A joke. We’ll take Florida to win a pretty ugly game.
3. Vanderbilt at South Carolina
Now that Steve Spurrier’s gone, taking his Heisman Trophy, his visor and his golf clubs with him, what would be a pretty ignored South Carolina – Vanderbilt game will now have a lot more national attention. Which is weird, because it’s still two teams fighting NOT to be at the basement of the SEC East. Vanderbilt’s playing with more vigour, but Spurrier’s resignation might actually give the Gamecocks mojo.
PREDICTION: Vegas is making South Carolina a 2.5 point favorite. We’ll take South Carolina by 7 in an awful game.
4. Ole Miss at Memphis
A lot of people are talking up Memphis being a potential upsetter on Saturday night, but we saw the Cincinnati game, and the Tigers’ defense is pretty terrible. And although the offense can put up a ton of points against lower teams, Cincinnati’s defense isn’t exactly, er, Ole Miss. And while everyone’s talking about Memphis’ home field advantage, we expect a ton of Ole Miss support at the stadium.
PREDICTION: Ole Miss is favored by 10-1/2. We think they beat the spread, winning by 17.
5. Missouri at Georgia
Georgia was hit by the horrific news that Nick Chubb was done for the year with a knee injury (we never want to see the video of that again) on Saturday, and then after that, the defense couldn’t stop anybody, as the Bulldogs chocked a 24-3 lead against Tennessee to a loss. And as awful as Grayson Lambert was, he shouldn’t be the only person getting training. His wide receivers need to be brought in for catching practice too. They were as guilty as anybody of offense-killing drops. And for Missouri, awful offense is the story of the season. So this game is going to be pretty horrible, people.
PREDICTION: Georgia’s a 17-point favorite. I’ll take the Bulldogs by 14, keeping them in the SEC East race, and booting Mizzou out of it.
6. Auburn at Kentucky (Thursday)
It’s an indictment of the Auburn programme at the moment that Kentucky is looking far more competitive than Auburn at the moment, isn’t it? Auburn’s going to walk into a rammed, loud Commonwealth Stadium, with the locals smelling blood. Kentucky should have beaten Florida a few weeks ago, and Mark Stoops’ program is growing better by the season. Auburn was recently hit with the news that star receiver Duke Williams will not be returning to the team after he was involved in a fracas outside a bar, which doesn’t help Sean White. At all.
PREDICTION: Auburn at 1 point favorite? We’ll take Kentucky by 6 in what could be the most under-the-rader entertaining game of the week.
7. Louisiana Tech vs Mississippi State
Not so bold prediction: Mississippi State will win and the fans will ring their cowbells.
PREDICTION: MSU at 13-1/2 point favorite. Take the Bulldogs by 21!