Week 2 SEC Preview: Can Auburn beat Georgia? Will A&M overcome Alabama?
Up in Athens, Georgia, College Gameday will be on site but the fanbase won’t be able to scream behind the cameras. There will be no massive tailgate that makes evenings in Athens so darned special, and there will be one of the most eagerly anticipated match-ups of the year between Georgia and Auburn. Auburn looked good against Kentucky for half a game, and Georgia blew by Arkansas for half a game. This will be intriguing.
The bookies don’t think Texas A&M will beat Alabama. I don’t think anyone except the most optimistic Texas A&M fan would think that the Aggies will go to Tuscaloosa and win. But then again, they probably didn’t think this in 2012 when Johnny Manziel’s team walked into there and caused a massive upset.
Elsewhere, Mississippi State will continue it’s bundle of joy in their home opener with Arkansas, South Carolina and Florida get together in the Spurrier Bowl, Tennessee clash with Missouri, Ole Miss and Kentucky play in a match-up of seemingly direct opposite offensive programs, and LSU tries to get back on the wagon with Vandy after their terrible performance the season before.
So here are the games we’re most interested in in this order.
- No.7 Auburn at No.4 Georgia (-6.5 O/U 44.5 )
No-one knows who’s going to start at Georgia on Saturday after last Saturday’s weird offensive effort. Will it be D’Wan Mathis, looking for redemption after his terrible quarter-and-a-half against Arkansas? Will it be Stetson Bennett, who sounds less like a QB and more like a member of Sigma Chi but led UGA for the rest, or will it be JT Daniels, who should be ready after returning from knee surgery? We don’t know, we just don’t know. We know this: Georgia’s defensive front are still going to be animals against a young Auburn line, and George Pickens is a future NFL first round pick at WR. On Auburn’s side? They actually look settled. Bo Nix was excellent for the most part against a Kentucky side that prides itself more on attrition than it seems flowing fun football, and Seth Williams was a nightmare to deal with all day long. The only part underused? Anthony Schwartz, who we would have loved to see more of the ball. He might well be the secret-not-secret-but-really-frickin-fast weapon.
PREDICTION: It’s difficult to predict against Georgia, because they are at home and will only get better after the stinker. Bulldogs by a field goal….. Georgia 31, Auburn 28
2. Texas A&M at No.1 Alabama (-18 O/U 52.5)
Texas A&M’s biggest ‘Welcome to The SEC’ moment where they went to Tuscaloosa in 2012 and beat the Tide 29-27 on the road. The Aggies haven’t won another ‘Bear Bryant Bowl’ against Nick Saban’s men since, and every game since 2014 has been somewhat of a blow-out. This year, Aggies fans are fearing the worst after their team’s utterly inept performance at home to Vanderbilt, where they fumbled the ball five times (losing three), and Kellen Mond’s performance was probably one of the worst in the SEC last week. Sorry we’re being harsh, but it’s true. The good news for A&M is that their defensive front looks pretty good, and it’ll have to be to stop Najee Harris & Co running through it. And if Alabama’s O-Line can give him time, then Mac Jones has two NFL first-rounders in Devonta Smith and Jaylen Waddle. Yeah, good luck with that.
PREDICTION: Alabama by 27, and Saban calls off the dogs by the middle of the third quarter. Alabama 48, Texas A&M 21
3. South Carolina at No.3 Florida (-10 O/U 57.5) Kyle Trask had a tremendous game against Ole Miss, helped by his brilliant TE Kyle Pitts. We don’t expect Pitts to have the devestating day he had last week, because South Carolina will try and double him up, making him throw to a bed of skilled receivers. We anticipate Kadarious Toney and Dameon Pierce to continue to enjoy the running game – albeit against a better defense. For South Carolina, the offense wasn’t awful against Tennessee, but against Florida’s defense – which will have improved from their rather poor effort against Ole Miss where they gave up over 600 yards (granted they were bringing in 6 new players) – Collin Hill, Shi Smith & Co could find things much harder going.
PREDICTION: Florida by 17. Trask coasts, and gets more plaudits. Florida 27, South Carolina 10.
4. Missouri at No.21 Tennessee (-12, O/U 48.5)
Missouri fans weren’t expected to beat Alabama last Saturday, and were hoping for some good signs going into the Tennessee game. If you’re a betting Missouri fan it was the fact that Alabama didn’t beat the spread (the normal measurements for a ‘great performance in a losing effort’), and that the defense didn’t make too many mistakes and essentially beat themselves as badly as they had done in the Barry Odom era. But to beat Tennessee, they are going to have to rely even more on their defense, because if we’re honest, it’s RB Larry Roundtree and the rest of an offense that’s yet to find its identity under new coach Eli Drinkwitz. As for Tennessee, they overcame a tough game at South Carolina. Jarrett Guarantano was fine if nothing spectacular. He should be on better throwing for against Missouri’s corners, and we anticipate Josh Palmer having a 100-yard reception day. But don’t think that Guarantano’s going to find it easy. Missouri’s defensive front is very, very good. This is going to be fun.
PREDICTION: Missouri with the upset. Tigers by 4 in one of the uglier games you see. Missouri 27, Tennessee 23
5. Arkansas at No.16 Mississippi State (-17, O/U 69)
KJ Costello and Mississippi State are a hell of a lot of fun. They’ve got an easy-to-watch, easy-to-learn offense under Mike Leach, and a competent RB in Kylin Hill. In this offense we don’t see Hill getting a lot of the ball, but that’s more the style. Against Arkansas, who actually looked decent for a half (defensively), they should air it out pretty easily against a defense that Barry Odom’s going to struggle to keep up with. On the other side of the ball, we know a Mike Leach defense, and it isn’t that great. But Arkansas’ offense is pretty awful too. Feleipe Franks will do better than he did against Georgia, but if he keeps some of the utter incompetence up, this could be over quickly on Mike Leach’s follow-up to that stunning defeat of LSU.
PREDICTION: Mississippi State by 24 as KJ Costello goes for 500 yards. Mississippi State 51, Arkansas 27
6. Ole Miss vs Kentucky (-6, O/U 62)
Both sides had pretty ugly losses in Week 1, with Kentucky being the worst of them because while we though that Florida would have their way with Ole Miss, we didn’t expect such a poor performance from Kentucky in the second-half. They were just so much worse than their SEC West opponent. Ole Miss defense was poor all round. Sure, their offense was entertaining, but when you give up 50 points, it’s difficult to find the fun side even if you score more than 30 a game. Kentucky won’t air it out as much as Florida did against Ole Miss because they simply don’t have the weapons like that. Instead, Kentucky will run the ball with Kavoisey Smoak and Asim Rose and Terry Wilson will aim to cause them problems on the floor. With an Ole Miss defensive line which is – to be generous – bad, Kentucky will control this.
PREDICTION: Kentucky by 14 in a cracker of a game. Kentucky 48, Ole Miss 34.
7. No. 20 LSU (-21, O/U 51) at Vanderbilt.
Myles Brennan wasn’t pretty pedestrian against Missisisppi State and still threw for 345 yards, 3 TDs and 2 picks. Hell, the whole team seemed pedestrian against Mississippi State, but still Terrace Marshall had 122 yards and 2 TDs, and 8 other receivers had a reception. Vanderbilt’s defense on the other hand against Texas A&M was fantastic, stopping the Aggies again and again, causing 5 fumbles and 3 recovering three of them. They attacked and attacked Texas A&M and gave the offense a chance to win. The problem was the Vanderbilt offense, which – led by freshman Ken Seals – had 150 yards and a 1 TD. Don’t get us wrong Vanderbilt is a team that’s more than its fair share of opt-outs and transfers, although it’s still not in the same ballpark as what LSU has had to deal with.
PREDICTION: LSU by 24, getting things done. It looks pretty awful after a quarter, but then the Tigers get moving. LSU 38, Vanderbilt 14