SEC Preview: This SEC week is going to be a strugglebus….
First of all, there are five SEC teams getting in the College Football Play-Off as things stand. That’s Texas, Alabama, Ole Miss, Georgia and Tennessee. Texas A&M and possibly South Carolina are on the outside looking in.
Of course Greg Sankey more in, but so does every conference.
The street-fight is going to get boring, and we’ll going to give you the lowdown on tie-breakers next week.
The second thing: This SEC week is a struggle to preview, because most of the games aren’t great – one of this blog’s endless bug-bears is that any of these games actually exist at this time of year.
SO, GAMES WE ARE INTERESTED IN:
- No.5 Indiana at No.2 Ohio State (-12.5): We’d love to say that this one’s going to be a doozy, but Ohio State’s got so many weapons? Why should you tune in? Jeremiah Smith (who could play in the NFL tomorrow) and Gus Johnson (who’s incredible). So why is it the most exciting game on the SEC schedule? Because it’s a Top 5 game with serious College Football Play-Off implications for SEC schools. PREDICTION: Ohio State 42, Indiana 21.
- No.9 Ole Miss (-11.5) at Florida: There’s a ton of Lane Kiffin jokes out there, from checking out future girlfriends in the Florida student section to scouting for a future home in Gainsville to seeing future Ole Miss QB DJ Lagway in person, but that would be juvenile. What won’t be juvenile will be the scoreboard, which could get ugly if Florida’s defense is anything to go by. PREDICTION: Ole Miss 45, Florida 10.
- Vanderbilt at LSU (-7.5): LSU’s a trainwreck right now, what with some bad quarterbacking from Garrett Nussmeier and Brian Kelly going catatonic on the sidelines AT HIS PLAYERS. One mistake from Nussmeier, and the boo-birds will start to call. Diego Pavia should be able to exploit the weaknesses, but bearing in mind how bad Vandy’s defense was against South Carolina. PREDICTION: LSU 35, Vanderbilt 25.
- No.15 Texas A&M (-2.5) at Auburn: The only reason why this truly excites is about the betting line. Texas A&M only a 2 1/2 point favorite over Auburn, who has been awful all year? Unless they know that Texas A&M is not telling us, they are going to win by a cakewalk. This will be awesome to see just how wrong Vegas is.. PREDICTION: Texas A&M 38, Auburn 10.
- Kentucky at No.3 Texas (-20.5): Kentucky aren’t good, but they seem to be good at annoying the hell of good teams, as they did against Georgia and Ole Miss. The problem is is that the Ole Miss game was on September 28th. Kentucky has won one game since then…last week against the mighty Murray State. Look, it might be closer than the 20.5 point spread if you look what happened at Arkansas, where the Longhorns struggled offensively. This actually good be pretty ugly. PREDICTION: Texas 23, Kentucky 10.
- No.7 Alabama (-13.5) at Oklahoma: Jalin Milroe v Oklahoma’s over-tired defense in the second half is going to send the Norman crowd home very early. PREDICTION: Alabama 35, Oklahoma 10.
- No.23 Missouri (-7.5) at Mississippi State: Can’t wait to see Luther Burden and Theo Wease do their thing, and Mizzou to make this a one-score game with 2 minutes to go…. PREDICTION: Upset City: Mississippi State 31, Missouri 28.
WE ALSO THINK THAT…
Tennessee’s going to beat UTEP, Georgia will thump UMass – who made the Final Four in 1996 (wins vacated because Marcus Camby was paid SMU-style money there),Arkansas‘s going to eat Louisiana Tech alive, and South Carolina‘s going to curb-stomp Wofford, who’s basketball team was last in a NCAA Tournament in 2019.