Who wins the Cocktail Party? Week 9 SEC Preview
After last week, Alabama (the best of the SEC) and Missouri (the worst) are both off, making our weekend decidedly less interesting. The weekend would have been pretty incredible, what with the drinking and carrying on that goes on all the way from Athens and Gainseville to Jacksonville this weekend as the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party rolls into town, but Georgia’s nothing without Nick Chubb and Florida’s not unbeaten anymore. Seriously, does this showdown – which virtually ensures the bragging rights and the SEC East title – mean that much, bearing in mind how goddawful the East really is?
Anyway, enough of my grumpiness. Here are your SEC predictions, and rankings, in order of importance…
- Florida vs Georgia (Jacksonville)
Everything to me points to Georgia losing by a double-digit margin, bearing in mind that Nick Chubb’s done for the year, and Grayson Lambert’s really not a good quarterback. Everyone thought Florida wouldn’t be the same after Will Grier got banned for a year for drugs, but Treon Harris was perfectly serviceable against LSU. And Florida’s defense – despite their showing in Baton Rouge – is going to do a lot better against a far lesser offensive juggernaut.
PREDICTION: Florida’s only a 2-point favorite with Vegas. We’ll take Florida by 10.
2. Ole Miss at Auburn
This was one of the games of the SEC West before the season started….and then Auburn imploded. Anyway, Auburn’s looking better offensively, but defensively, it’s a horror show. Which should be exploited by Chad Kelly and Laquon Treadwell. Defensively, Ole Miss is still missing Tony Connor, but the return of Robert Nkemdiche should continue to revitalize this D, which only gave up 3 points to Texas A&M in a game which involved SEVEN turnovers.
PREDICTION: Ole Miss is a 7.5 point favourite. Let’s take Ole Miss to win by 7 in a shoot-out.
3. Vanderbilt at Houston
It’s strange to have Vandy up on this list for interesting games, but actually, it’s interesting because Houston’s is a real challenger to make a BCS Bowl (or whatever it’s called now), and Vandy’s defense is playing very stoutly. We’re not sure that the offense have got the cajones to keep up with Houston’s, but we know the ‘D’ can certainly slow Tom Herman’s freight train down.
PREDICTION: Houston’s a 12-point favorite. We’ll take Houston by 14, but only after a battle.
4. Tennessee at Kentucky
After the Vols’ heartbreaker against Alabama last week, it’ll be interesting to see how they rebound at home to a Kentucky team coming off losing by 32 on the road at Mississippi State. The great thing about this game might be the atmosphere at Commonwealth Stadium, which is going to be off-the-hook.
PREDICTION: Tennessee a 9-point favorite? Really? I’m taking Kentucky to at least cover that.
5. South Carolina at Texas A&M
Texas A&M’s calling a ‘black out’ for the game, which should means that this game – which will be awful one the eye and very one-sided – should at least be fun for five minutes. We haven’t a clue who the quarterback will be (Kyle Allen, Kyler Murray or A.N. Other) , although the tip is that it’s going to be Murray, now Allen’s got the Everett-Golson-at-Notre-Dame-2014 disease. As for South Carolina? They are just trying to find life after Spurrier.
PREDICTION: Texas A&M’s a 16-1/2 point favorite. We’ll take the Aggies by 21.
6. Tennessee-Martin vs Arkansas
Yawn.