Week 1 SEC Preview: Big week for Florida and LSU

 

The Florida-Utah game on Thursday night, the South Carolina v North Carolina game on Saturday and LSU-Florida State games on Sunday night are the three biggest games on this week’s college football schedule.

Elsewhere, SEC teams involved have pretty easy battles, even though there are things to watch all over the shop.

So without further ado, here’s your Week 1 Preview (With betting predictions, and sorry if some are shorter than others. We didn’t see the point of writing an essay on Georgia and UT-Martin):

THURSDAY

Florida at No.14 Utah (-4.5)

There was a lot of disturbance in the force when it was found out that Cam Rising wasn’t playing. But it wasn’t entirely surprising after he blew out his ACL in the Rose Bowl, was it?

Anyway, Kyle Whittingham’s tipped his hand a bit by saying that back-ups Bryson Barnes or Nate Johnson will play.

As for Florida, we can trust Graham Mertz are far as we can kick him (on the football field). This goes back to his experiences at Wisconsin, which were mixed to say the least. He might have thrown for 7,405 yards and 38 TDs, but he also threw for 26 INTS, and faced worse opposition than the back end of the SEC. Also, a lot of his iNTs were boneheaded.

The highlight may well be frosh Florida wideout Eugene Wilson III in a game that’s big on atmosphere, but low on outstanding play.

PREDICTION: Utah wins by 7 in a close game, 21-14.

South Dakota at Missouri (N/A)

The Missouri QB battle is going to come down to Brady Cook or Sam Horn, and don’t be surprised if you have little clue when the game’s finished who’s going to be the starter.

South Dakota are going to get drilled, so look for Luther Burden to have a big game.

PREDICTION: Missouri 55, South Dakota 7.

SATURDAY

North Carolina (-2.5) v South Carolina(Charlotte)

This is going to be a fun, fun game. Both sides have lost so much on defense that we should see an awesome back-and-forth. UNC QB Drake Maye and South Carolina’s Spencer Rattler are both great quarterbacks (Maye last season was clearly the more consistent one, but Rattler came into his own at the end of the year), and both sides have very useful receivers, too.

PREDICTION: South Carolina 43, North Carollna 41. Carolina wins on a last second field goal.

Virginia at No.12 Tennessee (-27.5)

Virginia hasn’t played in anger since the horrific school shooting that took 3 of its players lives, and it’s not know whether the structural issues found in Nissan Stadium (Nashville) will mean that the game gets moved to Neyland. We still don’t know what’s happening with that.

What we do know is this: Tennessee is a far, far superior team, and Virginia won’t be able to stop them.

The person to watch out is Vols QB Joe Milton III. Can he make good throws? is he going try and don the cape instead of making the easy pass? Does he look like a leader? If all three are the case (or even 2 out of 3), then Tennessee fans should be coming out pretty comfortable.

PREDICTION: Tennessee 41, Virginia 14.

Ball State at Kentucky (-26 1/2)

Can’t wait for the Devin Leary show to start in Kentucky. Also going to be fun to see Ray Davis as the new transfer running back, continuing Mike Stoops’ great record of having competent hosses in that backfield.

Otherwise, it won’t be much of a game.

PREDICTION: Kentucky 35, Ball State 14.

UMass at Auburn (-35)

Hugh Freeze’s first home game will have a lot of eyeballs on it. We’re most excited to see what he does with new transfer Payton Thorne, who might be the under-the-radar QB transfer of the season. Otherwise, UMass is going to get the doors blown off it.

PREDICTION: Auburn 55, UMass 3. 

Middle Tennessee State at No.4 Alabama (-39.5)

Will Jalin Milroe or Ty Simpson light it up, or will we (already) get moaning in Tuscaloosa?

PREDICTION: Alabama 58, MTSU 14

THE DULL OTHER GAMES FOR SATURDAY

No.1 Georgia will kick UT Martin’s ass 44-0 thanks to Brock Bowers getting 3 TDs from new Sanford saviour Carson Beck, Ole Miss will savage Mercer 61-14 on the back of 3 quarterbacks (Lane Kiffin is still going to be confused as who to play), Vanderbilt will go 2-0 when they beat Alabama A&M (45-14),  Arkansas won’t have any trouble with West Carolina (as shown by the 52-10 scorecard), and Texas A&M will obviously be National Championship contenders after thrashing New Mexico 63-10.

SUNDAY

No.5 LSU (-2.5) v No.8 Florida State (Orlando)

Undoubtedly the game of the week, this game pits two programs who are flying higher and higher in people’s estimations.

It’s easy to love both QBs. Jaylen Daniels – who feels like he’s been around forever – has the ‘X-Factor’ around him, while 19th-year senior Jordan Travis has been better and better as the years have gone on, culiminating in a 3,200, 24 TD outburst last year until Mike Norvell’s hard-and-fast offense. We expect to see a lot of FSU’s running back Trey Benson, who ran for 990 yards in his first season in Tallahassee. We also expect FSU to work at speed. Whether that will go against them with the new running play clock will be something to to check out, but it will doubtless be fun.

Then again, Travis is going head-to-head with Harold Perkins, who’s one of the funnest defensive players in the country. Expect him to do a bit of running! Perkins’ cohort is going to miss out on the suspended Maason Smith (pre-NIL problems), although it’s probable he wouldn’t have played anyway.

On the offensive side for LSU, get re-excited about WR Malik Nabers and get to know the name of Jalen Brown, a 5-star who can absolutely FLY. We expect to see a couple of bright touches from him, despite his lowly position on the depth chart. Oh, and the running back trio of Noah Cain, Notre Dame transfer Logan Diggs, and Josh Williams will ensure things aren’t always in the air up there. Sadly, we won’t be seeing John Emery, who can’t get his academics in order.

PREDICTION: HOLD ONTO YOUR BUTTS!! LSU 37, Florida State 34 in an absolute classic.