Winning & Boozing: Spooky SZN in the SEC

By Chris Marler

Winning & Boozing: Spooky SZN in the SEC

We kick off the second half of the season with one of the best slates of the entire year. Three ranked SEC matchups take the headlines, while another that was a top fifteen preseason team is looking to just keep their coach employed for another week. Let’s get to it!

LSU at Vanderbilt

This is the third straight week that I feel like Vegas is trying to send us a message. Vanderbilt opened as a 1.5 point favorite. That seemed crazy considering they haven’t been favored against a top ten team since 1977 and haven’t been favored against LSU since 1948.

Then to add to the concern, the line shifted even more to Vanderbilt -2.5.

It feels like oddsmakers are begging you to take LSU. Well, wish granted. I’m hammering it.

Here’s the one thing I’ve learned more than anything else halfway through the 2025 season – we have irrationally tethered our assessment of teams strictly to how “bad” some quarterbacks have played so far. The slander about LSU has been very vocal, and in some cases the loudest cries have been from their own fanbase.

Nussmeier has struggled, but he looked healthier last week, and there was more zip on his ball than any other game this year. Vanderbilt is a very good football team, especially when they don’t turn the ball over.

But as “bad” as the LSU offense has been at meeting expectations this season, that defense that Blake Baker has fielded is elite. Harold Perkins should shadow Eli Stowers for four quarters, Mansoor Delane will shut down a third of the field, and if Diego Pavia was running for his life against Alabama, it will be even worse against this pass rush.

Geaux Tigahs.

The Winning

LSU 27, Vanderbilt 16

The Boozing

6 AM Bloody Mary’s. Why? Because Brian Kelly said so!

👀🗣️HC Brian Kelly has some important advice for LSU fans traveling to Nashville this weekend…😂😂😂😂

“Start drinking early!” 🍻🍹🍾🥂🐯#LSU #GeauxTigers #Nashville #CFB #NCAAFootball pic.twitter.com/94LPst4Xz4

— 104.5 ESPN (@1045espn) October 14, 2025

Tennessee at Alabama

Alabama won 16 straight in this series from 2007 to 2021. Insert Josh Heupel, and the Tide has metaphorically turned. The Vols have won two of the last three, and I can tell you right now that Alabama fans will have a meltdown of all meltdowns if they wake up Sunday morning having lost three of the past four games to the Vols.

This is a tricky spot. Tennessee is the best team in America at getting out ahead and scoring early. They’re great on script, and going into last season, had scored first in 33 of Josh Heupel’s 38 games. Expect them to get the ball first and score. The biggest question for Alabama is how will they respond if they’re down multiple scores early. Looking at DeBoer’s losses at Alabama, they have one thing in common and that’s being down by two scores early and not being able to stop the bleeding or overcome it. It happened against Vanderbilt, Oklahoma, Michigan and Florida State.

4 teams in @SEC history have defeated 3 ranked conference opponents in 3 consecutive weeks w/o an open date…

Alabama will play it’s 3rd straight ranked conference opponent in 3 weeks on Saturday.

— Cole Cubelic (@colecubelic) October 7, 2025

The other concern is being able to get back up emotionally after the three weeks they just had. Last week’s win at Missouri marked just the fifth team in SEC history to win three consecutive games in three consecutive weeks against Top 25 SEC opponents. What was their reward? A showdown against No. 11 Tennessee.

It’s going to be a three hour war Saturday night in Bryant-Denny.

The Winning

Alabama 38, Tennessee 34

The Boozing

Mojito. Some of y’all are going to have your feelings hurt with what I’m about to tell you.

Stop ordering mojitos. Bartenders have a name for customers that order these during a busy dinner rush or Saturday night – they’re called “the worst.”

Yes, they’re delicious, but cutting up a lime, getting the rind off, dicing it up, picking out fresh mint, and then muddling it before any alcohol is even poured is a chore that no bartender wants to have when they’ve been in the weeds since their shift started four hours ago.

Mojitos, and the people that used to order them from me at the Lenox Road Houston’s in Atlanta, were insufferable. And that is also the perfect way to describe each of these fanbases win or lose – insufferable.

Bitterness, and bartender trauma aside, this is also a perfect drink because it originated in Cuba where the only thing more famous on that island besides rum and communism is of course their cigars. This is a cigar game where the winning team notoriously smokes a victory cigar in the locker room after the game. But, since we don’t have a winning and smoking article (yet), the mojito will have to do.

Mississippi State at Florida

Earlier this week several leaked rumors, or maybe reports, made the rounds in the media about Billy Napier being out at Florida regardless of the outcome this weekend. That’s not exactly the easiest minefield to navigate while trying to get a team ready to win an SEC game. Mississippi State feels like they are close to a breakthrough. It sucks that Fluff Bothwell is out, but I get the feeling Jeff Lebby’s team is on a mission coming off the bye.

The Winning

Mississippi State 24, Florida 23

The Boozing

A Rusty Nail. I was initially shocked at how few people knew what a rusty nail is. Then I remembered the crowd that used to order this from me during my bartending days, and I was no longer surprised. Old veterans and people drinking to forget.

Either way, it’s perfect for this game as Mississippi State, and apparently Florida’s biggest boosters, are trying to put the final nail in Billy Napier’s coffin. It’s a very simple recipe: Scotch, Drambuie, and a lemon twist. Some recipes call for a 1:1 ratio if you want it sweeter. Some call for a 2:1 ratio if you want it drier.

The regulars I had at Whitehall Tavern in Atlanta, Georgia were usually drinking to forget, so they didn’t care about sweet or dry. Just empty the bottle of Dewars or Johnny Walker Black into the glass. It’s time to brainstorm on how to get Lane Kiffin to Gainesville.

Florida head coach Billy Napier could be fired as “soon as this weekend,” per USA TODAY Sports.

According to sources, Florida’s athletic director Scott Stricklin met with a handful of influential boosters on Tuesday and was told continuing financial support depends on a “new… pic.twitter.com/cxmAB5seFZ

— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) October 15, 2025

Ole Miss at Georgia

This is going to be a great game. I love Lane Kiffin’s continued turning of the corner as a head coach and human being. He got the Georgia monkey off his back last season with a huge win at home. This is a different animal though. Literally.

Ole Miss is great on script and will score first. But Georgia has lost two games by six points in eight years inside Sanford Stadium. Take the Dawgs.

Lane Kiffin when asked if he or Kirby Smart burns more calories in a game:

“Saw his press conference today, don’t look like he’s burned too many calories”

ASSAULT!pic.twitter.com/KKz7cpXwTH

— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) October 14, 2025

The Winning

Georgia 28, Ole Miss 27

The Boozing

The Business. It’s our first audience suggestion drink of the year coming from Athens, Georgia, and it’s perfect for Saturday. It’s basically a Bees Knees, but anything yellow jacket related in Athens would be sacreligious. So, we’re rebranding to “The Business” since the Dawgs are looking to take care of business against a top five team once again in Sanford Stadium.

The ingredients are 1.5 oz gin .75 oz honey syrup and .75 oz of fresh lime juice. Shaken. Double strained. In a coup with a lime wedge.

Feel free to use agave instead of honey since it’s healthier, and we don’t need Lane Kiffin fat-shaming Kirby Smart anymore than he already has this week.