It was a bounce back week last Saturday, as we went 7-2 in our SEC picks. Maybe next time we don’t get so cavalier with picking Tulsa over Arkansas and Tennessee to upset the No. 1 team in the country with a true freshman quarterback. Oh well.
We go into October with a record of 45-7. Here’s to another potential great week of football and an undefeated record.
The appetizers
McNeese at LSU
LSU 52, McNeese 6
Vanderbilt at Georgia
Georgia 38, Vanderbilt 10
Arkansas at Texas A&M
Texas A&M 27, Arkansas 17
Kentucky at South Carolina
South Carolina 30, Kentucky 20
The main courses
Auburn at Tennessee
Auburn does not have the offensive firepower to hang with Tennessee. Even worse, all the things that Tennessee got exposed last week aren’t strong suits for Auburn. They don’t have a ton of consistency offensively, and rank 11th in the league in yards per play (5.8) and total yards per game (413.5). What concerns you the most if you’re Auburn is that Byrum Brown hasn’t looked great so far as the quarterback, and no one goes to Neyland Stadium to figure it out. It will be loud and hostile. Even worse, the offensive line he’s behind has allowed the most sacks (14) of any team in the conference, and they’re going up against a Tennessee unit that leads the SEC in sacks with 19.
Tennessee 30, Auburn 21
Florida at Missouri
Florida hasn’t beaten a ranked team on the road as a favorite since 2010. Missouri has beaten one ranked opponent in their last 10 tries and that was against No. 24 Boston College three years ago. It’s a real very movable force meets the very stoppable object situation in Columbia this weekend. Statistically, Missouri has been great at stopping the run, but they haven’t faced an offense like Florida or a back like Jadan Baugh. Missouri’s defense is averaging 13.5 missed tackles per game. That’s not good.
Florida 33, Missouri 27
Alabama at Mississippi State
Mississippi State hasn’t beaten Alabama since 2007. To put that in perspective, the last time the Bulldogs beat Alabama Sylvester Croom was the coach, Twitter wasn’t invented, and Britney had a buzz cut.
This is a massive game for both teams. Each has an absolute gauntlet in the month of October. Mississippi State has road games at LSU and Texas in the coming weeks, and Alabama hosts Georgia and travels to Tennessee in the next two weeks. The key to this game will be quarterback play and explosiveness on offense.
Each team has been phenomenal offensively through their first four games. Kamario Taylor may be the best player in the country, and Keelon Russell has been lights out over the last two weeks. There’s rain in the forecast for Saturday which may impact the passing game for both sides. If it comes down to the run game, that favors Alabama because its front seven is better suited to stop the run, and a physical mismatch against what should be an inferior Mississippi State offensive line. The State defense has also given up 119 yards or more in three of their four games this season.
Taylor is the ultimate equalizer for any team, and this should be a four-quarter battle. If Mississippi State can get out ahead early, like Kentucky and Florida State did against Alabama, they are built to pull away. I think Alabama wins in a close one.
Alabama 33, Mississippi State 30
