It’s the final weekend of October. Which means a few things: Candy, it gets dark earlier, and we only have one month remaining of the college football regular season. Six different SEC teams are on bye weeks this weekend, but there are still five really good matchups on the docket. Here’s one thing we want to see from the ten teams that are in action.
Auburn (at Ole Miss): More from the run game
Ole Miss looked much better against the run in its first few games off their bye week, and Auburn had managed to gain over 100 yards on the ground in every game of the season prior to Saturday’s loss to LSU. The Tigers took a big step back in that department on Saturday. They need to get the ground game going against Ole Miss if they have a chance of keeping pace with the Rebels offense. That means distributing carries to more than just Byrum Brown.
Arkansas (vs Missouri): A winning streak
Last time we saw Arkansas play football, and wait until you hear this, they won. Can they do it again? Probably not, but what time to be alive if they were able to do that more than once a month.
Florida (vs Georgia): A coach that hates his rival as much as Kirby Smart
First-year coach Jon Sumrall rubs a lot of people the wrong way with his press conference antics. Hand up that includes me at times, but one thing about Sumrall is that he does get it and gets this fan base. That’s why they love him so much. That’s great for the program. Another thing that’s great for the program is beating Georgia and it will be nice for the Gators to finally have someone that hates losing this game as much as Kirby Smart. Saturday should be awesome.
Georgia (vs Florida): A reminder to everyone who Georgia is
The last time we saw Georgia they inexplicably lost at home to Auburn. It didn’t impact their ranking much, dropping them from No. 1 to No. 5 and then back up to No. 3 after a bye week. It may however impact everyone else on their schedule. Smart’s squad will certainly be on a mission from here on out, and besides modern hair styling, there’s nothing Kirby Smart hates more than the Florida Gators.
Mississippi State (at Texas): A semblance of the September offense
I understand that Kamario Taylor is out for the year, but with an offensive-minded coach, they still need to score some points. This Saturday isn’t a great place to try and get that going with a visit to Texas in Austin.
Missouri (at Arkansas): Tradition continued
Missouri owns this rivalry, and the Tigers are 10-2 in the 12 games they’ve faced Arkansas in since joining the league. Few things bring head coach Eli Drinkwitz more joy than beating Arkansas and reminding them who their Daddy is. This weekend should be no different even though it’s on the road.
Oklahoma (vs South Carolina): Back-to-Back great games from John Mateer
John Mateer looked like his pre-thumb injury self again last week. Was that because of who they were playing, or was that because he’s starting to turn a corner? He’ll face a much better defense this weekend with South Carolina coming to town, but they’ve also been susceptible to giving up big plays in the passing game this season. Oklahoma is favored by -4.5 in this game, and they’ll need another big game from Mateer if they’re going to knock off a hot South Carolina team.
Ole Miss (vs Auburn): Bounce back game from Trinidad Chambliss
Chambliss is in a rare mini-slump right now. He’s only completed 51% of his passes in his last two games and his three interceptions against Texas were tied for as many as he had all of last year.
South Carolina (at Oklahoma): Forced Turnovers
South Carolina has been on a bit of a heater in the last few weeks, but one thing they’ve lost their fastball with this season is forcing turnovers. For the previous five years there was no one better at forcing turnovers. This year they rank last in turnovers gained with just six through seven games. They’ll travel to Oklahoma where they’ll face a Sooners team who ranks last in the SEC in turnovers lost (15) and turnover margin (-7).
Texas (vs Mississippi State): Four quarters of good offense
There’s no better team to face than Mississippi State if your offense is trying to get right. Texas has looked good at times this season offensively, but that shouldn’t be the bar. The return on investment hasn’t been great for the offense so far this season. Texas still has a few big games left including road trips to Baton Rouge and College Station. They need a confidence boost before that stretch and Mississippi State is the perfect group for that.
