MARLER: Top 5 Games That Will Shape The SEC Season

By Chris Marler

UGA at Alabama 

Both teams should be somewhat tested headed into this one thanks to some early season non-conference road games versus Clemson and Wisconsin respectively. But this primetime showdown in Tuscaloosa should tell us A LOT about who both teams are going to be and can be this season. 

UGA opened as a 4.5 point favorite this offseason despite being on the road and despite having 1 win vs Alabama since the Bush Administration. This will be DeBoer’s first big test at home on a national stage. A loss would mean Kirby is king now that Saban is gone. A loss would mean MASSIVE expectations for a first-year head coach as well as Alabama twitter being even more insufferable than usual. 

Ole Miss at LSU 

The last time Ole Miss had this much preseason national title hope and hype we were still almost a decade away from (faking) a moon landing. The Rebels are projected to win 10 games and are -130 to make the CFB Playoff this season. They also have 1 win in Death Valley in the last 23 years. 

LSU is currently favored by less than a field goal, and you’d have to think that Brian Kelly and company would love some revenge after last year’s absolute defensive collapse and 3-point loss to Lane Kiffin in Oxford.

Missouri vs Oklahoma 

For me personally this is a Top 3 game of the year that I’m looking forward to. Oklahoma coming in for their first season in the SEC. Mizzou coming off an 11-win season and still somehow not getting a ton of respect nationally, as they were ranked outside the Top 10 in the Preseason Coaches poll. 

Mizzou has unfairly been the punching bag in the SEC for a decade since they joined. They are dismissed and discounted constantly and it’s usually more geography based than performance based. Regardless, that little brother treatment is bad enough with teams in the SEC before their old Big 12 foe joined the league. 

This game has been circled in CoMo for months and will be a HUGE opportunity for Mizzou to prove a point against a national brand and old rival while on a national stage.

UGA at Texas 

October 19th will be a big day in the SEC. Not only does UGA travel to Austin, but Bama heads to Knoxville. Both are marquee games that will absolutely play a part in the path to winning the SEC, but, make no mistake about it, whoever wins between the Dawgs and Longhorns will absolutely be in the driver’s seat to win the SEC regular season title and get to Atlanta. 

UGA has lost 2 games in 3 years and are an overwhelming favorite to win the SEC, the Heisman, and probably WWIII if we end up in one, y’all. Oh, and they’re favored in this game too.

Texas A&M vs Notre Dame 

There are probably other games that would fit the criteria of this article more, but for the sake of using the same teams over and over let’s talk about Week 1 in College Station. Notre Dame comes to town with a Top 10 team and a schedule tailor made for 10 wins and a playoff berth. So why are they an underdog to a team with a first-year head coach that lost almost 30 players to the portal and was 5-7 a season ago?

This is a Week 1 Primetime game with a middle of the pack SEC team against arguable the biggest brand in college football history. A season ago, the SEC looked dreadful in early season non-con games and was on the losing end of almost every one they played opening weekend. If the Aggies can kick off the Mike Elko era with a dub over the Fighting Irish it would be a HUGE statement to start off the 2024 season and new 16 team era for the conference.