Kenny Hill and Texas A&M are looking to get back into the win column. (Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports)
After a crazy weekend of football in the Southeastern Conference, get ready for another wild weekend as seven SEC teams that are ranked in the Top 25 will be in action, with six of them playing each other. The biggest game will be in Starkville where No. 2 (in the Associated Press poll) Auburn will take on No. 3 Mississippi State.
In College Station, No. 3 Ole Miss will take on No. 14 Texas A&M. In other ranked action, No. 13 Georgia will play at No. 23 Missouri while No. 7 Alabama will play at Arkansas, where the Razorbacks are unranked with a 3-2 record.
Around the rest of the league, LSU will be at Florida, ULM is at Kentucky, Charleston Southern will be at Vanderbilt and Chattanooga will be at Tennessee.
Let’s get the seemingly easy picks out of the way first before the SEC Crystal Ball dives into the heart of the schedule.
The three SEC teams should have a winning Saturday against non-conference opponents: Vanderbilt, Tennessee and Kentucky should all win and win handily.
Now for the tough games …
Alabama needs a bounce back win over Arkansas in the Crimson Tide is going to stay in the picture for the SEC West championship and a possible playoff berth.
Alabama will need to have a lot of heart to bounce back after the loss last week to Ole Miss. This will be Alabama’s chance to prove McCarron wrong or kiss its championship hopes goodbye. For Arkansas, after tough losses to Auburn and LSU, this is a chance to give Bret Bielema his first signature win at Arkansas.
The Crystal Ball is picking Alabama to show its heart and beat the Hogs.
The Georgia at Missouri game got a lot more interesting on Thursday when Bulldogs coach Mark Richt suspended superstar Todd Gurley indefinitely for violation of NCAA rules. With Gurley out, the Bulldogs may be in trouble.
“Defensively, a year ago they were tremendous when it came to pass rush, tackles for loss and all that,” said Richt. “Here they go again. They run that 4-3 look, and those defensive ends are very similar to the kind of ends that we played with back when I was at Florida State. You just kind of turn them loose, let them penetrate up the field. They’re almost in a pass rushing mode every snap, and they’ll retrace and take care of the run game second, basically.”
“I think every player and coach in the country would rather get up and play at 11 o’clock in the morning,” said Missouri coach Gary Pinkel of the early start. “They want to get it over instead of agonizing about it all day long. I don’t personally ever look at it that way. It is what it is. There’s a huge difference in playing at seven o’clock at night versus playing at 11 o’clock in the morning. You wake up and have your pre-game meal at 7 a.m. The second you bounce out of bed you better have your head right to play. You don’t get any of your Saturday to work on getting yourself ready to play. It’s all about preparation.”
The Crystal Ball is picking Missouri.
LSU will be at Florida and Jeff Driskel will get the start for the Gators despite being benched in last week’s win over Tennessee. If Driskel struggles again, Will Muschamp would be quick to pull the plug but earlier in the week he suspended backup quarterback Treon Harris.
LSU is still smarting from the spanking it got at the hands of Auburn last week and will look to take out its frustrations on the Gators.
“It’s a lot of football left to play and the need for our guys to understand the direction we’re going,” said Les Miles. “I think they will be very comfortable with. I can tell you that the character in that room and that building and the type of people that are there will certainly respond, and that to me is the reason that I have confidence in how we’ll go forward.
“I think there’s an opportunity for us to play best and to continue to improve, and there’s reasons for our play, and frankly, I think our guys will understand that and take those strides that they need to take to be a quality football team.”
The Crystal Ball says the Tigers will get redemption by beating Florida.
Ole Miss is still flying high from its win over Alabama and Texas A&M got thumped by Mississippi State. This one will be a battle with two teams seemingly going in opposite directions. Ole Miss is No. 3 in the AP poll while Texas A&M will be out to prove that last week was a fluke.
“It’s one of the more difficult places to play in this nation,” said Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze. “I know that they’ll be hungry to get back out. Their offense does a really good job, and they have great players everywhere. Their defense is very athletic and has been pretty solid throughout the course of the year. It’s going to be a great challenge. They’re arguably one of the top-15 or top-10 programs in the nation right now. It’s going to be a tremendous challenge playing in that environment against a talented team.”
Texas A&M’s Kevin Sumlin knows his team will have a battle on its hands.
“They lead the league in defense. They are second nationally in scoring defense,” he said. “They have a veteran quarterback who has played a lot of football. We’ve played against him every year. Last week he made plays to win the game. He’s surrounded with talented players offensively and defensively that are explosive. They’ve done everything they’ve needed to do to be where they are right now.”
The Crystal Ball says Texas A&M will come out on top.
Finally in what should be the game of the day, Auburn will put its No. 2 ranking on the line in Starkville. Mississippi State will be out to continue to prove itself despite a 5-0 record, all coming against teams that were undefeated when the Bulldogs played them.
MSU quarterback Dak Prescott against Auburn QB Nick Marshall will be something to watch. The nation’s third-leading rusher is Josh Robinson of State and he will be running against one of the nation’s stingiest defenses. Auburn has stopped its opponent’s last 18 consecutive third-down tries.
“You look at Auburn and the type of team they are, the team knows how to win. Obviously they are the defending conference champion. They got to play for a national championship last year. Their guys know how to win. They’ve played in big games and know how to play in big games,” said Dam Mullen.
“They have one of the top defenses in the conference. You look at them, they have a lot of talented players. Really another a huge challenge for us this week with a great team coming in. Should be a pretty exciting game, should be fun and should be a great atmosphere. We’ll be ready to go play.”
The Crystal Ball believes Auburn will handle the noise from the cow bells and hand State its first loss of the year.
