By Jess Nicholas, TideFans.com Editor-In-Chief
Nov. 23, 2011
Last week’s record: 7-1 (87.5%)
Season record: 80-8 (90.9%)
Upon further review, video evidence shows the Predictions Dept. did not properly pick the Vanderbilt-Tennessee winner. Therefore, the perfect week eludes us once more. For the final week of the regular season, LSU-Arkansas obviously highlights the slate of games, but Alabama-Auburn is close on its heels and there are other interesting sidebars, such as Vanderbilt and Tennessee looking for bowl eligibility and Georgia trying to avoid an embarrassing upset against Georgia Tech.
FLORIDA STATE at FLORIDA
Jimbo Fisher and Will Muschamp oppose each other for the first time in this series, and both teams are hobbling toward the finish. FSU is coming off an embarrassing loss to Virginia, while Florida took all four quarters to dispatch with Furman last week. The Gators hold the home-field advantage in this one and Florida’s offense appeared to awaken last week, but it’s hard to tell whether an outburst against Furman constitutes statistical relevancy. Florida State, meanwhile, has sputtered in back-to-back weeks against Virginia and Miami, and The Swamp is no place to find oneself running into offensive issues. This may be the toughest single pick on the entire board this week.
Florida 23
Florida State 17
ALABAMA at AUBURN
GEORGIA at GEORGIA TECH
Georgia is a winner of nine straight games, but Georgia Tech’s offense might be too much for the oft-undisciplined Bulldog defense to stop. The Yellow Jackets, however, haven’t held an opponent to single digits in scoring yet this year, and Tech has lost three times in its last five games. In all honesty, Georgia Tech is a crapshoot on a weekly basis. The Jackets beat Clemson by two scores, then lost big to Virginia Tech and then barely got by Duke. Georgia, meanwhile, needs not to rest on its laurels before heading into SEC Championship Game week.
Georgia 34 Georgia Tech 31
TENNESSEE at KENTUCKY
Kentucky can’t win bowl eligibility, but it can ruin Tennessee’s chance at it and pick up the first win over the Volunteers in decades in the process. Kentucky played Georgia close last week before falling late, while Tennessee needed overtime to dispatch with Vanderbilt. What this means is that this game threatens to become a big ol’ pillow fight before it’s over. Despite the game being in Lexington, Kentucky has a penchant for choking against the Vols, and Tennessee could win bowl eligibility with a victory here.
Tennessee 27
Kentucky 17
CLEMSON at SOUTH CAROLINA
Clemson has been on the skids lately. After getting drilled by Georgia Tech three weeks ago, the Tigers eked out a win over Wake Forest, then fell hard to North Carolina State. The Gamecocks, on the other hand, have played respectable ball ever since falling to Auburn on Oct. 1. Neither team has a lot to play for at the moment; the national title dreams of both teams are over, and South Carolina can’t get to the SEC title game. When in doubt, go for home-field advantage and the team with the best defense.
South Carolina 25
Clemson 20
VANDERBILT at WAKE FOREST
The Demon Deacons are already bowl-eligible, and Vanderbilt is hoping to say the same after this week. What will determine it, most likely, is how quickly the Commodores can put out of their heads the ream-job Vandy got from the referees at the end of its game against Tennessee last week. In recent years, Wake Forest has challenged Vanderbilt, but hasn’t stopped them. The Commodores need one more miracle for bowl eligibility.
Vanderbilt 23
Wake Forest 21
ARKANSAS at LOUISIANA STATE
Here we go. If Arkansas wins, the Razorbacks could jump their way into the national title game. If LSU wins, the Tigers probably guarantee themselves one of the two slots and would probably lock Alabama in as well, providing the Crimson Tide beats Auburn. Arkansas has had LSU’s number in recent years, but LSU has its best chance in years to do something about it. Arkansas is still reeling from the loss of teammate Garrett Uekman this week, and it’s unclear how his memory will affect the Arkansas players. LSU wants to finish the year undefeated. A clash of the titans indeed.
LSU 21
Arkansas 20
MISSISSIPPI at MISSISSIPPI STATE
Ole Miss would like to finish without 10 losses, but the Rebels have quit and this team has gone about a month without scoring in double digits. Mississippi State needs to take the next step towards relevancy, but a more immediate goal is winning this game in order to be bowl-eligible. Like the Alabama-Auburn game, this one frequently puts out outcomes no one saw coming. But if Ole Miss somehow won this game, it might be enough to singlehandedly give Dan Mullen a place on the Hotseat Express in 2012.
Mississippi St. 28
Ole Miss 14