This is a rare week in SEC play, as none of the seven games on the slate has a clear favorite. Even the lone game featuring an out-of-conference opponent is a tough call: Arkansas hosts Liberty, a team the Razorbacks probably weren’t counting on being a fringe College Football Playoff contender when they scheduled it.
Last week’s record: 4-1 (80.0%)
Season record: 64-14 (82.1%)
FLORIDA at TEXAS A&M
The Aggies are on the verge of falling apart, if they haven’t already. After a handful of losses, here come the suspensions and talk of team discord. Texas A&M is on its third quarterback of the season, a true freshman at that, but it’s not immediately a given that the Aggies shouldn’t have been starting him the whole year anyway. Florida is still in that baby giraffe stage under a new head coach, and the Gators just suspended one of their best defensive players, Brenton Cox Jr. The game is in Kyle Field but at this point in a sorry season, how much of an advantage will that be?
Florida 24
Texas A&M 21
ALABAMA at LOUISIANA STATE
See our extended preview!
TENNESSEE at GEORGIA
It’s been a long time since this game meant this much. At stake is control of the SEC East and perhaps a College Football Playoff berth. For the loser of this game to advance to the CFP, it’s likely that the winner would have to subsequently beat the SEC West representative in the SEC Championship Game. Two teams getting in from the SEC East looks unlikely this year. As for the game itself, Tennessee’s offense has been dangerous all year, but the Volunteers unexpectedly shut down Kentucky and QB Will Levis last week in a one-sided victory over a pretty good Wildcat team.
Georgia can’t keep up with Tennessee on offense the way Alabama did, but the Bulldogs might not have to. Good defense can still beat great offense if the Bulldogs can do a better job in coverage than Alabama did in Knoxville.
Georgia 34
Tennessee 31
KENTUCKY at MISSOURI
This one was a clear call for the Wildcats just a week ago, but that was before two things happened. First, the Tigers won by a clear margin over suddenly-upstart South Carolina; then, Kentucky got blown out by Tennessee. The latter wasn’t completely unexpected, thanks to the potency of the Tennessee offense, but either the Volunteer defense has also gotten better, or Kentucky’s offense is regressing. Suddenly, these two teams don’t look separated by all that much. The Missouri defense has improved, and the Tigers have the home-field advantage. But the Wildcats – we assume – still have a gigantic advantage at the quarterback position.
Kentucky 27
Missouri 19
SOUTH CAROLINA at VANDERBILT
South Carolina looked poised to finish with a season of around eight wins; then the Gamecocks got controlled in a loss to Missouri and are now back to hoping for bowl eligibility. They can take care of that this week in Nashville, and they’d better: South Carolina closes with Florida, Tennessee and Clemson, and suddenly none of those games look particularly winnable. Vanderbilt has gotten better as the season has gone along, is playing at home, and is coming off an off-week. South Carolina needs to pull it all together here or the postseason dreams might fade out.
South Carolina 23
Vanderbilt 20
LIBERTY at ARKANSAS
There were a few people who thought Liberty might get a mention for the College Football Playoff released this week, but a one-point loss to Wake Forest probably ended any playoff consideration. Still, that makes Liberty more than just a dangerous opponent for Arkansas; the Flames might actually be the favorites here. Depending on what you believe about the Auburn coaching search, Liberty head coach Hugh Freeze might be a candidate for the Auburn job despite just signing a long, expensive contract extension.
If you believe the other Auburn-related rumors, Freeze is in competition with Lane Kiffin and Deion Sanders for the Tigers’ job. Would a win over Arkansas bolster his candidacy? Hard to say, but Arkansas hasn’t been as consistent as some expected as the season has moved along.
Liberty 38
Arkansas 34
AUBURN at MISSISSIPPI STATE
Auburn’s offense has been trying to come around the last couple of weeks, and now OL coach Will Friend will be calling the plays, given that Bryan Harsin’s tenure in Auburn finally came to an end, as did that of several assistants. Carnell Williams is the interim head coach, which begs the question of what’s going to happen if Williams leads Auburn to a strong finish down the stretch. Would the Tigers consider making him the head coach over more established candidates from outside the program? If it’s going to happen, it’s got to start this week in Starkville.
Win here and there could be some momentum for Williams. Lose, and it’s what everyone is expecting, anyway, and Auburn just keeps moving along in its coaching search. Mississippi State’s last game was a loss to Alabama in which the Bulldogs looked how they usually look against Alabama with Mike Leach coaching: very, very average. And speaking of Leach, he’s also a candidate for the Auburn job, as Auburn’s new athletic director was just poached away from the Bulldog program.
Mississippi St. 38
Auburn 27
IDLE: Ole Miss
Follow Jess Nicholas on Twitter at @TideFansJessN