Last Week’s Record: 7-1 (87.5%)
Season’s Record: 87-20 (81.3%)
The Predictions Dept. only missed once during Week 12. Unfortunately, that miss was in the Alabama-Oklahoma matchup. This week, there is almost nothing of substance on the SEC schedule, as most teams have scheduled cupcake games in anticipation of rivalry week coming up seven days later. The headline game? Probably Florida-Tennessee.
ARKANSAS at TEXAS
If Florida-Tennessee isn’t the top game of the week, this certainly is. Arkansas has come close a four weeks in a row of beating superior opposition, but just hasn’t been able to get over the hump yet. It could very well happen against Texas, a team that we feel has been thoroughly overrated for most of the season relative to how good the Longhorns really are. The blowout loss to Georgia sort of confirmed our suspicions. Arkansas has lost eight games in a row but the Razorbacks are rarely out of it in any game. We might be inclined to call this one an Upset Special, especially given Arkansas’ ability to turn it up on offense, but the Hog defense has fallen apart, and the game is being played in the wrong state. Texas should be able to hold on at home.
Texas 30
Arkansas 20
EASTERN ILLINOIS at ALABAMA
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MERCER at AUBURN
The risk in scheduling FCS teams is that sometimes you end up getting a good one. Mercer is 9-1, winners of nine straight after a loss to Presbyterian in what ended up being Mercer’s opener (an earlier game against UC-Davis ended up being cancelled), but the Bears have yet to play an FBS team in 2025. If Hugh Freeze was still at Auburn and still trying to foist QB Jackson Arnold onto opponents, we might actually consider marking this one a one-score margin. We’re going to assume the changes Auburn has made recently will take some of the edge off this matchup, however, and it’s still a huge ask to expect any FCS team to ever upset any SEC team.
Auburn 44
Mercer 24
TENNESSEE at FLORIDA
Florida put up a good fight against Ole Miss for at least three quarters on the road and QB D.J. Lagway also showed signs of life, so it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Florida could give Tennessee some trouble. The Volunteers are talented but erratic, and Florida’s defense is good enough that if the Gators can just hold it together mentally for four quarters, they could force Tennessee into making enough critical errors to trigger the upset. It’s really the only legitimate potential upset on the board unless Texas’ Arch Manning gets lost of the way to the stadium and can’t face Arkansas, but it’s a long shot unless Lagway can find something to work with when he goes against the Tennessee secondary. This is a weird spot on the schedule for this game in general, but we’ll take it just to get some actual entertainment value. We doubt Tennessee fans are enthused about it, though.
Tennessee 38
Florida 27
CHARLOTTE at GEORGIA
“Charlotte vs. Georgia” sounds like a book about two sisters in the Old South fighting over a date to cotillion, and quite honestly that would be more entertaining than what this game is going to produce. Charlotte is 1-9 on the year and if the 49ers were matched up against Mercer instead of Georgia, we’d pick the Bears.
Georgia 59
Charlotte 7
KENTUCKY at VANDERBILT
Kentucky may have found something over the last three weeks, starting with a 10-3 road win over Auburn and following that up with a 38-7 beatdown of Florida. The Wildcats even managed to play consistent ball in a 42-10 win over Tennessee Tech last Saturday. Do they have enough to put a stake through the hearts of the Commodores? That may be too much to ask. Vandy has proved its legitimacy in 2025, although the Commodores’ last win took overtime to secure, a 45-38 victory over Auburn. The best news for Vanderbilt, other than the game being in Nashville, is the one true weakess of this team – its secondary – probably won’t show up against Kentucky, whose passing game is rudimentary.
Vanderbilt 34
Kentucky 24
WESTERN KENTUCKY at LOUISIANA STATE
Don’t look now, but the Hilltoppers are 8-2 on the year. The problem is they’ve played literally no one. It’s hard for a FBS team to get this deep into a season before playing a Power 4 team, but WKU has managed to pull off the trick. LSU held on for a one-point win over Arkansas last week and the Hilltopper defense has its issues. WKU’s only real calling card is being able to throw the ball, but LSU ought to be able to handle that threat while finding a welcome softness in the Hilltopper defense up front.
LSU 48
W. Kentucky 17
MISSOURI at OKLAHOMA
The Tigers put up good offensive numbers last week, but they did it against probably the worst defense in the conference (Mississippi State) and it’s really too much to ask a third-string true freshman quarterback to go into Norman and pull off the upset. Missouri’s best chance here is to catch Oklahoma sleepwalking after its big upset win over Alabama, because otherwise the Tigers’ offense will be playing right into the teeth of the Sooner defense. On the flip side, Missouri’s defense is plenty salty in its own right, ranking in the top 25 in all major statistical categories. Look for a slog-fest in the first half until Oklahoma wakes up a bit.
Oklahoma 23
Missouri 14
COASTAL CAROLINA at SOUTH CAROLINA
The Chanticleers have one of the worst passing offenses in college football, but the rushing offense has woken up in a big way over the last month; Coastal Carolina has scored 40 or more points in four straight games and the record has improved to 6-4 after a horrible start to the year that saw them put up single-digit point totals three times in five games. Unfortunately, the Chanticleers have been equally bad at stopping anyone; they’ve given up 136 points over the last four games, losing one of those contests to Georgia Southern. They won’t be able to stop South Carolina, so the only question is will South Carolina be able to stop the CCU rushing attack.
South Carolina 45
Coastal Carolina 20
SAMFORD at TEXAS A&M
Texas A&M nearly threw away a lot of goodwill from pollsters last week when it took a miraculous second-half rebound to come back from down 30-3 to South Carolina and win the game by a point. The A&M defense has been skittering sideways off-and-on over the course of the whole year; the good news for the Aggies is that Samford ranks 116th in FCS in scoring. This one won’t be remotely close, and the Aggies can start getting ready for Texas early.
Texas A&M 48
Samford 10
IDLE: Ole Miss, Mississippi State
Follow Jess Nicholas on X at @TideFansJessN