Last Week’s Record: 8-1 (88.9%)
2026 Season Record: 43-8 (84.3%)
The Predictions Dept. bounced back nicely in Week 4, losing only the Florida-Ole Miss affair, as we underestimated the depth of the hangover the Rebels would be looking at following their win over LSU the week prior. This week, Alabama-Mississippi State may be the premier game on the schedule, and it’s happening at 11 a.m. to start the day off. The next-best game may be Florida’s road trip to Missouri.
ARKANSAS at TEXAS A&M
Arkansas won its second game of the year last week over Tulsa, and that just might be the Razorbacks’ last for 2026. The Hogs’ best chance for a third win may actually be this week, because Texas A&M has suddenly fallen off a cliff. The A&M offense is offensive, and LSU walked all over this team last week. Arkansas doesn’t have a lot of explosiveness and the defense isn’t great, but Mike Elko needs to rebound this week in a big way. Aggie fans aren’t known for their patience, and the grumblings have started over Elko and whether the 2025 season was more the beneficiary of weak scheduling rather than a harbinger of Elko’s coaching ability. If the game were in Fayetteville, we might take a closer look at this.
Texas A&M 27
Arkansas 13
ALABAMA at MISSISSIPPI STATE
See our extended preview!
AUBURN at TENNESSEE
This one will come down to whether Auburn’s offense looks like it did against Florida, or like it did against Baylor and Vanderbilt. Most likely, it will be the latter. Tennessee’s defense has done a good job of coming together, somewhat unexpectedly so, while the Volunteer offense is at least competent. Auburn is improving but there is limited headroom on this Tiger team, mostly due to offensive line concerns and some defensive portal additions that didn’t hit to the extend they probably should. With the game in Neyland Stadium, we can’t take this upset.
Tennessee 27
Auburn 16
FLORIDA at MISSOURI
Suddenly, Florida is ranked 8th, which is probably too high for this team, but understandable given the manner in which Florida put away Ole Miss last week. Jon Sumrall has become the toast of this class of head coaches in new places, but this reads like a trap game: a long road trip to Missouri to face a Tiger team that can run the ball and play defense. Missouri can also make plays from the quarterback position, but to be frank there’s not a really good way to explain how Missouri let Mississippi State beat the Tigers last week. Florida figures to be due for some downs to go with their ups sooner or later, but is this the week we see it?
Florida 30
Missouri 27
VANDERBILT at GEORGIA
It’s official: Vandy is Vandy again, at least at the moment. Losing to Auburn while failing to score 20 points in the process sort of confirms it. If you’re being hopeful from a Vanderbilt standpoint this week, the defense is coming together, but offensively this is no longer the Diego Pavia Show and it’s going to take some time before the Commodores can cause those kind of problems again. Georgia has been consistently competent all of 2026 and with the game in Georgia, we don’t see any reason to believe the Bulldogs will have problems.
Georgia 47
Vanderbilt 13
KENTUCKY at SOUTH CAROLINA
Outside of Alabama-Mississippi State, this is the most intriguing game on the schedule simply because we don’t know what’s going to happen. Kentucky is in a much better headspace right now, but South Carolina has more talent and the game is in Columbia. We’ll see whether Shane Beamer can get his troops back together, especially in light of the suspension of Dylan Stewart for slugging one of Alabama’s tight ends in the face last week. We like South Carolina’s offensive talent better, which is what is driving this pick – plus we’re not really sure what Kentucky actually did by beating Texas A&M two weeks ago.
South Carolina 31
Kentucky 23
MCNEESE STATE at LOUISIANA STATE
Why is this game happening in Week 5? Or at all, really?
LSU 59
McNeese 0
IDLE: Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Texas
Follow Jess Nicholas on X at @TideFansJessN