A Look at Week 7 in the SEC

       Last week featured few surprises. LSU, Alabama, and South Carolina dominated, Mississippi State struggled with an inferior opponent, and Georgia-Tennessee ended up being a tight one. The only pick missed in Week 6 was Auburn over Arkansas. To be honest, I had a bad feeling about it once I found out that Auburn's leading receiver Emory Blake would not be available for the game. Indeed, their passing game suffered. As a team they were 9-25 passing for 104 yards and three interceptions. It's difficult to win any game in the SEC with those numbers. Not to mention, they had 11 penalties for 105 yards and at least three crucial drops. Arkansas took advantage, piling up 262 passing yards on the way to a 38-14 blowout.
      Georgia's defense showed up well again, and Tyler Bray broke the base of the thumb on his throwing hand and may be out for the rest of the season. To add insult to injury, Tauren Poole injured his hamstring and is out for this week at least. That was recipe for a 20-12 UGA victory. UGA will still need a little help if they want to win the East, however, as they lost the head-to-head battle against South Carolina in Week 2.

Now on to Week 7....

Game of the Week

Florida's freshman QB Jacoby Brissett

Florida at #24 Auburn (7:00 PM, ESPN): Both teams come into this game with a 4-2 record. Auburn's passing game has been very suspect the past three or four games, and that's something they will look to get corrected. Barrett Trotter will remain the starting quarterback this week, but you have to figure he will have a short leash. If he struggles after the first quarter or so we may see Clint Moseley get his first real action - but will it be too late? Auburn has really shown the ability to pound the ball on the ground, and if they can get some semblance of a passing game they may be able to win 8 games this year. Florida will be without starting quarterback John Brantley once again, and it looks like true freshman Jacoby Brissett is the favorite to start this weekend. Brissett got his first start against LSU last Saturday and completed 8 of 14 passes for 94 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions. He will be entering another hostile environment, which does not bode well for Florida. According to auburnsports.com's Justin Hokanson, since 2000 Auburn is 23-4 in night games at Jordan-Hare Stadium. The true freshman quarterback will definitely be tested. Also, Florida has given up 464 rushing yards in their two losses, which plays right into Auburn's strength. Look for Auburn to pound it out on the ground and get a score or two from Michael Dyer, as well as taking advantage of Florida's mistakes on offense. This will be a close one, and both teams are on the ropes, but Auburn's home field advantage will allow them to escape with a victory despite a basically even matchup.
     Prediction: Auburn 27 Florida 23

Second Tier Games
#1 LSU at Tennessee (3:30 PM, CBS): LSU travels to Neyland Stadium to take on the Vols. This game has all the makings of a blowout as LSU's tenacious defense will be coming after a Tennessee offense without QB Tyler Bray, RB Tauren Poole, and WR Justin Hunter. Tennessee doesn't seem to have much of a chance without their top playmakers at all three skill positions. LSU is still on course to remain undefeated when they face off with an undefeated Alabama for a pseudo National Championship of sorts on November 5th. LSU fans just hope Les Miles's loyalty to Jordan Jefferson won't mess things up in the meantime. LSU in a romp.
     Prediction: LSU 44 Tennessee 10


#15 South Carolina at Mississippi State (12:21 PM, SEC Network): South Carolina was able to ignite its passing game last week against Kentucky by turning to sophomore QB Connor Shaw. Shaw was promoted to QB1 after Garcia had another poor showing against Auburn the previous week. The move seemed to have really worked as Shaw threw for 311 yards and 4 touchdowns. Granted it was Kentucky, but the offense looked better than it had with Garcia at the helm against similarly weak opponents ECU and Navy. Garcia is apparently no longer an option as he was reportedly kicked off the team. South Carolina will try to build on last week's momentum as they take on a struggling Mississippi State team. Last week, Mississippi State trailed UAB 3-0 at the half, but put in backup Tyler Russell for the second half and he threw three TDs in the second half for the bulldogs. It remains to be seen which quarterback will start this week for MSU, but neither will be enough to defeat South Carolina.
     Prediction: South Carolina 34 Mississippi State 17


Georgia at Vanderbilt (7:00 PM, FSS): Georgia was able to pull out a win last week on the road in Neyland Stadium, which is always a tough place to play. Freshman RB Isaiah Crowell impressed again, running for 58 yards and two key touchdowns. Vanderbilt has been struggling mightily since starting 3-0 as they have not scored a touchdown in their last two games. Georgia should be able to handle them pretty easily.
    Prediction: Georgia 31 Vanderbilt 6


#2 Alabama at Ole Miss (6:00 PM, ESPN2): Is there even any question as to who will win this game? Ole Miss is challenging Kentucky to be the worst team in the SEC, and Alabama is challenging LSU to be the best team in the SEC. Ole Miss fans should probably just stay in The Grove during this game because it won't be pretty.
    Prediction: Alabama 47 Ole Miss 3

Bonus Non-SEC Game

Can Baylor's Robert Griffin III lead
them to victory over the Aggies?

#20 Baylor at #21 Texas A&M (12:00 PM, FX): We all remember the beginning of the season when Baylor went back and forth with TCU and finally was able to win the game with stellar play from QB Robert Griffin III. Texas A&M has had a string of bad losses giving up big halftime leads to Oklahoma State's and Arkansas's. Baylor's only loss comes at the hands of a talented Kansas State team. Baylor's offense is remarkably similar to that of Oklahoma State and Arkansas, and it has to make you think that they will have similar success against the Aggies. I've tried to find a reason to pick the Texas A&M in this game, but I just don't see how the Aggies will stop Griffin. They will have to battle the "here we go again" mentality even if they have a lead, and that does bode well for them against another high-powered offense.
     Prediction: Baylor 38 Texas A&M 34
*All Times Eastern




Lucas's Week 6 Record: 5-1
Lucas's Season Record: 45-8

A Look at Week 5 in the SEC

Week 4 didn't bring much excitement within the SEC. Other than LA Tech taking Mississippi State to overtime, all the games went as expected and weren't that close. My predictions from last week ended up 8-0, which came as a result of there not really being any difficult games to pick other than the non-SEC game I included. LSU throttled another ranked team, and still have all the makings of a national title contender. Alabama looked impressive as well, destroying a quality Arkansas team. It's shaping up to be a heavyweight bout between Alabama and LSU on November 5th.

Now let's take a look at Week 5...

Game of the Week

Will Rainey and the Gators be able
to pull off the upset?

#3 Alabama at #12 Florida (8:00 PM, CBS): This game will really tell us if Florida is the real deal or not. They are undefeated so far, and have looked much more impressive than I thought they would be in their first season under Will Muschamp. It will be interesting to see Florida's dynamic speed in Chris Rainey and Jeff Demps against Alabama's lock down defense. This game being in The Swamp makes it intriguing and definitely increases Florida's chances of pulling the upset. However, Alabama's defense is for real, and they have looked very impressive so far this year. It also helps to have two power backs in Trent Richardson and Eddie Lacy that will help turn the time of possession in Alabama's favor. Alabama wins, but it will be their closest game so far this year.
     Prediction: Alabama 24-21

Top Tier Games:

Auburn will have to give Dyer more
carries if they want to have any
chance to win.

Auburn at #10 South Carolina (3:30 PM, CBS): This game will begin a very tough four game stretch for the Auburn Tigers. In the next four weeks they play on the road against South Carolina and Arkansas, home against Florida, and then back on the road to take on LSU. I think most Auburn fans would consider it a victory to come out of that stretch 2-2 and would maybe take being 1-3. Auburn's biggest challenge is going to be trying to stop Marcus Lattimore with their defense that has been porous so far this season. According to Vegas, Auburn is a 10 point underdog. The plausible reason for an Auburn upset is the fact that South Carolina's Stephen Garcia has thrown 7 interceptions in the last 3 games, and that will give any team a chance. However, you know that South Carolina has had this date circled on their calendar for a year after getting beat twice by AU last season including a thrashing in the SEC Championship Game. My heart tells me Auburn, but my head tells me South Carolina. South Carolina wins, but, as Lee Corso would say, it will be closer than the experts think.
     Prediction: South Carolina 34-31


#14 Texas A&M at #18 Arkansas (12:00 PM, ESPN): Both of these teams are coming off their first loss of the season last week. Texas A&M was officially admitted into the SEC this week and so it's a nifty coincidence that they also face an SEC opponent as well. A&M has the same problem this week that they had last week against Oklahoma State, and that's a high powered offense. Arkansas has an elite passing game along with home field advantage, and for those reasons Arkansas will pull out the victory.
     Prediction: Arkansas 31-27


Mississippi State at Georgia (12:00 PM, FSN): Both of these teams have definitely had their struggles this season. Mississippi State had a 1-2 LA Tech team take them to overtime last week and Georgia started off the season with two straight losses. However, Georgia is coming off of two straight wins and is looking to build that momentum with a win over MSU. Although Georgia has had its flaws, they have shown more than Mississippi State this season. Georgia takes the victory at home.
    Prediction: Georgia 28-17

Bonus Non-SEC Game

Wisconsin's Russell Wilson

#8 Nebraska at #7 Wisconsin (8:00 PM, ABC): This game features a top ten matchup between two Big Ten foes. Russell Wilson has fit in perfectly at Wisconsin and has the makings of a potential Heisman candidate. What could have been for Auburn, right? Wisconsin has a very impressive defense that ranks right behind Alabama as the #3 scoring defense in the nation only allowing 8.5 points per game. The defense has looked good and Russell Wilson has jolted the offense this season and has them hitting on all cylinders scoring 48.5 points per game. Wisconsin wins this showdown at Camp Randall Stadium.
    Prediction: Wisconsin 31-21


The Rest
Kentucky at #1 LSU (12:21 PM, SEC Network): LSU 44-7
Buffalo at Tennessee (12:30 PM, CSS): Tennessee 31-10
Ole Miss at Fresno State (9:15 PM, ESPN2): 24-17 Ole Miss
*All Times Eastern


Lucas' Week 4 Record: 8-0
Lucas' Season Record: 33-6