It’s a great weekend for SEC football. The weather (at least in Atlanta) is finally brisk, and a lot is on the line. The way it should be. Except that I’m not in Baton Rouge gearing up to go to LSU / Arkansas. A concession for the baby and wife, who deserved a quiet, stress-free Thanksgiving more than I deserved a Friday of LSU football.
And away we go. I’m not even going to try to analyze the LSU / Arkansas matchup. On one side you have a team that gives up 78 yards per game on the ground but let a team that averages less than 125 yards get 200. On the other side you have a team that whose rushing output has ranged from 67 yards in one game to 542 in another - with the same guys carrying the ball.
If Arkansas puts together a good game, No. 1 LSU could be in trouble. Brent Schaeffer of Ole Miss is like a bad Darren McFadden, and he would have beaten LSU last week if Coach O wasn’t stupid enough to take him out of the game.
I expect Bo Pelini to game-plan heavily around a running Darren McFadden and Felix Jones. I would think the idea is to play single-coverage on receivers and make Arkansas run past more of the defense or let McFadden or Casey Dick throw it. I hope the planning and execution is solid this week.
Offensively, the Tigers should be able to move the ball and score, so I predict a wild one.
Tigers 45 - 43
Elsewhere in the SEC:
No. 18 Tennessee at No. 28 Kentucky - I’ll be pulling for the Vols here, but this one’s set up for Kentucky to win. The ‘Cats carry the SEC’s top passing offense and the Vols have the SEC’s second-worst passing defense. However, the ‘Cats also bring a bad defense, so this one could get out of hand. Kentucky 49 - 48
Alabama at No. 26 Auburn - I don’t remember the last time I pulled for Auburn in this game, but I’ll be doing that this weekend. The irrational arrogance of Alabama fans early in the year (woo-hoo! we beat Arkansas!!), is getting vomited back in their faces, and I’m enjoying the hell out of that. It’s not a Fonzie thing, but I now wish for nothing but bad to come down on Bama. War Eagles 24 - 10
Ole Miss at Mississippi State - Also known as the Eh Bowl for it’s lack of significance. But this year it’s a 7-win season on the line for MSU vs. avoiding a winless SEC season for Ole Miss. I think Coach O will take lessons from the LSU game. Ole Miss 27 - 20
No. 7 Georgia at Georgia Tech - I don’t know much about the Jackets, but I think UGA has figured it out. And they’ll probably come out in white helmets and red pants for good measure. Motivation! Dawgs 31 - 17
Florida State at No. 12 Florida - Mop-up duty for Tebow’s Heisman push. Gators 45 - 20
No. 22 Clemson at South Carolina - Also an ACC/SEC matchup I don’t have much analysis on. But the Cocks have looked very bad of late. I’ll give this one to Clemson. Tigers 21 - 17
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