Can Tennessee upset Georgia? Week 5 SEC Preview

It’s Week 5 in the SEC, and suddenly the mouths are wagging about the potential of Georgia and Alabama playing each other in the SEC Championship Game in December. Guys, it’s only December, and it’s Georgia. They could shoot themselves in the foot. A place where foot-shooting could start could be Neyland Stadium, Tennessee. Also on the slate is Alabama hosting Ole Miss (which may believe won’t rival the last three classics), and the only all-ranked clash of the day between Mississippi State and Auburn. South Carolina and Texas A&M also play, as does Vanderbilt and Florida. Apart from that, Arkansas hosts New Mexico State, LSU does the same for Troy, and Kentucky hosts Eastern Michigan.

So what games fascinate us? What games bore us? Here we are with our thoughts….

  1. No.7 Georgia (-7) at Tennessee: This is a rivalry that no-one seems to mention when they talk about ‘hot SEC rivalries’, yet since 2011, no game has been seperated by more than 8 points. Tennessee’s won two games in a row (we all remember last year’s game-ending Josh Dobbs bomb to Juwan Jennings and the year before when Nick Chubb wrecked his knee at Neyland), and Georgia’s potentially in a major let-down spot after pulverising Mississippi State, and Tennessee’s abject home win against UMass. Everyone at the moment loves Georgia’s linebacking corps, but how will they cope against John Kelly, one of college football’s best running backs? Everyone thinks Georgia will walk this, but we’re not so sure. PREDICTION: Georgia wins by 3 in (another) classic.
  2. No.24 Mississippi State at No.13 Auburn (-9 1/2): Fun fact about this match-up: Mississippi State has beaten Auburn two of the last 3 years. Auburn comes into this fixture having played a ‘feel better’ game against Mizzou, where all offensive worries were cured by Missouri’s defense, which is so bad at the moment it would probably give up 40 to a middle school team. Mississippi State comes to The Plains licking their wounds after a shellacking by Georgia.  Nick Fitzgerald, who went 14-29 for 83 yards, 0 Tds and 2 INTs, and ran for 47 yards, while Aenis Williams had just 36 all-purpose yards. Now they face a defense that’s as good as Georgia’s. Ouch. PREDICTION: Auburn by 14. 
  3. Ole Miss at No.1 Alabama (-28): According to Vegas, Ole Miss is going to get absolutely shelled by an Alabama team who has just come off crushing Vanderbilt 59-0 without very much effort in the least. Having seen Ole Miss at Cal, the Rebs are going to (desperately) need Shea Patterson not to make the sort of the stupid mistakes he made in HippieWorld if they are to have any chance against Saban’s polished machine. The hope for Ole Miss fans is that top receiver AJ Brown will be back after a knee injury, and his renewed partnership with DeMarkus Lodge will stretch Alabam’s secondary, which was tested more than it probably liked against Colorado State, who threw for 247 yards and 2 TDs on it. On Alabama’s side, we expect the Tide to rush Ole Miss to death with Damien Harris, Bo Scarborough and Jalen Hurts. PREDICTION: Alabama by 24. 
  4. South Carolina at Texas A&M (-9): The fact that Deebo Samuel’s out is really hurting South Carolina. The loss at Kentucky two weeks ago, coupled by the win-that-felt-like-a-loss against Louisiana Tech (this particularly hurt me because I told anyone who would listen to take South Carolina at -8), shows how badly Jake Bentley is missing his favorite target. And despite all the anguish and hatred, Texas A&M’s 4-1 and very entertaining indeed. We love Christian Kirk, who’s an all-world player. QB Kellen Mond, who threw for over 200 yards and 2 TDs and ran for another 100, as well as a settled running attack, will be too much for Carolina. PREDICTION: Texas A&M by 17.
  5. Vanderbilt at Florida (-10): After being annihilated by Alabama at home (something we all saw coming), Vandy has got to go to The Swamp to play a Florida side who has been the epitome of scrappy over the last couple of weeks. Having said that, the Gators have won both of the scrappy games, and are looking a little better. The Gators may well start QB Luke Del Rio over Feleipe Franks after Del Rio dug that Gators out of a 13-point hole last week. The last two games of this rivalry have ended up with Florida winning 13-6 and 9-7. We should all pray for something a little more high-scoring. PREDICTION: Florida wins by 14.
  6. Troy at No.25 LSU (-20 1/2): After giving them so much love in the first two weeks of the season, LSU has been a massive letdown for us. After squeaking by Syracuse, the Tigers face Troy, where LSU will be praying a victory won’t be a result of another huge comeback a la 2008. And he 3-1 Trojans could give LSU some problems. QB Brandon Silvers has already thrown for over 1,000 yards this season (102-154, 1098 yards, 2 TDs, 2 INTs), and he’ll face a Tigers secondary that gave up 308 of them through the air last week. We’re not saying Troy’s going to win this one, but it’s probably going to be closer than Vegas would suggest. PREDICTION: LSU by 18, after a close first half.
  7. Eastern Michigan at Kentucky (-14 1/2): If it wasn’t for the defensive blunder of 2017, Kentucky would be unbeaten going into the match-up against Eastern Michigan. We think they are going to be a bit flat for the first couple of quarters against an Eastern Michigan side that’s been fairly miserly all season long, before finding some steam. PREDICTION: Kentucky by 17, although it’s uncomfortable in the first half
  8. New Mexico State at Arkansas (-17): Arkansas lost a very fun game against Texas A&M, and will try and regroup against a New Mexico State side who has a bit of confidence this year after smashing UTEP 41-14 last week (they had gone 1-2 in the weeks before and lost those games by a combined 9 points). Arkansas will be expected to put on the afterburners and roll NMSU. PREDICTION: Arkansas scores a bunch of points in the third quarter, and wins by 21.