Will Alabama continue to roll against LSU? Week 10 Predictions

It’s LSU-Alabama weekend, which means we’ve got a SEC doubleheader. The other game’s going to be in Athens for new No.1 Georgia, who host South Carolina. Otherwise, a lot of eyes are going to be on Missouri for Florida’s visit to Columbia – mainly because of the changed storyline that comes with firing your head coach midway through the season, as Florida did. Then there’s the expectancy that no-one’s going to show up to Neyland for Southern Miss’ visit to Tennessee as a protest against Butch Jones, and Ole Miss vs Kentucky ain’t exactly one for the neutrals, either. But one game we love is Auburn vs Texas A&M. It’s such a damned pity that the game’s going to be on so early….

With all that said, here’s your SEC Week 10 preview.

1.No.19 LSU at No.2 Alabama (-21): Some LSU fans claim that they should win this one because of their talent, but if you watched the Tigers this season, you’ll know that Ed Orgeron’s side hasn’t played well in four quarters against good teams (so BYU, UTC Chattanooga and maybe Ole Miss doesn’t count). Alabama has played well in four quarters of EVERY game they’ve played in. The problem that LSU has is that any mistakes they make (like a late hit/ pass interference/ any other stupid penalty) will be exploited ruthlessly by a Nick Saban side that needs to put up a monster win to help its credibility in the College Football Play-Off race. As for tactics, we expect Alabama to stack the box to stop Derrius Guice, while we expect LSU to try and do the same against Alabama’s two-headed monster of Harris and Scarborough in an effort to make a not-particularly good thrower Jalen Hurts throw. Mind you, LSU’s QB Danny Etling has been just the good side of serviceable this season. PREDICTION: Alabama 38, LSU 7. ‘Nuff said.

2. Southern Miss at Tennessee (-6.5): All of Knoxville seems to be angry, with burning couches and campaigns to get rid of Butch Jones. The only reason why we’re finding this game interesting is that we see about how many fans listen to the #EmptyNeyland campaign, in which fans are trying to show their under-appreciation/hatred of Butch Jones by not showing. We haven’t had any answers on Twitter of whether Big Orange fans would do the same against upcoming SEC opponents LSU and Vanderbilt. Oh, and if Tennessee struggles against Southern Miss (and they are only a 6.5 point favorite against a 5-3 team that is medicore in total offense and total defense), then God help UT….PREDICTION: Tennessee wins and beats the spread, winning by 14.

3. Florida at Missouri: (-3) Missouri’s playing with a bit of hope this season, because the offense has sparked into gear lately – albeit against some pretty poor sides. Florida, on the other hand, should have fired Doug Nussmeier well before Jim McElwain suffered the same blow last Sunday….that’s how bad the offense is this season. Now that Randy Shannon, the team’s interim head coach is in charge? Will things change. Firstly, he’s dumped underperforming frosh Feleipe Franks and put in Malik Zaire for this clash for the SEC Titans. If Zaire has a good game, it’ll mainly because Missouri’s defense has proven to be completely incompetent just about anybody its faced. So bet on Florida winning in the same sort of game that they did against Vanderbilt….a shoot-out. PREDICTION: Florida wins by 7 a weird high-scorer.

4. South Carolina at No.1 Georgia (-23.5): Georgia is No.1 in the country. Georgia fans are already celebrating the new dominance of college football, seemingly forgetting that we’ve got a month to go and weird things can happen – especially in an upcoming trip to Auburn….where weird things happen. But we don’t think weird things are going to happen against South Carolina, which is a not-bad but not-particularly-good team this year. PREDICTION: Bulldogs keep barking. Georgia by 35.

5. No.14 Auburn (-15) at Texas A&M: This might be the closest SEC game you’ll see all week, and it’s a pity they are playing this one at 11am instead of a good, honest time like 6. In other words, Texas A&M fans, Auburn fans, SEC fans and college football fans are getting gipped. Texas A&M was terrible at home to Mississippi State, yet they showed up strongly against Alabama. In other words, they are a strange team to behold. Auburn’s offense has begun to click (the ‘D’ has clicked all year) thanks to an excellent running game, but their defense – which has clicked all year – will be tested against Christian Kirk. PREDICTION: We don’t understand why Auburn’s got the 15-point spread. But we don’t think they’ll win. Tigers by 6.

6. Ole Miss at Kentucky (-4): Ole Miss is in a tailspin and Kentucky can relax because its bowl-eligible, despite playing mediocrely all season long (actually the one game it DIDN’T play medicorely it lost to Florida because of two terrible plays). This game won’t be fun to watch, people. PREDICTION: Ole Miss wins an awful game by 7.

7. Western Kentucky at Vanderbilt (-9.5): Vanderbilt’s in a slide, but then again, Western Kentucky’s hardly a great SEC opponent, are they? We expect the Commodores to win – if a little closely that expect – and feel happier again. PREDICTION: Vanderbilt by 14.

8. UMass at No.16 Mississippi State (-32): One of the most uninteresting games of the schedule. UMass gave Tennessee a game, but MSU should absolutely destroy them. PREDICTION: Mississippi State by 41.

9. Coastal Carolina at Arkansas (-23.5): Yeah…..snore…..PREDICTION: Arkansas by 38.