If you think that things couldn’t have gotten a lot worse for the Florida Gators football program, then they did. They got a lot worse. They got Put-Will-Muschamp-On-The-Freaking-Hotseat Worse. That’ll happen when you lose at home to Vanderbilt for the first time since two years after the Second World War ended (that’s 1947 folks!).

Elsewhere in the SEC, Alabama got a fright from LSU but dealt with them unsympathetically, we saw the Good Johnny and Bad Johnny at The Last Home Game at the old Kyle Field (but A&M scored 50 which was enough to beat Mississippi State), and there were wins for Ole Miss, Missouri, Auburn and Georgia.

Anyway, here’s your SEC Power Rankings. Hint: Florida isn’t No.1.

1. ALABAMA: Top of the BCS, Top of the SEC, top of the world. Alabama started slowly against LSU, before hitting their stride in the fourth quarter and absolutely dominating their hated rivals. Word to the wise though: They might want to play better in the first half of games. Florida State might not be so forgiving.

2. AUBURN: Went to Tennessee, saw the Volunteers couldn’t stop the run, and put at least 400 yards on the ground of them. Offensively, this team is scary good. So this Gus Malzahn experiment is working, right?

3. MISSOURI: Took advantage of South Carolina being off to dart up the SEC Power Rankings (unfair I know, but there it goes) with a predictably convincing 48-17 smashing of Kentucky. We’d like to note that Dorial Green-Beckham (4 TDs in this one)’s kicking into gear. Suddenly, Missouri have TWO really, really, really, good receivers to be thrown to. And their ‘D’ is pretty good, too. Future SEC opponents, watch out.

4. SOUTH CAROLINA: Steve Spurrier was really angry about how his team played against Bye Week. “We’re not a very good team”, he whined after drinking a wine or two on the Steve Spurrier Gamecock Regional TV Football Show, or whatever it’s called. That’s cool, Steve….next week it’s Florida.

5. TEXAS A&M: Aggies fans complain at me that Johnny Manziel & Co are only one horsecollar away from being 9-1. True. But Johnny Manziel has had to play his balls off this season because your D has, to coin a British expression, been a load of balls. The defense once against showed its unballsiness and was terrible. You know, Giving-Up-41-To-Mississippi-State Terrible.

6. GEORGIA: A slow start against Appalachian State, but the Dawgs put up 31 in the second half to run away with the victory. The Dawgs can’t afford such a slow start against Auburn (especially with its defense). Gurley’s 75 yards on 13 attempts shows us that either Appalachian State’s pretty good at stopping the run, or Gurley’s still not right conditioning-wise. We’d argue the latter.

7. OLE MISS: Hugh Freeze said some grace over some burnt pig, and Ole Miss beat the Razorbacks by 10. It wasn’t the most comfortable of victories, especially with Ole Miss held scoreless in the fourth quarter. But when you’re playing Brandon Allen, you know you’re going to be OK in the end. And Allen couldn’t throw properly at the end.

8. LSU: Started like men on fire against Alabama, but turnovers ensured that the men of fire were turned into the Ring of Fire in the fourth quarter by Nick Saban’s running attack. Those of you who’d actually watched LSU this year would know that LSU couldn’t stop anybody later in games, and that Zach Mettenberger’s offensive line went on vacation. It’s happened all year long.

9. VANDERBILT: We half-thought about putting Vandy above LSU after their victory in The Swamp, but save to say, Florida’s not very good. But credit goes to James Franklin. Anyone think he might be somewhere bigger next year?

10. FLORIDA: This UF team is so bad that we might see Will Muschamp and OC Brent Pease replaced at year-end. We wouldn’t be surprised, either.

11. MISSISSIPPI STATE: Nice comeback from Dak Prescott and the Bulldogs, but their defense couldn’t stop Johnny Manziel. Then again, nor could Alabama. Would still be surprised if Starkville keeps Dan Mullen around. He’ll get clang’d.

12. TENNESSEE: Can’t stop the run, and taught a lesson. Easy.

13. ARKANSAS: Lost by 10 to Ole Miss and must be wondering “If only we had a QB”.

14. KENTUCKY:  The best thing about the boys from Lexington is the basketball team.

So, it was a pretty crazy Thursday after all. Baylor was restricted for a quarter-or-so then broke out the whooping stick on Oklahoma. Then, unbeaten Oregon rolled into Stanford….and lost 26-20 in a game that they trailed 26-0 and were owned in.

Anyway, Saturday night’s alright for fighting…..or Alabama to play LSU. The game last year was incredible, but not a lot of people are anticipating the 2013 version from Tuscalossa to be that good.

Anyway, here’s your Week 11 Predictions.

LSU AT ALABAMA

Because of the size of Thursday’s games, the LSU-Alabama has been slightly overshadowed this week. There’s also the fact that LSU’s losses to Georgia and Ole Miss means that they currently stand 13th in the rankings to Alabama’s No.1, with the Tigers really having no hope of going to a SEC Championship Game….unless they win in Tuscaloosa. Tigers coach Les Miles is going to have let it all hang out in Tuscaloosa, which means his offensive line providing enough protection for QB Zach Mettenberger, and then hoping Mettenberger himself regaining the consistency and confidence he had earlier in the season. Mettenberger has two targets in Odell Beckham and Jarvis Landry who are, in my opinion, college football’s best wide receiving tandem. They should test Bama’s secondary like no other team has since Texas A&M. Beckham’s also damned useful from special teams, too.

The key to LSU’s win might well not even be on that side of the ball. They’ve got to stop Alabama’s offense, which features one of college football’s best QBs (AJ McCarron) two incredible running backs (TJ Yeldon and Kenyan Drake), three good wide receivers (Kevin Norwood, Amari Cooper, and DeAndrew White), and a sturdy offensive line. Oh, and a great defense, too.

This should be a great game.

BOTTOM LINE: Alabama’s a 12-1/2 point favorite. We think Alabama wins, but by less than the spread.

AUBURN AT TENNESSEE

Tennessee’s 31-3 thumping by Missouri didn’t turn a lot of heads. People knew that despite their big victory over South Carolina and overtime loss to Georgia, they wouldn’t stand a lot of hope on the road. And it came true. Well, the Volunteers have got the chance of causing a massive upset on Saturday afternoon when they host No.9 Auburn. Of course, they’ll depend on QB Josh Dobbs (in his second career start) having a better game than he did last week, hope he hits his excellent WR Marquez North, and pray that the defence can cause some turnovers against a freight train of an Auburn offence. But you never know – Neyland Stadium hasn’t been an easy place to play this season, folks.

BOTTOM LINE: Auburn’s a 7-1/2 point favorite. We think Auburn wins and beats the spread pretty easily, despite a noisy Neyland.

MISSISSIPPI STATE AT TEXAS A&M

This is the last time that Kyle Field will see Johnny Manziel play on its sacred turf in its old guise (it’s undergoing a $400m redevelopment after this season), because that’s it for the Aggies at home this year. It’s been an adventure, folks. Offensively, the Aggies have been incredible, fun, and a joy to watch – mainly because of Mr Manziel, but also because of the superb wide receivership of Mike Evans. Defensively, they’ve been awful (when your fans celebrate shutting down an awful UTEP side, you know you’ve got issues).

Anyway, Mississippi State goes into A&M after playing pretty well at South Carolina (they had more yardage and time of possession, but ruined their own day committing FIVE turnovers). They’ll have to stop the turnovers to have a prayer of pulling out the upset.

BOTTOM LINE: Texas A&M’s a 19-point favorite. Frankly, we’re keeping more of an eye on the ‘D’, but we think A&M wins by more than the spread.

MISSOURI AT KENTUCKY

The only reason why we’re talking about this is the spread. Despite Kentucky not playing too badly at home and coming off a waxing of Alabama State last week, the Wildcats still haven’t got a win in SEC play (we’ve been lobbying the SEC to get the 0-fer bowl together between them and equally-awful/maybe-even-more-awful Arkansas), and they aren’t very good. Missouri, on the other hand, beat the living daylights out of Tennessee, and have the wide receiving weapons – like L’Damian Washington and Dorial Green-Beckham, who recovered from a crappy Week 9 to come back strongly – to blow this one open early.

BOTTOM LINE: Missouri’s a 13-1/2 point favorite, we think they beat the spread comfortably.

VANDERBILT AT FLORIDA

One of the more interesting games on the SEC plate this week, simply because Florida must be looking and thinking: “How bad can this season get?” (ANSWER: Losing to Vanderbilt), while Vanderbilt had their butts kicked at Texas A&M last time out, and have lost 2 out of the last 3. They are beat-up (although not as beaten-up as UF), and they are on the road.

BOTTOM LINE: Florida favored by 10. With an offense that’s horrific. We think they win by 7 in a game that’s nip-and-tuck all the way through.

ARKANSAS AT OLE MISS

Bret Bielma’s had a poor start to his Arkansas reign, and it’s hardly surprising after the drop-off in talent there was from 2012. But really, they are TERRIBLE offensively. Ole Miss, on the other hand, crushed Idaho after winning a real battle with LSU, and will be salivating at playing a Razorbacks side which doesn’t have a lot of confidence. They also need a quarterback….and a ‘D’ might be nice.

BOTTOM LINE: Ole Miss is a 17-point favorite. We think Ole Miss wins -and beats the spread. Ole Miss by 21.

AND THE GAME WE’RE NOT REALLY INTERESTED IN…

APPALACHIAN STATE AT GEORGIA 

Why? Georgia’s favored to win by 40 against an Appalachian State that’s not the speedster team of 2007. We think they win by…..as many as they want to. They’ve got Auburn to play soon, and will be gearing up for that.

To steal an Elton John song, Thursday’s night’s alright for fightin’.

Because this Thursday night, I’m going for forgo my ‘But it’s not SEC football’ and concentrate on not one but TWO ranked battles going on elsewhere in the country between the fast cats of Baylor and Oklahoma and THAT GAME between Oregon and Stanford.

And you know what? There’s a few reasons why SEC fans should watch:

1) The winner of either game could be Alabama’s National Championship opponent. We forecast ‘Bama to make the SEC title game, win that, and go to the National Championship Game. Everyone’s talking about Florida State, Oregon or perhaps Baylor battling it out with the Crimson Tide in Pasadena. Well, both Baylor and Oregon play on Thursday night. We’ll get to see both spread offenses play, and think about how Alabama could play against ’em.

2) The players are pretty good All four sets of players are really good. Forget Oklahoma’s destruction by Texas- that loss is looking better and better with the form Texas is on, OU is still a good team.

3) Future SEC Coaching Talent If Art Briles doesn’t go to Texas, rest assured that a big SEC school may come calling this year or next. His offenses are fast-moving, entertaining, and they score a ton of point. Baylor isn’t too bad defensively either. Can you see Mississippi State go and speak to Baylor? Or even Florida? Hmm….Not only this, but Kentucky fans will be cheering Mark Stoops’ brother Bob to get the job done against Baylor.

4) How good IS Oregon? People able to watch college football outside of the SEC should note that Oregon’s struggling twice already this year early on (Washington and UCLA), before hitting stride and taking the game away in the third and fourth quarter. DeAnthony Thomas, despite all of his talk, hasn’t played a lot this season, Marcus Mariota is a hell of a QB, and Byron Marshall, Mariota and Thomas Tyner can all run the ball. As Stewart Mandel said on the podcast relating to this game: ‘This offensive line is pretty good. This isn’t the Oregon offensive line that lost to Auburn’ (or words to that effect). Alabama fans will want to know if Oregon’s spread will ask them questions. Because if Oregon wins (and runs the table), they should be No.2 in the nation, because Florida State’s only got a beaten-up Florida left on its schedule.

5) Bowls, Bowls, Bowls: It’s interesting for us because not only do we see a potential BCS game, but we also see who might be Auburn/Texas A&M/LSU/Georgia/Missouri/South Carolina’s Cotton Bowl opponent – Oklahoma or Baylor. Because we love our wild games, we’re rooting for Baylor vs Texas A&M.

6) Do it for your dollar: Oregon’s a 10-1/2 point favorite (we think they’ll cover) and Baylor’s a  14-1/2 point favorite (we think they’ll cover, too), and this game could mean some early money before you lose it all on Florida not covering the spread against Vanderbilt (the Gators are -10). Over/under in the Baylor game’s 73-1/2 (we’ll take the ‘under’), while Oregon’s 61-1/2 (we’ll take the ‘over’).

7) Do it because it’s football: You’ve just spent a ton of money on Hallowe’en costumes and Hallowe’en drinking. You’ve got Thanksgiving and Christmas to come, which is going to take in a lot of green. Sit at home with Jack ‘N’ Coke, and watch two great games. Make sure you start with Fox Sports 1 (OU/Baylor) and go to ESPN (Oregon/Stanford). Better, get a computer for the second half of OU/Baylor, and watch Oregon/Stanford live, depending on which commentary team you prefer. Oh, and David Pollack and Jesse Palmer both played in the SEC…so in SEC terms, go ESPN.

8) Watch ‘The Replacements’ for your SEC viewing:

A) The Gunslinger: Bryce Petty (Baylor)

B) Johnny Pac-Ball: Marcu Mariota (Oregon) – With less interceptions.

C) The Speedy Running Back: Lache Seastrunk. Forget a freight train, the kid moves like a Japanese bullet train.

D) The Odell Beckham (without the one-handed kick-off grab): Ty Montgomery (Stanford). The kid’s got wheels.

E) The Barry Brunetti: Blake Bell (Oklahoma), or as he’s known: The Belldozer.

F) The Alabama Defense: Stanford

G) The ‘We Don’t Know How Good They Are Until They Played Somebody, And Then We Realized They Were Quite Good – Like Missouri’ – Baylor

H) The ‘We Want Bama’ – Oregon

I) The ‘Hey, We’re Pretty ****ing bright. And good at sports’ – Stanford.

Georgia 23, Florida 20….and….er…..nothing else in the SEC was really that interesting or that close.

1) ALABAMA: Nick Saban filled Bryant-Denny stadium on Saturday by telling the fans that he wanted the fans for all four quarters against BYE WEEK. Alabama won 57-3, and Nick Saban is said to be STILL screaming at Kirby Smart about it….

2) AUBURN: Continued to prove that they can get over a potential upset hurdle (Phil Steele predicted that Arkansas would score the upset on the ESPNU College Football podcast (although we didn’t agree), but burning some pig on Saturday night. The biggest argument happened when Arkansas coach Bret Bielema thought Anthony Swain was timewasting by falling over during an Arkansas drive. Matt Millen of ESPN agreed. Malzahn didn’t agree. . It came out that Swain had a bruised knee. Auburn won the pissing contest 35-17. Auburn’s rolling, people. Look out Georgia.

3) SOUTH CAROLINA: STOP. THE. PRESS. SOUTH CAROLINA ACTUALLY MANAGED TO CLOSE A GAME OUT. I say that in capitals, because it’s rarely happened this season. Sure, they lost the fourth quarter 6-0, but they were already 34-10 up at that stage, and played really, really well. Mike Davis ran for his usual 100 yards. If he’s not up for a Heisman….then he should be. Carolina’s playing with confidence, and y’all should be worried.

4) MISSOURI: Clouted Tennessee 31-3 to assure everyone that a) The Volunteers weren’t on the comeback trail and b) Missouri’s one hell of a team and c) If everyone thinks they will stumble against Ole Miss and Texas A&M after shooting themselves in the foot against South Carolina, they’ve got another thing coming.

5) TEXAS A&M: A truly horrible first quarter….and then the Aggies blew UTEP away, winning out 57-7 and more importantly, covering the spread. That’s all we really have to say about that game.

6) GEORGIA: NEWSFLASH FROM JACKSONVILLE: The Georgia and Florida players are STILL chipping away at each other….and it’s Monday, despite all the fans having gone home. Seriously though, UGA showed how good they were on offense with the return of Todd Gurley and Michael Bennett in beating their hated rivals Florida 23-20. The defense could still do with a lot of work, though. Todd Grantham’s still on the hot-seat.

7) OLE MISS: Hugh Freeze has scared the crap out of the fans by going 2-1 on heartbreaking victories/losses this season already, but now he’s scaring the crap out of his players. And there was me thinking evangelicals thought Hallowe’en was evil.

8) LSU: If LSU beats Alabama on Saturday, it’s because the team didn’t sleepwalk a half of a game, like they did against Furman and Ole Miss. They also win because Zach Mettenberger is back to not throwing touchdowns and back to making good decisions. And because Odell Beckham and Jarvis Landry scared the hell out of the Alabama secondary, and that Jeremy Hill managed to run the ball. And the ‘D’ actually stopped someone.

9) FLORIDA: If Will Muschamp is put to rest at the end of the 2013 season, his gravestone will read: “WILL MUSCHAMP: COULD NOT WIN AT A COCKTAIL PARTY”. He’s 0-3 against Georgia as a coach in Jacksonville, and 0-4 as a player FOR Georgia in Jacksonville. He’s not the only person who can’t win in Jacksonville. How ’bout dem Jags??

10) VANDERBILT: Nothing has changed since Vandy’s bye week, in the fact that I still believe Jordan Matthews is great, that the team’s struggling without Austyn Carta-Samuels…..and that the team has gone backwards since Week 1- even though the Commodores beat Georgia in Week 9.

11)  TENNESSEE: Freshman QB went 26-42 with 246 yards in his debut against Tennessee. And 2 INTs. And lost a fumble. And the team went 2-for-13 on third downs. It was always going to be hard in Columbia. So this wasn’t a great surprise.

12) MISSISSIPPI STATE: Despite putting up more yards than South Carolina (385-304), having more time of possession, and only losing the rushing game by 10 yards, the Bulldogs came out of Williams-Brice with the ‘L’. That’ll be because they had one….two….three….four….FIVE turnovers. That’ll lose you a ballgame right there. 

13) KENTUCKY: Kentucky’s 48-14 victory over Alabama State has us believing that the ‘O-Fer Bowl’ between Arkansas and Kentucky should be played on the same day as the SEC Championship Game (at 12.21pm). A good win for Coach Stoops, albeit against a far-inferior opponent….who we tipped to cover (sorry y’all!).

14) ARKANSAS: I’m getting allergic to bacon just watching these Razorbacks get eaten this season.

10)

Before the season, running back Jeremy Hill was arrested for blindsiding a guy outside Tigerland in Baton Rouge. Les Miles toyed with throwing him off the team, but instead the team voted on whether to keep him on the team….and would you believe it, the LSU players decided to keep their star running back. The judge was equally kind to him.

Now, Les Miles must be praying that the judge and team are kind to his back-ups and future LSU stars, too.

In the space of two weeks Miles has been forced to suspend freshman running back Jeryl Brazil (for his second arrest in two months) and redshirt freshman cornerback Kavahra Holmes indefinitely (for getting into a fight near a campus dining hall).

Quoting The Advocate about Brazil’s arrest: “Brazil, a Loranger native, received the summons for simple criminal damage to property and simple battery after grabbing a woman by the neck and pushed into a sofa, said Capt. Cory Lalonde, the spokesman for LSU police.”

Now, the LSU media is starting to call for Les Miles to take more drastic measures, said about the issues happening at the university: “Two players with crimes against women, two completely useless indefinite suspensions and one coach who has a serious discipline issue on his hands.”

BOTTOM LINE: The arrests at LSU seem to indicate a team that’s getting out-of-control. Les Miles is under enough pressure after SI’s exposing articles about stuff that happened with football players during his time at Oklahoma State , and now this? The question we ask: Why didn’t Les Miles forgo his pride and throw Jeremy Hill off the team in the first place? Or if not, why not Jeryl Brazil? Right now, he’s looking like he’s going easy on violent crime. And even in a world that’s about winning football games, that’s not the way to do it.