Will Alabama roll against Texas A&M? Week 4 predictions
On paper, it doesn’t look as though the most interesting Saturday in the SEC’s calendar. Alabama and Georgia are expected to both roll. In four out of eight of the games, the favourites are 20+ point favourites. In 6 of eight games, teams are double-digit favourites. Which leaves Florida’s trip to Tennessee and South Carolina’s game with Vanderbilt as the only (potentially) close games of the SEC Week, if Vegas is anything to go by.
Anyway, at least all the SEC games aren’t dumb non-conference games, unless you believe Arkansas should be in another conference…
So here we go (in order of interest from a College Football fan’s point-of-view, not a betting fanatic (although comes into it):
- No.13 Mississippi State (-10) at Kentucky: Mississippi State looks like one of the class acts of the SEC, but Kentucky has certaintly been one of the most surprising. Fans of the SEC will enjoy watching the skills of MSU and Kentucky QBs Nick Fitzgerald and Josh Wilson, as well as RBs Benny Snell (Kentucky) and Kylin Hill (RBs). Both teams have good defensive lines and good offensive lines, too. This could come down to the wire in what will be a very noisy game in Lexington. PREDICTION: Mississippi State by 7 in a classic.
- No. 22 Texas A&M at No.1 Alabama (-27): Can Texas A&M play as well as they did against Clemson? A lot of people think this one won’t be interesting after the third quarter, and some are even tipping it not to be interesting after half-time. Alabama’s 27-point spread seems a little generous, but the Tide has destroyed 3 spreads so far this year, so Vegas is worried. The bright spot for A&M could be the speed of A&M Kellen Mond. If the Aggies offensive line can hold up – they’ve already allowed 7 sacks this year. PREDICTION: Texas A&M gets what everyone expected. Alabama 45, Texas A&M 14.
- Florida (-4) at Tennessee: As has been mentioned by pundits, this game will be a measure of how far both teams have come in their two new head coach’s short reigns. Both have reasons to be happy, although Tennessee will be a little happier because their loss to West Virginia was at least more predictable than the Gators’ loss at home to Kentucky. Jeremy Pruitt’s trying to balance his attack between QB Jarrett Guarantano and RB Tim Jordan, while Florida seems to have piled a lot of pressure on Feleipe Franks, who threw THAT Hail Mary to beat UT in 2017 in one of the most incredible-terrible games of the year. The game might not be great, but the atmosphere at Neyland should be phenomenal. PREDICTION: Tennessee by 3 in a huge upset.
- Georgia (-13) at Missouri: Georgia’s widely predicted to coast against Missouri, but the most interesting part will be how Georgia deals with one of the best QBs in the country in Missouri’s Drew Lock. Lock also has receiving weapons in Emmanuel Hall, Albert Okwuegbunam, and that might open up the team’s run game. But Missouri (and we may have heard this before) has a poor secondary, and it’s likely that they’ll get torn apart by Mecole Hardman, as well as Georgia’s monster running backs. PREDICTION: This won’t be close. Georgia 42, Missouri 17.
- South Carolina (-2.5) vs Vanderbilt: South Carolina has the benefit of last week’s game getting washed out against Marshall, while Vanderbilt has the benefit of the fact that they SHOULD have won the game at Notre Dame and are a hell of a lot better than a lot of people expected. Vandy QB Kyle Shurmur’s a real star, while South Carolina’s Jake Bentley-Deebo Samuel connection is serviceable when it’s not being covered (as Georgia did for vast amounts of the clash between the two sides, and kept him to just 33 yards on 6 receptions). This could be fun. PREDICTION: Vanderbilt by 4.
- Arkansas at No.9 Auburn (-30): This is the third straight home game for Auburn, but after the stunning home loss to LSU, the locals aren’t happy again with Gus Malzahn (ironically they weren’t too happy with him after 2017’s loss to LSU, either). On the other side, Arkansas fans – despite getting trashed by North Texas at home – are a little more patient with Chad Morris because he comes to town with a completely different offence than Bret Bielema’s. The problem for Morris isn’t necessarily the offense (although they are 62nd nationally) but the defense (100th nationally), which is leaking points like my car leaks oil. We don’t expect any different to happen against Auburn. PREDICTION: Auburn 48, Arkansas 10.
- Louisiana Tech at No.6 LSU (-21): LSU is on roll with the whole ‘EVERYONE DANG HATES US TIGAHS’ tour, and Louisiana Tech is next in line. The LSU ‘thing’ for years has been LSU’s habit of sitting back and not playing well after a big win, but they might need to be on their game immediately to keep an offense that is dropping around 42 points/game at the moment, with RB Jaqwis Dancy (17th nationally in total rushing yds), and Tech WR J’mar Smith, who can definitely toss a ball up (he’s a little unpredictable though). We expect LSU to get ahead early, and control this one. PREDICTION: LSU 31, Louisiana Tech 10.
- Kent State at Ole Miss (-28.5): Both teams got a combined total of 120 points dropped on ’em last week, so we’re not anticipating a particularly defense-orientated encounter. The problem for Kent State is that they ain’t good, and Ole Miss’ offfense is still one of the best in the nation, despite what the Crimson Tide did to them on Saturday. PREDICTION: Ole Miss by 41.