It’s our weekly SEC Rankings.

Honestly, they’ve gotten so hard right now because Auburn might be 1-4 if the SEC Officials had used their brains, but then again might be 4-1 if the SEC Officials had used their brains. Texas A&M might be 2-2 if Dan Mullen’s offense could defend Kellen Mond, and Alabama might be….oh wait…they look unbeatable at the moment.

So here we go. Please note that past No.4, it’s basically a free-for-all until Vanderbilt….who are bottom.

1. Alabama (5-0)

The injury to Jaylen Waddle didn’t really slow down the Crimson Tide as they slaughtered Tennessee. Slade Bolden plugged in and put up 94 yards for just six catches. The rest of the Tide are awesome. Sure, there’s going to be a few plugs to fix on the defensive line, but at the moment, who’s going to touch them?

2. Georgia (3-1)

The Dawgs got their only loss from Alabama, and will get their only loss from Alabama. Georgia will work out very quickly that their run:pass game should have a 65:35 mix to it. It will be interesting to see how much Stetson Bennett throws against Kentucky, who have the hosses in the backfield to cause him problems.

3. Texas A&M (3-1)

Can’t wait for the next referendum on Kellen Mond against Arkansas on All Hallow’s Eve, this Saturday.

4.  Florida (2-1)

Interestingly, if Florida manages to get away from the COVID issue, they will have had only a few days’ practice before facing Missouri. That said, this is still a very talented Gators team and Kyle Pitts is the best in the business at tight end.

5. Auburn (3-2)

Auburn is the luckiest 3-2 team in the country, after getting reffing calls for two weeks’ straight. But Auburn seems to be learning that if they give the ball to running back Tank Bigsby, good things can happen. The offensive line and defensive lines continue to be a problem, though.

6. Missouri (2-2)

On a two-game winning streak, Missouri HC Eli Drinkwitz managed to completely reorganise the playbook against Kentucky, instead opting for time-of-possession instead of long throws which saw the Wildcat secondary gobble up nine interceptions. Connor Blazelek is an above-average running back, but Missouri also has some above-average players and a good coach. They want that Tennessee game back for sure.

7. LSU (2-2)

The Tigers showed what they can do offensively by ripping South Carolina apart early and often in Death Valley. Sure, the 52-24 scoreline was helped by a pick-6 and a kick-off return for a touchdown, but the offense finally clicked. The Tigers were still getting gashed by Kevin Harris, but LSU may not be as bad as we thought they were. Oh, and new QB TJ Finley might be the find of the SEC season.

8. Arkansas (2-2)

We know the story. Barry Odom is one of the best DCs in the game, and Arkansas are suddenly world-beaters. Fun fact: They aren’t. Feleipe Franks is still a decidedly ordinary quarterback, but he’s lucky that he has a defense – led by Grant Morgan – that will keep the Razorbacks close. It should be pretty interesting against Texas A&M on Saturday night. Those games generally are.

9. Kentucky (2-3)

After their excellent performance against Tennessee, the Wildcats returned to earth with an absolute clunker against Missouri. They were controlled all day long by Missouri – who many thought would be beaten by 10. Terry Wilson is not a very good quarterback, and when an offense doesn’t throw to their secondary, Mark Stoops is going to get found out.

10. Tennessee (2-3)

The Vols are on a massive slide at the moment since crumbling in the second half against Georgia. It’s been awful from then on. Jarrett Guarantano is NOT the answer for the Vols, and Jeremy Pruitt’s stubborness isn’t helping the locker room, either.

11. South Carolina (2-3)

Kevin Harris is an awesome running back, Shi Smith is fun to watch as a wide receiver…..and that’s all we have to say on them. One day they’ll give you hope, the next day they’ll get destroyed. Week before? Beat Auburn. Week after? Get smashed by LSU.

12. Ole Miss (1-4)

They were unfortunate to lose against Auburn, but the fact is this: Ole Miss doesn’t have the defense to contend with anyone right now. Still, they get extra points for Lane Kiffin getting fined by the SEC for protesting the terrible call.

13. Mississippi State (1-3)

Mike Leach’s team got a week’s break to work out where they are as a team. Hopefully the practices will contain such useful moments as: “Pass the ball to a wide receiver instead of someone else’s secondary” as stuff like that. We don’t know, though. We could just write this off as a “First year Mike Leach” thing, though.

14. Vanderbilt (0-3)

Ugh.

After a poor game against Vanderbilt and a blow-out by Alabama, Texas A&M fans were fuming. They wanted Jimbo Fisher’s head on a plate. Some of the more racist elements of Texas A&M messageboards straight-up blamed Kellen Mond’s off-season civil rights activities for a reason why the school looked shabby. Florida was coming, and the season was going to go to the wolves.

And then Florida came to town. In a messy, fun game, Florida was beaten, 41-38. Mond was brilliant, throwing for 338 yards and 3 TDs, and didn’t do anything stupid. A week later, they stopped Mississippi State’s ‘Air Raid’ offense in Starkville, and suddenly Texas A&M fans are talking about how they could pip Georgia to the second SEC spot in the College Football Play-Off.

The answer to whether Texas A&M is very good is somewhere in the middle. Mond is obviously improved after two weeks, but then again this season his numbers will be well-improved by the fact that the rest of the competition is pretty medicore. Auburn is rocking. Ole Miss can’t play defense. Arkansas is great on defense, but pretty dismal on offense. And LSU? Oh. LSU.

In keeping with our remarks about Texas A&M, we decided to into a bunch of categories. It’s not power-rankings per se.

ELITE

• Alabama (4-0): The Tide’s second half performance against Georgia was fantastic. Mac Jones can pass on an elite defense, and Jaylen Waddle, DeVonta Smith and John Mechie will destroy any secondary. Hey, Najee Harris is pretty good too. Let’s not forget, though, that the defense was much better than we thought they were, pretty much silencing George Pickens all night long. Oh, and some favorable referee calls helped too, especially on pass interference. Alabama looks unbeatable in the SEC.
• Georgia (3-1): We’re not throwing Stetson Bennett out with the mail just yet, but this wasn’t a great performance. The decision to make Bennett throw 40 times (he completed 18 of them, and had 3 INTs) was weird. Why Georgia decided not to keep running at Alabama, exercise some ball control, and drive the Alabama front into the ground we’ll never know. But Georgia’s still a power, and should get its chance for revenge in Atlanta.

BETTER-THAN-AVERAGE

• Texas A&M (3-1): See above.
• Kentucky (2-2): Their secondary’s performance against Tennessee was excellent. Jarrett Guarantano may have given them the opportunities, but they didn’t make any mistakes. This Kentucky team is trending upwards, and could worry some Georgia people in two weeks’ time. We like what Mark Stoops is doing.

M’EH

• Florida (2-1): COVID cancelled the game with LSU, and it’s all the Gators’ fault. Dan Mullen’s also got COVID-positive, which is ironic, since he wanted to fill The Swamp with fans. 23 new cases on Tuesday amongst the team isn’t going to help the team going forward, either.
• South Carolina (2-2): The signature win over Auburn was helped by some awful Auburn mistakes, but Shi Smith and running back Kevin Harris has given Muschamp’s team some hope.

YING AND YANG

• Arkansas (2-2): I never thought I would put Sam Pittman’s team as high as ‘M’eh’, but their incredible defense gets balanced out by a not-particularly incredible offense.
• Mississippi State (1-3): It was noted on excellent podcast ‘Spit Zone Duo’ that Mike Leach’s first year is going true-to-form with regards to his previous jobs at Texas Tech and Washington State. KJ Costello came in and now has shown that the four-to-the-floor-throw-a-million-time doesn’t work for him. Leach has used words like ‘purge’ when referring to his team, and it’s all looking a complete mess. Which is weird, if you think that Mississippi State’s still got one of the best defenses in the SEC. If only the offense wouldn’t turn the dang ball over!

QB HORROR SHOWS WON’T HELP

• Auburn (2-2): How bad is Bo Nix? Very. Once again the wheels are coming off the Gus Bus, but it’s unlikely with the money that he’s making, that he’ll get fired. Auburn’s got a young offensive line, and we’re not sure about things defensively, either.
• Tennessee (2-2): How bad is Jarrett Guarantano? Yeah. Awful. And yet Jeremy Pruitt thought it a brilliant idea to fire his defensive line coordinator, instead of QB coach Chris Weinke. It wasn’t the DL’s fault that Guarantano threw two pick-6s and gifted Kentucky 17 points, was it?
• Ole Miss (1-3): Matt Corral’s SIX interceptions against Arkansas were unexcusable. Kiffin should at least changed him after the third. The Rebels can’t play defense, and we’re struggling to see where the next win will come from.

ARE THEY CLOSE TO BEING FINE?

• Missouri (1-2): Was it new quarterbacking and some excellent defense at the end that gave Missouri the magical victory over LSU, or was it the fact that LSU can’t play defense? We just don’t know. And we would have known more after this Saturday’s Vanderbilt game, had COVID not killed it.

YEAH…..DEFENSE AWFUL

• LSU (1-2): Things are pretty awful in Death Valley right now. Myles Brennan is beaten-up, LSU is reeling from losses to the NFL, Bo Pelini is not doing well as a defense coordinator, and Ed Orgeron is a little bit more under-fire. People love to convince themselves that LSU is fun to watch, but they would be if they were in, say, the Big-12, because we’d expect very little. They are better than the worst team in the SEC, but not by much.

FAR FAR AWAY

• Vanderbilt (0-3): There is nothing nice to say about this Vanderbilt team. So I won’t.

It was a weird week in the SEC. The Big 12 actually had some pretty good, low-scoring games, while the SEC was a scorefest of legendary proportions.

Alabama and Ole Miss was 63-48, Missouri beat LSU 45-41, Texas A&M beat Florida 41-38, Auburn beat Arkansas 30-28, Georgia humiliated Tennessee 44-21, South Carolina smashed Vanderbilt 41-7 and the weirdest game was at Lexington, where Kentucky beat Mississippi State 24-2.

Let’s not get this wrong – it was a humbling day for losers and winners.

Here are our ranks for the SEC this week.

1. Georgia (3-0). It wasn’t pretty in the first half, but Georgia’s half-time adjustments were exceptional, and there was nothing that Tennessee could do about it. Georgia put up 431 yards, and Stetson Bennett’s looking like the quarterback that will make D’Wan Mathis put his name in the transfer window by the end of the season.

2. Alabama (3-0): OK, so the defense was terrible on Saturday night at Ole Miss. Dylan Moses did nothing for his draft stock, and the blaming of Ole Miss stealing signs sounded like a little child whingeing. It was spectacularly bad form. On the other side of the ball, the offense looks unstoppable. Mind you, they haven’t played any good defense yet. Can’t wait for Georgia next week.

3. Texas A&M (2-1): This was a great performance from Kellen Mond, who had 338 yards and 3 TDs in what Aggies fans will hope will be a statement game for his future. The secondary still is poor (Kyle Trask had 310 yards and 4 TDs), but this might be the second-best team in the SEC West. And potentially, we could see them favored in all of their next games, making them a sneaky play-off bet (Note: This is Texas A&M, so good things probably won’t happen).

4. Florida (2-1): Cruel as a last-second loss may be, Florida’s defense in the second half deserved it. Todd Grantham had yet another poor game as defensive coordinator, getting aggressive when it wasn’t needed, and failing to stack the box against the run, when it was obvious that A&M’s runners were running roughshod.

5. Auburn (2-1): This is the luckiest win of Gus Malzahn’s career. They got a field goal that should never have been given because they would have turned the ball over in the drive (thanks to a botched spike play from Bo Nix. The SEC Officiating gods tried to put out a statement about it but it turned out to be almost as shambolic as the refs themselves). Seth Williams and Anthony Schwartz are still excellent weapons for the Tigers, though.

6. Tennessee (2-1): The Vols and Auburn are pretty interchangeable at the 5 and 6 position, but Auburn wins in because Bo Nix was less awful than Jarrett Guarantano last week. The much-vaunted Tennessee offensive line was rinsed by Georgia over and over again.

7. Ole Miss (1-2): Come for the offense, leave for the defense. Lane Kiffin’s the best offensive play-caller in the SEC and his explanation of why the team DIDN’T steal Alabama’s signs was spot-on: “FYI when u go as fast as we do we call our play first. Stealing signals wouldn’t help us at all because we are snapping the ball why they were still trying to just line up”, he tweeted.

8. Kentucky (1-2): Mark Stoops had all of the answers for The Air Raid on Saturday, got KJ Costello benched, and caused six Cowbell interceptions as they forced Mike Leach to chase the game – a ruse that ultimately failed.

9. Arkansas (1-2): The Hogs’ defense is utterly legit, and the offense is utterly not. Feliepe Franks is definitely improving, and we can see a couple more wins this season, but the offense will have to improve.

10. South Carolina (1-2): The Gamecocks got over a lot of foibles by beating the hell out of Vanderbilt. The Commodores had no answer for Carolina’s rushing attack, which starred Kevin Harris, who ran for 171 yards and 2 TDs. But then again, Vanderbilt has little answer for everything these days.

11. Missouri (1-2): The stunning 44-41 upset of LSU actually should have been more. Missouri’s plucky band of second-team wide receivers looked like NFL players against an embarrassingly bad LSU secondary, but on the other side of the ball, Missouri made four goal-line plays when it mattered. Sadly for Mizzou, they won’t get the chance for a quick, successful follow-up because of COVID-19.

12. Mississippi State (1-2): Wow, that Mike Leach has been worked out quickly, hasn’t he?

13. LSU (1-2): This LSU team could legitimately finish 3-7 this year. The Tigers have no secondary, no tackling efforts, and as fun as the offense is to watch, the defense would make any LSU fan worth is while puke up his jambalaya. This is Ed Orgeron’s year of reckoning. If he gets it right, he should fire Bo Pelini. He’s already said in a press conference today: “I’d rather play one defense and get it right.” Right now LSU’s football is not

14. Vanderbilt (0-3): The only reason why they aren’t going to lose against Missouri on Saturday is that COVID-19 postponed the game first.

Up in Athens, Georgia, College Gameday will be on site but the fanbase won’t be able to scream behind the cameras. There will be no massive tailgate that makes evenings in Athens so darned special, and there will be one of the most eagerly anticipated match-ups of the year between Georgia and Auburn. Auburn looked good against Kentucky for half a game, and Georgia blew by Arkansas for half a game. This will be intriguing.

The bookies don’t think Texas A&M will beat Alabama. I don’t think anyone except the most optimistic Texas A&M fan would think that the Aggies will go to Tuscaloosa and win. But then again, they probably didn’t think this in 2012 when Johnny Manziel’s team walked into there and caused a massive upset.

Elsewhere, Mississippi State will continue it’s bundle of joy in their home opener with Arkansas, South Carolina and Florida get together in the Spurrier Bowl, Tennessee clash with Missouri, Ole Miss and Kentucky play in a match-up of seemingly direct opposite offensive programs, and LSU tries to get back on the wagon with Vandy after their terrible performance the season before.

So here are the games we’re most interested in in this order.

1. No.7 Auburn at No.4 Georgia (-6.5 O/U 44.5 )

No-one knows who’s going to start at Georgia on Saturday after last Saturday’s weird offensive effort. Will it be D’Wan Mathis, looking for redemption after his terrible quarter-and-a-half against Arkansas? Will it be Stetson Bennett, who sounds less like a QB and more like a member of Sigma Chi but led UGA for the rest, or will it be JT Daniels, who should be ready after returning from knee surgery? We don’t know, we just don’t know. We know this: Georgia’s defensive front are still going to be animals against a young Auburn line, and George Pickens is a future NFL first round pick at WR. On Auburn’s side? They actually look settled. Bo Nix was excellent for the most part against a Kentucky side that prides itself more on attrition than it seems flowing fun football, and Seth Williams was a nightmare to deal with all day long. The only part underused? Anthony Schwartz, who we would have loved to see more of the ball. He might well be the secret-not-secret-but-really-frickin-fast weapon.

PREDICTION: It’s difficult to predict against Georgia, because they are at home and will only get better after the stinker. Bulldogs by a field goal….. Georgia 31, Auburn 28

2. Texas A&M at No.1 Alabama (-18 O/U 52.5)

Texas A&M’s biggest ‘Welcome to The SEC’ moment where they went to Tuscaloosa in 2012 and beat the Tide 29-27 on the road. The Aggies haven’t won another ‘Bear Bryant Bowl’ against Nick Saban’s men since, and every game since 2014 has been somewhat of a blow-out. This year, Aggies fans are fearing the worst after their team’s utterly inept performance at home to Vanderbilt, where they fumbled the ball five times (losing three), and Kellen Mond’s performance was probably one of the worst in the SEC last week. Sorry we’re being harsh, but it’s true. The good news for A&M is that their defensive front looks pretty good, and it’ll have to be to stop Najee Harris & Co running through it. And if Alabama’s O-Line can give him time, then Mac Jones has two NFL first-rounders in Devonta Smith and Jaylen Waddle. Yeah, good luck with that.

PREDICTION: Alabama by 27, and Saban calls off the dogs by the middle of the third quarter. Alabama 48, Texas A&M 21

3. South Carolina at No.3 Florida (-10 O/U 57.5) Kyle Trask had a tremendous game against Ole Miss, helped by his brilliant TE Kyle Pitts. We don’t expect Pitts to have the devestating day he had last week, because South Carolina will try and double him up, making him throw to a bed of skilled receivers. We anticipate Kadarious Toney and Dameon Pierce to continue to enjoy the running game – albeit against a better defense. For South Carolina, the offense wasn’t awful against Tennessee, but against Florida’s defense – which will have improved from their rather poor effort against Ole Miss where they gave up over 600 yards (granted they were bringing in 6 new players) – Collin Hill, Shi Smith & Co could find things much harder going.

PREDICTION: Florida by 17. Trask coasts, and gets more plaudits. Florida 27, South Carolina 10. 

4. Missouri at No.21 Tennessee (-12, O/U 48.5)

Missouri fans weren’t expected to beat Alabama last Saturday, and were hoping for some good signs going into the Tennessee game. If you’re a betting Missouri fan it was the fact that Alabama didn’t beat the spread (the normal measurements for a ‘great performance in a losing effort’), and that the defense didn’t make too many mistakes and essentially beat themselves as badly as they had done in the Barry Odom era. But to beat Tennessee, they are going to have to rely even more on their defense, because if we’re honest, it’s RB Larry Roundtree and the rest of an offense that’s yet to find its identity under new coach Eli Drinkwitz. As for Tennessee, they overcame a tough game at South Carolina. Jarrett Guarantano was fine if nothing spectacular. He should be on better throwing for against Missouri’s corners, and we anticipate Josh Palmer having a 100-yard reception day. But don’t think that Guarantano’s going to find it easy. Missouri’s defensive front is very, very good. This is going to be fun.

PREDICTION: Missouri with the upset. Tigers by 4 in one of the uglier games you see. Missouri 27, Tennessee 23

5. Arkansas at No.16 Mississippi State (-17, O/U 69)

KJ Costello and Mississippi State are a hell of a lot of fun. They’ve got an easy-to-watch, easy-to-learn offense under Mike Leach, and a competent RB in Kylin Hill. In this offense we don’t see Hill getting a lot of the ball, but that’s more the style. Against Arkansas, who actually looked decent for a half (defensively), they should air it out pretty easily against a defense that Barry Odom’s going to struggle to keep up with. On the other side of the ball, we know a Mike Leach defense, and it isn’t that great. But Arkansas’ offense is pretty awful too. Feleipe Franks will do better than he did against Georgia, but if he keeps some of the utter incompetence up, this could be over quickly on Mike Leach’s follow-up to that stunning defeat of LSU.

PREDICTION: Mississippi State by 24 as KJ Costello goes for 500 yards. Mississippi State 51, Arkansas 27

6. Ole Miss vs Kentucky (-6, O/U 62)

Both sides had pretty ugly losses in Week 1, with Kentucky being the worst of them because while we though that Florida would have their way with Ole Miss, we didn’t expect such a poor performance from Kentucky in the second-half. They were just so much worse than their SEC West opponent. Ole Miss defense was poor all round. Sure, their offense was entertaining, but when you give up 50 points, it’s difficult to find the fun side even if  you score more than 30 a game. Kentucky won’t air it out as much as Florida did against Ole Miss because they simply don’t have the weapons like that. Instead, Kentucky will run the ball with Kavoisey Smoak and Asim Rose and Terry Wilson will aim to cause them problems on the floor. With an Ole Miss defensive line which is – to be generous – bad, Kentucky will control this.

PREDICTION: Kentucky by 14 in a cracker of a game. Kentucky 48, Ole Miss 34.

7. No. 20 LSU (-21, O/U 51) at Vanderbilt. 

Myles Brennan wasn’t pretty pedestrian against Missisisppi State and still threw for 345 yards, 3 TDs and 2 picks. Hell, the whole team seemed pedestrian against Mississippi State, but still Terrace Marshall had 122 yards and 2 TDs, and 8 other receivers had a reception. Vanderbilt’s defense on the other hand against Texas A&M was fantastic, stopping the Aggies again and again, causing 5 fumbles and 3 recovering three of them. They attacked and attacked Texas A&M and gave the offense a chance to win. The problem was the Vanderbilt offense, which – led by freshman Ken Seals – had 150 yards and a 1 TD. Don’t get us wrong Vanderbilt is a team that’s more than its fair share of opt-outs and transfers, although it’s still not in the same ballpark as what LSU has had to deal with.

PREDICTION: LSU by 24, getting things done. It looks pretty awful after a quarter, but then the Tigers get moving. LSU 38, Vanderbilt 14

It’s Week 2 of the SEC Football season, and we’ve already seen a monster upset with LSU losing at home to Mississippi State, a very weird Vanderbilt vs Texas A&M game where the Aggies were awful and didn’t get remotely near the spread, and a true ‘game of two halves’ between Georgia and Arkansas, where Georgia looked like a Dawgs’ breakfast in the first half, and then did the Razorbacks dawgy-style in the second half.

OK, so that’s enough weird puns.

So here are your players to watch:

Georgia vs Auburn

Georgia: Whoever the quarterback is (Stetson Bennett or JT Daniels): All eyes are going to focus on Bennett or Daniels to get it done against an Auburn front that should have everyone back in Gus Malzahn have its way.

Auburn: Anthony Schwarz: Some of you might be asking why not Bo Nix or Seth Williams, but you can guarantee that Williams will be double-covered all night long, which should leave the playbook more open than it was for Schwartz against Kentucky, where he had three receptions for 40 yards.

Alabama vs Texas A&M

Alabama: Najee Harris A lot of focus is going to be on Mac Jones, Jaylen Waddle and the collection of freaks that seem to occupy both sides of the Alabama team, but it will be interesting to see if Harris can continue the 93 yards, 3 touchdown performance against Missouri against a pretty good and experienced Texas A&M defensive front.

Texas A&M: Kellen Mond After an awful performance against Vanderbilt where he fumbled the ball twice and lost one and the team lost a total of five and lost three, there was a lot of venom being poured out against the A&M QB. Mond will have to be on far better shape against Alabama.

Arkansas at Mississippi State

Mississippi State: KJ Costello: After his 600-yard, match-winning performance against LSU, what’s he going to do for an encore? Throw for 700? Walk on water?

Arkansas: Grant Morgan: Morgan had 13 tackles against Georgia in the Razorbacks not-awful loss, and to stop Costello and Co the senior linebacker will have to be at his best.

LSU at Vanderbilt

LSU: Myles Brennan: Brennan has immediately found the voice of critics after his not-great performance in the stunning loss to Mississippi State, but if he can’t perform against Vanderbilt, you can feel Coach O’s finger starting to wrap around the trigger. And look, we know that LSU is missing an awful lot of talent (and this will be repeated ad nauseum), but still, it’ll be on him.

Vanderbilt: Ken Seals: The quarterback earned a lot of praise for sticking in there against a pretty dominant Texas A&M defense, and going 20-29 with 150 yards, a TD and 2 picks on his freshman debut. With no pressure from the fanbase to do well, Seals could flourish.

South Carolina vs Florida

Florida: Kyle Pitts:  Pitts had 170 yards and 4 TDs on just 8 receptions against a socially distant Ole Miss defense, and we are wondering what he’ll get up to against a secondary that gave up 261 yards passing and a TD against Tennessee. Because Florida has so many weapons, we don’t see him being double-teamed as much as the man on the other side, Shi Smith.

South Carolina: Shi Smith: Smith was excellent against South Carolina, grabbing 10 catches for 140 yards and a TD. He’ll be double-teamed against Florida, but it should be fun if he can get open.

Missouri at Tennessee

Missouri: Devin Nicholson: The sophomore linebacker had  team-leading 10 tackles against Alabama. He’s a leader within a defense that mightily improved in the second against Bama – albeit after the Crimson Tide were walking away with the game.

Tennessee: Brandon Johnson: The senior WR pulled off a circus catch against South Carolina. He’s so much fun to watch.

Ole Miss vs Kentucky 

Ole Miss: The secondary: Ole Miss’ defense was AWFUL against Florida, giving up 642 yards and 51 points, but the secondary was a special kind of terrible, giving up 416 yards passing and 6 TDs to Kyle Trask.

Kentucky: Terry Wilson: The senior QB was fine in his return to action after a season-ending injury last year, but Auburn has a legit defense. Ole Miss does not, which means that Wilson should be able to use his collection of wide receivers and running backs more as the Wildcats try to get back on track.

Who impressed us most this year in the SEC?

1. Mississippi State (1-0): It shouldn’t really have stunned people to find out that KJ Costello, who threw for 3,540 yards and 26 TDs in his 2018 year and had already hit another 1,038 in his second before he was injured at Stanford was a good quarterback, and yet Gary & Brad just made stupid jokes about him being a Stanford grad all day long. Costello threw for 623 yards and 5 TDs on LSU. It wasn’t always pretty (he threw 60 times and only had a 65.2% completion percentage and was responsible for two bad turnovers), but Leach’s offense hit TEN different receivers, led by Osirius Mitchell, Kylin Hill and JaVonta Payton, who had over 120 yards each.
2. Alabama (1-0) Might not have beaten the spread, but rolled through Missouri. They knew they’d won it after they replaced Mac Jones with Bryce Young at the start of the 4th quartter. Jaylen Waddle is a stud, and there isn’t a lot wrong with this team. And yet Dylan Moses was upset with the defense’s performance in the second half, after they ‘lost’ the second half 16-10.
3. Auburn (1-0): The Kentucky game was meant to be unbelievably tough for those crazy Tigers, but in the final quarter the Tigers shut out the Wildcats 14-0. Seth Williams is amazing. His one handed grab in the fourth quarter was a thing of beauty. All this was strange because we only saw 3 receptions from Anthony Schwartz, the most dynamic of the Auburn players.
4. Florida (1-0): Kyle Pitts (170 yards, 4 TDs) is an absolute STUD. Kyle Trask ripped apart Ole Miss’ secondary limb from limb, but then again, most offenses could have done that. The defense brought in 6 new starters, and it showed after they were shelled for 613 yards and 31 points. We still think Todd Grantham is the most overrated DC in college football.
5. Vanderbilt (0-1): Honestly, we expected the Commodores to get absolutely hammered at Texas A&M (as did Vegas), thanks to their injuries, opt-outs and transfers, but they caused three turnovers, limited the Aggies to 17 points, and had the game close until the end.
6. Arkansas (0-1): This is based on the first half performance, in which they hassled Georgia non-stop. IF THEY JUST HAD A BETTER QUARTERBACK THAT FELEIPE FRANKS, THEY MIGHT HAVE DONE SOME REAL DAMAGE.
7. Georgia (1-0): This is based on the second half performance, because the first half was an absolute trainwreck. D’wan Mathis was absolutely awful, and had to be replaced by Stetson Bennett IV after not even a half. Bennett put the team on his back, throwing for 211 yards and 2 TDs. But let’s be also honest – the Dawgs still had 13 of its 37 points from anything OTHER than the offense. Todd Monken will make people happy in Georgia in the future, but it wasn’t this time.
8. Tennessee (1-0): The Vols needed a bit of luck to beat South Carolina, but Jarrett Guarantano didn’t do many things wrong, and we love the dual RB combination of Ty Chandler and Eric Gray. Brandon Johnson’s grab in the game was something to be behold.
9. South Carolina (0-1): As predicted, the Gamecocks gave Tennessee everything they could handle, but as is usual with Carolina, they were a couple of plays away from doing excellently. Shi Smith is a warrior and will be tasked with carrying this offense, but there enough qualities for me to think that times aren’t going to be totally awful in Columbia.
10. Texas A&M (1-0): The only nice thing you can say about this performance is that the Aggies won. The Aggies had five fumbles (three lost), and Kellen Mond was poor all day long. You can look at the loss of key personnel, but this team looked utterly demotivated. Good luck against Alabama, folks.
11. Ole Miss (0-1): The offense is fun but the defense will win prizes for College Football Social Distancing.
12. Missouri (0-1): They were always going to be thumped by Alabama, and thumped they were. But Shawn Robinson’s performance was fine, even if the two fumbles were not. When Missouri gets the 12 players back that it missed through the game, they will be in much better shape.
13. Kentucky (0-1): The Cats were meant to cause Auburn fits, but two scoreless quarters indicate that nothing is going to be a gallop in the Grasslands.
14. LSU (0-1): The Tigers were dreadful. Yes, we know that the cupboard was exceptionally bare before the game with Mississippi State (not helped by the hospitalization of Derek Stingley Jr before the game), but they should have had enough talent to beat Mississippi State, right? The Tigers looked disorganised, going-through-the-motions, and Myles Brennan was a massive disappointment. This team could now go 2-8…..like PROPERLY.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: 

KJ Costello (Mississippi State): 632 yards, 5 TDs isn’t a bad start from a brainy boy from Stanford, is it? I just don’t understand how anyone didn’t give him enough credit going into his game.

Thank you, Lord Jesus. The SEC is back on Saturday.

For a while, we thought there would be no college football season, let alone SEC season.

But the SEC waited – and came up with a plan. The plan is that every SEC side will play 10 games.

This week is Week 1.

So here we go – in order of games that we’re most excited to see.

1. No.23 Kentucky at No.8 Auburn (-7.5) 

Auburn bring back two of the better wide receivers in the SEC West in Seth Williams and Anthony Schwartz, and a very solid defensive corps as well. Kentucky will start senior QB Terry Wilson and brings along a strong line with him and a running back group committee – which could consist of electric freshman Michael Brennan II. This will be battle of the offensive lines. Auburn’s is really inexperienced, but then again, Kentucky’s will have to deal with Big Kat Bryant and the rest of the NFL talent that Auburn will bring to face it.What might make this a lot closer is the fact a week of Auburn’s August was wiped out because of COVID-19. We haven’t had the same problems with Kentucky (so it seems),  so that will give Kentucky some sort of advantage.

PREDICTION: Gas in the Gus Bus!Auburn wins by 3 in a nip-and-tuck thriller.

2. Mississippi State at No.6 LSU (-16.5)

This is going to be a weird game, primarily because Mike Leach is involved, which should be a cure for any shut-out. We know why LSU was No.1 in January, but we can’t work out why they are No.6 now, bearing in mind that they’ve lost so much talent on both sides of the ball. Mississippi State brings back its best rusher in Kylin Hill and KJ Costello – the graduate transfer from Stanford, so that could give LSU more fits than people let on. If Myles Brennan can get the ball to freshman former five-star wideout Kayshon Boutte a lot for LSU, this could be fun.

PREDICTION: Much closer than people think, but LSU will pull it out, because it’s talent alone. LSU by 7.

3. No.16 Tennessee (-3.5) at South Carolina

There’s been a lot of chatter about Tennessee, and people are pretty excited on Rocky Top. Unlike most years where people were not remotely talking up the Volunteers, people are talking about a possibility of them even taking Georgia close. Unless Jarrett Guarantano suddenly gets a lot more consistent and Eric Gray does good things against top opposition, we think this is fairly unlikely. However, against a South Carolina side that has no running attack of mention and will only bring one wide receiver back of worthy mention (Shi Smith) to help grad transfer QB Colin Hill, that won’t really matter.

PREDICTION: Tennessee by 10. And don’t think that the pressure won’t be on Will Muschamp after Week 1…because it will. 

4. No.5 Florida (-12 1/2) at Ole Miss.

New coach, new madness at Ole Miss? The swarms that would normally fill out The Grove certainly do. Lane Kiffin’s come on board and made some nice additions – including TE Kenny Yaboah from Temple – and WR Elijah Moore (yes, him!) could hurt Florida, but Florida’s got more talent on both sides of the ball to be truly scared in GroveTown on Saturday. Florida’s settled at quarterback with Kyle Trask, and there will be more than enough option with dual-threater Emory Jones, too. Oh, and on the other side of the ball, Florida’s secondary is nasty.

PREDICTION: Gators roll, and all aboooooooard the Mullenwagon! Florida by 17.

5. No.4 Georgia (-26) at Arkansas 

The only reason I have for Arkansas covering is that Feleipe Franks is going to do an awful lot of handing the ball to Rakeem Boyd and melting down some clock. Georgia is stacked with talent, starting at the quarterback duo of former USC starter J.T. Daniels and five-star freakshow D’wan Mathis and they are going to hit the brilliant George Pickens Jr all night long. Georgia is going to roll.

PREDICTION: Georgia by 28. 

6. No.2 Alabama (-28) at Missouri

We knew this would be a baptism of fire for Eli Drinkwitz, and what a one it will be. Missouri’s already got 12 players out of the game with COVID-19 precautions, so Alabama’s going to run riot. Honestly, it’ll be over by half-time.

PREDICTION: Alabama by 35. And because Oklahoma and Clemson are also out there smashing opponents, Saban won’t be setting the second and third-teamers on Mizzou until the fourth quarter. 

7. Vanderbilt at No.10 Texas A&M (-30)

Texas A&M lost one of its top wide receivers and one of its top linebackers via a pardecision to opt out of the 2020 seasons, but Vanderbilt is already beaten-up due to injuries, their own transfers and opt-outs. This could be the start of one of the ugliest seasons in Derek Mason’s pretty ugly history in Nashville.

PREDICTION: After a slow start, Texas A&M pours it on in the fourth quarter, and wins by 31 in a game where Vandy will feel lucky to get the ball into the end-zone.

Every year it seems, people will want to know whether anyone will unseat the immovable objects.

In the college football, those unmovable objects are routinely Clemson and Alabama. Last year it was the same, until LSU actually proved what can happen when you get a good quarterback, some future NFL first round wide receivers, and an excellent offensive coordinator, which in one season undid the ole cliche always attributed to the Tigers which was “They’ve got the talent, but they are perennially disappointing”.

This year, the objects will be a bit different. We don’t know how many practices each team has managed. We don’t know what what how many have contracted COVID-19 and when, because they aren’t about to let the opposition get the upper hand. We don’t know if any of the players who have recovered from COVID-19 are seeing ongoing effects.

We also can make presumptions- particularly in the SEC West – about two starting quarterbacks (Texas A&M and Auburn), but the rest is somewhat of a mystery, with the biggest coming at Bryant-Denney.

Anyway, so here’s our predictions.

1. Alabama (10-0)

The Tide will be quarterbacked by Mac Jones, who beat out Bryce Jones to Nick Saban’s graces after a highly-competitive camp. Jones will have the luxury of two future first-round picks to throw to in Jaylen Waddle or DeVonta Smith, or they can hand the ball off to Najee Harris or pass it to a mixture of Trey Sanders (formerly the No.1 running back in the nation and he’ll be back from a foot injury) or Brian Robinson Jr. Defensively, Dylan Moses is going to be the star.

Schedule: Missouri (A), Texas A&M (H), Ole Miss (A), Georgia (H), Tennessee (A), Mississippi State (H), LSU (A), Kentucky (H), Auburn (A), Arkansas (H)

Our prediction: With the offensive firepower they’ve got and the defense that’s going to be fine if not utterly elite, it wouldn’t be surprising for us if the Tide are involved in some high-scoring games. And they’ve got the weapons to do that. The big game to watch out for will be Georgia, but otherwise, Alabama should win out.

2. Auburn (8-2)

Auburn’s QB problem is pretty settled, with Bo Nix getting the job. Auburn returns a lot of talent on both sides of the ball. WR Anthony Schwartz is going to be the most exciting of them. He’ll be backed by Eli Stove, Seth Williams, and 4-star freshman Kobe Hudson. Defensively, DL Big Kat Bryant and LB KJ Britt are both preseason all-SEC picks. There are problems in the fact that Auburn had such a problem with COVID-19 that they had a whole week without practicing, and it will be interesting to see what happens to the team. And although Auburn returns a lot of offensive linemen from last year, they all don’t have the experience of their competitors.

Schedule: Kentucky (H), Georgia (A), Arkansas (H), South Carolina (A), Ole Miss (A), LSU (H), Mississippi State (A), Tennessee (H), Alabama (A), Texas A&M (H)

Our Prediction: Although we can imagine Auburn going 6-1 to start the season (losing to Georgia), down the stretch it’s a pretty mean one with games against Tennessee, Alabama and Texas A&M. We think they’ll go 2-1, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see 1-2.

3. Texas A&M (8-2)

I actually had the Aggies finishing second in the West until news broke that its best wide receiver Jhamon Auborn and junior LB Anthony Hines both opted out, which hasn’t helped matters as back-up QB James Foster, senior CB Elijah Blades, and junior DB Derrick Tucker also did the same earlier in the season. Now, I’m not confident about this season, so – like is the case with Auburn and LSU too, this is merely a big swish. What we do know is that the Aggies offensive line is going to be one of the strongest in the West, which should help young RB Isaiah Spiller and speedster Ainias Smith. Kellen Mond is a fun quarterback, too.

Schedule: Vanderbilt (H), Alabama (A), Florida (H), Mississippi State (A), Arkansas (H), South Carolina (A), Tennessee (A), Ole Miss (H), LSU (H), Auburn (A).

Our Prediction: This is a pretty successful year for Jimbo Fisher’s squad, with his young team – packed full of froshes and sophs, score major victories over Florida and LSU this season, while the two losses are against the two teams from Alabama.

4. LSU (6-4)

LSU’s stunning National Championship win was supercharged by an offense that had everyone clapping. But now, the cupboard is pretty bare. Although LSU has just announced Myles Brennan will be starting quarterback, the one receiver who has major experience in that corps will be Terrace Marshall Jr, who had 671 yards receiving and 13 TDs last year. That’s not to say the cupboard will be bare, because LSU recruits and recruits well. On the other side of Marshall will be five-star freshman Kayshon Boutte, the No.2 WR in the nation. Chris Curry and Tyrion Davis-Price will be charged with leading the line at RB, and he’s got no real experience either. Defensively, the secondary will be solid (Derek Stingley and JaCoby Stevens) enough, and the line has been boosted by the return of Neil Farrell Jr.

Schedule: Mississippi State (H), Vanderbilt (A), Missouri (H), Florida (A), South Carolina (H), Auburn (A), Alabama (H), Arkansas (A), Texas A&M (A), Ole Miss (H)

Our Prediction: It’s easy to conceive of LSU winning the easy ones, and losing the hard ones (Florida, Auburn, Alabama and Texas A&M), because the team is so inexperienced. In fact, I’d be shocked if they were favoured against any of the aforementioned sides, and it’s very possible they go 0-4. This is going to be a rollercoaster for LSU fans, but don’t expect miracles.

5. Ole Miss (4-6)

Lane Kiffin can really run an offense, so it should be fascinating to see what he does with projected starter Matt Corral or John Rhys Plumlee. He’s got a good if not amazingly spectacular running back pairing in the excellently-named Snoop Connor and Jerrion Ealy. Prepare to be excited by RB Henry Parrish, too. Elijah Moore will be the big name as a wide receiver, but there will also be some focus on TE Kenny Yeboah, a transfer in from Temple who caught for over 500 yards in his time there. He also returns four starters from last year on the O-Line, but the O-Line wasn’t that good last year.

Schedule: Florida, Kentucky (A), Alabama (H), Arkansas (A), Auburn (H), Vanderbilt (A), South Carolina (H), Texas A&M (A), Mississippi State (H), LSU (A)

Our Prediction: It’s not going to beautiful in Oxford, but 4 wins (Vandy, Arkansas, South Carolina, Mississippi State) is a probability, although we can also see them frighten the life out of a couple of teams. There will be some good grass roots.

6. Mississippi State (2-8)

We love Mike Leach’s brain, and we love his press conferences even more. His recruitment of KJ Costello as a transfer QB is a fantastic move (we’d go as far as saying it’s the transfer of the year). Costello will be helped by excellent running back Kylin Hill, who ran for 1,350 yards and 10 TDs. It will make quite the change from Leach’s usual offenses which are pedal-to-the-metal, and very pass-orientated. We can’t wait to see how Alabama transfer WR Tyrell Shavers will fit into this offense, which will also feature Osirus Mitchell, Caleb Ducking and most intriguingly JUCO transfer Malik Heath.

Schedule: LSU (A), Arkansas (H), Kentucky (A), Texas A&M (H), Alabama (A), Vanderbilt (H), Auburn (H), Georgia (A), Ole Miss (A), Missouri (H)

Our Prediction: MSU’s schedule is absolutely savage. The Cowbellers will face LSU and Alabama on the road, as well as Georgia and Kentucky. Winnable games are Vanderbilt and Arkansas, and if Missouri’s really bad, then No.3 will be the last game of the season.

7. Arkansas (0-10)

Sam Pittman’s first year in charge is not going to be an easy one. While Feliepe Franks coming in as a transfer QB from Florida might be a great headline, what will Franks be working with? For one, Rakeem Boyd is a terrific running back who will cause defenses problems – if the offensive line helps him out. And he’ll also catch some of Franks’ passes, too. But as horrible as this may sound, the cupboard’s still pretty bare. Sure, Pittman’s brought in talent for the 2020 class, but it’s still way behind the rest of the SEC West, although a little bit better than Vanderbilt’s.

Schedule: Georgia (H), Mississippi State (A), Auburn (A), Ole Miss (H), Texas A&M (A), Tennessee (H), Florida (A), LSU (H), Missouri (A), Alabama (H)

Our Prediction: If any of you can recognise a truly winnable game for me on this schedule, then please let me know.

Today Florida said that they had 7 COVID-19 cases on their team, up from six from last week.

The news silenced practice for today – not great news for Dan Mullen’s team that start the season against Ole Miss on September 26th.

Right now, practice is important.

Earlier on, Ed Orgeron said about COVID-19: “”I think most — not all of our players — but most of our players have caught it… I think hopefully they don’t catch it again and hopefully they’re not out for games… I’m not going to say all of them…. But some players have caught it. I don’t know the percentage. Hopefully, that once you catch it, you don’t get it again.” Orgeron declined to talk about actual numbers.

We know that COVID-19 has annihilated depth charts. Tennessee had to cancel a scrimmage at Neyland Stadium because there weren’t enough players. Positive cases aren’t the problem so much as NCAA rules which dictate that positive players and those who are in higher risk of getting the disease have to be quarantined. Auburn has had practices decimated because of positive cases and quarantine rules too.

While players are tested three times a week – Alabama head coach Nick Saban made a point of this on a recent press conference  – but no other coach has talked about how many positive cases there have been.

You can understand this happening in a way because we are just about to hit the season, and coaches don’t want to give their opposition anything going forward.

Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley said recently that the team will not disclose how many positive tests there have been on his team, and the competitive disadvantage was the reason. “Just like we would with an injury, we made the decision to not broadcast that. I know we’ve been probably the most transparent school in the country up until then, but you don’t want to give your team a competitive disadvantage, so we’re not going to do that”.

You could argue that the students have a right to know how many of the team are affected. I’m sure that the school presidents wouldn’t mind telling people, because if it’s a small number, they look as though they run a tight ship, and if it’s a large number, then they can use it to tell kids to socially distance and behave themselves.

The SEC fans won’t matter to the schools, because they will root for their team regardless. And the sponsors will continue to sponsor and the TV networks will continue to show their games.

GOING GREEN

Ironically, the people who are mostly going to be impacted are from Vegas.

In a world where the quick buck is becoming more and more important – especially in a climate where people are desperate for quick cash (that’s what happens in a recession!) – gambling is a bigger and bigger market. Only recently ESPN announced a partnership with DraftKings. Various sportswriters have deals with betting sites, and even yours truly talks about the lines of different games.

And because of COVID-19, no-one should take a line – rather like this season itself – that seriously. Because even if Alabama is a 31-point favorite against Missouri on September 26th (we actually think Alabama -21.5 is a pretty good shout!), no-one knows about how many players have been lost to practice because Nick Saban won’t want you asking. The same goes for all the schools. It’s led to uncertainty about who the starting quarterbacks are and everything else to go with the game. We also don’t know how many practices have gone the way of Tennessee’s or Florida’s and have had to be cancelled.

Of course, a team who’s practiced more will have the advantage – even a mild one – over a side that doesn’t.

We particularly saw this from a tackling point-of-view in the BYU vs Navy game of a couple of weeks’ ago, when The Mormons annihilated the Midshipmen – ostensibly because Navy didn’t allow tackling during any of its practice sessions.

And although we know that teams out of the gate will be rusty (unless you’re Alabama), it should be fascinating to see what lines get crossed-up and those that don’t.

For the record, one of the great lines out there for SEC football will be about how many games might get cancelled or postponed because of COVID-19. Despite a great number of games getting postponed or cancelled because of the virus, the only all-conference game that has had to be moved was Virginia and Virginia Tech in the ACC.

Like any forward-thinking football fan, I’m going for 2.

This is going to be an interesting season for a lot of reasons. Most of them have already been covered.

But for a lot of SEC fans, the question will be: “Who’s going to be the damned starting quarterback?”

For some – like in Florida, Tennessee, Auburn and Texas A&M – the question is fairly obvious, but for other schools, the battles will rage right until the Friday before Gameday.

So here’s our lowdown on who’s going to win out.

ALABAMA

Our pick: Mac Jones over Bryce Young. Jones and Young – the latter one the No.1-rated dual threat QB on the 24-7 2020 recruiting board and the second-best player in the nation – had an almighty battle, and both will see time against Missouri, but Jones will start because he’s got the experience. In his last two games with the Crimson Tide – both against mammoth teams, he threw for 7 TDs and 2 INTs (and you could argue that the second INT was a freak happening rather than his fault), and for over 600 yards.

UPDATE: Jones. 

ARKANSAS

Our pick: Feleipe Franks. Franks is a grad transfer from Florida who was injured during his time in Gainseville, and upon his return was comfortably beaten out for the starting job by Kyle Trask. It looks as though with Emory Jones also snipping at Trask’s heels, the best Franks could do was a graduate transfer. He’s said that he’s hoping to use his experience in Fayetteville to ‘go to the next level’, and if he can show what he can as well as he did in his sophomore year – and lead Arkansas to a couple of surprise victories, then the NFL will have a look. We think he’s head and shoulders above his rivals.

UPDATE: Franks

AUBURN

Our pick: Bo Nix. Not always the most popular QB in Tigers’ history, Nix’s excellent performance against Alabama probably cemented his job on The Plains for this season. Although it’s not been announced, this will have been one of Gus Malzahn’s easier decisions, bearing in mind how bare the cupboard is on The Plains.

FLORIDA

Our pick: Kyle Trask. Dan Mullen’s talked about Trask and Emory Jones taking almost equal-weight this season, but Trask will be the guy after an excellent 2020. Mullen’s made all the right noises about using Jones – a dual-threat QB who’s going to hurt defenses in short-yardage situations (we think) – more, but Trask will run things.

GEORGIA

Our pick: J.T. Daniels. After grad transfer Jamie Newman decided to sit out the year after Daniels’ arrived on campus after his own transfer from USC, it should be set in stone that Daniels will start. But here’s the problem: How healthy is Daniels? In a season where playing in 2020 doesn’t really matter (it’s not going to count towards eligiblity anyway), you might see more of pro-style QB D’wan Mathis as well. Mathis is 6-6 with a cannon of an arm, while Daniels is a pretty damned good himself.

KENTUCKY

Our pick: Terry Wilson. After Wilson got injured early on in the 2020 season, Lynn Bowden took over and did a miraculous job. Although Kentucky HC Mark Stoops brought in Joey Gatewood, the player has not gone through NCAA waivers, so he – at the time of writing – is ineligible (we have no words for the NCAA right now!). Anyway, Wilson’s got the experience, he’s in full health, and although Gatewood will see some reps, Wilson will win out.

LSU 

Our pick: Myles Brennan. The guy following up Joe Burrow’s insane season is one of the unluckier people in Death Valley this season, particularly bearing in mind that most of the offense has left for the NFL or opted out. Brennan’s life has been made easier by the fact that one of his bigger competitors – Peter Parrish – entered the transfer portal after getting suspended indefinitely for a violation of team rules.

UPDATE: Brennan

MISSISSIPPI STATE

Our pick: KJ Costello. For a myriad of educational reasons, it’s unlikely that someone from Stanford would transfer to Mississippi State, but it makes sense in a football world. KJ Costello passed for over 6,000 yards and nearly 50 TDs (and only 18 TDs) in his time in Northern California, and he was heavily recruited by offensive wizard Mike Leach. So de facto: He’s going to be the QB down in Starkville.

MISSOURI

Our pick: Shawn Robinson. First of all, we’d like to note that Eli Drinkwitz is not going to name his starting quarterback until the last second before his team gets rolled by 50 against plays Alabama on Saturday, to try and keep Nick Saban & Co guessing. But Robinson – the junior transfer from TCU came into Columbia in 2019 to play for Barry Odom before Barry Odom was canned at the end of the season (Robinson had to sit out a year), has the arm and the feet that could cause some defenses trouble in the SEC. Taylor Powell, Connor Bazelak and Brady Cook are also QB1 too according to Master of Mystery Drinkwitz, but we think Robinson will take it because of his experience.

OLE MISS

Our pick: Matt Corral. He’s going to share the role with Jon Rhys Plumlee, but Corral’s arm will offer more than Plumlee’s. Lane Kiffin loved him during the scrimmage, too.

SOUTH CAROLINA

Our pick: Collin Hill.  Hill and Ryan Hillinski are in a close battle for victory for the QB spot. While Hillinski’s got the starting experience, the offense wasn’t a lot to talk about last year (104th of 130 last year), Collin Hill’s played until USC offensive coordinator Mike Bobo while he was Colorado State. We think Bobo goes with what he’s used to.

UPDATE: HILL

TENNESSEE

Our pick: Jarret Guarantano. Guarantano had a rollercoaster of a 2019, ending with a nice comeback which has made many people he should be a walk-in for starter. But freshman Harrison Bailey – a four-star pro-style QB who is ranked 3rd in his position by 24-7 – has made a lot of waves at QB recently. People are really excited about seeing him play.

TEXAS A&M

Our pick: Kellen Mond. This is a slam-dunk. He’s a leader both on and off-the-field, he’s a playmaker, and he doesn’t have to do a whole lot bearing in mind how good the Aggies are going to be at running back.

VANDERBILT

Our pick: Ken Seals. Seals is a freshman alongside Mike Wright, junior college recruits Danny Clark and Jeremy Moussa, and he and the other three have no SEC experience. Seals is considered the favorite because he’s practiced more than the others, but new OC Todd Fitch has said that he doesn’t know who it will. We don’t expect Vanderbilt to be very good this season anyway, so this position may be about green shoots than making any green.