It
is Tennessee vs. Florida week…
By
Jeff Sallas
Florida at
Tennessee – The game of the week (Saturday at 2:30 on CBS)
For the first
time in a decade Tennessee comes into this game as a big favorite. They have been the favorite a few times over
the last decade but it was still usually close and Steve Spurrier’s ability to
win several of those games always put the Gators a little ahead. However with the departure of Spurrier and
Florida’s performance early this year, Tennessee is now at the top of the SEC
for the moment.
Also
Tennessee did turn things around before Spurrier left by beating one of his
best teams in the Swamp last year. An
instant classic especially for Vol fans.
A lot was taken away from that game when LSU topped the Vols in Atlanta
but it shouldn’t have. It was still a
big big win. The Vols looked loaded
just about everywhere. Experienced QB,
very good OL, great TE, big playmaker at WR and a lot of young talent at
RB. The Vols have looked even better on
defense. The Gators have a tough job on
their hands.
On the
Florida side things are quite as stable.
There is still a lot of great talent with Grossman, Graham and Jacobs on
offense and plenty of experience on defense.
The disturbing trend has been the absolute boneheaded plays that
Grossman has made the last 2 weeks.
Grossman has had a tendency to do that over his career and it cost him
many tongue-lashings from Spurrier.
Last year though he had one of the best years in college football
history, his terrible INT at Auburn cost them the game.
This year his
INT on first and goal blew the Miami game open and this last week he threw an
early INT against Ohio that he himself termed “the stupidest play he had ever
made”. Grossman has got to calm down
and not get his team beat. The other
disturbing trend against Miami was the collapse of the defense. Though they kept it close Miami rolled up
over 300 yards on the ground and that is inexcusable for a team as good as
Florida.
I think the
key for Florida winning is getting an early lead and making the Vols play from
behind. Otherwise Tennessee balanced
experienced will also wear down the Gator defense. As always turnovers will be huge but I will just be very
surprised if the Gators can take this one down to the wire.
TENNESSEE
OVER FLORIDA
Auburn at
Miss St (THURSDAY at 6:30 on ESPN)
Things get
started early this week with this dog-fight to kick off things in the SEC
West. This will be the first matchup of
SEC West teams. With the new schedule
this game might replace the Auburn/LSU game as the unofficial SEC West
opener. While not quite the same
matchup as UT/Florida this is still pretty interesting. As always you have 2 coaches who absolutely
hate each other going back to Tommy Tuberville’s days at Ole Miss.
There is no
doubt how these guys feel about each other.
Then there is the matchup of Auburn offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino
vs. State defensive coordinator Joe Lee Dunn.
Both are veteran coaches who have had a lot of success who are trying to
pick up the pieces of units that were horrible last year. It should be very interesting to see how
they attack each other.
I am sure
Miss St offensive coordinator Sparky Woods has spent a lot of time watching
tape of the Auburn/USC game. Since QB
Kevin Fant is more of a classic drop-back QB and State has some good WRs and
RBs with good hands they have a lot of similarities to the Trojans. If the Auburn defense hasn’t fixed some of
those busted assignments then State could have some real success. Sherill likes to throw to his backs out of
the backfield and let the make plays.
RB Dontae Walker still leads the State ground attack though he has been
a bit of a disappointment the last 2 years.
On the other
side of the ball it is simple, State will stack the line to stop the SEC Player
of the Week, Carnell Williams. Auburn’s
ability to throw the ball and free up room for Williams will be the key as it
will be all season. QB Daniel Cobb has
looked better the last 2 weeks against inferior competition but now we will see
how much he has really improved.
Both teams
really want this one after disappointing years last year. Both coaches are supposedly close to the
“hot seat”. I think Auburn is a bit
better overall but has not had much success in Starkville lately. A little unsure I will go with...
AUBURN OVER
MISS ST
Vanderbilt at
Ole Miss – (Saturday at 11:30 on Jefferson Pilot)
The only
other SEC match up this week. In a
scheduling quirk this will be the second year in a row this game is played in
Oxford. Last year Vandy looked to have
the game in hand till Ole Miss rallied late.
I don’t think it will be that close this time. The Rebels should rebound from a tough loss to Texas Tech last
week and get a good start in SEC play...
OLE MISS OVER
VANDY
Southern Miss
at Bama – (Saturday at 6:00 on ESPN2)
The Golden
Eagles come to Tuscaloosa for this annual matchup. Bama swamped Southern last year in a Birmingham monsoon. Other than the Bama collapse of 2000 this
has typically been one of those “Southern Miss plays them tough” and then loses
type of series. Usually this is a
slugfest that stays close till Bama wears Southern down. While Southern Miss is a good team I think
they lack the offensive firepower to pull off the upset. Bama hasn’t had the offense clicking on all
cylinders but they have gotten the big play when they need it. I look for another close one early with Bama
pulling away late...
BAMA OVER
SOUTHERN MISS
Middle Tenn
St at Kentucky – (Saturday at 12:30)
MTSU plays
their 3rd SEC team in 4 weeks.
This might have looked like a great game to knock off an SEC team before
the season started. However as I have
commented on at length, the Wildcats have come to play this year. Led by seniors Jared Lorenzen (QB), Artose
Pinner (RB) and Derek Abney (WR) Kentucky is averaging almost 400 yards per
game.
MTSU proved
against Bama they are capable of the upset and if this was Kentucky last year I
would probably pick the upset but I don’t think Kentucky is going to let up...
KENTUCKY OVER
MTSU
Elsewhere...
Georgia over
Northwestern St
South
Carolina over Temple
Arkansas and
LSU are open this week.
***I went 9-0 last week and am now at 25-4 for the season.