Finally
conference games fill the slate…
By
Jeff Sallas
Kentucky at
Florida – The game of the week (Saturday at 2:30 on CBS)
Kentucky in
the game of the week??? Yes it is
true. The undefeated Wildcats march
into the Swamp with as good a chance as they ever will have to get a win
there. Nobody thinks they can do it and
that looks right but hey at least they get a week in the sun and get to be in a
big-time conference game. That hasn’t
happened much for the Wildcats.
Meanwhile the
Gators come home after the huge win over Tennessee. They cannot afford a let-down like they had against Ohio but
hopefully they learned from Tennessee that you have to take everybody in the
conference seriously. Both offenses are
led by a single playmaker at each position.
Florida is led by QB Rex Grossman, RB Ernest Graham and WR Taylor Jacobs
while Kentucky is led by QB Jared Lorenzen, RB Artose Pinner and WR Derek
Abney. And the Kentucky trio’s numbers
are very close to the Florida guys.
I think obviously
the Gators will score some points and I think their defense will make some
plays as they are battle-tested by playing against Miami and Tennessee. The key for Kentucky will be putting some
points on the board early and making critical stops on defense. We will find out how improved Kentucky’s
defense really is. I look for Kentucky
coach Guy Morriss to continue playing sound fundamental football. I look for him to keep running the ball and
not get into a passing contest with the Gators.
The Gators
are the most talented team but the Wildcats are playing good enough to bite
them if they mess up. However I still
have to go with...
FLORIDA OVER
KENTUCKY
Bama at
Arkansas (Saturday at 6:45 on ESPN)
At least one
opening SEC West battle stayed in place with the new SEC schedule. This slugfest has been the opening
divisional game for both of these teams since the conference went to divisions
I believe. It has been back and forth
since Houston Nutt came to Arkansas with both teams winning at home over the
last four years.
Bama brings
in a question mark at QB with Tyler Watts injured. You would assume he would play but everybody made that assumption
against Auburn last year too. However
Bama doesn’t have an experienced senior to bring in like they did against
Auburn last year. Highly-touted
freshman Brodie Croyle backs up Watts and he did not fare well passing the ball
last week. If Croyle has to play for
any extended period of time and Bama is not able to simply run over the
Razorbacks, they could be in a bit of trouble.
However that
could happen as I believe Arkansas lost quite a bit off their defensive line
last year. They have a great secondary
but that won’t mean much if they can’t hold the line against Bama’s able
running attack. Bama did lose senior TB
Ahmaad Galloway last week but have the more-talented although less-complete
Santonio Beard to take his place.
Bama’s
defense has been getting a lot of press since the opening debacle against
MTSU. It really looks like more of last
year to me. I am surprised more people
can’t see the pattern. It will not be
till Bama plays a good passing team that we can see how much better the defense
has improved. Since Franchione has been
there all of Bama’s losses have been to people who can pass the ball. Fortunately for Bama Arkansas is NOT one of
these teams. The Razorback offense is
still horrible so I will take...
BAMA OVER
ARKANSAS
Miss St at
LSU – (Saturday at 11:30 on Jefferson Pilot)
Everyone has
been joking about this game as they have heard about LSU grumbling over the
start time. More than anyone LSU loves
the night games and anyone who has ever been there knows they can get a little
scary. LSU should be well-rested
though. After two cupcakes they got a
week off before this game. This game
will officially start the defense of their SEC title.
Meanwhile
Miss St also got a little extra time to prepare since they played last
Thursday. However I don’t know if they
needed it. Auburn and LSU look a lot a
like to me. Both have fast athletic
defenses. Both have offenses centered
around a feature back, for LSU that would be either LaBrandon Toefield or
Domanick Davis. Finally both have great
talent at WR but are shaky at QB.
However while Auburn’s Dan Cobb got better feasting on lesser teams,
Matt Mauck didn’t. He is still a big
question mark.
I think Miss
St will play very similar to the way they played Auburn. They will try to force Mauck to make the big
pass. The biggest thing for State will
be protecting the ball since turnovers are what blew the game open against
Auburn. It was a very close game till
then. I look for LSU to try and throw a
lot of short passes to their running backs to jump start the passing game. This one should be close but I don’t sense
an upset...
LSU OVER MISS
ST
Syracuse at
Auburn – (Saturday at 8:00 on ESPN2)
It is
pay-back time on the plains as Auburn hosts the Orangemen. Auburn was embarrassed last year at Syracuse
as RB James Mungro and DE Dwight Freeney feasted on the Tigers. I think Auburn’s ex-offensive coordinator
Noel Mazzone’s fate was really decided on that day for me. Freeney just ran right by young tackle
Monreko Crittenden and Auburn never consistently got him any help. A very stupid move as Freeney caused several
fumbles and who knows how many “hurries”.
That Syracuse team finished with 10 wins.
However this
year Mungro, Freeney and several others are gone and Syracuse has suffered
getting blown out by BYU and losing to North Carolina at home. However Western Carolina they are not and if
Auburn has the usual letdown Tuberville teams seem to have after big wins then
there could be trouble.
However
Auburn seems to be on a roll and after making some big strides in the passing
game last week they look much improved.
The foundation remains RB Carnell Williams who almost single-handedly
carried Auburn down the field against Miss St for their first score. The guy is pretty amazing to watch. Plus Auburn seems to be doing pretty good
taking advantage of teams stacking the line.
The Auburn OL looks to be improving each week.
There is a
good chance of rain but Auburn has already had to play through that against
Vandy a few weeks ago. So barring a
major letdown...
AUBURN OVER
SYRACUSE
South
Carolina at Vandy – (Saturday at 6:00)
After another
less-than-stellar performance against Temple last week South Carolina has to be
a little worried about this one. While
Vandy still looks like Vandy Coach Bobby Johnson has improved the offense a
good bit. This might be too close for
comfort for the Gamecocks but I will still pick them.
SOUTH
CAROLINA OVER VANDY
Elsewhere...
Georgia over
New Mexico St
Tennessee
over Rutgers
Ole Miss is
open this week.
***I went 6-1 last week missing Florida’s big win and am now at 31-5 for the season.