Big
SEC East clashes
By
Jeff Sallas
Florida vs.
Georgia (at Jacksonville, FL) – The game of the week
(Saturday at
6:45 CDT on ESPN)
The “World’s
Largest Cocktail Party” reconvenes and with the game being at night... the fans
should be ready. This is a much tougher
pick than a lot of people are thinking.
Georgia is hurt. The injuries
are piling up. WR Damien Gary is gone
and TB Musa Smith, WR Fred Gibson and OL Jon Stinchcomb are still not
100%. These guys comprise the core of
the Georgia offense. Georgia was able
to get by without Gibson because of Gary but now that Gary is gone Georgia is
definitely hobbling.
Things have
been very quiet in Gainesville since the big Auburn win. They had last week off and of course that
has not been a good thing in the SEC this year. Tennessee was the latest to go down after an off week. Florida came out with an extremely effective
short-passing game against Auburn with Rex Grossman playing very well. They stalled out later in the game but came
out of the gates fast. I look for more
of the same this week. The surprising
thing that I have seen is that Ernest Graham is just not getting that many
rushes. Florida still doesn’t have a
whole lot of personality on offense but are still dangerous.
I think this
one could be pretty low-scoring. I
think the defenses might be the best units on the field. Neither has been flashy but have gotten the
job done. The Georgia offense is still
pretty good even with the injuries. QB
David Greene is still there and quite a few people have stepped up to
contribute at RB and WR. The wildcard
will be QB DJ Shockley. He could be the
playmaker that puts Georgia over the top or he could make a big mistake. He will definitely play. It should be very interesting to watch. I guess the 2 biggest stars in the game
would have to be Georgia WR Terrence Edwards and Florida WR Taylor Jacobs. These guys are both big time playmakers.
Like I said,
this is a much tougher pick with Georgia’s injuries. I have never thought Georgia would go undefeated but they are
drawing closer. I am very tempted to go
with the Gators however this game means everything for Georgia. They have only beat Florida once in the last
decade. A loss here ruins the whole
season a bit for the Dawgs. They want
this game badly. Last week I said
Georgia would find a way to win and I will this week as well...
GEORGIA OVER
FLORIDA
Auburn at Ole
Miss (Saturday at 11:30 CDT on Jefferson Pilot)
The storyline
concerning Tommy Tuberville’s departure from Ole Miss 5 years ago seems to have
finally died down. The biggest
storyline this week so far has been the heat on Ole Miss head coach David
Cutcliffe. Although after 2 consecutive
blowouts any coach in the SEC would be feeling the heat. As I said earlier this year after the
Florida game, this year was Ole Miss’ best shot at getting to Atlanta and it
doesn’t look like it is going to happen.
Even with an upset this week they still have to play Georgia, LSU and
State. So morale is down in
Oxford. However a win this weekend
would sure help.
Auburn is the
obvious favorite especially after whipping LSU last week. However Ole Miss matches up much better
against Auburn than against Arkansas or Bama.
Auburn while they were very physical last week are still not as big and
strong on the lines as those teams are.
More importantly Auburn hasn’t had a big pass rush this year. They will have to get pressure on Manning
somehow. Auburn was able to confuse
young LSU QB Marcus Randall last week but will have a much tougher time doing
that against Manning. The battle
between Ole Miss’ WRs and Auburn’s secondary will be very important as
well.
I would
expect Auburn to come out running against Ole Miss’ 4-2-5 defense. Ole Miss really only starts 2 true LBs and
you just can’t stop the run in the SEC with that. Bama and Arkansas absolutely killed it. Auburn will try to do the same thing and will be successful if
they can get the OL playing as well as it did against LSU last week. RB Ronnie Brown should be the workhorse
again. I also look for more passes to
the TEs. It is apparent QB Jason
Campbell likes throwing to them more than ex-QB Dan Cobb.
As with all
games, I think turnovers will play a big role.
Both of these teams’ losses over this year have been marked by
turnovers. I think this game will be a
bit harder for Auburn than some people think but...
AUBURN OVER
OLE MISS
Tennessee at
South Carolina (Saturday at 2:30 CDT on CBS)
The battered
and beleaguered Vols come to Columbia this week. I don’t think this will be the game to get well on. The Vols are going to have to pick it up to
stop the bleeding because South Carolina would love to add to their
misery. Coach Lou Holtz has been unable
to beat the Vols though he has taken them to the wire several times. The Gamecocks should be ready.
The good news
is that Tennessee’s defense has continued to do a good job. They aren’t great but they are solid and
have kept the team in just about every game into the 3rd
quarter. The offense just hasn’t been
able to help them much. Tennessee’s
offense is averaging in regulation in conference games 14 POINTS A GAME
(!!!!!!). I can’t remember the last
time the Vol offense was so bad. I mean
you just can’t win scoring like that.
It should be
the same story this week as South Carolina is a pretty one-dimensional team
completely dependent on QB Corey Jenkins.
They will also be without playmaker Ryan Brewer. However it sounds like Vol WR Kelley
Washington is out as well and maybe for the season. I expect it to be close and low-scoring. The question will be which offense will
break through first. With Tennessee’s
luck this season, I am betting on the Gamecocks...
SOUTH
CAROLINA OVER TENNESSEE
Kentucky at
Miss St (Saturday at 1:30 CDT)
This series
which has been so good the last few years will now be a permanent part of both
team’s future schedules. When the SEC
switches next year to just one permanent team out-of-division, this will be
that game for both of these teams. I
think it was a great selection. This
has turned into a bit of a rivalry sparked by the teams being completely
different. This year I still expect a
good game but the teams are much more similar.
In fact, I believe Guy Morriss used to coach for Jackie Sherill.
This should
be a hard-fought slugfest. Kentucky
will be looking to get off the mat after being shut out in the second half of
last week’s game by Georgia. Miss St
had the week off and this will be a huge game for them if they expect to get
anything out of this season. These
teams are pretty similar except I think Kentucky has the superior skill players
on offense with seniors Jared Lorenzen and maybe the best RB in the SEC Artose
Pinner. I think these guys will be the
difference in the game.
KENTUCKY OVER
MISS ST
Elsewhere...
Bama over Vandy
Arkansas over
Troy St
LSU is open
this week.
Overall picking SEC vs. SEC/BCS opponents I went 3-1 last week missing Auburn’s upset of LSU. Overall I am 29-10. Overall including patsies I went 4-1 and am at 54-12.