Week 4’s slate of games should easily rival the excitement of last week’s games. There are only eight games this week due to three true SEC games and a few teams on a bye, but it’s always quality over quantity, right?

Here the biggest storylines for each SEC team heading into Week 4.

Alabama – It ended up being a 40 point win over Southern Miss, but if you watched the game at all, you could see an Alabama team probably more focused on their upcoming matchup with Florida. The Crimson Tide looked sluggish and uninspired, beating Southern Miss only 21-6 at halftime. As for the quarterback competition, Blake Sims continues to outplay Jacob Coker. At this point, I’m not sure it’s really much of a competition, no matter what Nick Saban says. Alabama opens up their 2014 SEC schedule against the Gators this week, a game that’ll be a tougher opponent for Saban and his team, but one they should win. The matchup between wide receiver Amari Cooper and Gators defensive back Vernon Hargreaves will definitely be one of the premier matchups in all of college football this weekend.

Arkansas – After a huge statement win for the Hogs last weekend, morale is very high in Fayetteville. Alex Collins and Jonathan Williams are playing just as well as any running back in the country and the secondary made some significant improvements in the second half against Texas Tech, eventually finishing with 10 pass breakups. The storyline for Arkansas moving forward into this week’s game against Northern Illionis is the dreaded “trap game.” NIU is no slouch opponent, but with a huge SEC game against Texas A&M looming in two weeks, the Hogs may be vulnerable to riding the emotional highs of last week’s win and then only looking ahead to the Aggies. If they do that, there’s a good chance they’ll be upset by NIU this weekend.

Auburn – Coming off a bye week, Auburn gets back wide receiver Sammie Coates. Just in time, too, as the Tigers travel to Manhattan, Kan. for a Thursday night matchup against Kansas State. How will Auburn contain KSU quarterback Jake Waters? He is one of the more underrated quarterbacks in the country and can present a number of problems for opposing defenses, thanks to his dual-threat capabilities. Auburn may be a Top 5-ranked team, but the Tigers are in major upset alert this week, facing a pesky Kansas State team. A win here should put them up even higher in the polls.

Florida – It was a shaky start to the Gators’ 2014 conference play with a triple overtime victory over the Kentucky Wildcats. As great as the victory was for Florida, they did not look near as dominant as they were expected to in this matchup. Now, Alabama greets them this weekend and the Gators are big underdogs (17.5 points) heading into Tuscaloosa, Ala. It’ll be a few weeks until we know whether the Gators beat a truly good Kentucky team last weekend, but there’s no denying there are still several question marks regarding Will Muschamp’s team prior to their showdown with Muschamp’s former boss, Nick Saban. No word on if Muschamp has found out what a “padawan” is yet.

Georgia – They were one of the trendy picks heading into their South Carolina matchup. And for good reason, too, as they feature arguably college football’s best player in Todd Gurley and a top-flight defense. However, the Bulldogs continue to struggle in Columbia, this time falling 38-35. The biggest question marks about the Bulldogs fall on the quarterback and coaching staff. Thanks to some poor decisions by Mark Richt and his staff, Georgia left at least 13 points on the field against South Carolina and quarterback Hutson Mason hasn’t done much to quell any fears about him leading the offense. They’ll get a week to get things right as Troy comes into Athens before the the Bulldogs face off against Tennessee.

Kentucky – There may not be a team that was more impressive this past weekend than Kentucky. The Wildcats looked unfazed playing under the nighttime lights of The Swamp. Not only did the defense make some huge plays and make Jeff Driskel feel uncomfortable all night, but the offense looked legitimate, too. Quarterback Patrick Towles continues to throw extremely well and the athletes for Kentucky are legit. Javess Blue, Braylon Heard, Ryan Timmons and now Garrett Johnson all can make the big plays for UK. Moving forward, it’ll take more performances like last week’s to truly earn the respect of the entire conference, but they’re off to a good start in doing just that.

LSU – Another week, another shutout for the LSU defense. John Chavis’ defense looks incredible, but the offense…not so much. Quarterback Anthony Jennings has looked unimpressive so far and there’s questions on if LSU’s offense can be relied upon to score the points it needs every single week. The Tigers will get a much tougher test this weekend than they’ve faced in their last two games. SEC West rival Mississippi State comes to town and we’ll see how LSU’s defense contains Dak Prescott and the other MSU weapons.

Mississippi State – Finally after three weeks of cupcake opponents, Mississippi State plays a quality opponent…on the road at LSU. It probably couldn’t get much tougher for the Bulldogs, having to play a night game at Tiger Stadium, but there’s no better opportunity than this one for Dan Mullen and Dak Prescott to prove they are a real contender this season. So far, Mississippi State hasn’t performed well in the big games under Mullen, but this Saturday night is the ideal time to change that reputation. Prescott will need a huge performance against one of the nation’s top defenses if that’s to happen.

Missouri – For the second consecutive week, Missouri took down a respectable non-conference opponent in convincing fashion. Last year’s Fiesta Bowl champs proven no match for the Tigers as Mizzou handed them a 38-10 loss in Columbia. Maty Mauk threw another four touchdown passes and leads the SEC with 12. Markus Golden and Shane Ray anchor an incredibly dangerous and intimidating defensive line and head coach Gary Pinkel has this team believing another SEC East championship run is not out of the question. Missouri has yet to face a SEC opponent yet this season, however, leading others to believe that we won’t know truly how good Missouri is until they face more formidable competition.

Ole Miss – After a shaky season-opening performance, Bo Wallace has quietly had two huge performances and how leads the SEC in completion percentage (75.5). Wallace’s 636 passing yards and five touchdowns in the last two games have led to two blowout wins for the Rebels as this season’s success continues to fall squarely on the right arm of Wallace. The Rebels will go only as far as Wallace will take them. So far, so good for the Rebels, but I don’t know if we’ll be singing the same tune about this team in three weeks after they face Alabama.

South Carolina – No team needed a win more than the Gamecocks this past weekend and credit South Carolina for rising up to the challenge. They beat a top-ranked Georgia team – again – and vaulted themselves back into the conversation for an SEC title run. Things get much easier for South Carolina this weekend in a road game against Vanderbilt, but a Missouri matchup in two weeks awaits them. I’m far from convinced this Gamecocks team has what it takes to play its way into the SEC Championship game, but South Carolina has arguably had one of the toughest first three games in college football. Nothing but a dominant win against Vanderbilt is acceptable for this week’s upcoming game.

Tennessee – The Vols are on a bye this week after a tough road loss to the Oklahoma Sooners. Let’s face the facts on this one – Tennessee never really had a chance against a much more talented Sooners squad. However, that doesn’t mean last week wasn’t a positive for the Vols. They kept the game close for nearly three quarters and leaned on the performances of some of their younger superstars, specifically running back Jalen Hurd. The future still looks bright in Knoxville, and they’ll have a very timely bye week to rest up before traveling to Athens to take on the Georgia Bulldogs.

Texas A&M – The storyline for the Aggies has been the same since their blowout win against South Carolina to open the season – Kenny Hill and the explosive Texas A&M offense. This week, the Aggies play a road game against SMU, a team in complete disarray after their coach left. It shouldn’t be much of a challenge for Hill and the offense, but they’ll continue to work on fine tuning things before facing Arkansas in two weeks.

Vanderbilt – After avoiding a near disaster loss against UMass, Vanderbilt gets to play South Carolina this week. Even with the win against UMass, there aren’t many positives to discuss about this team. From the coaching staff’s terrible handling of their quarterbacks to an offense struggling to score any points, it’s been three weeks the Commodores and head coach Derek Mason would love to forget. It’ll take a miracle for Vanderbilt to be competitive against the Gamecocks on Saturday night, but all eyes will continue to be on the Vandy QBs as it appears Patton Robinette has won the job for already the second time this season.