The Week 3 slate is one of the many reasons I wish every Power 5 program played a team from each of the other four Power 5 leagues.

Aside from tailgating, there’s just not a lot of there, there. About the only thing most SEC teams can accomplish today is to get back to the locker room healthy and not embarrass themselves like Arkansas did last week in the collapse at Colorado State.

There are a few things worth monitoring, however.

1. The Jalen Hurts Watch, Part 3

The question has quickly become: Does Jalen Hurts even care about his redshirt? Nobody can talk to Hurts, so who knows what he’s thinking. If he plays today — and he is 2-0 against Ole Miss, the ideal QB to play keep away from Ole Miss’ talented offense — we can all but bury the notion that he’s interested in preserving a redshirt for his next team.

The only way Alabama loses this game is if Tua Tagovailoa throws 3 interceptions. Ole Miss’ wide receivers can score on anybody. It’s not often Nick Saban’s secondary is considered the underdog or, dare we say it, simply overmatched, but it will be today. There’s not a secondary in college with enough talent to go man-on-man with A.J. Brown, DaMarkus Lodge and D.K. Metcalf.

Now, will Jordan Ta’amu have enough time to exploit those mismatches? That’s an entirely different question and challenge.

But the best way to prevent even the possibility of that happening is to run it 65 times today and throw it just for fun. Ole Miss has no chance to stop Alabama’s run game. It’s an ideal Hurts game, actually. Yet Alabama has been relatively pass-happy the first two weeks. That’s the Tagovailoa influence. However … as much fun as his spin-and-heave TD tosses can be, those aren’t exactly smart decisions. At some point, somebody’s going to pick one off. He has a lot of Chad Kelly in him, in other words.

I’m all about the points: I’d love to see Tagovailoa throw for 450 and 6 TDs and Ta’amu try to match him. I don’t think that’s what Nick wants, however. I think we’re going to see a far more conservative Tagovailoa today and a lot more of the Harris guys.

And I’m guessing we see Hurts again for the third consecutive week, too.

2. Auburn’s chance to rise

As much fun as it is to talk about these early-season highly-ranked showdowns, the truth is, they don’t matter. At all.

Auburn and LSU both still play No. 1 Alabama and No. 3 Georgia (not to mention No 16 Mississippi State, which could be closer to the top 10 by the time those games kick off.).

Either Tigers team can lose today and run the table and make the Playoff.

The flip side is true, too. Either team can win today and still run into trouble later.

I’ve had Auburn in my Playoff final four since the opening week. Today is an opportunity for the rest of the world to a) acknowledge how big the gap is between the West and everybody else and b) realize the ceiling Auburn has.

If Auburn wins, it will be impossible to justify an AP Top 25 that doesn’t begin No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 Georgia, No. 3 Auburn — unless you want to flip Georgia and Auburn or Georgia and Alabama.

Nobody in the country can play with the SEC. It’s been that way for the better part of a decade — but this is shaping up to be the scariest version yet.

3. Drew Lock, have yourself a day, OK?

Mizzou’s embarrassing loss to Purdue last season was a black eye for the beleaguered SEC East — and a bad look for Lock.

If you read this wonderful profile on Lock, you know how much inner fire the guy has. Unleash it today. Do things at Ross-Ade that the fine people there haven’t seen since the days of Drew … Brees.

Lock’s target numbers: 360 yards and 4 TDs. Oh, and a W. That’s pretty important, too.

4. If Florida loses today, bench everybody and start over

Neil Blackmon took a terrific/terrifying look at Florida’s broken culture and how nothing will improve until that is replaced and repaired.

That takes time. It takes everybody time. Even Texas, and USC, and Notre Dame, and Michigan, and Florida State, and Miami … shall we continue? Nobody likes the word “patience” but that’s needed every bit as much as a few more in-state 5-stars.

I didn’t like Mullen’s game plan last week against Kentucky.

If you don’t think you can run it, fine, I guess, but find another way to get the ball in the hands of Jordan Scarlett and Kadarius Toney.

They combined for just 13 touches but still managed 105 yards. That’s a winning 8.1 touch-per-carry formula. You might want to lean on that a bit more, not only today against Colorado State, but against everybody else, too.

5. Nick Fitzgerald and the forward pass

We know Fitzgerald can run. He’s on the verge of breaking every QB rushing record in SEC history.

But that’s not how quarterbacks are judged, and that’s now how quarterbacks get to the NFL, which, presumably, is the goal.

It’s hard to pretty up an 11-for-27 passing day, so rather than continuing to harp on his Week 2 performance, let’s set some realistic expectations for today and beyond.

In 12 games last year, Fitzgerald threw only 7 passes that went for 30 or more yards. That was last among starting quarterbacks in the SEC. Even the oft-maligned Feleipe Franks managed 9 such completions. Keep in mind, only 6 SEC quarterbacks attempted more passes than Fitzgerald last season, so this isn’t a lack-of-opportunity issue. It’s a lack of command.

Credit: Scott Sewell-USA TODAY Sports

Nobody is expecting Fitzgerald to match Drew Lock — who led the way with 32 such completions last season — but a realistic expectation is one per game. Eleven SEC quarterbacks managed to do that last season, including the also-maligned Jalen Hurts (11).

This isn’t all about airing it out, either. Many of these throws are perfectly placed slants that allow the receiver to maintain his speed without breaking stride and therefore pick up the rest after the catch.

This isn’t a new criticism for Fitzgerald, but it’s an area he must improve if Mississippi State has any chance of reaching its lofty preseason goals.