Two down, 1 to go.

One month remains in the college football regular season, and still, there are so many questions. Who will represent the SEC West in Atlanta? Who besides Georgia and Alabama will earn New Year’s 6 bowl berths? Will any more SEC coaches get fired?

We likely won’t get answers to all of those things in Week 10. These are my early impressions of every Week 10 game in the SEC:

Mizzou vs. Georgia — How does UGA not run for 400 yards?

Mizzou’s well-documented run-defense struggles have me wondering just how bad it’ll be against the Dawgs. I mean, the Tigers couldn’t hold Vandy to less than 250 yards. What will Zamir White, James Cook and Kendall Milton do to Mizzou? My guess is that they’ll put the game away by the middle of the second quarter. This is one of those games in which it won’t matter if UGA has the third-string guys out there.

Perhaps the better question is what that’ll mean for Mizzou’s offense. Connor Bazelak went down after an awkward hit on Saturday against Vandy. If he can’t go and Tyler Macon is forced into action against the Georgia defense, that would mark the second consecutive week that the Dawgs faced a quarterback in their first career start. Even the immensely talented Anthony Richardson struggled with that. If UGA’s ground game fuels an early lead, that’d be bad news for Macon or Bazelak. Eli Drinkwitz did say that Brady Cook could’ve played vs. Mizzou in a different situation.

Whatever the case, all signs point to another lopsided UGA win.

LSU vs. Alabama — Ty Davis-Price is LSU’s only chance to hang around

Go figure that LSU’s ground game might actually be its strength now. Davis-Price got a ton of volume the past 3 games with an average of 25 carries, but coming off a bye, it wouldn’t be surprising to see a Kayshon Boutte-less LSU offense turn to Davis-Price to try and follow the Florida game plan. How improved is Alabama’s run defense since that day in Gainesville? Well, in October, the Tide had the No. 2 run defense in FBS.

It helps when you have MSU in one of those games, but still. The Tide finished No. 4 in FBS in yards per carry allowed in October. Davis-Price can provide the balance that LSU desperately lacked early in the season. Granted, we’re still talking about LSU trying to become the first unranked team to beat Alabama in Tuscaloosa since Louisiana-Monroe in 2007. In other words, don’t hold your breath on Ed Orgeron’s last game against Alabama being a memorable one.

Auburn vs. Texas A&M — The battle of the midseason turnarounds after being left for dead

Go back to the last weekend in September. Auburn and A&M had reason to feel like the season was slipping away. Auburn had a loss and a narrow win against Georgia State ahead of its toughest stretch of the season. The Tigers went 3-0 against West competition and suffered a loss to mighty Georgia during the month of October to get back into the top 15.

A&M, meanwhile, was without its starting quarterback having just lost to Arkansas for the first time in a decade. A&M’s 3-1 October included the Alabama win, which was the program’s biggest victory of the post-Johnny Manziel era. Now, the 2-loss Aggies are just behind Auburn and back in the top 15.

Both teams have done it with complete performances. They’ve improved greatly at the lines of scrimmage, and their quarterbacks went from bench-able to standouts (more so Bo Nix than Zach Calzada). Both have versatile backfields with multiple guys who can flip a game, and both have defensive coordinators who are among the best in the nation.

Saturday’s matchup will continue some major momentum, and perhaps set the stage for a New Year’s 6 bowl berth.

Liberty vs. Ole Miss — Hugh Freeze! Malik Willis! Loud noises!

I’ve been so fired up for this one for a while. Freeze returns to the place where he left under some infamous circumstances. Credit to Freeze, he reestablished himself as one of the sport’s best offensive minds with the work he did building up Liberty. And speaking of building himself back up, Willis did that in an extraordinary way since he left Auburn after being named the third-string quarterback.

Let us not forget that Gus Malzahn named Joey Gatewood second-string instead of Willis. Wild, I know. All Willis is now is the top-ranked quarterback prospect for the NFL Draft. No big deal. He sheds tackles like a running back, he has a cannon for an arm and he plays in a system that can scheme guys open. It’s an ideal combination for Willis, who improved greatly as a passer. I’d expect Chance Campbell to spy him, though that’ll be quite the task for the Maryland transfer.

A banged up Ole Miss offense needs to bounce back in a hurry if it wants to avoid an upset loss in Freeze’s ironic return to Oxford.

MSU vs. Arkansas — Mike Leach would be wise to follow that Kentucky game plan

Like, the balanced one that saw him dial up 31 carries to his tailbacks. A Leach-coached tailback had 20 carries in a game! Shocking, I know. That’s the best way to keep up some nice offensive mojo against an Arkansas defense who got a much-needed break. We know that Barry Odom will be content to just rush 3 and dare Will Rogers to pick his defense apart. The difference between this current version of Rogers and 2020 KJ Costello is that the former is in a groove. He’s in total command of Leach’s offense, and now with the willingness to run the ball, this is suddenly a tricky matchup for Grant Morgan and the Hogs.

MSU appears it finally has the personnel to execute the Air Raid. Will MSU take some chances over the top against a Jalen Catalon-less Arkansas secondary? It wouldn’t be surprising given the trust between Rogers and Makai Polk. This is a key opportunity for the Hogs to get back on track after what was just a brutal month. That’ll be easier said than done.

Tennessee vs. Kentucky — How desperate are the Cats?

They’d better be because if not, Tennessee is in position to earn that “No. 2 in the East” title. Kentucky reverted to its turnover-heavy ways. Will Levis was overwhelmed by MSU’s defense, and he rushed throws. Chris Rodriguez’s fumble was a killer, too. Kentucky reminded us why it was hard to tab them as an elite team given their first-half issues with ball security. So does that get figured out against Tennessee?

It’s interesting because this year’s MSU loss felt reminiscent of when Kentucky’s 2018 team laid an egg in Knoxville after the Georgia loss. Maybe Kentucky is about to get back on track and Hendon Hooker will struggle against Josh Paschal and that elite front 7. Or perhaps Kentucky will get tested over the top in ways that it hasn’t all year, and Josh Heupel will get his biggest road win to date. Whatever the case, now would be a nice time for Mark Stoops team to show that it’s still worthy of being considered one of the better teams in America.

Florida vs. South Carolina — Hopefully we see Anthony Richardson again

But that’s not a given after he exited his first career start with an injury. Personally, I’d like to see Richardson start against a non-Georgia defense. That’s not to diminish JJ Enagbare and the South Carolina defense, but nobody is on Georgia’s level. As Richardson found out, you can turn the ball over 3 times in the final 2:16 of a half and watch a game become out of reach. Knowing Dan Mullen, I’d expect him to play coy when it comes to discussing his starting quarterback.

Shane Beamer will probably do the same with Jason Brown, who replaced former grad assistant Zeb Noland. Will Noland get another start coming off his surgery to repair his torn meniscus? Noland is still expected to be available, but nobody would be surprised to see Brown get the nod.

In other words, we don’t know who will be starting at quarterback on either side. No matter who it is, one would think Florida, fresh off a blowout loss to Georgia, would be able to establish the run and avoid what would be a disastrous loss for Mullen’s future.