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10 best SEC matchups in Week 11 starts with Dak Prescott vs. Tide
By Chris Wright
Published:
The Week 11 slate might not be wall-to-wall must-see TV, but we found 10 interesting matchups well worth your time:
1. Mississippi State QB Dak Prescott vs. Alabama’s front seven: No fewer than a billion words were written to describe what the Crimson Tide did to Leonard Fournette. The front seven will be tested again Saturday by another big, bruising runner — except Prescott obviously can also pass.
Dual threats have caused Bama fits recently: Nick Marshall threw for 2 TDs and ran for 99 yards and another score in the 2013 Miracle at Jordan-Hare. Johnny Manziel put up Madden-like numbers in going 1-1 against the Tide in 2012 and 2013.
Tim Tebow took over the 2008 SEC Championship Game, throwing 3 TD passes and adding a team-high 57 yards rushing. (Bama repaid the favor in the 2009 title game, however.)
Prescott played well last year, too, throwing for 290 yards and 2 TDs and nearly rushing for 100 yards, but his 3 interceptions proved costly as Alabama rallied in the final minutes to end the Bulldogs’ short reign at No. 1 with a 25-20 victory in Tuscaloosa.
He has a chance to end the Tide’s championship hopes Saturday.
2. Mississippi State WR De’Runnya Wilson vs. Alabama secondary: Prescott is the engine, but Wilson is the key to the Bulldogs’ upset bid. LSU wasn’t able to make enough big plays through the air. Brandon Harris beat a corner blitz and threw a beautiful ball to Travin Dural, but that was a lonely highlight play.
Wilson is second in the SEC with 8 TD catches. He’s seventh in yards-per-catch (nearly 17). He’ll need to make at least 3 big plays against a Bama back-end filled with ball hawks.
With so much focus on Prescott, he should have the opportunity.
3. Florida CB Vernon Hargreaves III vs. South Carolina WR Pharoh Cooper: Here’s hoping South Carolina doesn’t move Cooper around in the formation. Give us the 1-on-1 on the outside we want to see. Cooper had three consecutive 100-yard receiving games to open October but has caught just 8 balls for 69 yards in two game since.
4. Arkansas QB Brandon Allen vs. LSU secondary: Tigers CB Tre’Davious White is the big name, but his big-play opportunities have been few as QBs have targeted other areas on the field. LSU has just seven interceptions — only three SEC teams have fewer.
That’s not necessarily good news considering Allen and the Razorbacks might be the hottest offense in the SEC right now.
Allen has a 14-2 TD-INT ratio over his past five games, four of which Arkansas won.
5. LSU RB Leonard Fournette vs. Arkansas front seven: “Arkansas,” like “Alabama,” has 3 “As” in its name, but the expectation is Fournette can’t wait to remind them that’s where the similarities begin and end.
Bama bottled up Fournette with 4-3 personnel who more often lined up in a 5-2, but Arkansas doesn’t have that kind of firepower up front.
The Razorbacks have allowed better than 6 yards per carry in each of the past two games. Fournette certainly will be looking to jump-start his Heisman campaign, which stalled out last week in Tuscaloosa.
6. Auburn’s run game vs. Georgia’s front four: Trent Thompson, a five-star, in-state recruit, was supposed to be the Bulldogs’ answer in the middle. He’s played in all nine games but hasn’t quite asserted himself like most thought. After starting four consecutive games, he came off the bench last week.
Auburn ran for a season-high 311 yards last week behind a breakout performance from Jovon Robinson, a touted JuCo transfer who, like Thompson, had yet to make an impact. Robinson ran for 159 yards and a score.
7. Texas A&M DE Myles Garrett vs. FCS O-line: Garrett leads the SEC with 11 sacks but has been shut out twice in the past three games. Western Carolina’s starting left tackle is a redshirt freshman, Zach Weeks. Time to add to that total.
8. Vanderbilt’s offense vs. Chains: Vanderbilt has run the ball 28 times when facing a 3rd-and-7 or longer. Compare that to, say, Auburn, which has run just 8 times in those situations. It’s become clear Vandy’s staff has next to no confidence in the passing game. Whether that changes Saturday against Kentucky will be a key strategy to watch.
9. Missouri vs. distractions: Safe to say this week was unlike any other for the Tigers. Many members of the football team came together in a social protest for the good of their university. Football results pale in comparison, but that show of unity could spark a team that has lost four straight and is clearly searching for answers.
10. Tennessee KR Evan Berry vs. North Texas kickoff team: One of the most overlooked numbers of the 2015 season has to be Berry’s kick return average of 40.56 yards.
To put that in perspective, the SEC’s No. 2 returner, Mississippi State’s Brandon Holloway, is at 29 yards, and nobody else is above 24.
Berry leads the country in return average and shares the lead with touchdown returns with 3.
Now the bad news: He might only get a couple of opportunities Saturday. North Texas averages just 17.6 points per game, 118th out of 128th in the country.
Managing Editor
A 30-time APSE award-winning editor with previous stints at the Miami Herald, The Indianapolis Star and News & Observer, Executive Editor Chris Wright oversees editorial operations for Saturday Down South.
