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We’ve officially reached the second half of the college football season, and both divisions in the SEC remain wide open with seven weeks remaining. Week 8 provides us with another great slate of games from around the conference, each with its own postseason implications hanging in the balance.
Here are the can’t miss games of Week 8 in the SEC:
No. 21 TEXAS A&M at No. 7 ALABAMA (SATURDAY ON CBS — 3:30 P.M.)
The showdown between the Aggies and Crimson Tide is the lone SEC matchup of the weekend involving two ranked teams, making it a must-watch for SEC fans throughout the Southeast. A&M enters the game on a two-game losing skid following consecutive defeats at the hands of the Mississippi schools, while Alabama enters this matchup a week removed from a one-point win over Arkansas.
This matchup pits strength against strength as the Aggies will try and use their potent spread offense to attack Kirby Smart’s traditionally strong Alabama defense. Texas A&M ranks first in the SEC in total offense, scoring offense and passing offense, while Alabama ranks first in the conference in total defense and second in scoring defense.
With two conference losses, it seems unlikely A&M will be able to recover to win a top-heavy SEC West. However, the Aggies are still a ranked team and can still make some noise in the West, even if it’s in the role of a spoiler. Should Alabama drop this game, it, too, would have two conference losses, making a run to the College Football Playoff nearly impossible. Needless to say, there’s a lot at stake in this one.
No. 10 GEORGIA at ARKANSAS (SATURDAY ON SEC NETWORK — 4 P.M.)
This is a fascinating cross-divisional matchup between the East’s best team and the West’s worst team in 2014, and the game itself could say more about the two divisions than it will about the teams in action. Georgia is a top 10 team, but it is also the only ranked team in the East this week. Arkansas hasn’t won an SEC game since 2012, but it lost its last two games to ranked West teams by a combined eight points.
No West team has lost a game to any team from outside the division, so an Arkansas win over a top 10 Georgia team would be a huge statement about the two divisions — solidifying the West’s dominance while reinforcing the East’s widespread mediocrity. A Georgia win would not be as compelling (top 10 teams feasting on unranked foes is not groundbreaking), but even if Arkansas can keep the game within one score deep into the fourth quarter, it will still say a lot about the two divisions.
Many have pondered what Arkansas’ record would be in the SEC East, arguing the Razorbacks are a good team stuck in a great division. Saturday we’ll finally get our answer, and although it would knock the whole division down a peg, the rest of the East’s contenders stand to gain a great deal from an Arkansas win. This will be no easy task for Georgia on the road.
KENTUCKY at LSU (SATURDAY ON SEC NETWORK — 7:30 P.M.)
In the past, a Kentucky road trip to face LSU at night in Death Valley was not worth watching. But Kentucky appears better than years past, and LSU is as vulnerable as its ever been during the Les Miles era, making this year’s game one of the more interesting cross-divisional games of the season.
Kentucky is tied for first in the East with Georgia and Missouri, and a win against the Tigers would be a huge momentum boost to begin the second half of the season. The Tigers appears out of contention in the West, but a win over UK could spark a second half turnaround to salvage what has been a frustrating start for the Bayou Bengals. LSU can’t afford to lose this game at home outside the West, but Kentucky has even more at stake as it pursues a spot in the SEC Championship Game.
Death Valley is typically the place where opponents’ hopes and dreams come to die, but the Tigers have already lost one home game under the lights this year (albeit to No. 1 Mississippi State). The winner of this game could climb back into the rankings next week, and Kentucky will not be intimidated in its visit to Baton Rouge. Neither team is among the elite teams in the conference, but this is one of the most even matchups of the weekend, regardless of what the lines in Vegas say.
A former newspaper reporter who has roamed the southeastern United States for years covering football and eating way too many barbecue ribs, if there is such a thing.
