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We’re a little less than four months away from our first SEC game of the 2016 season.
For some fans in the conference, the season can’t get here soon enough. For a few others, there’s a feeling that’s made them pop a cigarette in their mouths with a blindfold over their eyes.
However, the SEC is stacked with more talent than any other league, which can lead to very unpredictable results. How about Florida’s 38-10 win over Ole Miss in Week 5? Alabama beat Georgia by the same score in Athens that same week. Arkansas handling LSU 31-14 in Death Valley in Week 11 also comes to mind.
It’s hard enough to foresee who’s going to win almost any given SEC matchup, so good luck predicting a blowout, but that’s what we’re doing right now.
Here are some SEC matchups, outside of more obvious ones, that may feature some mismatches this coming season.
MISSISSIPPI STATE at LSU, WEEK 3
In Week 2 of last season, a missed 52-yard field goal as time expired prevented the Bulldogs from pulling off an early-season upset of the Tigers in Starkville. Things could play out a lot different this season.
Mississippi State has yet to determine who will succeed Dak Prescott at quarterback. Regardless of whether it’s Elijah Staley (5 career pass attempts), Nick Fitzgerald (14), Nick Tiano (0) or Damian Williams (70), none have a lot of playing experience.
Add that to the fact that they’ll need to come of age quickly in Death Valley, and that’s a very tall task for Dan Mullen’s team, and defensive coordinator Dave Aranda will attack early and often.
Plus, LSU is 15-1 against Mississippi State since the turn of the century. The good news for Bulldogs fans? That lone win came in Mississippi State’s last visit to Tiger Stadium (34-29 in 2014).
TENNESSEE at SOUTH CAROLINA, WEEK 9
As it looks right now, no team in the SEC will get a more beneficial bye week than the Vols will.
A brutal seven-game stretch to start the season features home games against last year’s East (Florida) and West (Alabama) champs and road games at Georgia and Texas A&M along with tricky non-conference matchups against Virginia Tech, Appalachian State and Ohio.
Thankfully, the team gets a bye in Week 8 before closing the year with what looks to be a much easier stretch. That begins against first-year coach Will Muschamp and South Carolina. If Tennessee can escape that gauntlet with the SEC East title still up for grabs, which will likely be the case, the Vols will be rested and motivated for this one.
It’s also a matchup of the SEC’s No. 2 rushing offense against the FBS’ 110th-ranked rushing defense. Each of the last four matchups have been decided by a field goal or less, but that might change due to what could be an offensively-challenged Gamecocks squad.
AUBURN at OLE MISS, WEEK 9
The Tigers have a lot to figure out on the offensive side of the ball as well in what could be a critical season for coach Gus Malzahn. Auburn averaged only 5.4 yards per play last season with only Florida, Vanderbilt and Missouri doing worse. That’s not good company.
The QB situation in The Plains still hasn’t been solved as no signal-caller separated himself in the spring, and the Tigers may be lacking in firepower to hang with QB Chad Kelly — the projected No. 1 QB off the board in next year’s draft — and the Rebels in Oxford.
The same could’ve been said about last year’s matchup, and Auburn only lost 27-19 while throwing for a season-high 302 yards after entering the game averaging just 182.6 passing yards coming in. That supports the unpredictability that we mentioned earlier.
Still, the juice from The Grove could spark a few big plays, and it won’t be easy for the Tigers to play catch-up this season.
GEORGIA at KENTUCKY, WEEK 10
The Bulldogs will only play one true road game over their last six games, and this is it. However, recent history tells us that Georgia could enjoy a big day in Lexington.
It’s not just because Georgia has won 17 of the last 19 in the series, including six straight. The Dawgs have bulldozed the ‘Cats by nearly 100 combined points (98) over the last three meetings dating back to Mark Stoops’ first year at Kentucky. Those beatdowns have come by 59-17, 63-31 and 27-3.
That’s an average margin of victory of 32.7 points per game.
The Wildcats are optimistic that they can end their five-year bowl drought with offensive firepower at the skill positions and a new offensive staff to guide them. However, the team has to solve the 30 sacks allowed last season. Meanwhile, the team is banking on a significant improvement from redshirt sophomore Drew Barker.
Stopping the run could be a problem again for Kentucky, which was 12th in the SEC last season and gave up 300-plus yards in two of its last four games, including an even 300 to Georgia.
Born and raised in Gainesville, Talal joined SDS in 2015 after spending 2 years in Bristol as an ESPN researcher. Previously, Talal worked at The Gainesville Sun.
