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We’re on the back end of Week 7 and what do we know? Well, a lot more than we did before the season. So why stick with those ancient preseason predictions? After Week 7, we’ll take a fresh look and predict where your favorite SEC squad finishes the 2020 regular season.
Alabama: 10-0
No reason to think otherwise. They could spot everybody 2 touchdowns until the SEC Championship and the analysis would be the same.
Arkansas: 5-5
It looks increasingly like Arkansas and Mizzou will play a game that could decide whether one or both end up with a .500 SEC season. Even more unlikely, we’d take Arkansas to win that game. We’re not going to lie, we called 0-10 out of the gate on this team. We were wrong.
Auburn: 6-4
No reason to change our thoughts on Auburn (4-2). They lose to Bama and A&M, they beat Mississippi State and UT, and end up with a fairly confusing season. Will it be enough for Gus?
Florida: 9-1
We had the Gators beating Georgia, but the relative ease with which they pulled it off only further cements this projection. Hard to imagine anybody left on the regular-season slate hanging with Florida, particularly with the defense continuing to step up.
Georgia: 8-2
Of the remaining teams on the schedule, their matchup at Mizzou is perhaps the toughest. Lopsided losses against Bama and Florida aside, there shouldn’t be another setback in the regular season.
Kentucky: 4-6
Kentucky (2-4) should be able to handle Vandy and Carolina, but it’ll be an uphill climb for sure against Florida and Bama. Seems like a safe 4-6 season.
LSU: 3-7
Alabama, A&M, and Florida don’t even seem like possible wins. That leaves at Arkansas and home against Ole Miss. Yes, 4-6 is plausible, but from what we’ve seen, the 2-3 Tigers probably show up flat and lose 1 of the other of the 2 winnable games.
Mississippi State: 2-8
That’s about it for the Bulldogs (2-4). Their defense forced enough turnovers to get past Vandy, but the offense continues to be absolutely morbid. Week 1’s win over LSU feels like about 3 seasons ago now.
Missouri: 5-5
Georgia will probably be a loss, but the Tigers figure to be in the other 4 games. Finishing with Mississippi State and Vandy should work out well. We’ll guess the Tigers lose either at Carolina or at home against Arkansas, but a .500 mark is nothing to sneeze at in Year 1 under Eli Drinkwitz.
Ole Miss: 4-6
Outside of A&M, the other 3 games left on the schedule are all winnable for the 2-4 Rebels. So 5-5 could be in the cards, but we’ll hang back a little on that and assume the Rebels get 2 of 3 of the matchups at home with Carolina, at home in the Egg Bowl and at LSU.
South Carolina: 2-8
No shot against Georgia, and while Carolina could pick off 1 of these 3 (home vs. Mizzou, at Ole Miss, at Kentucky), given the way this week went, 2-8 stands as the most likely finish.
Tennessee: 3-7
Last week we said it was hard to feel optimistic if the Vols lost to Arkansas. Well, at this point, they’re looking forward to going to Vandy in 3 weeks, because other than that, it’s going to be tough sledding. The Vols (2-4) could surprise against Auburn, but at this point, better than 3-7 doesn’t seem reasonable.
Texas A&M: 9-1
UT, Ole Miss and LSU seem unlikely to put up much resistance. That leaves Auburn to end the season, but even on the road, the Aggies look like a significantly superior team.
Vanderbilt: 0-10
Sorry, folks.
Joe Cox is a columnist for Saturday Down South. He has also written or assisted in writing five books, and his most recent, Almost Perfect (a study of baseball pitchers’ near-miss attempts at perfect games), is available on Amazon or at many local bookstores.
