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The World’s Largest Cocktail Party just happens to fall on Halloween this year, meaning there’s bound to be some stumbling about. For every athlete that reaps glory, there’s another who must play the goat.
Here is a look at a few of the players with favorable matchups that will potentially boom during Week 9 action in the SEC and a few of them that will bust.
BOOMS
- QB Chad Kelly – What happens when the SEC’s worst scoring defense meets the player responsible for the most points? We find out Saturday when Chad Kelly marches his high-octane Ole Miss offense into Auburn in Week 9. The junior has posted 309.4 YPG to go along with a conference-best 18 touchdowns. The Tigers, conversely, have given up an SEC-worst 26 touchdowns this season.
- LB Jalen Reeves-Maybin – Only Texas A&M gives up more sacks than Tennessee’s Week 9 opponent Kentucky, a proposition that surely intrigues Vols’ linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin. The junior is tops on the Volunteers in sacks (4.0) and tackles-for-loss (10.5), while becoming a vocal leader on the Tennessee defense. Kentucky has its share of holes for Reeves-Maybin to exploit. The Wildcats have surrendered 20 sacks this season, or 2.83 per contest, ranking them No. 107 in the country; and are last in the SEC when it comes to tackles-for-loss allowed.
- RB Kody Walker – Kody Walker was the hero of free football last week, scoring twice and snaring a 2-point conversion pass from Brandon Allen in Arkansas’ four-overtime win over Auburn. The Razorbacks draw a Tennessee-Martin squad that was torched in the season-opener against Ole Miss. The Rebels used a balanced attack of eight different ball carriers to amass 338 rushing yards and five touchdowns against the Skyhawks. Arkansas, however, will look to leading rusher Alex Collins to wear down the Tennessee-Martin defense. It was a slightly banged-up and fatigued Collins that eschewed carries to the junior Walker, who carried the Hogs to victory on his “fresh legs,” said Bret Bielema. The Arkansas head coach will likely turn to Walker against the Skyhawks to alleviate the wear-and-tear on Collins. Look for Walker to once again step up in the role of secondary tailback, much the same way Collins was last year, forming a one-two punch with Jonathan Williams.
BUSTS
- QB Greyson Lambert – If you take away Greyson Lambert’s record-setting 330-yard performance against South Carolina, the Georgia quarterback’s average yards-per-game shrinks from 185.1 YPG to 157.6, and neither number is particularly overwhelming. Lambert has struggled against more-talented defenses such as Alabama (86 passing yards), Vanderbilt (116) and Missouri (178) — and doesn’t fare much better against the mediocre ones, either, throwing for more than 200 yards just twice all year. The Florida defense ranks among the top-50 in just about every category. The Gators give up a meager 197.9 YPG in the air, and are prone to big plays in the secondary via Vernon Hargreaves III (3 INTs) and Jalen Tabor (2 INTS).
- QB Kyle Shurmur/Johnny McCrary – Houston brings another elite offense, per usual, into its Week 9 matchup with Vanderbilt. The Cougars, however, also have a top-50 defense that has enabled them to rise to No. 18 in the AP poll. Houston plays host this Saturday to a Vanderbilt team hasn’t tipped its hand yet as to whether Johnny McCrary or Kyle Shurmur will be under center for the Commodores. The freshman Shurmur supplanted McCrary last week in Vandy’s 10-3 over Missouri. Both played against the Tigers’ stingy defense, compiling a combined 136 yards and no touchdowns. Houston is vulnerable through the air (263.7 YPG, No. 103 in nation) and in the red zone, allowing opponents to score on 17 of their 19 trips inside the Cougars’ 20-yard line, including five passing touchdowns. That said, the Houston secondary is still dangerous with CB Williams Jackson III (2 INT, 13 pass breakups) and S Adrian McDonald (3 INTs, 4 pass breakups). Vandy, as a team, is last in the SEC in interceptions thrown (11).
- PR Christian Kirk – Two of the better punting units in the SEC will be on display in College Station when the Aggies play host to South Carolina. The Gamecocks enter the Week 9 tilt with the third-best punt-return defense in the conference. South Carolina yields a miniscule 5.33 yards-per-return. By comparison, LSU, the nation’s worst punt defense, has allowed 28.67 yards-per-return. Interim head coach Shawn Elliott’s squad, however, goes up against Christian Kirk and an Aggies special teams that ranks No. 4 in the nation in punt return yards. The dynamic freshman has scorched a nation’s-best 22.7 yards-per-return, and is one of only two players in the NCAA with two trips to the end zone. This will be two quality units butting heads; South Carolina pulls it off and finds a way to limit Kirk.
Chris Wuensch is a contributing writer for Saturday Down South. He covers South Carolina and Tennessee.
