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Here’s our weekly look at the coaches with the most riding on this weekend’s games.
MOST TO GAIN
Les Miles: Aside from staying unbeaten and maintaining its spot atop college football toughest division, LSU now has the opportunity to solidify its position in the playoff race. The Tigers opened at No. 2 in the College Football Playoff selection committee’s initial poll of 2015 and a win against fourth-ranked Alabama would further entrench LSU.
Jim McElwain: Last week’s win over Georgia all but assured Florida of the SEC East crown and a win over Vanderbilt this weekend would make it official. McElwain’s inaugural season in Gainesville already has been a rousing success, and considering the depth of Vanderbilt’s struggles on offense, Saturday’s game should amount to little more than a well-earned victory lap.
Bret Bielema: This is about the point when Arkansas’ 2014 season hit a swift U-turn. Last year’s thorough 30-0 win over Ole Miss was the Hogs’ second straight shutout of a ranked SEC foe, and while this version of the Razorback defense doesn’t appear as talented, the Rebels have shown enough variance from week-to-week to this season to make any outcome conceivable. Arkansas’ wildest preseason dreams were dashed back in September, but after a 1-3 start to the season, a 5-4 mark with three weeks left wouldn’t look so bad.
MOST TO LOSE
Mark Richt: For the past few years, every time Georgia has lost in disappointing fashion, a vocal but relatively small portion of the fan base has called for his job. The smoke emanating from the hot seat this time, however, just might indicate a smoldering fire. Fox Sports’ Bruce Feldman reported this week that powerful Georgia boosters are “talking about potentially moving on from Richt unlike ever before in his tenure.” If that’s the case after a loss to division leading Florida, the veteran of 15 seasons between the hedges could have his fate sealed if the Bulldogs fall at home to Kentucky.
Hugh Freeze: It’s been said the SEC Championship Game functions as the quarterfinal round of the playoffs. If that’s the case this year, Ole Miss is effectively in the Round of 64 this weekend against Arkansas. The Rebels are in survive-and-advance mode the rest of the way. Win out, and they’re the SEC West champs for the first time in program history, and almost assuredly bound for the final four. But one loss anywhere along the way and their playoff hopes are done. The selection committee made it clear that Ole Miss has zero room for a slip-up when they slotted the Rebels at No. 18 this week.
Nick Saban: The Tide came in at No. 4 in the first College Football Playoff poll of the season, but in SEC play Alabama has even less margin for error than Ole Miss due to the Rebels’ still-reverberating win in Tuscaloosa. A loss to LSU would give the Tide defeats at the hands of both teams they’re competing with at the top of the West and put them in a hole it will be virtually impossible to climb out of.
Brent Holloway is a contributing writer for Saturday Down South. He covers Georgia, LSU and Mississippi State.
