With the SEC race going to the stretch run, Week 11 has some excellent action.
Now, there are only 6 games this week, as the last big bye week across the conference takes place. But here’s the rundown on the action that’s upcoming.
These rankings are subjective, but also account for league and national impact along with how exciting and how close the games will be. Games are ranked on a 1-to-5 star scale, with 5 being the most watchable game and 1 being the least. (Hint: there are no 1-star games.)
5 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The games worth cancelling your plans, shutting off your phone, and to quote Lane Kiffin, the ones worth getting your popcorn ready for:
No. 3 Texas A&M vs. No. 22 Missouri (3:30 p.m. ET, ABC)
The lone ranked-on-ranked battle, this is a matchup of an SEC team that’s all but wrapped up a CFP bid (Texas A&M) and one that’s on the outside of the picture, but still far from finished (Mizzou). The loss of Beau Pribula could be big here for the Tigers, but if Ahmad Hardy has a big game, this could be an epic battle. It’s certainly the game to watch.
4 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Not quite as electric as the 5-star games, but still great quality college football.
No. 5 Georgia at Mississippi State (Noon ET, ESPN)
The Georgia Bulldogs have gotten by on the basis of comebacks and some defensive smoke and mirrors (UGA is last in the SEC in sacks, tackles for loss, and tied for last in takeaways). The Mississippi State Bulldogs are much more competitive than expected and are playing for their postseason lives. Georgia is a solid favorite, but this could get interesting.
LSU at No. 4 Alabama (7:30 p.m. ET, ABC)
This game isn’t the epic it seemed likely to be at, say, the end of September, but it could still get interesting. LSU enters the post-Brian Kelly era with a massive chip on the team’s collective shoulder. But Alabama has been adept at taking care of business since that Week 1 disappointment. Like Georgia, the Tide seem like a safe favorite, but depending on how LSU channels its motivation (or whether it does), this could be a wild one.
3 stars ⭐⭐⭐
A game with some intriguing aspects, but generally not as competitive or interesting as those above.
Auburn at No. 16 Vanderbilt (4 p.m. ET, SEC Network)
The fighting Diego Pavias really need to win out to keep those CFP hopes going. Auburn is talented, but unless the departure of Hugh Freeze inspired the Tigers to develop a new offensive identity, Vanderbilt should be in good shape. Not unlike LSU/Bama, this game might have seemed more interesting had Auburn not fallen off the Earth and fired its coach. As it is, this matchup stands as merely intriguing.
Florida at Kentucky (7:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network)
Well, this is the most competitive matchup of Week 11 (Florida is -3.5 on the road), but will anybody care? It’s a battle of 2 3-5 teams, one of which has already fired its coach and the other being strongly rumored to be considering the same situation. Competitiveness gets this game above our lone 2-star game, but the lack of an intriguing team definitely hurts.
2 stars ⭐⭐
Mostly reserved for quality teams in deeply mediocre matchups, in this case, it’s for four deeply mediocre teams in fairly competitive matchups.
The Citadel at No. 6 Ole Miss (1 p.m. ET, SEC Network+)
No offense to the Rebels or the Bulldogs, but Ole Miss‘s scout team could probably sleepwalk through this game. This game won’t tell anyone much of anything.
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.
