Week 6 brings us the first of what should be a number of gargantuan, Playoff defining SEC games this year. This week it’s Florida vs. Auburn, featuring College GameDay, a loud Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, and all the jorts you care to see.
Elsewhere around the SEC, teams are trying to stay on track or turn things around. Or in Tennessee’s case, just trying not to be a national embarrassment for one game.
Let’s check in with all the SEC fan bases and see how they’re feeling heading into Week 6.
Alabama
Do you remember when Alabama was losing to Ole Miss at the end of the 1st quarter? That would be concerning if it weren’t for DeVonta Smith making return trips to the end zone like he’s trying to rack up Starbucks rewards. The Ole Miss blowout doesn’t tell us too much about how Bama stacks up against the best teams in the country, but it’s a lot better than, let’s say … beating North Carolina by only 1 point.
Arkansas
Technically last week wasn’t a win, but it did drive Texas A&M fans closer to an existential crisis, so that is certainly better than nothing. Now you’ve got a bye week heading into your game against Kentucky, which is probably the last best hope to grab an SEC win this year. If not, then the 2022 schedule might set up nicely to finally get one.
Auburn
Ummmm, I don’t want to overreact, but is Auburn the best team in the country? The offense is balling, the defense is unbreakable and New Gus is the hottest coach in the nation. The only thing that stands in the way of a 6-0 start is a Florida Gators team that barely held off Miami and Kentucky starting a backup quarterback. You have to feel good. But on the other hand, this is Auburn, so who knows.
Florida
Auburn really thinks it can just waltz into The Swamp and blow out the Gators, huh? Well someone tell Auburn that only Missouri is allowed to do that. The nation will be introduced to the #TraskHive on Saturday and college football will never be the same.
Georgia
Heading into the season, the Tennessee game in Knoxville seemed like a pretty big deal, but now it seems more like a warm-up game for South Carolina and Kentucky. And those 2 games are just a warm-up Florida. That game of course, is a warm-up for Alabama. No offense, Vols. (Or anybody else.)
Kentucky
Man, 2018 feels like a long time ago. If you can’t even beat South Carolina anymore, you know it’s not your year. But that’s OK, Kentucky football has plenty of reasons for optimism, like … uh well at least you’ll have the rest of the year to figure that out.
LSU
Thank goodness the SEC gave LSU that precious bye week before the Utah State game. Can you imagine if this LSU team had only 6 days to prepare for them? But the Tigers know what’s really in front of them, namely a few titanic conference games that will decide the Playoffs and maybe even the balance of power in the SEC going forward. No pressure.
Mississippi State
OK, so it’s possible the defense might have some issues. And yes that’s an understatement. Also, don’t even get started on the special teams. You know what … let’s just forget that Auburn game happened altogether. Good thing there’s a bye week and a tune-up game against a cupcake Tennessee to regroup.
Missouri
Don’t tell anyone, but it looks like Missouri will play a full SEC schedule without facing a ranked team until November. Now that’s impressive. But again, let’s keep that a secret. The less Georgia and Florida know about that the better and more painful the upset will be for them.
Ole Miss
Who can ever forget that 1st quarter lead against Bama? There’s nothing that can take away from that, except maybe the 59 points Alabama scored by the game’s end. It’ll be interesting to see what Plumlee can do against a normal, non-championship caliber defense. But in the SEC West, that might be tough to find since the Rebels already played Arkansas.
South Carolina
Oh yeah, that’s what it’s like to win an SEC game. It feels good. It sure would be nice to happen more often. It probably won’t happen Saturday against Georgia, or the week after that vs. Florida. But eventually, though.
Texas A&M
Everyone is trying to say A&M fans are freaking out and already tired of Jimbo, but that’s only like 50% true. Sure it would be nice with all the money spent on football to be one of the 5 undefeated SEC teams in Playoff contention or be in better shape than the Longhorns. But the Aggies are all about patience in 2019. Just don’t read any Aggie message boards.
Tennessee
Wow, so that’s what it’s like to have a Saturday that doesn’t end in complete misery and embarrassment. That was pretty nice. Tennessee should have bye weeks more often. Now they can ease back into things against … oh, no.
Vanderbilt
Glad Vandy was able to squeak things out against NIU, but you can’t say that bodes well for how the rest of SEC play will shake out. Vandy might not even be favored against Tennessee. Can you imagine how embarrassing that would be? Yikes.
Houston lives in Atlanta and covers SEC football for Saturday Down South. You can follow him on twitter @hbarber17 or reach out at hbarber17@gmail.com
