Ad Disclosure
Defenses, beware.
Ten SEC teams are headed to a bowl game, and most will face an offense capable of doing damage. But that isn’t the SEC’s only problem, not when the league also will face some of the nation’s stingiest defenses.
There’s trouble everywhere.
Here, then, is a look at the toughest matchup for each SEC bowl team.
RELATED: SEC Bowl odds | SEC Bowl commentators
Cotton Bowl (national semifinal)
Alabama RB Derrick Henry vs. Michigan State run defense
Henry proved to be the nation’s best running back and broke Herschel Walker’s single-season SEC rushing yards. He has 1,986 and counting, and nobody has stopped him as of late.
Michigan State, however, stopped the Big Ten version of Henry when it (with some help from Ohio State’s coaches) limited Ezekiel Elliott to 33 yards on 12 carries.
The Spartans held the Buckeyes to 86 yards overall.
Alabama won’t abandon Henry like OSU gave up on Elliott, but the Spartans are seventh nationally against the run. Just one opponent — Air Force and its option — ran for more than 180 against them this season.
Sugar Bowl
Ole Miss secondary vs. Oklahoma State passing game
This figures to be a first-to-50 points wins shootout, just the kind of game the Cowboys specialize in.
OSU is seventh nationally in passing yards per game (357.3).Ole Miss is 101st nationally in passing yards allowed (255.1).
OSU QB Mason Rudolph, a prep star in Rock Hill, S.C., who was ignored by SEC schools, has thrown 21 of the Cowboys’ 35 TD passes this season. James Washington is the Cowboys’ big-play receiver. Washington had 1,077 receiving yards, averaged better than 20 per catch and scored 10 TDs.
Trae Elston leads Ole Miss with 4 interceptions. He’ll have plenty of opportunities to add to that total.
Citrus Bowl
Florida QB Treon Harris vs. Michigan secondary
Michigan features the No. 3 passing defense in the country. Only part of that is due to playing in a run-heavy Big Ten.
QBs are completing just 48 percent of their passes against the Wolverines, who have intercepted more passes (8) than they’ve allowed passing TDs (7).
None of that sounds favorable for Harris, who has thrown for more than 200 yards just once in his past six games.
Liberty Bowl
Arkansas vs. overconfidence
It’s impossible to look at Kansas State and find an advantage will keep Bret Bielema up at night. There’s a reason the Razorbacks are favored by 11.5 points, the most of any SEC bowl team.
A funny thing happens occasionally to teams that should win: they don’t. They don’t prepare. They don’t think they can lose. They don’t take the opponent seriously enough.
Bielema can take solace in the fact he has a senior QB in Brandon Allen who should be able to treat the K-State secondary like a virtual seven-on-seven combine workout. K-State has allowed 24 passing TDs and intercepted just four passes.
Allen is trying to impress NFL scouts as much as win a bowl game in consecutive season for the first time in program history.
TaxSlayer Bowl
Georgia front seven vs. Penn State RB Saquon Barkley
QB Christian Hackenberg was supposed to be the potential first-round NFL draft pick who made the Lions’ offense roar.
He’s regressed, but Barkley, just a freshman, has more than picked up the slack.
He topped 1,000 yards despite missing two games with an ankle injury He torched Ohio State for 194 yards and gained 103 against Michigan State.
Outback Bowl
Tennessee QB Joshua Dobbs vs. Northwestern front seven
Northwestern plays in the mirror image of its coach — former Wildcat linebacker Pat Fitzgerald. The Wildcats are physical, particularly up front. They rank 14th nationally in run defense. They’re even harder to score against — allowing just 16.4 points per game, which is seventh nationally.
They held Stanford’s Christian McCaffrey to 66 yards rushing and kept him out of the end zone.
Dobbs won’t find challenging the secondary any easier. Northwestern has allowed just 5 TD passes, fewest in the nation, and has intercepted 12 passes.
Belk Bowl
Mississippi State secondary vs. N.C. State QB Jacoby Brissett
N.C. State opened the season with an experienced, balanced offense. Then leading rusher Shad Thornton was kicked off the team, and equally talented Matt Dayes was hurt against Clemson and lost for the rest of the season.
The offensive burden, already heavy, fell completely on Brissett, the former Florida QB.
In the four games without Dayes, Brissett hasn’t thrown for more than 235 yards, and he’s thrown 3 of his 4 interceptions in that span.
He has to make plays, and he knows it. Expect him to challenge the secondary with deep balls to Jaylen Samuels, who is the Wolfpack’s big-play maker.
Music City Bowl
Texas A&M QB Kyler Murray vs. Louisville secondary
The Cardinals are tied with Alabama and others at 14th nationally with 16 interceptions. They picked off three in the opener against Auburn. They got Clemson QB Deshaun Watson twice. They picked off Patrick Towles’ final pass as a Kentucky Wildcat.
Next up is Murray, who has made more plays with his feet than his arm. Murray was benched after throwing 5 interceptions in two games, but he’ll be back in charge for the bowl game — and future.
Texas Bowl
LSU defense vs. Texas Tech offense
In general, it’s a problem. The Red Raiders play fast and score fast. They’re averaging 46.6 points per game, second only to Baylor.
They’ve scored 73 touchdowns in 12 games. They scored seven TDs against TCU and Oklahoma State, five against Baylor and Texas.
They lead the nation in explosive plays: 265 longer than 10 yards; 30 longer than 40 yards.
QB Patrick Mahomes has thrown for 4,283 yards and 32 TDs.
Les Miles’ embattled offense will never look more old-school than it will in this bowl game.
Birmingham Bowl
Auburn secondary vs. Memphis QB Paxton Lynch
Seems silly now, but no SEC team wanted Paxton Lynch when he was coming out of Deltona Trinity Christian, just 30 miles northeast of Orlando. Not even Florida, where the in-state QB wanted to go. The Gators, incidentally, signed Skyler Mornhinweg instead. Oops.
How do you overlook a guy who is 6-7, 245 pounds, anyway?
All Paxton has done is vault himself into possibly becoming the first QB taken in the April draft. Lynch threw for 3,670 yards and 28 TDs — including 384 yards and 3 TDs in Memphis’ Oct. 17 win against Ole Miss.
As if stopping Paxton weren’t difficult enough, the Tigers will have to piece together a game plan without their defensive coordinator.
Maybe that’s not such a bad thing. After all, Muschamp was the Florida coach who wasn’t impressed enough with Lynch in high school.
Managing Editor
A 30-time APSE award-winning editor with previous stints at the Miami Herald, The Indianapolis Star and News & Observer, Executive Editor Chris Wright oversees editorial operations for Saturday Down South.
