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Western Kentucky assumes the role of David versus LSU’s Goliath this weekend in Baton Rouge, but the Hilltoppers are no strangers to the SEC with wins over Kentucky in both 2012 and 2013.
WKU is 3-6 overall against SEC opponents but fell 42-9 to the then-No. 1-ranked Tigers the last time they played in Baton Rouge in 2011.
LSU enters the game sporting an FBS-record 51 consecutive wins in non-conference regular season games.
Whether the Hilltoppers’ high-powered offense is enough to snap that streak remains to be seen.
Here are 10 other burning questions from around the SEC as Week 8 nears.
1. Can Ole Miss QB Chad Kelly get back on track after throwing 6 interceptions over the last four games? Kelly has always been feast or famine, but his penchant for gambling has caught up to him in recent weeks. It hasn’t helped that the Rebels have yet to develop a consistent running game, but Kelly must be more sound in his decision-making if he hopes to shake the turnover bug.
2. Can Tennessee snap an eight-game losing streak at the hands of Alabama? It’s possible but unlikely, given that the Crimson Tide will be at home and is playing perhaps better than anybody in the nation right now. But dual-threat Vols QB Joshua Dobbs is the kind of signal-caller who has given coach Nick Saban’s teams fits in recent years. Dobbs is going to have to play lights out with both his arm and his legs to give his team a chance.
3. Is there any chance Alabama could get caught looking ahead to the Oct. 31 showdown with LSU and come out flat? That’s unlikely because Saban is a master motivator who gets his team to consistently buy into his one-week-at-a-time mantra. Alabama boasts plenty of talent, so playing with intensity is a must if you want to play for Saban.
4. Will Georgia use the bye week to fix its offensive problems before its Oct. 31 date with Florida? Coach Mark Richt says he’s going back to the basics this week as the Dawgs try to right things along the offensive line and at quarterback. There’s no magic pill for a quick fix, so it remains to be seen whether one week will be ample time to make all the corrections.
5. Are Maty Mauk’s days as Missouri’s starting QB numbered? It’s still unclear what Mauk’s status is after he sat out last weekend’s game at Georgia. He has struggled with his accuracy all season and might have already been supplanted in the starting lineup for good if true freshman Drew Lock hadn’t struggled so badly in consecutive losses to Florida and Georgia. Necessity might push Mauk back into the lineup at some point.
6. Will Vanderbilt make a change at quarterback and replace the struggling Johnny McCrary? What do the Commodores have to lose at this point? McCrary, a sophomore, has tossed an SEC-worst 10 interceptions to just 6 touchdown passes and appears lost at times when trying to read defenses. McCrary, who has also been sacked 9 times, is listed atop this week’s depth chart, but expect a quick hook from coach Derek Mason if he gets off to a slow start against Missouri on Saturday. Sophomore Wade Freebeck is Vandy’s backup quarterback.
7. Can Treon Harris duplicate the magic of 2014 and beat Georgia again when the teams meet in Jacksonville on Oct. 31? Harris was a true freshman playing in place of an ineffective Jeff Driskel last year when he engineered the biggest upset of his career by leading the Gators to a 38-20 win over the then-9th-ranked Dawgs. He passed for just 27 yards and ran for 31, but he directed a Florida offense that chewed up 445 yards, including 418 on the ground.
8. Has coach Gus Malzahn finally righted the ship at Auburn? That remains to be seen, but the Tigers did enough in a 30-27 win over Kentucky on Oct. 15 to at least snap a string of ugly outings that led to losses in two of their three previous games. Redshirt freshman Sean White has taken over for the struggling Jeremy Johnson and completed 17 of 27 passes for 255 yards without a turnover against the Wildcats. Whether he’s good enough to make teams fear the Tigers once more is still up in the air.
9. Will South Carolina look drastically different under interim coach Shawn Elliott than it did with Steve Spurrier? That’s highly unlikely because the Gamecocks simply aren’t blessed with a lot of explosive playmakers beyond wide receiver Pharoh Cooper, so getting him the ball as much as possible will remain South Carolina’s primary offensive objective.
10. Is Texas A&M QB Kyle Allen overrated? There’s no question that Allen, a sophomore, endured a forgettable afternoon in last week’s thumping by Alabama, throwing three pick-sixes and suffering 5 sacks in the Crimson Tide’s 41-23 win. But Alabama does that to a lot of people. Allen has a big-time arm and is a solid athlete who runs well. He’ll learn from his mistakes and rebound, starting at Ole Miss on Saturday.
John Hollis is a contributing writer for Saturday Down South. He covers Georgia and Florida.
