Skip to content

Ad Disclosure

SEC Football

Biggest storyline for each SEC team in Week 11

Drew Laing

By Drew Laing

Published:

SEC fans were treated in a big way during last weeks games as every single game but one was decided 10 points or less. As the schedule moves farther into November, the drama increases and each game’s importance is magnify.

Here is the biggest storyline for each SEC team heading into Week 11.

RELATED: Examining this week’s College Football Playoff Poll

Alabama — This is the week most Alabama fans have been waiting for (with the exception of the Iron Bowl, of course). It’s LSU week and the Crimson Tide travel to Baton Rouge, La. There’s a huge opportunity for Alabama to separate itself as one of the top teams in college football, but the Tigers won’t make it easy. No matter the records, this always seems to be an incredibly hard-fought game in recent years. Nick Saban and his players will look to keep pace with Auburn by picking up another ranked win before attempting to take down No. 1 next week.

Arkansas — The Razorbacks get a bye week this week before welcoming LSU into town in Week 12. This is a team that’s close to getting over the hump, but they’ve just not quite reached that point yet. It was another close loss last week for the Hogs, but Bret Bielema’s team has to win sometime right? With just three games left on their schedule, the chances of the Hogs winning a conference game in 2014 get smaller and smaller with every passing week.

Auburn — Before the season, everyone suspected Auburn would be a good team, but pundits had no faith the Tigers could navigate their incredibly tough schedule. Impressively, they’ve done just that. Aside from a loss to Mississippi State, Auburn’s continued to rack up big wins in 2014 and the Tigers are in a great position for the College Football Playoff. They shouldn’t have too much trouble with Texas A&M this week, considering the QB issues the Aggies are facing.

Florida — Did any other team in college football need a win more than the Florida Gators. The same could easily be said for the Gators head coach as well. It appears Muschamp bought himself some time with an upset win over the Georgia Bulldogs and he’s now in a position to still win the SEC East. That’s actually still a logistical long shot, but the fact that Muschamp and the Gators are still in the conversation, considering how poor they’ve played this season, is incredible. Sometimes a simple victory can change an entire program’s outlook. The Gators will look to keep the momentum going with a road matchup against Vandy this weekend.

Georgia — On the flip side of that previous statement, it’s amazing how one loss can affect the entire outlook of a season. Georgia was considered a shoe-in for the SEC Championship game and a darkhorse playoff contender. UGA was on cloud-9, playing its best football of the season, and that’s even without Todd Gurley. Now after the loss to the Gators, cries of Mark Richt underachieving drown out any positivity this program had just one week ago. The ‘Dawgs will need to rebound quickly, however, with a tricky matchup on the road this weekend against UK.

Kentucky — What happened to the Wildcats? After starting the season with a sterling 5-1 record, the Cats have lost three straight SEC games and have struggled offensively. I think this UK team is still much better than in recent years, but the meat of the Cats’ schedule has given them serious issues. With their only two SEC wins this season coming against South Carolina and Vanderbilt, UK fans would love a quality SEC win to legitimize their 2014 success. Georgia provides that exact opportunity this weekend.

RELATED: SEC Bowl Projections after Week 10

LSU — Fresh off a bye week, the Tigers have their sights set on ruining Alabama’s season and helping their own chances of still winning the SEC West. This team was unranked just a few weeks ago, but it’s clear now that LSU is capable of being a top-15 or perhaps even a top-10 caliber team. Now the Tigers will just need to prove it and a home matchup against Alabama is the perfect chance to do just that.

Mississippi State — Last week’s 17-10 win over Arkansas certainly didn’t have the flash of past MSU wins this season, but the Bulldogs got the job done. They get merely a tune-up game this week against UT-Martin, but let’s not kid ourselves — MSU is focused on next week’s matchup when they travel to Tuscaloosa, Ala., to take on the Crimson Tide.

Missouri — The Tigers played one of their best games of the season against Kentucky last week, holding the Wildcats to just 10 points while quarterback Maty Mauk was efficient once again with two touchdowns and zero interceptions. More importantly, with UGA’s loss Mizzou finds itself in the lead for the SEC East title and will get a bye this week to prepare for a tough road matchup against Texas A&M in two weeks. It hasn’t been pretty at times this season for the Tigers, but they’re right where they want to be.

Ole Miss — In one play, the Rebels lost their shot at a playoff berth and also their star wide receiver for the season. Laquon Treadwell’s incredible effort for stretching for a go-ahead touchdown late in the fourth quarter nearly put Ole Miss in a great position to win the game, but ultimately, Treadwell fumbled and unfortunately suffered serious damage to his leg. Now forced to adjust their once lofty goals, the Rebels get a cupcake opponent in Presbyterian this week before the action ramps up again in two weeks against Arkansas. It’s been a disappointing second half of the season to what otherwise has been an incredible year for Ole Miss.

South Carolina — The Gamecocks’ season took another disastrous turn when they surrendered a 14-point lead to Tennessee in the final minutes of the fourth quarter and then go on to lose the game in overtime. At 4-5, this is far from the season South Carolina fans expected and time is running out to salvage any positivity by the end of the year. Fortunately for South Carolina, a bye week awaits and the Gamecocks will need the extra time to refocus and possibly finish strong in order to make a bowl game.

RELATED: SEC’s biggest gut-punch losses

Tennessee — The Vols have been somewhat of an enigma on offense this season, but it appears they may have found a budding game-changer in quarterback Josh Dobbs. The dual-threat signal caller torched the Gamecocks last weekend for more the 450 total yards in just his second game of the season. He was previously going to redshirt this year. The addition of Dobbs at quarterback completely changes this Tennessee team and it’s definitely for the better. He’s already led the Vols to their first SEC win on the season and possibly a few more before the season finishes out.

Texas A&M — What started out as a possible magical season for the Aggies has come crashing back to reality during the past month or so. With a new quarterback the Aggies are struggling to find their identity on offense (who would have thought we’d be saying that) as evidenced by a less than impressive performance against UL Monroe last weekend. Texas A&M faces a tough matchup against Auburn this weekend, but the latter part of this season is becoming more of a rebuilding phase for the Aggies rather than a strong push for postseason aspirations.

Vanderbilt — Vanderbilt picked up just its third win of the season last weekend, but the most important thing was that finally a quarterback has stepped up for the Commodores. Freshman Johnny McCrary threw for 281 yards and five touchdowns against Old Dominion and with some stability at the offense, it appears the ‘Dores may finally be able to start building an offensive foundation. Their progress on offense may come to a screeching halt this weekend against the Gators’ stingy defense, but nonetheless there’s finally some hope for the Commodores and head coach Derek Mason.

 

Drew Laing

Drew Laing will be providing analysis and insight on Florida, Georgia, Missouri and South Carolina.

You might also like...

2025 RANKINGS

presented by rankings

Read our Privacy Policy, Terms and Conditions, Cookie Policy and

© 2025 Saturday Down South. All rights reserved

We do not target any individuals under the age of 21. We support responsible gambling. If you feel like you're losing control over your gambling experience, call 1-800-GAMBLER (NJ, PA, WV), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), 1-888- 532-3500(Virginia) 1-800-522-4700 (NV, TN), 1-800-522-4700 (CO, TN), 1-855-2CALLGA (IL), 1-800-270-7117 (MI). global.footer.legal