I’ve got good news and bad news. Which would you like to hear first?

Bad news? Good choice. Rip the band-aid. One can’t appreciate good news knowing that bad news is on the horizon.

The bad news is that if you read that headline, you saw that we’ve somehow reached Week 10. That’s just confirmation of my theory that time in the fall moves at 1.5 speed. That should be reserved for “meh” podcasts, not actual football.

The good news, however, is that we’ve got a loaded slate in the SEC with a whopping 8 games. It’s a division title weekend of sorts on CBS with Mizzou at Georgia and then a late tilt between LSU and Alabama.

In other words, appreciate this weekend because we don’t have a whole lot of them left this fall.

More good news? Here are some early impressions of every Week 10 SEC game:

Texas A&M at No. 11 Ole Miss — Pete Golding’s defensive line should absolutely feast

Not enough people are talking about this Ole Miss defense because it couldn’t get enough stops against Alabama and it held on for dear life against LSU. But think about this. Through 8 games, Ole Miss in Year 1 under Golding:

  • A) Is top 1/3 in FBS in scoring defense and yards/play allowed
  • B) Held every non-LSU team to 24 points or less
  • C) Is No. 5 in FBS in sacks
  • D) Is No. 9 in TFLs/game
  • E) All the above

It’s “E.” It’s always “E.”

So compare that to a woefully disappointing A&M offensive line. Like, a group that allowed Max Johnson to get sacked 3 times in the first 11 minutes against a struggling South Carolina defensive front. It’s strange to say that the biggest mismatch in this game is Jared Ivey and that Ole Miss defensive front against A&M’s offensive line, but that’s incredibly obvious. If Texas A&M OC Bobby Petrino doesn’t find ways to get the ball out of Johnson’s hand quickly, it’ll be a long day for the Aggies on the road against a vastly improved Ole Miss defense.

UConn at No. 19 Tennessee — I really wish Josh Heupel would lean into my preseason request for this game … but he won’t

No, it wasn’t to go trick-or-treating as Bobby from “King of the Hill,” though that would be incredible. My preseason request was that we’d see Nico Iamaleava start against UConn. That wasn’t a request made in hopes that Heupel would bench Joe Milton, but rather to see what the true freshman could do with a normal week of prep as QB1. This, I thought, would be an excellent time to do that given the time of year with the schedule, which has a pair of top-15 teams after the Week 10 game against UConn.

So why won’t Heupel do that? Ideally, he wants to get this vertical passing game going before Georgia. Milton still hasn’t really mastered that part of the offense, despite his Uncle Rico-like arm. Tennessee is ranked among the bottom 20 in FBS and dead last in the SEC in passing plays of 20 yards (17). That long passing play to Chas Nimrod came because the Kentucky defensive back fell, and Dont’e Thornton’s 47-yard grab was mostly yards after the catch. That downfield attack has been lacking for the Vols. I’d expect Heupel and Joey Halzle to try and iron some of that out against a 1-win UConn team.

Arkansas at Florida — How different will the Hogs’ post-Dan Enos offense look?

I mean, the bar is low for interim OC Kenny Guiton. Let’s just say that. If the former Ohio State quarterback can simply prevent KJ Jefferson from being a human pinata, he’ll have been an improvement over whatever Enos did in his 8 games at Arkansas. One would think that Jefferson would have more opportunities to roll out of the pocket to throw, as well as more designed runs. That’s the only hope that the Hogs have of being eliminated from bowl contention on the first weekend of November.

That’ll be easier said than done against a Florida team that dialed up pressure against one of the country’s better offensive lines in a home win against Tennessee. Coming off the demoralizing loss in Jacksonville, home cooking could be exactly what that Florida defense needs. The Gators only allowed an average of 11 points per home game this season. If there was ever a time for Sam Pittman to pull off an upset on the road, now is it.

Jacksonville State at South Carolina — This is usually the time of year when Shane Beamer is at his best

So here’s something. Shane Beamer has 4 wins as a double-digit underdog and 7 outright wins as an underdog at South Carolina, and all of them happened in November or later. Obviously, Beamer isn’t an underdog against a Conference-USA team at home. As great of a season as it’s been for Rich Rodriguez — Jacksonville State is 7-2 with the No. 22 offense in FBS — the battle of the Gamecocks favors the home ones by 2 touchdowns. But there’s still a sense of urgency that’s needed for a South Carolina team that has to win out to earn a bowl berth.

Even with mounting injuries — South Carolina probably lost another offensive lineman by the end of this sentence — this is still the time when Beamer usually maximizes his team’s potential. Maybe that means continuing to make freakish freshman Nyck Harbor a bigger part of the game plan. Perhaps playing Nick Emmanwori closer to the line of scrimmage to get into the backfield is emphasized. Whatever the case, now is when we’re used to seeing the Beamer-era Gamecocks at their best. If Beamer wants to avoid any pre-2024 hot-seat conversations, continuing that trend is of the utmost importance.

No. 14 Mizzou at No. 1 Georgia — Is this … a Georgia revenge game?

I know, I know. Georgia won this game last year. UGA hasn’t lost to Mizzou in a decade. But there are a couple of reasons why Kirby Smart can use the “revenge” angle for his team. Last year’s game in Columbia went down to the wire. It was the Dawgs’ toughest test of the regular season, and it was a game that many pointed to as a reason why Georgia was beatable. Of course, that didn’t prove to be the case. If you don’t think Smart is using that as internal bulletin board material for this year, you haven’t been paying attention.

There’s also the Luther Burden III revenge angle. He was a rare 5-star recruit who visited Georgia and then immediately committed to Mizzou. Now, Burden is No. 5 in FBS in receiving and amid an All-American season as a sophomore. He’s been lights out since transitioning to the full-time slot role, which he took over after Dominic Lovett transferred from Mizzou to Georgia. Burden will be at the top of that scouting report. I’d expect to see a whole lot of Tykee Smith on Burden, which will be one of the top matchups of the year in the SEC. Who knows? It could very well decide an SEC East division title.

Auburn at Vanderbilt — Robby Ashford is talented, but don’t give him a package

With all due respect to Ashford, we saw against Mississippi State why the 2-quarterback system at Auburn needed to disappear like the VHS. Payton Thorne looked as comfortable as he’s looked all season, and not having to look over his shoulder to wonder about getting swapped out for Ashford probably had something to do with that. Here’s a look at Ashford’s snap counts by week:

  • Game 1 — 25 snaps
  • Game 2 — 15 snaps
  • Game 3 — 11 snaps
  • Game 4 — 18 snaps
  • Game 5 — 10 snaps
  • Game 6 — 17 snaps
  • Game 7 — 22 snaps
  • Game 8 — 2 snaps

Also of note, Thorne had 3 first-half touchdown passes after entering the week with 5 on the season. Call me crazy, but it feels like now is the time for Freeze to try and build that offensive identity with Thorne and reserve the Ashford “package” for a blowout scenario … which this could turn into against a depleted Vanderbilt defense.

Kentucky at Mississippi State — The home trend in this game is hard to ignore

Trivia question: Who was the starting quarterback of the last road team to win this matchup? Nothing? Dak Prescott. It’s been 9 years since the road team won this game. It’s also been 15 years since Kentucky won in Starkville. That favors the Bulldogs, who are coming off consecutive disastrous performances on the offensive side of the ball without the injured Will Rogers. That’s not a knock on Mike Wright, who led Vandy to win at Kentucky last year. It’s a reminder that this transition from the Mike Leach Air Raid to the more pro-style Kevin Barbay offense hasn’t been easy. While we don’t know the status of Rogers, Zach Arnett maintained that he’ll be the starter when he returns from his shoulder injury.

Kentucky’s starter Devin Leary, meanwhile, is coming off his best game of the season in a loss against Tennessee. If he picks up where he left off, that should be a favorable matchup against a Mississippi State defense that just made Auburn’s passing attack look competent. A big day from Leary is the only way that strange rivalry trend comes to an end.

No. 13 LSU at No. 8 Alabama — Jayden Daniels is 60 minutes from becoming a legend

I think we throw around the “L” word a bit too much. No, I’m not talking about “loss” or “love.” I’m talking about earning “legend” status. Daniels can do that if he beats the Tide again. Why? Here’s the list of starting quarterbacks in college football who beat Alabama in consecutive years during the Nick Saban era:

  •  Jordan Jefferson, LSU (2010-11)

Yep. That’s the entire list.

Also of note, Jefferson had a combined 278 scrimmage yards and 1 touchdown in those 2 games. Daniels could have that by halftime. This is a legacy game for Daniels. This is an opportunity to put LSU in a position to do something it never has since the SEC Championship began 3 decades ago. That is, win the West in consecutive years. Daniels can do that while also making a strong argument to be considered the new favorite for the Heisman Trophy. That’s not crazy considering that he’s currently No. 3 in the odds (depending on where you look). Nothing boosts a Heisman campaign like beating Alabama, and doing so again would be a remarkable notch on Daniels’ ever-growing belt.