It’s Week 3 in the SEC. Saturday’s 12-game slate features a mix of conference and non-conference games.

The first “SEC on CBS” showcase of the 2022 season is No. 22 Penn State at Auburn. The SEC Network crew is also on The Plains for Saturday’s “SEC Nation.”

No. 13 Miami is in College Station to take on No. 24 Texas A&M, the only Week 3 SEC game with 2 ranked teams. The Aggies are looking to bounce back after a stunning home loss to Appalachian State.

In conference play, we’ve got division clashes between No. 1 Georgia and South Carolina, as well as Mississippi State and LSU.

ESPN’s Football Power Index, a simulation-based metric, predicts the winner of every game. Here are the FPI predictions for Saturday’s 12-game slate in the SEC:

  • No. 1 Georgia (91.2% chance to win) at South Carolina
  • No. 9 Kentucky (97.7% chance to win) vs. Youngstown State
  • Missouri (98% chance to win) vs. Abilene Christian
  • No. 20 Ole Miss (87.9% chance to win) at Georgia Tech
  • Auburn (38.3% chance to win) vs. No. 22 Penn State
  • Vanderbilt (66.1% chance to win) at Northern Illinois
  • Alabama (99.6% chance to win) vs. Louisiana-Monroe
  • LSU (56.7% chance to win) vs. Mississippi State
  • No. 10 Arkansas (99.2% chance to win) vs. Missouri State
  • No. 15 Tennessee (99.2% chance to win) vs. Akron
  • No. 18 Florida (93.9% chance to win) vs. USF
  • No. 24 Texas A&M (46.2% chance to win) vs.  No. 13 Miami

Here’s how ESPN explains the FPI:

FPI is a predictive rating system designed to measure team strength and project performance going forward. The ultimate goal of FPI is not to rank teams 1 through 128; rather, it is to correctly predict games and season outcomes. If Vegas ever published the power rankings it uses to set its lines, they would likely look quite a lot like FPI.

Week 2 reminded us that anything can happen once the teams take the field. We’ll see how the FPI’s projections fare against the results on the field.