For the first time, it feels like we truly have a loaded SEC slate.

LSU-Florida and Georgia-Alabama on the same day is enough of a reason to get excited. It really is.

But I feel like we’re loaded with intriguing matchups beyond that. Kentucky-Tennessee has my attention, as does Texas A&M-MSU. Shoot, even Ole Miss-Arkansas is suddenly way more interesting.

It’s a beautiful thing that from noon to midnight, the Week 4 slate is absolutely loaded. It feels like a massive week with so many teams sitting at 2-1 or 1-2. There are 11 of them, to be exact. And by the time Georgia-Alabama wraps up, 13 of 14 SEC teams will have at least 1 loss.

Welcome to the conference-only schedule.

So, with that in mind, I’ve got some early impressions about the week ahead:

Auburn vs. South Carolina — Did these teams just find their ground game identities?

Both teams had huge games running the football against inferior opponents. My question is which one of these breakout backs is going to do the heavy lifting. Kevin Harris and Tank Bigsby have both somewhat quietly looked like future All-SEC tailbacks this season. Auburn’s offensive line needed a redemption week, and that’s exactly what it got. Auburn ran the ball 41 times for 6.3 yards against a much-improved Arkansas defense. South Carolina should present a tougher challenge in the trenches, though.

And what about Auburn’s run defense? Without K.J. Britt, I’m not sure how reliable Kevin Steele’s defense will be against a South Carolina rushing attack that’s getting more and more confident, especially after Harris racked up 200 scrimmage yards in a rout of Vandy. Harris has that breakaway speed for a 225-pound back, and it would make sense if Mike Bobo didn’t put it all on these inconsistent non-Shi Smith South Carolina pass-catchers.

Kentucky vs. Tennessee — Josh Palmer is SEC East Seth Williams, which isn’t ideal for the Cats

Those 2 touchdown grabs that Palmer made in the first half on Saturday reminded me of Williams, who went full Randy Moss on Kentucky in Week 1. That’s a brutal matchup for a Kentucky defense that did just have 6 interceptions but is still searching for that lockdown corner. When Tennessee got protection against Georgia — that was almost exclusively in the first half — Jarrett Guarantano looked awfully good pushing the ball downfield to Palmer.

Kentucky has struggled so far with big, physical receivers in 1-on-1 matchups (Jonathan Mingo also went off in the game against Ole Miss). One has to think that Jim Chaney will want to exploit that as much as possible.

LSU vs. Florida — Who will stop … anyone?

Florida allowed more points in a 3-game stretch than it has since 1917. LSU, meanwhile, allowed an average of over 600 yards of offense to a pair of new SEC coaches with new starting quarterbacks. So, um, that’s not great! Well, I suppose it is if you like watching teams flirt with 60 points. All signs point to that being the case after both of these defenses got off to dreadful starts. And of course, part of it is the offenses. Kyle Pitts and Terrace Marshall are first-team All-Americans if the season ended today, and Kadarius Toney probably isn’t very far behind them.

We’ve seen both Bo Pelini and Todd Grantham struggle to generate pressure, which bodes extremely well for Kyle Trask and Myles Brennan, both of whom have fared extremely well with a clean pocket. It’s hard to imagine either struggling, especially if these defenses don’t make some massive adjustments. Neither looks particularly fond of tackling in the open field. LSU allowed 8.3 yards per play to MSU, which hasn’t done a thing since it left Baton Rouge, and 8.6 yards per play to Mizzou, which hadn’t done a thing until facing the Tigers.

This game has the makings of Alabama-Ole Miss Part 2.

Ole Miss vs. Arkansas — Win or lose, hats off to these first-year coaches

I’ve been impressed. Arkansas would be 2-1 if not for a botched Bo Nix spike call. Ole Miss, on the other hand, is seemingly scoring points at will. Lane Kiffin and Sam Pittman would both be on the short list for SEC Coach of the Year so far. Kiffin’s offense is averaging 42 points per game. That came against 3 defenses I ranked among the top 4 in the SEC heading into 2020. Like, the same offense that was totally 1-dimensional last year. Arkansas, on the other hand, hasn’t allowed any SEC offense to hit 30 points (if you take away special teams/defensive touchdowns/safeties).

The Kiffin vs. Barry Odom battle should be a good one. What are the odds that Arkansas winds up being the most disciplined defense that Ole Miss has faced so far? What a crazy thought.

Texas A&M vs. MSU — Time to mix it up, Mike Elko

The A&M defensive coordinator likes to load the box and make teams throw the ball. Well, that’s exactly the opposite of what works against Mike Leach’s offense. So far, the overwhelmingly obvious strategy to defending Leach’s offense is to drop extra defenders into zone coverage. Kentucky had 6 interceptions and 5 (!) of them came from defensive linemen or linebackers.

So this seems like a good time to disguise some coverages. This has potential to be another big showing for Buddy Johnson, who made the game-changing forced fumble against Florida. Elko couldn’t have a more clear vision of what works and what doesn’t against MSU, who has been a disaster offensively the past 2 games after its record-setting start. The Aggies could use a bounce-back in terms of defending the pass after Mac Jones and Kyle Trask had plenty of success picking apart Elko’s defense.

Vanderbilt vs. Mizzou — Larry Rountree III should get fed a ton

Vandy, dealing with depth issues by virtue of having just 56 scholarship players, cannot defend the run. At all. So far, the Commodores have allowed 3 consecutive 100-yard rushers. That group consisted of Isaiah Spiller, John Emery and Kevin Harris. That’s a young group of backs who dominated against Vandy. Rountree certainly isn’t young, but coming off his first 100-yard game of the year, one has to think he’ll be fed early and often. He’s averaging 5.4 yards per carry so far, and that was against Alabama, Tennessee and LSU, all of whom are loaded with defensive talent (even if they haven’t always shown it).

Drinkwitz will likely rely heavily on Rountree, who has out-carried Tyler Badie 50-15 so far.

Georgia vs. Alabama — This is the best regular-season matchup that we’re gonna get

To be clear, I was referring to the Alabama offense vs. the Georgia defense. Both could make a claim that they’re the best in the sport right now in those areas. Alabama is averaging 54 points per game and Georgia has allowed 3 touchdowns all year. Steve Sarkisian against Kirby Smart/Dan Lanning should be one of the great chess matches of 2020. How is Georgia going to rattle Mac Jones? The Alabama quarterback has been as poised as they come.

Will we see more screens to offset some of that pressure? Will we see Najee Harris looks in the flat? We have to. This Georgia defense is too relentless in the front 7 for Jones to be able to consistently step into throws. The Dawgs showed on Saturday against Tennessee why they’re unstoppable over the course of 60 minutes. How Jones is able to get rid of the ball is going to be everything in this matchup.

Both of these units are playing at such a high level that whoever comes out on top is going to have more legitimate national title aspirations than ever.