The midway point is near.

Don’t panic. It’s not here. It’s near. It’s nearly time to hand out midseason awards and circle back to some awful preseason predictions.

For now, though, the first week of October still counts as part of the first half of the season. What do we really know about these teams now that everyone has had a chance to play at least 1 SEC game? It’s a fair question.

The schedules are still a bit all over the place in the first part of the season. That’ll even out somewhat, but it’s perhaps going to be at the forefront of why a team like Ole Miss gets upset against Kentucky.

Let’s dig into the Week 6 slate with some early thoughts on each SEC matchup:

No. 9 Mizzou vs. No. 25 Texas A&M — Has Mizzou figured out the offense during the bye week?

I know that the raw numbers suggest that Mizzou’s offense is fine at 36.5 points per game (No. 29 in FBS), but anybody who watched this team with the context of the preseason expectations knows that plenty of meat has been left on the bone. Brady Cook’s downfield accuracy hasn’t been there and there’s a lingering sense of angst for a group that surprisingly ranks No. 57 in FBS in yards/play. There have been too many droughts of Luther Burden III unable to get looks in space and while Nate Noel has been a bright spot in the backfield, he’s not at Cody Schrader levels of dominance.

So against A&M with a defensive line that feasted against Arkansas and forced Taylen Green into some bad turnovers, can the Tigers play their best offensive game of the season in that atmosphere? That’s what it’ll take. Mike Elko figures to let his defensive line pin its ears back and force Cook into some of those quick decisions. If Mizzou OC Kirby Moore doesn’t have some screen passes and quick hitters outside the hashes, it’d be stunning. Whatever the case, we’re about to find out whether the Tigers are Playoff-worthy.

Auburn vs. No. 5 Georgia — Auburn’s only hope? Play like a service academy … like last year

Auburn is going to a place where it hasn’t won in nearly 2 decades, and it’ll do so with an offense that’s turned the ball over more than any FBS team not named “East Carolina.” That’s not ideal. Last year’s game plan vs. Georgia at Jordan-Hare Stadium was ideal. Running the football as a 1-dimensional offense kept the ball out of Payton Thorne’s hands and instead forced Georgia into a much tougher game than anticipated.

The Dawgs are coming off a heavyweight fight against Alabama. Is it possible that a banged-up UGA defensive line doesn’t want to see a ground-heavy approach? Certainly. Hugh Freeze knows that even on Thorne’s best day, he can make a game-deciding costly mistake like he did against Oklahoma. Avoiding obvious passing situations and turning him into a run-first quarterback is the only way to avoid embarrassment in Athens … where Auburn hasn’t hit 11 points since 2009.

No. 12 Ole Miss vs. South Carolina — Another elite defensive line will challenge Ole Miss

Kentucky deserves immense credit for leaning on the strength of Deone Walker and JJ Weaver to frustrate the Ole Miss offensive line. The latter wasn’t ready for a 60-minute fight, and it showed. Against South Carolina off a bye week, that Ole Miss offensive line might have an even greater challenge. Kyle Kennard and Dylan Stewart are already among the best pass-rushers in college football. They can make it a long day for Jaxson Dart in Columbia.

Dart played like only trusted Tre Harris against Kentucky, which might not be a bad strategy on most days, but it felt like he only had time for that first read, and then he was running for his life. That formula cannot be repeated if Ole Miss wants to avoid what would be a stunning 0-2 start to SEC play.

No. 1 Alabama vs. Vanderbilt — Chasing around Diego Pavia won’t be a fun 60 minutes

Look. I’m not saying that this will be a down-to-the-wire game. I am saying that Pavia is a unique matchup who’ll be unlike anything Alabama has faced in this young season. He doesn’t have the size of USF quarterback Byrum Brown, but they operate similarly. They’ll call their own number a lot, and they can extend drives with their legs if you don’t properly account for them. That can take an opposing offense out of rhythm. So far, USF has been the only team that did that to the Tide, though we know that the final minutes of that 4th quarter skewed the result.

Pavia won’t be afraid of the moment. In his last 2 games against SEC competition, he went into Auburn and stunned the Tigers last year with New Mexico State and most recently, Pavia nearly led an upset of a top-10 Mizzou team in Columbia. Nobody is calling for a 3-touchdown upset, but Pavia is more than capable of making any potential post-Georgia hangover last a little bit longer for the Tide.

No. 4 Tennessee vs. Arkansas — How many Taylen Green turnovers are too many?

Asking for a friend. Actually, I’m asking for Arkansas fans who would prefer to have Tennessee on the ropes instead of feasting off turnovers like A&M just did in the final game of the Southwest Classic. Arkansas is among the 20 worst FBS teams in turnovers lost (9 on the season) and it’ll face a Tennessee defense that forced 7 turnovers in 4 games. That’s not ideal for the home Hogs. We saw A&M’s loaded defensive line get after Green and force him into some bad decisions.

We know that Tennessee’s defensive line might be the best in all of college football. Coming off a bye week, that group could be chomping at that bit to get some takeaways and hand some short fields to Nico Iamaleava. Any path to an Arkansas upset as a 2-touchdown underdog will call for Green to avoid a multi-turnover game.

UCF vs. Florida — Did Colorado just give Florida some hope that it can stop the run?

One of the most stunning revelations of the weekend was that Deion Sanders’ squad found the right answers to contain UCF’s 4-headed rushing attack, which was the top rushing attack in FBS entering Week 5. The Knights were held to 177 rushing yards, which was a little bit less than half their average. The Buffaloes got off blocks and showed why they’re one of the more improved defenses in America.

Can Florida take that blueprint and apply it to Saturday’s showdown in The Swamp? So far, nothing suggests that Florida is ready to stop the run. The Gators are No. 110 in FBS against the run and in 3 games against FBS foes, they allowed an average of 231 rushing yards/game. Woof. Mind you, that’s after Florida allowed 206 rushing yards/game in November last year. In other words, Billy Napier is still searching for an answer that he couldn’t find down the stretch last year. Hiring Ron Roberts, AKA the guy who was fired each of the last 2 seasons as a Power 5 DC, doesn’t appear to be the answer.

Let’s see if he can help Napier avoid sinking to a new low on Saturday.