Pick-6: Biggest storylines in and around the SEC in Week 6
Six topics. Five SEC games. Fortunately, there are a few items of interest outside the conference in Week 6.
Here are 6 topics I’ll be following closely today in and around the SEC.
Auburn at Florida: Which one is pretending?
At this point, we’ve broken down just about every significant aspect of the once storied rivalry. On the field, in the trenches, the quarterbacks, the key matchups, legendary games, etc.
Here’s what I’m interested in: Most people still have doubts about both teams. Heck, Florida was immediately labeled the top 10 team most likely to finish the season unranked. The Gators have heard “overrated” for 6 weeks.
Auburn? If voters truly believed in the Tigers, they’d be No. 2 in the country. Nobody had a more impressive September. But there’s still that sneaky suspicion that everything might not be as it appears. Why? We’ve seen Auburn tease us before.
Today, one of these teams puts that narrative to bed. I think it’s going to be Auburn. And if the Tigers knock off a 3rd ranked team, all away from home, there’s no justification for ranking them lower than No. 2 in the country.
Ole Miss vs. Vandy: Here’s your bowl game …
Ole Miss is 2-3. Vandy, which opened with 3 difficult games, is 1-3.
Not much at stake, right? Wrong. The loser can all but kiss its bowl hopes good-bye.
Last week I explained why Vandy, then 0-3, still had a chance at bowl eligibility. People get too caught up in records. Vandy played Georgia and LSU and traveled to Purdue. How many Power 5 teams even go 1-2 against that lineup? Only the ranked ones. Plenty of bowl teams would go 0-3.
So I wasn’t going to let that “slow start” alter my preseason thoughts about the Dores. I saw 6 or 7 wins on the schedule in July, and I still feel that way in October.
One of those wins, however, is Ole Miss. It’s a must-win game for Vandy. If they win it, they’re set to go from 0-3 to 3-3, then likely get to 4-4 with 3 winnable games remaining.
I’m less optimistic about the Rebels’ bowl chances, simply because their division all but guarantees a 2-4 outcome at best, with 1-5 being more likely. But they’re not out of it — unless they lose to Vandy. They’ve played pretty well against good teams. Upsetting Missouri or surprising Texas A&M isn’t out of the question.
Georgia is upset proof …
One of the hallmarks of Nick Saban’s dynasty in Tuscaloosa is the fact that the Tide almost never lose to unranked teams. Alabama’s last loss to an unranked team was to Auburn in the Iron Bowl … in 2007.
It’s unique. Historic, actually (Alabama has won 87 consecutive games against unranked teams, an FBS record). And it’s a no-days-off mindset Georgia is starting to develop.
The Dawgs own the SEC East. And they’ve won 20 consecutive games against unranked teams since losing to Georgia Tech in the 2016 regular season finale.
That streak will hit 21 today against Tennessee. That’s the real beauty of Jake Fromm. He won’t allow the Dawgs to go through the motions.
Can Joe Burrow tie the SEC record with 7 TD passes?
Tua Tagovailoa finally was given a chance to break Alabama’s single-game mark last week when he threw 6 against Ole Miss.
That matched Burrow’s career-high, which he set in Week 4 at Vanderbilt.
The SEC record is 7, shared by 6 QBs, most recently Drew Lock in 2017.
Tagovailoa or Burrow could match or exceed it this year.
Why not Burrow, today against Utah State? Most people are expecting a 63-42 kind of shootout anyway with Jordan Love.
There’s no letup in Coach O’s game.
Justin Fields vs. a ranked team (barely … and finally)
Michigan State lost to Arizona State and gave up 31 points to Indiana. As Playoff contenders go, the Spartans look like a good Quick Lane Bowl candidate.
But the Spartans are ranked — No. 25.
They’ll be the first ranked team Ohio State QB Justin Fields has faced as a starter.
Fields has deployed his dual threat skills with devastating results, accounting for at least 4 TDs in every game. But let’s be honest: Ohio State’s schedule has been as soft as a souffle.
Saturday, finally, might be somewhat of a challenge?
What’s wrong with Clemson? Nothing a firm butt-chewing can’t fix
Clemson is off this week, but that won’t stop the noise. Count on the Tigers being a prominent part of the GameDay conversation this morning.
(That’s what happens when you stretch the season to 14 weeks and give everybody 2 open dates. You get weeks like this one, where the slate is barely watchable, so talking about Trevor Lawrence is still more interesting than watching just about anybody else.)
In my weekly overreactions piece last Sunday, I dropped Clemson from No. 1 to No. 4, but I also said I wasn’t the least bit concerned about the Tigers, either. They’re simply going through the motions. It happens. They’ll come out of the break next week and curb-stomp FSU.
You saw what happened a few weeks ago when the Tigers responded to all of the offseason noise that Syracuse was going to get them again. The Orange got them, all right. All of them. Clemson crushed them 41-6.
Clemson still has every significant offensive weapon it had last year, except Hunter Renfrow. The defensive line is plugging-and-playing just like Alabama does.
Motivated, there isn’t a more complete team in the country. This is not, in other words, a Florida State redux of 2014. That Seminoles team was flawed and vastly overrated after losing several of its best players from the 2013 championship team.
This Clemson team is merely bored. There’s a huge, correctable difference.
I trust that Dabo Swinney put a boot in their butt this week and we’re going to see an activated Clemson team the rest of the way.
If the Tigers have been listening to too much praise, maybe they should tune in to some of the pregame chatter today. There won’t be any rat poison from the talking heads.