Predicting every SEC team's record after Week 7: Will Georgia go undefeated?
If you know it all, you don’t have to ever correct anything. We’ll be the first to admit that maybe we don’t know it all. And we do need some correction.
Like those old stale preseason predictions. Well, we’re throwing them out the window. Based on what we’ve seen so far in 2017, here’s where we think the teams of the SEC end up.
SEC West
Alabama: 12-0
We’re standing pat on this one. Who’s going to challenge the Tide? LSU in Tuscaloosa? Nah. At Auburn? Not really. We’re solid on this one.
Arkansas: 5-7
There just aren’t six wins on that schedule. They’ll beat Coastal Carolina and Mizzou, and we’re giving them credit for one more. Home against Mississippi State maybe? At Ole Miss? Hard to imagine both.
Auburn: 7-5
Back end of this schedule is tough. At A&M, home vs. UGA, and home vs. Bama all look like losses from here. Finishing 8-4 would be good, really.
LSU: 9-3
Only sure loss the rest of the way is at Alabama. Home vs. Texas A&M probably decides second place in the West.
Mississippi State: 7-5
At A&M and home vs. Bama look like losses, and there’s probably one more — perhaps UK or maybe Ole Miss in the Egg Bowl?
Ole Miss: 5-7
They could steal a sixth win somewhere along the way. At some point, the lack of post-season motivation seems likely to hurt.
Texas A&M: 9-3
The idea that a team that blew a 34-point lead with 19 minutes to play at UCLA could play for second place in the West speaks volumes.
SEC East
Florida: 6-5
The Gators have gone from winning the East twice in a row to probably having their bowl hopes hanging on winning at South Carolina, which is far from a sure thing. The amazing thing is that record could and probably should be even worse.
Georgia: 12-0
We’ve held back on this, thinking that there was a loss lurking out there in the weeds. But after watching Auburn and Georgia Tech this weekend, there probably isn’t one. Book it for Atlanta.
Kentucky: 9-3
Sure, that’s insane. But look at that schedule again. Home games against Ole Miss and Tennessee are imminently winnable, and so is a road game at Vandy. Georgia is a loss, and it’s not hard to envision UK stealing either the game at Mississippi State or — more likely — their season finale hosting a stumbling Louisville team. They could fall apart, but never in recent memory have nine wins looked this plausible this late for Kentucky.
Missouri: 3-9
Idaho and U Conn. Sure, they could sneak a win at Vandy or Arkansas. But watch that defense play, and it’s easier to imagine the game at UConn turning into a loss.
South Carolina: 7-5
It’s the schedule. Carolina could end up with eight wins, but having to play Clemson and at Georgia stops the speculation there.
Tennessee: 6-6
Home games against Southern Mississippi and Vandy and a road game at Mizzou are the path to bowl eligibility. That said, 5-7 wouldn’t be at all shocking.
Vanderbilt 5-7
There are a trio of winnable home games — Western Kentucky, Kentucky and Mizzou. But it’s looking unlikely that Vandy pulls a sweep, which leaves them short of six wins.
One of the worst LSU teams of the century, but the rest of the SEC is so bad that it’s plausible for LSU to go 9-3. Two weeks ago, I thought LSU would be lucky to get to a bowl game. Now that it seems the freshmen have bought into the program, it will be fun to watch them develop.
While I hope the 12-0 prediction holds up for the Dawgs, I’m only cautiously optimistic. As a Dawg fan, I’ve been let down too many times. But Kirby does seem to be changing the culture. So I’m more optimistic than I’ve been in previous years. Even though Auburn lost to LSU, I still see that as the game we could lose. Stidham has upped his game and as Mizzou showed, our pass D is suspect. 12-0 is within our grasp. But let’s take it one game at a time and start with 8-0 in two weeks.
Go Dawgs!!!
Not to mention Florida. McElwain doesn’t get blown out and you know what he has done to us in the past 2 years as underdogs. UGA still has a long way to go and no team is perfect. Ask Clemson not Alabama.
USM beat Tenn. I think we can beat UK, but aTm could be tough, but UF isn’t very good. We have to shut down their ground game while covering Kirk. Should be interesting matching up against our old DL coach again, that is one of the best hires sumlin has made, damn poacher. As much as I’ve disparaged reporters and their blind love affair with, I am very near accepting that game might be downright embarrassing, again. Next season will be better, but 8 maybe 9 wins would definitely be satisfying in the ‘told you so’ area.
With bama, google keyboard
Jumping right off the Auburn ship, eh?
Yeah, Auburn is so….last week. There were so many puff pieces for the Barn, that I thought maybe they were having 2010 throwback week.
Pretty sure we can beat UK and Ole Miss. This team is far better than the one last year and Kentucky could only win by 2 points in Lexington. With the game in Starkville against a better MSU team? Ole Miss is worse than we are.
On the other hand, Bama is an obvious loss, Tx A&M is a toss up really. It just depends on which A&M team decides to show up. UMass is a win and I’m not sure about Arky. Haven’t watched any of their games but I’m sure we can win.
I’ll say we’ll finish 8-4 with two more losses against Bama and A&M, as long as Mullen and Fitzgerald don’t find a way to lose against Arky and Ole Miss. Hopefully we can at least finish 9-3.
Kentucky is also better than last year. It should be a pretty evenly matched game.
That is also true. May the better team win and I hope you guys put the hurting on Louisville and the ACC at the end of the regular season.
They are in some ways but in other ways I’m not sure, but I’ve felt that same way about State a few times this season.
When the season started, I thought LSU would go 9-3 and possibly even 10-2. The Bama loss was a given and a loss to Auburn was likely. I thought the third loss could come from UF, A&M, or UT. When we got crushed by MSU and then beaten by Troy, that thought moved to 7-5. Beating UF on the road and then upsetting Auburn has moved the hope back to 9-3. Crazy season for LSU so far, but at least the needle is pointing upward now.
Definitely wouldn’t say Auburn is gonna lose to my Aggies. The home team has never won in this matchup and I don’t see that changing this year.
I still see 8-4 as pretty likely for State with losses to Bama and the Aggies left on the schedule. The A&M game is winnable though so potentially 9-3.