Week 8 marks the first week of the second half of the season, and things are about to tighten up in the SEC. Every play will be scrutinized, every mistake will be picked apart and every success will be celebrated twice as hard as it would have been a month ago. As always, there will be players who rise to the occasion, and those who begin to fall off as the calendar begins to approach Halloween.

Here are this week’s candidates to “boom” and to “bust” around the SEC :

(Note — Only players involved on teams in SEC matchups are featured in this week’s edition of Boom or Bust. Players from South Carolina’s game against Furman were excluded.)

BOOM

1. The Ole Miss defensive line: Ole Miss has one of the best defenses in the SEC, and it has the privilege of hosting a Tennessee offense that has allowed the most sacks and tackles for loss of any offensive line in the SEC. The Volunteers’ line has given up eight more sacks than the next worst line in the conference, and it allowed Chattanooga (of the FCS) to record five sacks last weekend. Ole Miss should have a field day in the front seven, especially along the defensive line. Look for the Landsharks to do some scary things on Saturday.

2. T.J. Yeldon/Derrick Henry: Alabama’s star tailback tandem is due for a big game after a quiet outing against Arkansas last week, and Texas A&M is the perfect opponent to get Yeldon and Henry going. The Aggies have allowed three SEC West opponents to rush for more than 240 yards per game against them this season, which is to say they are not great at stopping the run. Alabama has two dynamic backs in Yeldon and Henry, and both will get plenty of touches on Saturday. The Crimson Tide should rush for more than 250 yards as a team, and both Yeldon and Henry have a chance at 100-yard games.

3. Leonard Fournette: LSU’s star freshman is coming off his best game against an SEC opponent, and he has a chance to continue his success in the conference in Saturday’s showdown with Kentucky. The Wildcats have allowed SEC opponents that aren’t Vanderbilt to rush for just shy of 260 yards per game this season, meaning Fournette should have a chance at another 100-yard game. The Tigers’ young star has grown more patient as a powerful downhill runner, and against a young group of UK defensive tackles he will have plenty of opportunities to take control of the game.

BUST

1. Justin Worley: As previously stated, Worley is playing behind the SEC’s worst offensive line, and he has a long Saturday ahead of him in facing the Ole Miss defense. Not only are the Rebels likely to pressure him all game, they also rank fourth in the SEC in pass defense and have stars Senquez Golson and Cody Prewitt leading one of the nation’s best secondaries. Worley has done his part to lead a modestly successful Tennessee offense this year, but this is a bad matchup for him and the rest of the young Tennessee offense.

2. Anthony Jennings/Brandon Harris: It appears Jennings will start at quarterback for LSU on Saturday, but there’s a chance we will also see Harris against Kentucky. Regardless of who is under center, LSU has still allowed the second-most sacks in the SEC, and Kentucky’s pass rush, led by Bud Dupree, has begun to heat up during the past three weeks. Kentucky will disturb the Tigers’ quarterbacks all night, and if LSU can’t get itself into reasonable second and third down situations, it will struggle on offense.

3. Missouri’s offensive line: The Tigers have struggled to give Maty Mauk a clean pocket this season (Mauk shares the blame for that), and they’ll have their hands full when they visit Florida in the Swamp on Saturday. The Gators are second in the SEC in sacks per game and tied for the conference lead in tackles for loss per game (Florida has played only five games due to a Week 1 cancelation against Idaho). Meanwhile, Missouri ranks in the bottom half of the SEC in sacks and tackles for loss allowed, and when paired with Mauk’s reckless scrambling, the Mizzou o-line is in for a long, frustrating day on the road.