SEC ROOTING GUIDE

In which we tell you which teams you should root against in the upcoming week.

Last weekend was terrific for the SEC, as Oklahoma and a load of regarded Pac-12 programs lost. At least one highly-ranked unbeaten from another power conference will lose this weekend, but SEC fans would love to see more chaos in the Pac-12 and ACC.

TCU at Baylor: Preventing an unbeaten Big 12 team from materializing helps the SEC and makes it more likely the conference could get two bids to the College Football Playoff. Beating Oklahoma and Baylor in back-to-back weeks would give the Horned Frogs a great chance to claim a playoff spot. If Baylor wins, it still must play the Sooners on the road. So the best-case scenario for SEC fans probably is for Baylor to knock TCU out of the Top 10 on Saturday and OU to knock off Baylor in November.

Oregon at UCLA: Both of these teams have fatal flaws. But the Ducks have more national cache, and Marcus Mariota and company are more dangerous than Brett Hundley and company. It wouldn’t be surprising if the winner of this game lost at least one more, which would give both teams two losses and torpedo their College Football Playoff hopes. But if SEC fans had to pick one of these teams to eliminate, it would be Oregon. So root for UCLA, which still must face Arizona, USC and Stanford.

Florida State at Syracuse: Because why not? FSU struggled against North Carolina State earlier this season. Clemson and Oklahoma State played the Seminoles pretty even. Those teams may all be better than Syracuse. But Jameis Winston and company look susceptible to a big upset this season. And if the Orange can pull off a shocker, the SEC West easily could claim No. 1 and No. 2 in the polls. (There’s a great chance the Auburn-Mississippi State winner will leapfrog FSU no matter how the Seminoles play.)

USC at Arizona: No one really expects freshman QB Anu Solomon and the strong Wildcats offense to grunt through the Pac-12 schedule unblemished, but coach Rich Rodriguez has his team playing to its potential. USC’s road loss to Boston College probably sent its playoff hopes to the incinerator, but a second loss to Arizona State last week made sure. Arizona has plenty of tough games remaining, but the sooner the Pac-12 loses its final unbeaten, the better, as far as SEC fans are concerned.