Top storylines for each SEC team in Week 10 (aka Bama-LSU Week)
There’s nothing surprising about Alabama and Florida being atop the SEC’s two divisions as the heart-pounding month of November beckons. In fact, the Crimson Tide and Gators appearing to be on a collision course for Atlanta is an annual rite of the college football season’s most climactic month.
What is surprising, shocking even, as Week 10 arrives are the two teams breathing fire right underneath the SEC’s two perennial powers. Kentucky and Auburn, way off the radar for a shot to get to Atlanta back on Labor Day, are factors in their respective division races after the Halloween decorations have come down.
Gus Malzahn’s Tigers still haven’t lost since Sept. 17 after Ole Miss became the latest team to be punished by Kamryn Pettway. Now Auburn has risen to 11th in the new AP Poll, and the Tigers can see the finish line and an Iron Bowl with meaning way beyond just bragging rights. But there are three boxes for the Tigers to check before they arrive in Tuscaloosa, and Auburn’s first November checkpoint kicks off Saturday’s eight-game slate that has all 14 SEC teams in action.
Vanderbilt at Auburn, noon (ET): Ultimately, if the Tigers are going to come all the way out of the pack and win the SEC West, they will need Texas A&M to lose, and the Aggies still have to stare down Chad Kelly and Ole Miss and have LSU on Thanksgiving night. But Auburn can’t control what Texas A&M does. It can control how it handles being the hottest team in the SEC as Vandy comes to the Plains.
After that great escape against LSU that started this five-game run, Auburn has scored 58, 38, 56 and 40 points, with a little bit of Sean White and a lot of Pettway, who rumbled for a career-high 236 yards last week after going for 192 against Arkansas and 169 against Mississippi State. A very respectable Commodores defense did keep Florida, Kentucky and Georgia in check this season, but Auburn’s beastly attack right now, at Jordan-Hare, will be a different animal. Oh, and Kerryon Johnson is back from his ankle injury to complement Pettway, the guy who has filled in so well for him.
And while Ole Miss had the offense to make Auburn have to keep scoring last week in Oxford (which it did), Vandy doesn’t have nearly the firepower to make the Tigers sweat. But Auburn will likely keep scoring and scoring anyway.
Texas A&M at Mississippi State, noon (ET): The Aggies shook off the loss at Alabama by taking it out on New Mexico State last week with a 52-point explosion, showing no signs of an emotional letdown. Yet Trevor Knight said Texas A&M can still play so much better, showing a good sign — that this team knows it’s loaded with talent and believes it can still do something special.
After a well-time break from the SEC grind, the Aggies get back on the horse in Starkville against a banged-up Bulldogs defense that just gave up a season-high 627 yards and 41 points at home against FCS team Samford. And while Nick Fitzgerald is playing inspired football, rolling up seven total touchdowns as Mississippi State outscored Samford 56-41, he’ll have more resistance against Texas A&M.
Aggies coach Kevin Sumlin held out star defensive end Myles Garrett (leg) last week, knowing the stretch run was coming. Well, it’s here, and Texas A&M is a one-loss team that still has big-time dreams.
Georgia Southern at Ole Miss, noon (ET): The Rebels are probably one of the best 3-5 teams of all time, which of course is a backhanded compliment but probably bad news for Georgia Southern. Heck, Ole Miss was ranked in the Top 25 when it was 3-3.
But Chad Kelly can’t win games by himself, and all his school-record 465 yards last week — which topped Archie Manning’s 436 yards in 1969 — got him was an 11-point home loss to an Auburn team that rolled up 554 total yards. The struggling Rebels defense will get a reprieve this week, Kelly and Co. will put up more amazing numbers — and all it will mean is that Ole Miss will be 4-5 as it re-enters SEC play.
Florida at Arkansas, 3:30 p.m. (ET): The Gators have risen to No. 10, quietly and methodically. They put away Georgia for good last week and Tennessee has faded into oblivion, meaning the only team that realistically can stop them from reaching Atlanta is red-hot Kentucky, which nobody would have guessed. UF has the all-important head-to-head tiebreaker with the Wildcats, but its division lead is only a half-game over Mark Stoops’ surging team.
Florida’s other obstacle? Its schedule. Remember, UF still has to go to Baton Rouge in a few weeks. But first, there’s Arkansas, which has faded with losses to Alabama and Auburn but will be home and hungry for that signature win of 2016 to ease the sting of those other showdown losses. If the game was in Gainesville, then it’s a different story. But it’s not. Luke Del Rio still has to prove he can beat a winning team in a true road environment. Maybe that finally comes Saturday. Just don’t be shocked if it doesn’t.
Missouri at South Carolina, 4 p.m. (ET): With four games left, it becomes a numbers game for Will Muschamp’s team that’s sky-high coming off its upset of Tennessee. South Carolina is suddenly sniffing bowl-eligibility at 4-4. This one at home against a 2-6 Missouri team going nowhere has to be the fifth win though, and Western Carolina in a few weeks would be No. 6. The other two games are against mighty Florida and even mightier Clemson.
In Jake Bentley the Gamecocks now trust, and the efficient freshman can definitely be the guy to push Muschamp’s team to bowl status.
Tennessee Tech at Tennessee, 4 p.m. (ET): A much-needed week off couldn’t even save the Volunteers from losing their third in a row, as they stumbled at Williams-Brice Stadium against a fired-up defense. Things have come crashing down for a Tennessee team that walked the tightrope in going 5-0. A sign of the suddenly bad times: The heralded Joshua Dobbs was outplayed by Bentley, who was making his second college start. Vols coach Butch Jones called it “unacceptable.”
Yes, the angry and embarrassed Vols should beat up on the in-state FCS Golden Eagles. But we won’t know if Tennessee has recovered until it hosts upstart Kentucky in two weeks.
Georgia at Kentucky, 7:30 p.m. (ET): Have the Wildcats settled into their new successful reality after an 0-2 start? They got that first SEC road win, sure. Now they return to Lexington, where they’re 4-1, with growing expectations and a wounded animal in Georgia that wants to crush Kentucky’s newfound spirit.
Do the Bulldogs still have the firepower to win this game? Yes. But Georgia’s been lifeless, combining for 26 points against Vandy and Florida. And if the Bulldogs can’t contain Benny Snell and Stanley Williams, who combined for almost 400 yards rushing last week at Missouri, it won’t matter anyway.
Alabama at LSU, 8 p.m. (ET): This one always means the world to LSU fans, when the Tide rolls into Baton Rouge during even-numbered years. As usual, there’s a primetime stage. There’s Alabama starting the home stretch of its pursuit of yet another national title that LSU fans want no part of. There’s the newfound Ed Orgeron Magic, with LSU having gone 3-0 since he took over for Les Miles.
There’s 15th-ranked LSU being suddenly back in the SEC West race, with one little victory over the Crimson Tide turning the four-team scrum into chaos. There’s Leonard Fournette coming off a bye week to get a little healthier and a lot fresher after he had 284 yards in his return two weeks ago against Ole Miss. He’ll want to prove last year’s 31-yard effort in Tuscaloosa was a fluke.
And on the other side, there’s freshman Jalen Hurts trying to clear his biggest hurdle to date. And then there is Tiger Stadium on a Saturday night with Bama’s blood in the venue and only the whole season at stake. For pure SEC theater, nothing beats this matchup.