7 Bold Predictions for the Rest of the SEC Season
The first half of the season is in the books, and in it, we've seen some wild games, new stars emerge and set the table for the season half of the season.
Ole Miss and Mississippi State stood up and shouted "we're here" on Saturday, with wins over Alabama and Texas A&M, respectively. Bulldogs quarterback Dak Prescott and Aggie signal-caller Kenny Hill jumped into the race for the Heisman Trophy, with several other stars—including Auburn's Nick Marshall—waiting in the wings.
Over in the SEC East, no leader has emerged, but hey, at least there's Georgia running back Todd Gurley.
Half of the season is in the books, but the fun is only starting. Here are seven bold predictions for the rest of the SEC season.
Kentucky Will Make a Bowl Game
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Kentucky's 45-38 win over South Carolina on Saturday night in Lexington brought the Wildcats one step further to accomplishing a goal that many thought was fiction prior to the season—make a bowl game.
Head coach Mark Stoops' crew now sits at 4-1 (2-1 SEC) on the season, and most importantly, it has been winning in a variety of ways.
When Stoops and offensive coordinator Neal Brown want to open things up in that air-raid offense, they can. Quarterback Patrick Towles is averaging 265 passing yards per game and has tossed seven touchdown passes on the season.
They can also go ground-and-pound if they want, which is exactly what happened on Saturday night when Jojo Kemp rushed for 131 yards and three touchdowns in the win over the Gamecocks. Between Kemp and Braylon Heard, the coaching staff can and has shown that it will come off its air-raid philosophy when the matchups demand it.
So how will Kentucky get to bowl eligibility? A win over ULM this week is likely, which means they'll need one more win to make it happen. It won't be easy. Road trips to LSU, Missouri, Tennessee and Louisville remain, as well as home games vs. Mississippi State and Georgia. The Wildcats will spring at least one more upset along the way and get back to a bowl game for the first time since 2010.
A bowl game—bowl practices, in particular—would be huge for Stoops' program.
Saturday in Starkville Is a Heisman Trophy Elimination Game
2 of 7For the second straight weekend, the eyes of the college football world will be in the state of Mississippi. This time, though, the folks from ESPN's College GameDay will be about 75 miles southeast of Oxford—where they were last week—in Starkville for the matchup between No. 3 Mississippi State and No. 2 Auburn.
The battle between SEC foes will put the loser behind the 8-ball and—depending on what happens later that night when co-No. 3 Ole Miss plays Texas A&M—could determine which team is the SEC West front-runner.
It also will be an elimination game in the race for the Heisman Trophy.
Bulldogs quarterback Dak Prescott vaulted to the head of the pack in B/R's weekly Heisman video last week after his five-touchdown performance vs. Texas A&M, while Auburn's Nick Marshall moved up to the No. 3 spot after scoring four touchdowns, breaking the 200-yard mark through the air and 100-yard mark on the ground in a 41-7 win over LSU.
Whichever quarterback has the better day on Saturday afternoon will make it to New York City as a Heisman finalist, with the loser fighting an uphill battle for the remainder of the year to even get to the Big Apple.
Georgia running back Todd Gurley will get there. He probably won't win the Heisman because it has become a quarterback-driven award, but he'll earn a ton of votes from SEC-land. The winner of this game likely will, too, which won't leave a ton of wiggle room for the loser considering the quarterback talent around the rest of the country.
South Carolina Will Have to Beat Clemson to Make a Bowl
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Things haven't gone swimmingly in the Palmetto State.
The South Carolina Gamecocks—preseason pick to win the SEC East back at Media Days in Hoover, Alabama—have sputtered to a 3-3 record (2-3 SEC) to open the season and have dropped back-to-back games to Missouri and Kentucky.
It's going to get worse.
The Gamecocks still have to travel to Auburn, which looks more and more like a big loss every week. A road trip to Florida is not going to be easy, especially if Florida's defense plays the way it did last week against Tennessee, when it held the potent Tennessee passing attack to just 205 yards and forced two interceptions. Those Vols—whom South Carolina hosts on Nov. 1—can sling it around, which plays right into South Carolina's weakness—pass defense (264.3 YPG).
All three of those games will be losses for the Gamecocks, and they'll go into the rivalry game with Clemson needing a win to go to a bowl game.
It's a far cry from the team that was predicted by the assembled members of the media to play in Atlanta in early December.
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Ole Miss Will Finish Behind Alabama in the SEC West
4 of 7The party after Ole Miss' 23-17 win over Alabama on Saturday didn't stop when Katy Perry leaped off of a bar in downtown Oxford, and it's probably still ongoing.
It will stop this weekend against Texas A&M, when the Rebels suffer their first loss of the season.
The Aggies' main issue on defense is its rush defense, which ranks 13th in the SEC, giving up 178.83 rushing yards per game. That was a big issue against teams like Arkansas and Mississippi State, but it won't be this weekend against Ole Miss—a team that can't rush between the tackles.
The Rebels also struggle along the offensive line, where they've given up 38 tackles for loss—second-worst in the nation. That's not good, considering Texas A&M's strength on defense is up front. Led by true freshman defensive end Myles Garrett—whose 6.5 sacks are 1.5 shy of former South Carolina star Jadeveon Clowney's SEC freshman record set in 2011—Texas A&M leads the conference in sacks (19) and is third in tackles for loss (39).
The Rebels still have to host Auburn and Mississippi State—both of which boast stout defenses—and travel to Arkansas and LSU (a matchup which always brings the weird). At least two and possibly more of those games will be losses, while Alabama will only fall to Auburn to close the regular season.
Georgia at Missouri Will Decide the SEC East
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Call it a Dumpster fire, a hot mess or whatever you want; but when we look back at the landscape of the season, this weekend's matchup between Missouri and Georgia in Columbia will be the game that we could have "called it."
As in, call the division title.
The Tigers (4-1, 1-0 SEC) and Bulldogs (4-1, 2-1 SEC) square off at high noon in a game that carries huge implications in the SEC East. The winner will establish itself as the division front-runner, with games against Kentucky and Florida—who each have one conference loss—still on the schedule. Neither of those teams have staying power (which is a relative term when discussing this division), which means it'll be down to the Tigers and Dawgs for a spot in Atlanta.
Does that mean the winner will go unblemished the rest of the season? No.
But the way the division has gone, a head-to-head tiebreaker over a division contender is as good as gold. One will be on the line on Saturday in Columbia, and it will be the one that decides the division.
Arkansas Will Make a Bowl
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Arkansas' schedule looked like it was made for a horror movie before the season, but as the season has gone on, it's looking less daunting.
The win over Texas Tech on the road was huge, Georgia has major defensive and quarterback issues, Missouri's offense and defense has been Jekyll and Hyde and LSU doesn't exactly look like a world-beater these days—ranking last in the SEC in rush defense (184.33 YPG).
The Hogs are sitting at 3-2 with UAB also on the schedule, and two wins over the remaining SEC foes certainly doesn't seem like as much of a stretch now as it did in August.
Bret Bielema's crew will go bowling and—most importantly—get those ultra-important bowl practices.
No Argument a Second SEC Team in the College Football Playoff
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With teams like Oregon, UCLA and Oklahoma all falling last weekend, and Michigan State already with one loss on the resume, the question of whether or not the SEC can get a a second team in the College Football Playoff has become more prominent as the season as evolved.
It won't be an issue when the rubber meets the road.
The way this season has shaken out, the power within the SEC is heavily tilted toward the West division. Nobody knows exactly how the selection committee will work, but "championships won" is listed as one of its criteria. It's unlikely that the SEC's second team will come from the East, so not only will the potential second team not have an SEC title, but won't even have a division title on its resume.
Unless there's no other legitimate option, a second SEC team will be on the outside looking in. With teams like Baylor, Florida State, Notre Dame and others still undefeated and Michigan State's cakewalk through the rest of the Big Ten, there won't be room for a second SEC team to elbow its way into the discussion.
Barrett Sallee is the Lead SEC college football writer and video analyst for Bleacher Report as well as a co-host of the CFB Hangover on Bleacher Report Radio (Sundays, 9-11 a.m. ET) on Sirius 93, XM 208.
Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. All stats are courtesy of CFBStats.com and all recruiting information is courtesy of 247Sports. Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.
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