Ranking the Best SEC Matchups of Week 4
A clearer SEC picture is starting to develop now that the ripples of the first few weeks of the college football season are behind us.
It appears Ole Miss, LSU, Texas A&M and Georgia are for real. Arkansas, Auburn and South Carolina have some serious issues.
Alabama still looked talented despite too many turnovers in a loss to the Rebels this past weekend. The jury's still out on Missouri, Tennessee, Florida, Mississippi State and others.
Everybody will know a little more this week, but Saturday's gem between Ole Miss and Alabama provided the marquee matchup this past weekend. Rivalry games between Auburn and LSU as well as Georgia and South Carolina fell flat.
The Gators won their 29th consecutive game against a Kentucky team that had just beaten the Gamecocks, and Arkansas lost its second straight game to Texas Tech, whose coach made it personal afterward.
Maybe there will be a little more manufactured drama this week. On paper, there are only a couple of big games, but as the first few weeks have shown us, things can get wacky in a hurry.
Let's rank this week's games involving SEC teams.
9. Southern at Georgia
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This one could get really bad really quickly.
The Southern Jaguars opened the season with a 62-15 thumping at the hands of Louisiana Tech in a game that never resembled being competitive. Though they've rebounded with 50-point performances in wins over Mississippi Valley State and Jackson State, this one won't be close.
When it comes to the Southwestern Athletic Conference, the Jags and their high-octane offense are going to be hard to handle. But this is the seventh-ranked Bulldogs, and they're looking like the real deal right now.
Everybody knows about Nick Chubb and the rest of UGA's running back corps, but where did this Greyson Lambert come from?
The senior, who transferred from Virginia, was nearly perfect against the Gamecocks, completing 24 of his 25 passes for 330 yards and three touchdowns. Considering his one incompletion was a throw-away, he was basically flawless in setting an NCAA record for completion percentage.
"I can't believe he threw an incompletion," Georgia coach Mark Richt said jokingly, according to ESPN.com's Edward Aschoff. "I'm disappointed in that, but we'll forgive him."
With the SWAC opponent not causing any panic, the Bulldogs can begin putting in their game plan for Alabama next week. They can sleepwalk through this one.
8. Louisiana-Monroe at Alabama
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Suddenly, a potent Alabama team is searching for answers after a turnover-riddled 43-37 loss to Ole Miss.
Though quarterback Jacob Coker didn't get the start against the Rebels and made some mistakes, he also gritted through a gutsy effort and proved he deserves to be the Crimson Tide's top signal-caller right now.
Derrick Henry and Kenyan Drake look fine running the ball, but with receiver Robert Foster's season-ending shoulder injury, 'Bama has to find some reliable playmakers on the perimeter to go along with possession receiver Richard Mullaney.
The Tide also have to fix a secondary that struggled at times against Chad Kelly, even though one of those long passes was a prayer and another one was busted coverage as the defensive backs came up on what appeared to be a run play.
This week against Louisiana-Monroe will be a good time to work out some of the kinks before heading to Athens, Georgia.
The Warhawks were beaten handily by the Bulldogs 51-14 to open the season in a storm-shortened game. Though they rebounded to beat Nicholls State 47-0, it will be back to the same old struggles against an SEC power this week.
7. Central Florida at South Carolina
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About the only positive that came from South Carolina getting embarrassed by Georgia this past weekend was the sound byte after sound byte of gold that coach Steve Spurrier dropped at his postgame press conference.
That was probably more depressing than anything to Gamecocks fans who've seen their team take a tumble this year after a 7-6 season a year ago.
Despite narrowly escaping with a season-opening 17-13 win over North Carolina in Charlotte, the Gamecocks have dropped back-to-back games against Kentucky and the Bulldogs.
They get an ideal opponent for a rebound this week.
Central Florida is not a good football team this year, as evidenced by this past weekend's 16-15 loss to FCS foe Furman. It also lost 15-14 to Florida International to open the season before getting thumped by Stanford 31-7.
South Carolina should win this game handily, but Spurrier has to find some answers. After losing starting quarterback Connor Mitch for an extended period of time, the Gamecocks had Perry Orth give way to freshman Lorenzo Nunez, who ran for a seven-yard touchdown.
After the game, Spurrier told The State's Josh Kendall he would evaluate how to best use the two QBs moving forward.
They've also got to fix some serious defensive issues that are holding over from a season ago. That has to start this week.
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6. LSU at Syracuse
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After Leonard Fournette's Heisman moment came this past weekend with his 71-yard run against Auburn and his hit-sticking a Tigers defender, LSU sort of re-announced its status on the national scene.
His huge performance has vaulted Fournette to the top of numerous watch lists for the nation's top award.
LSU looks like it's back. There will be several more opportunities to prove just how good it can be in the coming weeks, but it shouldn't have much trouble with Syracuse even if it's on the road.
It may wind up being Baton Rouge North as at least 7,500 Tigers fans are planning on flying up, according to Syracuse.com's Nate Mink. The reporter talked to Jason Ramezan, vice president of the LSU Alumni Association, and he gleaned this from the conversation:
"LSU is coming. And it plans to drink this town dry.…'I've gone places in the past where they've run out (of alcohol),' Ramezan said."
Coach Les Miles and offensive coordinator Cam Cameron seem to be doing a good job with quarterback Brandon Harris, bringing him along slowly and giving him more and more to handle each week.
After a narrow 30-27 win over Central Michigan this past weekend, the Orange are 3-0 with wins over the Chippewas, Wake Forest and Rhode Island. The No. 8 Tigers may be a different story.
It doesn't help matters that freshman quarterback Eric Dungey was hurt against CMU and is unlikely to play against LSU, according to Syracuse.com's Stephen Bailey.
5. Vanderbilt at Ole Miss
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Can the Ole Miss Rebels come down from floating on the cloud long enough to focus on Vanderbilt? Will it matter if they don't?
Those are the questions that face coach Hugh Freeze's team this week after a sky-high emotional road victory in Tuscaloosa. Now, Ole Miss gets to head back home to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium to face a Commodores team that appears improved from a year ago, even if they still aren't that good.
VU is coming off its first win of the season in easy fashion over Austin Peay. Quarterback Johnny McCrary has proven throughout the season that he can move the ball up and down the field, even if he has struggled to punch it in the end zone.
It will be interesting to see if the Commodores can do anything offensively against the potent Rebels defense.
Meanwhile, quarterback Chad Kelly is the toast of the college football world after a play that will likely be on every highlight reel all season and a performance that could help etch his name in Rebels record books.
Ole Miss travels to Florida next week to take on the Gators, so this is a bit of a sandwich game. It's still hard to believe the Rebels will lose this game, even if they are sluggish.
Obviously, a win for Vanderbilt would mean monumental things for the program Derek Mason is trying to build in Year 2.
4. Missouri at Kentucky
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It's not a surprise that Missouri is 3-0, even if it has looked ugly doing it. The Tigers have made a living off of being largely unimpressive at times but still getting the job done over the past two seasons.
But coach Gary Pinkel's squad has looked really, really unimpressive recently.
It started two weeks ago when they escaped Jonesboro, Arkansas, with a 27-20 win over Arkansas State. Then things got really putrid offensively this past weekend with a 9-6 victory over Connecticut.
Mizzou's defense allowed just 233 total yards and 11 first downs against the Huskies, but the offense struggled like it has all season with Maty Mauk at the helm. Freshman signal-caller Drew Lock played fairly well in limited action, and that may be a quarterback battle in the near future.
ESPN.com's Greg Ostendorf questioned Pinkel's decision to insert Lock:
"Gary Pinkel had a couple of questionable coaching decisions in the fourth quarter, including twice going for it on fourth down. But the biggest head-scratcher might have been the decision to put freshman quarterback Drew Lock in with 8 minutes left and Missouri up just a field goal. Mauk had struggled, but looked better in the second half. Lock is the future, but in that situation, why not go with the guy who has been there before?
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The win came in no small part thanks to linebacker Anthony Sherrils, who blocked a punt for a safety and then intercepted a pass to seal the win on a fake field-goal attempt.
Now, the Tigers will face their stiffest challenge as they take on an improved Kentucky team that simply couldn't protect quarterback Patrick Towles in a 14-9 loss to Florida.
A win for the Wildcats would put them at 2-1 in the SEC with wins over Mizzou and South Carolina, so it would go a long way toward cementing the status of Mark Stoops' program.
They'll likely have to beat MU with star running back Russell Hansbrough, who has missed the past two games. According to the Columbia Daily Tribune's David Morrison, the senior is expected back for the game versus UK.
3. Mississippi State at Auburn
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What in the world is wrong with Auburn?
It starts with quarterback Jeremy Johnson, who has thrown six interceptions and has really struggled with his decision-making so far this season. After all the preseason hype surrounding him was allowed to fester by the AU coaching staff, it's fair to wonder how well that was managed.
If this is as out of the blue to them as it is to the college football world, that's just as confusing.
Regardless, coach Gus Malzahn pulled the trigger Tuesday in naming redshirt freshman quarterback Sean White the starter for the showdown with Mississippi State, according to the athletic department's official site.
The Tigers were dominated by LSU in Death Valley this past weekend, and now they go home to face a MSU team, and a quarterback in Dak Prescott, that fared much better against the Bayou Bengals in a narrow loss.
Malzahn's team needs to find its sea legs quickly in a rugged SEC West.
"They whipped us," he said, according to The Advocate's Luke Johnson, of a 45-21 blowout loss in the LSU game. "Bottom line is, we got our rear kicked."
Both teams have had defensive issues, but MSU doesn't look as poor as some predicted entering the season when the Bulldogs were pegged last in the West.
Last year, Prescott torched AU for 374 total yards and three touchdowns in a 38-23 win, and he doesn't seem worried about facing coordinator Will Muschamp's unit this season, either.
"Watching film this morning and yesterday, it's a defense that the coach is going to call plays he really trusts his players to make," Prescott said Monday, according to AL.com's Wesley Sinor. "They're not going to do anything too difficult or throw any crazy looks at us. I think we're going to have a good game plan and be ready to go for them."
Both teams need a win for different reasons, so there may be a sense of urgency surrounding Jordan-Hare Stadium on Saturday. That could make for a great game.
2. Texas A&M at Arkansas
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Two SEC West teams that appear to be going in opposite directions will clash at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Saturday, and coach Bret Bielema's team needs to change the trajectory of the season.
Much like the hype train that surrounded Auburn and quarterback Jeremy Johnson, there was plenty of swirling buzz around the Razorbacks.
However, after back-to-back nonconference losses to Toledo and Texas Tech, everybody is wondering if they grossly overestimated the Hogs. Sure, they lost a great player in running back Jonathan Williams prior to the season, but there are still good runners and that lauded offensive line.
There were serious offensive issues against the Rockets, and against TTU, the Razorbacks couldn't stop anybody. Still, Arkansas remains confident.
"We hate losing," junior cornerback D.J. Dean told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's Bob Holt. "We do not want to slip back to where we were two years ago, or even a year ago. We want to move on from that, and that's what we're going to do next week."
On the other hand, Texas A&M has surged.
The addition of veteran defensive coordinator John Chavis has looked like a terrific hire thus far, as the Aggies defense has been much improved from a season ago. Couple that with the dynamic offense that Kevin Sumlin always seems to churn out, and folks are excited in College Station.
Sumlin has even managed a two-quarterback system utilizing Kyle Allen (five touchdowns against Nevada) and sprinkling in a little Kyler Murray without a lot of controversy so far.
Oh, and then there's defensive end Myles Garrett, who has yet to be stopped.
This is going to be a big-boy game for A&M to see if it's ready to take a big step in the SEC West, and it's one the Hogs need just to stay in the picture. Despite the two early-season losses, the Hogs' conference slate is clean, so it could be the start of a new season.
1. Tennessee at Florida
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Is it really a rivalry if one side never wins?
Tennessee will try to end that argument along with the 10-year drought against heated rival Florida this weekend as the Volunteers travel to the Swamp to take on the Gators.
After UT's "Checkerboard Neyland" campaign last year against Florida failed to produce a win (or this season against Oklahoma), Florida's Twitter account trolled the Vols a little, according to CBSSports.com's Jerry Hinnen, in preparation for UF's "Blue Out."
Florida has earned a few bragging rights, but what really matters is what happens on the field despite any extracurricular shenanigans.
Though new coach Jim McElwain is an offensive-minded head man, he hasn't been able to get that side of the ball working yet. Instead, it's UF's defense that has been dynamite, allowing an average of just 55 rushing yards per game and already registering 11 sacks on the young season.
Those are terrifying numbers for a UT team that still hasn't fixed the offensive line issues that have plagued the Vols over the past couple of seasons.
Florida has its own offensive issues that start with an inexperienced front. The Gators have found virtually no running game, and freshman quarterback Will Grier got a little banged-up running for his life in a rugged win over Kentucky.
Still, this is Florida-Tennessee, and Gators players know what to expect.
"I mean, they haven’t beaten us in 10 years and we’re looking forward to keeping that going," sophomore cornerback Quincy Wilson told GatorCountry's Nick De La Torre. "We’re ready to prepare this week for them and get ready to do what it takes to win."
Tennessee downplayed any psychological advantage the Gators may or may not have. UT has a pretty stout defense of its own and offensive playmakers that can potentially do some damage against Florida.
"There's no mental edge to it," outside linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin told the Associated Press' Steve Megargee. "Every season's a new season. Every week's a new week."
This game isn't the national slug-fest that it once was, but both programs are trying to get it back to that. A possibly great 3:30 ET CBS showdown could go a long way in doing that.
All statistics gathered from CFBStats.com unless otherwise noted.
Brad Shepard covers SEC football for Bleacher Report. Follow Brad on Twitter @Brad_Shepard.
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