Ranking the Best SEC Matchups of Week 5
The SEC stars continued to shine in Week 4 as LSU and Ole Miss survived sluggish patches to dispose of Syracuse and Vanderbilt, respectively, and hold onto their spots atop the league.
Texas A&M passed a major test against a reeling Arkansas in overtime, and Florida used some fourth-quarter heroics to remain undefeated against a Tennessee team that had stormed to a 13-point lead.
Those were just warm-ups for this week, though.
This is when the big-time battles begin, starting with what may be the league's regular-season game of the year between Alabama and Georgia. A week after the Swamp played nasty host to the Volunteers, Ole Miss must travel to the lowland.
Then, there's Mississippi State and Texas A&M dueling in yet another battle between two ranked conference teams. Finally, Tennessee and Arkansas will try to stop early-season slides in Neyland Stadium.
Marquee matchups dot the slate this weekend, more than making up for a blah bottom end of the schedule.
Let's take a look at the conference's games, ranking them from the ones you should pass on to the ones you can't miss.
Eastern Michigan at LSU
1 of 9
In one of the most puzzling games of the season, LSU traveled to the Carrier Dome for an early kickoff against Syracuse last weekend.
Predictably, the Tigers were sluggish at times in a 34-24 win. Thankfully for the Tigers, they've got leading Heisman Trophy candidate Leonard Fournette, who saluted the great Syracuse running backs of old on Friday night and then went out and produced a game for the ages Saturday morning.
The super sophomore is averaging more than 210 rushing yards per game, and while he isn't a one-man offense, he's proven he certainly can be. Now, he'll go up against an Eastern Michigan run defense that ranks dead-last nationally.
Fournette may be worth the price of admission alone. He's bound to have a huge game (or half, or however long he stays in the game), and that could keep propelling him toward bigger things. How big?
ESPN.com's David Ching wrote about those possibilities.
"Right now, he's on pace to rush for 2,524 yards and 32 touchdowns and average 8.64 yards per carry. That would give him SEC records in all three categories, besting [Herschel] Walker’s 1,891 yards in 1981; Tim Tebow's and [Tre] Mason’s 23 TDs in 2007 and 2013, respectively; and Nick Chubb’s 2014 average of 7.06 yards per rush.
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Fournette's beast mentality is allowing coach Les Miles to bring quarterback Brandon Harris along slowly, and the Tigers are looking the part of an SEC contender.
Eastern Kentucky at Kentucky
2 of 9
There's no denying the strides Kentucky has made under third-year coach Mark Stoops. That much was evident in the win at South Carolina, and it even showed in a competitive 14-9 loss to Florida.
This past weekend, the Wildcats unseated two-time defending SEC East champion Missouri to prove they're going to be a difficult out in the conference.
They shouldn't have any issues against Eastern Kentucky this weekend. Though the Colonels have beaten Valparaiso and Austin Peay, they lost 35-0 to North Carolina State, and the Wolfpack are a comparable gauge to Kentucky.
It's also going to be a difficult weekend for the Colonels after defensive lineman Joey Kraemer was killed in a car accident this week. Kraemer had transferred from UTEP but not appeared in any of the first three games.
"We are all saddened by the loss of Joey Kraemer," EKU Athletic Director Steve Lochmueller said, according to a statement released by the school. "While his time at EKU was short, I'm sure the impact he made on his fellow students, teammates, coaches and professors will live on. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family."
On the field, the Colonels have a pair of runners Kentucky knows well. Reigning Ohio Valley Conference Offensive Player of the Year and former Wildcats running back Dy'Shawn Mobley is the star, but he may not play due to a hamstring injury, according to Kentucky.com's Ben Roberts.
Former Florida running back Adam Lane will shoulder the load if he can't go. He won't be the only star runner on the field, as UK's Boom Williams is off to a quick start, averaging 7.3 yards per carry.
San Jose State at Auburn
3 of 9
Reviews were mixed for Auburn quarterback Sean White in his first career start, a loss to Mississippi State.
He completed 20 of 28 passes for 188 yards and an interception but was sacked four times and couldn't punch the ball into the end zone consistently. Coach Gus Malzahn told ESPN.com's Greg Ostendorf that White "competed."
He's going to have to do more than just that for the Tigers to make any strides in the SEC West, but the redshirt freshman will get a golden opportunity to improve this weekend against San Jose State.
After a Week 2 near-disaster at home against Jacksonville State in what wound up an overtime win, Auburn knows better than to overlook the Spartans. They're 2-2 and are coming off a 49-23 thumping of Fresno State.
The Tigers will be facing former offensive coordinator Al Borges, who'd like nothing more than to return to the Plains and put a hurting on his old team.
This is the second of two trips to Auburn they agreed to at a $3.1 million price tag.
As San Jose Mercury News reporter Jon Wilner wrote:
"Not hopeless. I repeat: Not hopeless. The Spartans have a far better chance to win than anyone would have expected when SJSU agreed to make two trips to Auburn in exchange for $3.1 million.
Remember the paycheck-for-punishment opponents of past years, like Nebraska, USC, Alabama and Wisconsin? None of those teams went to overtime with Jacksonville State. Auburn did, in Week 2, against the visitors from the Football Championship Subdivision.
The Tigers followed up that great escape with an ugly loss to LSU, then failed to score a touchdown Saturday against Mississippi State.
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It would be a monumental upset for the Spartans to topple Malzahn's bunch. But Auburn is very vulnerable right now.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
Vanderbilt at Middle Tennessee State
4 of 9
Vanderbilt showed significant improvement in a losing effort on the road against Ole Miss in which the Commodores showed everybody they weren't going to be the same pushover they were a season ago.
Vandy isn't a good football team, but it has an improving defense that doesn't care to hit you hard, and coach Derek Mason has a sneaky-decent quarterback in sophomore Johnny McCrary, who has proven he can move the football.
The 6'4", 220-pound signal-caller has thrown for 1,074 yards, five touchdowns and five interceptions so far this season. When you pair him with sophomore running back Ralph Webb, the Commodores have a couple of nice offensive building blocks to build around.
But they have to keep taking baby steps with a big win in Middle Tennessee this weekend. They have to travel to Murfreesboro's Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium to play the Blue Raiders, and even though coach Rick Stockstill's team is 1-3, it hasn't disappointed.
They had flashes of quality play against Alabama and narrowly fell to Illinois, 27-25, this past weekend. But this is a winnable game for the Blue Raiders, and they feel the excitement.
"Everybody always says that the SEC is the best conference in the country and anytime we get a chance to play those guys it's special," Stockstill told Daily News Journal's Aldo Giovanni Amato. "It means something to us this week I can promise you that."
South Carolina at Missouri
5 of 9
When a legendary, Hall of Fame coach like Steve Spurrier refers to you as a "gamer," that's a pretty good start to your college career.
That's exactly what the Head Ball Coach called freshman quarterback Lorenzo Nunez to the State's Josh Kendall following Nunez's performance in a win over Central Florida.
He completed 12 of 22 passes for 184 yards and two touchdowns and rushed 18 times for 123 yards, accounting for 307 of South Carolina’s 400 yards of offense.
Now, the Gamecocks must go from one Columbia to another to take on a Mizzou team that is trying to find some semblance of an offense.
After a 21-13 loss to Kentucky, the question of whether Maty Mauk should still be the starting quarterback or if prized freshman Drew Lock should replace him is about to intensify. Running back Russell Hansbrough is a quality runner, but he needs more help.
Though there's a bit more disappointment due to high expectations much farther east in the Tennessee-Arkansas game, this one has plenty of importance as well.
Right now, Mizzou is still 3-1, and it has looked bad in the early season before rebounding and making noise in the SEC East. There's still time and plenty of games to bounce back.
Nunez gave the Gamecocks hope where very little existed before this past weekend. They've got a brutal schedule, but a road win against the Tigers may just keep Spurrier's bunch on the right track.
Arkansas at Tennessee
6 of 9
Remember back in the summer when everybody with a keyboard and an Internet connection was talking about the Tennessee Volunteers and the Arkansas Razorbacks?
Well, that seems like a long time ago after both programs brought everyone back to reality in the first few weeks of the season.
The Vols should be 4-0, but they blew a 17-point lead over Oklahoma and a 13-point fourth-quarter lead over Florida and now sit at 2-2. They're returning home to play in front of a fanbase fuming at coach Butch Jones' puzzling in-game decisions.
Arkansas has dealt with some devastating injuries, and the Razorbacks have lost three straight to Toledo, Texas Tech and Texas A&M. Though they looked much more like their will-imposing self against the Aggies, they blew the game and lost in overtime.
Both of these teams need a win, not just for postseason aspirations and to get on the right track, but for peace of mind. There's been plenty of weeping and gnashing of teeth surrounding the Vols and the Hogs as everybody tries to find firm footing.
This has the potential to be a hard-hitting, ground-pounding battle between two programs that want to establish the run and win with defense. Neither has been able to do the latter, and perhaps the team that forces the most mistakes and generates yardage through the air will prevail.
Mississippi State at Texas A&M
7 of 9
When Kyle Allen found superstar freshman receiver Christian Kirk in the end zone for an overtime touchdown followed by an Aggies defensive stand to seal the win over Arkansas, Texas A&M breathed a sigh of relief.
But it also learned a major lesson about itself.
"I thought the look in their eye in the fourth quarter and in overtime was one of confidence," A&M coach Kevin Sumlin told the Dallas Morning News' Kate Hairopoulos, "and I hadn't seen that in a while in this team."
They'll try to build off that feeling as they head right back into the fire this weekend at home against Mississippi State and quarterback Dak Prescott.
Though the Bulldogs have proven they're flawed, they've battled to a 3-1 start that has included wins over Auburn and Southern Miss and a narrow loss to a really good LSU team. Prescott is having a big year, and defensive coordinator Manny Diaz has helped what was expected to be a weak-link defense.
Most of the talk around college football circles in the Magnolia State center around Ole Miss, but coach Dan Mullen continues to prove he is building an established program in Starkville.
Beating Texas A&M would be a huge step in keeping the No. 21 Bulldogs relevant in the early season.
Meanwhile, Sumlin's team showed plenty of high-flying offensive ability in its first three games, but when the Aggies sputtered offensively, they leaned on defensive coordinator John Chavis and the Myles Garrett-led defense against Arkansas.
That's the sign of a good team. Beating the Bulldogs will be additional proof that the Aggies are for real.
Ole Miss at Florida
8 of 9
Throughout the last few years of the forgettable tenure of Will Muschamp, Ben Hill Griffin Stadium lost a little bit of the mystique that made the Swamp such an unenviable place to play.
Last Saturday, it recaptured some of that old feeling.
The Gators scored two dramatic fourth-quarter touchdowns to dispatch old rival Tennessee 28-27 for their 11th-consecutive win in the series, giving first-year head coach Jim McElwain his biggest win yet.
Now, the stakes are raised for the No. 25 Gators as they welcome No. 3 Ole Miss to Gainesville in a game that could reestablish them in the national picture.
The Rebels followed a resounding road victory in Tuscaloosa over Alabama with a bit of a clunker in their return home, a 27-16 win over Vanderbilt. While coach Hugh Freeze's team is good, it isn't scary good, so there's a chance Florida can play a great game and win.
That would have to start with redshirt freshman Will Grier continuing to build on his dynamic fourth quarter against the Volunteers in a test against perhaps the top first-team defense in the country. The Rebels aren't as deep as they'd like to be on that side of the ball, but they sure are talented.
Quarterback Chad Kelly will try to get back on track against a stellar secondary that will have Jalen Tabor back with Vernon Hargreaves III after a one-game suspension.
One team will be trying to return to the top echelon of college football, and the other will be trying to stay there.
Alabama at Georgia
9 of 9
This is a game that has been circled on many calendars for a long time.
Even though Alabama messed around and turned the ball over five times in a loss to Ole Miss a couple of weeks ago, it'll still be a huge game when the Crimson Tide travels to Athens to take on SEC East favorite Georgia.
The Bulldogs have looked every bit the potential juggernaut so far, especially after transfer quarterback Greyson Lambert set NCAA completion-percentage records in a thorough domination of South Carolina. Throw in Nick Chubb looking like a Heisman Trophy contender, and the Dawgs appear strong.
Though Nick Saban's Tide haven't been playing championship-caliber football, they're young, super-talented, capable of having everything click and able to dominate anybody on any given night.
This is going to be a classic battle of SEC haves, and everybody wants to see it.
According to DawgNation's Seth Emerson, more than 600 media credentials will be issued for the Georgia-Alabama game. Everybody wants to see Saban battle Mark Richt while Chubb goes up against Bama junior running back Derrick Henry to establish who Leonard Fournette's top competition is for SEC Player of the Year.
Just how long has Alabama's reign been? They opened as an underdog against the Dawgs for the first time in a whopping 73 games, according to CBSSports.com's Robby Kalland.
If Georgia wins this game, it has a huge leg up in the race to Atlanta. If Alabama loses, it will have an almost impossible road to the SEC championship with its second league loss.
A lot is at stake, including bragging rights and recruiting battlegrounds. It should be a great game.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
