Ranking the Best SEC Matchups of Week 11
Week 10's marquee matchup between Alabama and LSU disappeared along with Tigers star running back Leonard Fournette in a sea of crimson jerseys.
But just because the Crimson Tide rolled doesn't mean last Saturday was devoid of drama. The Tennessee-South Carolina game came down to a final, frantic possession where the Vols punched out a fumble to win the game. Florida had to bomb a long-range field goal to finally oust Vanderbilt.
And, by now, everybody has seen Hunter Henry's desperation lateral that somehow wound up in Alex Collins' hands in what eventually became an overtime classic victory for Arkansas over Ole Miss.
It was an awesome week for SEC football, and Week 11 has several quality matchups on tap, too.
BYU travels to Columbia to take on a Missouri team that is fresh off a football strike that made national headlines. Florida now has to travel to a suddenly dangerous South Carolina team a week after nearly blowing a strong season with a narrow home win over Vanderbilt.
Alabama now gets to face surging Dak Prescott and Mississippi State, and Georgia and Auburn will renew one of the South's oldest rivalries.
Arkansas will try to mirror last year's late-season run as it goes to Death Valley to take on an LSU team that must be reeling after the one-sided loss to Bama.
It should be another fun weekend. So, let's rank them bottom to top.
8. Western Carolina at Texas A&M
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The Western Carolina Catamounts will make their second foray into SEC territories on Saturday when they travel to College Station to take on the Texas A&M Aggies.
They hope to fare better than they did the first time around.
Back in September, they were drilled 55-10 by Tennessee in Neyland Stadium in a game that was never close. This time, they'll take on an Aggies team that is reeling. They now stand at 6-3 after a 5-0 start to the season, and they were just thumped by Auburn at home.
Coach Kevin Sumlin continues the search to find a dependable quarterback, and if he's healthy, the pendulum will swing back in the direction of Kyler Murray this week, according to the Austin American-Statesman's Suzanne Halliburton.
"…[W]e’ll see where Kyler is from a physical standpoint," Sumlin said. "He needs to practice because he needs the reps. If he’s ready to go, he’ll be the starter. If not, we’ll make a decision later in the week. All that will come later in the week."
This really shouldn't be that much of a contest. Maybe this will be one of those games where the Aggies roll like they did early in the season and start to feel good about themselves again. Coach John Chavis' defense needs to get back on track, and they need a sound win again.
The game against the FCS opponent comes at just the right time.
7. North Texas at Tennessee
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Tennessee is one of the most banged-up teams in the country and has been all year. The Volunteers are also one of the least dependable.
They struggled so much to close games early in the season, and they held late leads in all four games in the loss column. But they'd been playing so much better lately, starting with the second half of a comeback win over Georgia, throughout the close loss against Alabama and in a blowout win over Kentucky.
Then came last week's game against South Carolina. UT was extremely fortunate that cornerback Malik Foreman forced a fumble of Gamecocks tight end Jerell Adams inside the Vols' 20-yard line late in the game to secure a 27-24 win.
This week, UT plays one of the worst teams in all of the FBS as the North Texas Mean Green head to Knoxville. They're 1-8, and they've lost their games by an average score of 46-18. This one should be a blowout where the Vols get a bunch of action for their youngsters.
A huge key for the Vols is to not get anybody injured, especially on offense considering they've got to close the season on the road against Missouri and at home against Vanderbilt. Both teams are defensive stalwarts.
Coach Butch Jones' team enjoyed a bye week just three weeks ago, but this is going to be just like one. It comes at the perfect time for the Vols.
6. Kentucky at Vanderbilt
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Who'd have thought just a few weeks ago that Vanderbilt would be the favorite when Kentucky came to town late in the season?
Yet, the tables for the two programs certainly have turned in recent weeks.
Just like last season, the Wildcats seem to be fading down the stretch. They've lost blowouts against Mississippi State, Tennessee and Georgia in consecutive weeks. The losses have been ugly, just like they were in 2014.
They've got serious quarterback issues as Patrick Towles has been a turnover machine. The defense isn't stopping anybody. While the Bluegrass was all abuzz a few weeks ago about coach Mark Stoops' program, the focus now is on basketball season.
Meanwhile, Vanderbilt coach Derek Mason's Commodores continue to show signs of life throughout the season. After getting annihilated against Houston two weeks ago, leading to everybody thinking this was the "same ol' Vandy," they shocked everybody last week.
One-loss Florida needed an extremely late, long field goal to survive 9-7 over a VU team that stymied Treon Harris and the Gators offense all day.
It would still take a minor miracle for the Commodores to make a bowl game considering their final three games are against the Wildcats, Texas A&M and Tennessee, but this should be a game they're in the whole way.
Kentucky desperately needs to win to inch closer to bowl eligibility.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
5. BYU at Missouri
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There were many unique and powerful distractions for a Missouri football team that began the week on strike due to what they deemed improper handling of race-related issues at the school.
The strike ended with Missouri's president and chancellor stepping down, and the Tigers now must prepare on a short week to play BYU at Arrowhead Stadium on Saturday. The resignation of those powers-that-be led to the unification of the team as well as the end of a hunger strike from student Jonathan Butler.
"Our team's excited about getting going again and playing, and we're looking forward to our game against BYU this weekend," Mizzou coach Gary Pinkel told reporters according to CNN.com's Eliott C. McLaughlin, saying he got involved because he supports his players and because Butler's life was "on the line."
"My support of my players had nothing to do with anyone losing their job. With something like this, football became secondary," Pinkel said.
After of all the drama, it will be interesting to see how the Tigers respond in what has been an extremely frustrating season. The two-time defending SEC East champions have now lost four straight games to Florida, Georgia, Vanderbilt and Mississippi State.
The Tigers' offensive ineptitude has been staggering, even while the defense has been exceptional.
Now, they'll play a very good BYU team that has won five straight and at 7-2, the Cougars' only two losses came at the hands of ranked opponents Michigan and UCLA.
This will be an extremely difficult test for Pinkel's squad.
4. Florida at South Carolina
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This season will be far, far from the South Carolina record books, but the Gamecocks fans have to be pleased and proud of their team's response after Steve Spurrier's abrupt resignation.
Though interim coach Shawn Elliott isn't winning football games, Carolina remains competitive in the heat of an extremely difficult schedule. The past two weeks, they've lost close games to Texas A&M (35-28) and Tennessee (27-24) and were in position to win both of those games.
Along with stars Pharoh Cooper and Brandon Wilds, the Gamecocks found a quality leader in former walk-on quarterback Perry Orth, who grew up with a heroic second half at Neyland Stadium in a near-upset of the Volunteers.
Now, he'll try to slay the SEC East's giant in Florida, a team that looked anything like a behemoth last week in a 9-7 win over a Vanderbilt team that pulled out all the stops but simply didn't have enough offensive weapons to score the dagger.
The Gators offense really struggled behind backup quarterback Treon Harris, who was a turnover machine.
While the defense continues to be among the nation's best, UF isn't going to pose much of a threat to teams such as Florida State or their SEC West counterpart in the SEC championship game if they can't find some points somewhere.
What looked like it may be a laugher a couple of weeks ago now becomes a very interesting game for the Gators, as they try to close the season strong.
South Carolina would like nothing more than to capture a future building block for the new coaching regime with a catalyst victory.
3. Georgia at Auburn
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Where has this Auburn been all year?
Despite the lingering red-zone issues from the Tigers, coach Gus Malzahn's team found new life with last weekend's 26-10 win over Texas A&M in which maligned quarterback Jeremy Johnson started in place of injured Sean White and performed admirably.
He threw for 132 yards on 13-of-17 passing and minimized mistakes. Also, while workhorse Peyton Barber couldn't get going, the Tigers finally got the kind of production from JUCO transfer running back Jovon Robinson that they expected they would back when he signed with them.
The junior power train finished with 159 yards on 27 carries and scored a touchdown as it looks like Malzahn will have one more weapon to add to his arsenal down the stretch.
Coach Will Muschamp's defense continues to improve after star defensive end Carl Lawson returned, and AU could make some noise throughout the final few games of the season.
Georgia endured its own struggles throughout the year with the annual rumors surrounding the future status of coach Mark Richt, more rumors about unrest within the coaching staff, deep-rooted quarterback issues and the season-long loss of star Nick Chubb.
The Bulldogs regrouped to dominate Kentucky last weekend, but this all of a sudden becomes a big test for them as they try to wind up with a respectable season.
This could be a really good football game on the Plains.
2. Arkansas at LSU
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Not only did Arkansas coach Bret Bielema's Razorbacks provide the college football world with one of the greatest games of the season in their win over Ole Miss, which featured a desperation lateral and a game-winning two-point conversion, the coach also gave us the best sound bite of the year.
"I am just looking forward to hopping on my wife…Hopping on a plane!…Hopping on a plane with my wife," Bielema said according to SI.com's Extra Mustard. "I can‘t believe I just said that."
Glorious!
Don't look now, but the Hogs are finally living up to that preseason hype, so forgive Bielema if he's cracking a few more postgame jokes these days.
They've won three consecutive games and are now 5-4 on the season. This week, they'll travel to Baton Rouge to take on rival LSU, who must find a way to pick up the pieces following a 30-16 loss to Alabama.
Coach Les Miles' team needs help to make it to Atlanta now, but all is not lost as the Crimson Tide still must play a 7-2 Mississippi State team this week as well as rival Auburn, who is playing better and will pull out all the stops (as always) to beat its hated Iron Bowl foe.
The Bayou Bengals must get running back Leonard Fournette going again and heading back toward that Heisman Trophy. He shouldn't have lost the lead in that race with one bad week (especially against a line as dominant as Alabama's) but the super sophomore can't afford anymore clunkers.
Arkansas has a pretty darn good runner itself in Alex Collins, and this battle is shaping up to be the game many thought it would be early in the season. It should be a good, old fashioned donnybrook.
Another win could lead to more microphone shenanigans from Bielema.
1. Alabama at Mississippi State
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For all the gnashing of teeth from talking heads discussing Alabama's inclusion in the top four of the initial College Football Playoff rankings, there was equal parts silence this week.
Following their thorough thumping of rival LSU in Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday night, the Crimson Tide moved up to second place, just behind Clemson, in the second release of the committee's selections.
Swallowing up LSU running back Leonard Fournette like a Dreamland rib will shut up even the staunchest critic.
But there's no rest in the SEC West, so Alabama must go right from that much-ballyhooed hype fest against the Tigers to this weekend's difficult test against Mississippi State in Starkville.
Can't you just hear the deafening clangs of the cowbells now?
Though many thought coach Dan Mullen's Bulldogs would take a step back with all those defensive losses and the departure of running back Josh Robinson to the NFL, they've still got one of the biggest weapons in the nation in senior dual-threat quarterback Dak Prescott.
He's having a monster year, too, in leading MSU to a 7-2 record despite the team not having a strong running back, struggling along the offensive front and having to replace so much talent on defense.
Beating Bama will be a tall task for a team with so many offensive holes, but Prescott can cover a lot of warts. Is he a big enough equalizer to pull off the biggest upset of his career right here at the end of it?
Or will the Tide keep rolling toward Atlanta on what seems to be a second consecutive collision course with the end-of-the-year playoffs?
This game holds monster ramifications. If Prescott can rattle Bama's defense the way some dual-threat quarterbacks have in the past, the Bulldogs could potentially make this a game.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
