Ranking the Best SEC Matchups of Week 12
Well, we knew it was coming, didn't we? The SEC football schedule was bound to lighten up at some point, and the season's penultimate week is normally a time for league teams to wind up a difficult slate with a cupcake for dessert before the season-finale rivalry game.
Still, even though there are some real clunkers this week, there are also still four or five solid games on the schedule.
The top four contests will be played between two league participants, while Georgia is facing a more-difficult-than-originally-anticipated in-state opponent in Georgia Southern. Nobody expects UGA to lose, but the Bulldogs need to be on upset alert.
Elsewhere, two pivotal SEC West battles will be waged in Oxford and Fayetteville. Tennessee also travels to Missouri to try to end a three-year drought against the Tigers, while they'll be fired up for coach Gary Pinkel's final game at Faurot Field.
It may not be the best week of games, but there are always surprises. And there are still enough intriguing games to keep us all occupied. So, let's take a look at the top SEC games of the week.
10. The Citadel at South Carolina
1 of 10
Slowly but surely, South Carolina's football team is improving.
Unfortunately for the 3-7 Gamecocks, that isn't evident on the scoreboard or in the win column. After falling by just seven to Texas A&M three weeks ago, they were driving for the go-ahead score at Tennessee when tight end Jerell Adams was stripped of the football.
Last week, they fought against Florida before falling 24-14.
Coach Shawn Elliott may not be the favorite to retain the position by any means, but after replacing Steve Spurrier in an interim capacity, his team has fought for him. He told WLXT Channel 19 that he remains focused on closing the season strong.
"Everything is different with probably each and every coach, but from my standpoint, I've tried to stay as focused as can be. I told my wife on Sunday night, 'You know the wins haven't been there, but I've had the time of my life. I've really enjoyed doing this and being the head football coach and interim head football coach.' I will continue doing that until my time has come to an end or until a decision has been made that maybe I move forward.
"
The Gamecocks host a pretty solid Southern Conference team this week when in-state foe The Citadel comes to Williams-Brice Stadium. The Bulldogs are 7-3 this year, and while they're a strong Football Championship Subdivision team, Carolina should get its fourth win of the year gearing up for Clemson.
9. Charlotte at Kentucky
2 of 10
Unfortunately for Kentucky, this football season is a mirror image of last year's.
After a hot start to the season, the Wildcats have fallen off the face of the college football planet just in time for basketball season. With just four wins, UK needs to defeat Charlotte and Louisville to get to the postseason after losing to Vanderbilt last week.
The 2-8 49ers shouldn't pose too much of a threat.
At this point, the most exciting reason to watch the Cats comes in the form of redshirt freshman quarterback Drew Barker, who will get his first career start this weekend. He'll replace Patrick Towles, who has been wildly ineffective for much of the last half of the year.
On the season, Towles has thrown just nine touchdowns and 13 interceptions.
“We’ve been talking about this for a long time, and a lot of times it comes to players around him making plays and doing things for the quarterback, but it’s time for Drew to get the start," UK coach Mark Stoops said, according to the Courier-Journal's Jon Hale. "That’s the bottom line. He’s done some good things. He’s earned the right, and he’s going to start this week."
At this point, the Wildcats need Barker to provide a spark of excitement that they can ride into a winnable game against rival Louisville. Playing for a bowl game is a very important step in Stoops' attempt to rebuild this program.
8. Charleston Southern at Alabama
3 of 10
Alabama certainly looks playoff-bound, doesn't it?
The Crimson Tide still have to play rival Auburn (and anything can happen in that game) as well as Florida in the SEC Championship Game, but coach Nick Saban's team has improved as the year's gone on.
Behind that unreal defensive front seven, Heisman Trophy front-runner Derrick Henry and star freshman Calvin Ridley, Bama looks tough to beat.
This game likely won't be close at all, but it's ranked this high because UA is playing in it. The Tide are going to try to keep chugging right along, and this won't be an awful tuneup against a really good Football Championship Subdivision team.
The Buccaneers are 9-1 and are averaging 395 yards per game, with 230 of those coming on the ground. Unfortunately for Charleston Southern, nobody runs successfully against a Tide that swallows runners in its wake.
Saban had nothing but positive things to say about the Buccaneers this week, according to BamaOnline's Charlie Potter:
"Charleston Southern is 9-1, one of the probably best teams in their FCS division. They’re ranked in the top 10 in almost every category, one of the top defenses in that league, as well as very productive offensively with a different style of offense than what we've played against. A lot of option, split-back kind of options that we have not played against.
"
Even so, they can't topple the Tide.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
7. Idaho at Auburn
4 of 10
Nothing can save Auburn's season from being a disappointment after some publications listed the Tigers as a preseason favorite to make the College Football Playoff.
But they can wash a little bit of the sour taste from the 2015 season out of their mouths by becoming bowl-eligible.
They should definitely do that this weekend when Idaho comes to town. The Vandals have struggled all season, and they shouldn't pose much of a problem to an Auburn team that has gotten better each week on defense.
Offensively, AU is still a wreck. Last week against Georgia, Jovon Robinson ran all over the Bulldogs in the first half, but coach Gus Malzahn refused to feed him the football in the second half. Meanwhile, quarterback Sean White was still banged-up, and Jeremy Johnson continued his season's worth of struggles.
It's Johnson's team again this week, and the big junior could use a huge game to get his confidence going again.
This will likely be one of those games where Robinson, Peyton Barber, Kerryon Johnson and others run all over Idaho, and Auburn wins soundly. The Tigers need to use this as a tuneup for the Iron Bowl next week in what looks like an extremely daunting task against Alabama.
6. Florida Atlantic at Florida
5 of 10
Florida's offense simply hasn't been the same since quarterback Will Grier was suspended for a calendar year by the NCAA for taking performance-enhancing drugs.
That hasn't stopped the Gators from rolling through their schedule with victories, mainly because of their strong defense. That side of the ball carried UF through a scary, last-minute win over Vanderbilt two weeks ago, and then again last week in a lackluster win over South Carolina.
With Florida Atlantic coming to Ben Hill Griffin Stadium this week, nobody expects the 2-8 Owls to provide much resistance. What the Gators need to be focused on is quarterback Treon Harris and his offense to show more signs of life before the season-ending battle against Florida State.
The SEC Championship Game looms after that, and Florida needs to get a lot better if it is going to make any noise after this week.
Coach Jim McElwain knows it, and he wants his Gators to show some fight in a game against an FAU roster that "is full of guys who wish they were Gators," according to the Orlando Sentinel's Edgar Thompson.
Nobody is downing UF's 9-1 record. To get to that tally at this point is strong against the schedule in which the Gators have played. But they're certainly not the most impressive one-loss team in the country.
The job McElwain has done to flip this program in a year is exceptional, but the Gators need to kick it up a notch down the stretch.
5. Georgia Southern at Georgia
6 of 10
Georgia Southern has pulled off major SEC upsets before. That came two years ago when the Eagles shocked Florida 26-20 without completing a single pass.
They're even better this year at 7-2, and coach Willie Fritz's team is an offensive powerhouse that uses its triple-option attack to devastate a lot of lower-tier FBS programs.
The Georgia Bulldogs are far from a lower-tier program.
After a real tough stretch where they lost to Alabama, Tennessee and Florida in a four-game stretch, Georgia has regained its footing a little bit amid coaching rumors and fan frustrations. The Bulldogs sit at 7-3 and have a good chance to end the year with nine wins if they can handle GSU and Georgia Tech.
But getting past the Eagles won't be as easy as it looks on paper.
While playing an unorthodox offense may help UGA against Tech next weekend, coach Mark Richt said (in quotes released by UGA) it wasn't exactly the same:
"They’re running most of their option game from the gun. For years they were very similar to Army, Navy, Georgia Tech. QB under center, a couple wings and a back behind the quarterback and guys going in motion and running all different combinations of triple option football and speed sweeps and things they’ve done. Now they’re doing it from the gun and a little bit more of spread looks, but a lot of true triple option football still.
"
Georgia needs a strong performance from its quarterback and from slumping running back Sony Michel heading into the rivalry game. The Bulldogs needed special teams and defensive big plays to finally oust Auburn last week. The Dawgs hope it won't come down to that this week.
4. Texas A&M at Vanderbilt
7 of 10
They may be just 4-6, but all of a sudden, coach Derek Mason's Vanderbilt Commodores are a tough out.
A limping Texas A&M Aggies team may find that out the hard way this weekend when they travel to Nashville for a night game against the 'Dores.
Last week, Vandy beat Kentucky, and it wasn't only because of a strong defense. Freshman quarterback Kyle Shurmur is taking some big steps since becoming the starter for VU, and the son of longtime NFL offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur looks like he's in the position for good.
"I thought Kyle took some steps," Mason said, according to the Associated Press' Chip Cirillo. "He's still got a long way to go. We're young at that position, still trying to get better."
Still, the 6'4", 225-pound signal-caller looks the part, completing 13 of 26 passes for 166 yards and two scores against the Wildcats. Those aren't all-world numbers, but the way the Commodores struggled at the position for the past few years, it was a refreshing sign.
The Aggies have had their own quarterback carousel this year, but it appears freshman Kyler Murray is the man for now. He accounted for three scores against Western Carolina, and he can do things with his arm and with his feet.
With him under center, A&M is a better running team, and that's what VU needs to focus on to upset the Aggies at home. It could wind up being a good game.
3. Tennessee at Missouri
8 of 10
After getting on a bit of a hot run there for a while, Tennessee has cooled off recently. Fortunately for the Volunteers, they've done so while winning games.
The Vols didn't look great in either win over South Carolina or North Texas, but winning ugly is still winning.
Now, they'll have to travel to Columbia, Missouri, to take on a defensive-minded Tigers team that should be all hyped up for several different reasons. Playing subpar football likely won't cut it this week like it has the past couple of weeks.
Not only is Mizzou coming off its biggest win of the season in a victory at Arrowhead Stadium over 7-3 BYU, the Tigers also bonded together following a tumultuous week that included a football player strike and the resignation of the university's president after perceived mishandling of racially charged issues.
To top it all off, longtime coach Gary Pinkel will be coaching his final game at Faurot Field on Saturday night, so there will be the added emotions of that, too.
While nobody disputes how strong Mizzou's defense is, led by Kentrell Brothers and Charles Harris, the offense looked better than it had all season against the Cougars. Freshman quarterback Drew Lock continues to improve, and it appears running back Russell Hansbrough is healthy and terrorizing opponents again.
The Vols want to get to eight wins in the regular season, which they can accomplish with victories over the Tigers and at home against Vanderbilt. But this is an extremely dangerous game. If the Tigers win, they're bowl-bound again.
2. Mississippi State at Arkansas
9 of 10
While Kentucky's past two seasons have been characterized by late-season swoons, it's just the opposite in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
The Razorbacks have gotten stronger as the season got longer the past two years, and coach Bret Bielema's Hogs are surging at the right time right now.
Entering this weekend's game against Mississippi State, Arkansas is 6-4 and is coming off a lopsided domination of LSU in Baton Rouge. Much like Alabama did the week before, the Razorbacks defense shut down star running back Leonard Fournette, holding him to 31 yards on 19 carries.
While defense and running the ball have improved this year for Bielema's team, the real star in this recent uptick is senior quarterback Brandon Allen. According to SI.com's Chris Johnson, he is one of the major reasons for the turnaround.
"In the Razorbacks’ three straight wins before Saturday, the senior averaged more than 300 passing yards and threw 11 touchdowns against one interception. Allen completed only nine passes on Saturday, but his uptick in performance has given Arkansas more offensive balance. The ability to beat opponents by either riding Collins or moving the ball through the air will serve the Razorbacks well in two remaining SEC games (Mississippi State and Missouri) and their bowl game.
"
The Bulldogs, however, are far from a pushover. They're still reeling after a demoralizing 31-6 loss to Alabama, but Dan Mullen's 7-3 team still has Dak Prescott, a big stable of receivers and the kind of weapons that can make things difficult on Arkansas.
The defense needs to play one of its best games of the year to stop the Hogs and get past that offensive line playing at the highest level of the season, but MSU is certainly capable.
This could wind up being the game of the week.
1. LSU at Ole Miss
10 of 10
LSU has some serious offensive issues.
The Tigers were able to gloss over it for much of the year by just handing the ball to Leonard Fournette and letting him do what he does. However, against Alabama and Arkansas, opposing defenses made stuffing the star a point of emphasis.
Coach Les Miles had nothing in his bag of tricks to combat it when they were successful.
Quarterback Brandon Harris continues to struggle, and the Tigers defense has shown that it has plenty of holes as well. That's why LSU went from the ranks of the unbeaten to suddenly a two-loss team searching for answers.
Things have gotten serious on the Bayou. The Advocate's Scott Rabalais wrote this week: "But in the span of just two Saturdays, with two humbling losses to Alabama and Arkansas, the ice has thinned under Miles’ feet to the point where strong indications are that he will be coaching for his very job at Ole Miss on Saturday and the week after that against Texas A&M."
There's no love lost between the Tigers and the Ole Miss Rebels, and there's nothing that coach Hugh Freeze's bunch would like more than to knock off their hated rivals and send more questions in the direction of Baton Rouge.
If they're going to do that, they'll use much of the same type of game plan that made Alabama and Arkansas successful. There's no secret to it; making Harris beat you is the way to go.
“There is always something to learn from other games,” Freeze said, according to Gannett Louisiana's Glenn Guilbeau. "Alabama is built to stop runs inside the tackles. That is what they do. It didn't surprise me that they were going to stop that kind of run game."
Lately, if you stop Fournette, you stop the Tigers. The Rebels think that's the ticket to their eighth win of the season.
All stats gathered from CFBStats.com unless otherwise noted. All quotes gathered firsthand unless otherwise noted.
Brad Shepard covers SEC football and is the Tennessee lead writer for Bleacher Report. Follow Brad on Twitter @Brad_Shepard.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
