Ranking the Best SEC Matchups of Week 13
Now, this is what you'd call a grand finale.
The SEC football slate was a bit on the bare side the past couple of weeks as teams cashed in on some yawner games and some of the opponents cashed big paychecks. But, even though the matchups weren't aesthetically pleasing, just ask South Carolina, Florida and Georgia about their cupcakes.
A shocking loss to The Citadel continued a miserable season for the Gamecocks, while the Gators and Bulldogs needed overtime to squeak past instate opponents Florida Atlantic and Georgia Southern, respectively.
Now, it's time for rivalry week, where difficult showdowns abound and records can be tossed out the window.
By now, you already know who's playing whom because it's pretty much the same slate of games during the regular season's finale every year. Names such as the Iron Bowl, Egg Bowl and Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate adorn the games, but the teams remain the same.
It's Alabama-Auburn, Ole Miss-Mississippi State, Georgia-Georgia Tech, Clemson-South Carolina, Tennessee-Vanderbilt, Louisville-Kentucky and so on, and so on.
It's going to be a fun week in the SEC. So, let's get on with ranking the week's best games for your turkey hangovers.
9. Louisville vs. Kentucky
1 of 9
When this is possibly your worst game of the week, you know you're in for a delight.
Don't tell Kentucky or Louisville this game doesn't mean much. The Cardinals want to make it five straight wins over their hated rival when they travel to Lexington this week and to have the same kind of offensive outburst as last year's 44-40 win.
The Wildcats not only want to win; they need to. If UK wins, it will head to a bowl game for the first time under coach Mark Stoops. If the Wildcats lose, it'll be home again for the holidays.
Stoops hasn't ever downplayed the importance of the Governor's Cup, and he didn't do it this year, either, according to Kentucky's 247Sports reporter Alex Forkner:
"I think it's extremely important. I've never denied that since I've been here. It's an important game, but this being the last game of the year as opposed to the first, a little different. But we have a lot riding on it, as you know. Not only in-state and with recruiting and things like that, but more importantly, just to build our program and get this sixth victory. We put ourselves in this position by a few miscues late in the season, with the Vandy game in particular. It is what it is, and now we need to go out and play well in this game. It always has importance. I think it's very important to us this year.
"
Winning would mean even more to freshman starting quarterback and Kentucky native Drew Barker, who led UK to a 58-10 win over Charlotte last week and looked good doing it. Beating Louisville would give his career a needed jolt forward.
The extra bowl practice would be massive for a young Kentucky team, too. So, this is a big one.
8. Tennessee vs. Vanderbilt
2 of 9
Last year, Tennessee had to scratch and claw, and get a big special teams and defensive play to beat an atrocious Vanderbilt team 24-17 and get bowl-eligible.
The Vols won't have to do that this year because they've already secured postseason eligibility. But getting to eight wins would be a milestone that coach Butch Jones would love to see in his third year as UT's head man.
VU coach Derek Mason has an improved team this year from a season ago, but at 4-7, it would be a long shot for the Commodores to go bowling. Even so, it's still a (bizarre and ridiculous) possibility that if they beat the Vols, they could play in a bowl game with five wins.
The Tennessean's David Ammenheuser breaks down the possibility, but here is the reasoning in part:
"As of today, 71 teams have posted six wins and are bowl eligible. That leaves nine spots. There are 14 teams that can reach the six-win mark by winning their final game this week. Four other programs need to win their final two games to get to six wins.
If not enough teams reach that magical six-win threshold, then the final spots will be filled by 5-7 programs. The NCAA football oversight committee is expected to meet this week to provide details on how they plan to straighten out this mess.
"
Beating the Vols is a long shot, especially the way they're playing. Since losing to Arkansas to fall to 2-3 back on October 3, UT is 5-1, with the only loss a 19-14 setback to Alabama. The Vols have won four consecutive games, and they're much more talented than their Nashville neighbor.
But VU's defense has plenty of playmakers to make things interesting. UT can't just sleepwalk through this one.
7. Clemson vs. South Carolina
3 of 9
How do you rebound from a 23-22 loss to an instate Football Championship Subdivision team where you had a game-winning 94-yard touchdown pass to your best player in the final minute called back for an illegal shift?
That's the impossible situation facing South Carolina this week.
Oh, and the Gamecocks are facing the nation's top-ranked team in Clemson, too.
It has been a forgettable season for Carolina, which sits at 3-8, has played three quarterbacks and continually gets torched on defense. Now, the only thing that can make the garnet and black attack feel a little bit better about the season is to spoil the Tigers' playoff hopes.
They want to keep Dabo Swinney's boys out of the national title picture, and a shocking win on Saturday could do just that.
Most importantly, though, the Gamecocks need some measure of positivity as they transition out of the Steve Spurrier (and Shawn Elliott interim) era and into the next one. Where are the building blocks, and who are some future pieces who can give fans some excitement again?
Nothing would kick-start that like a win over Clemson. It wouldn't make the 2015 debacle OK, but it sure would make it better.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
6. Georgia vs. Georgia Tech
4 of 9
At the dawn of the season, Georgia had national championship aspirations that fizzled out with a midseason lull in which the Bulldogs lost three of four games, including setbacks to Alabama, Tennessee and Florida.
But after an exhale-worthy overtime win over Georgia Southern this past weekend, coach Mark Richt's team still sits at 8-3 with the chance to win 10 games yet again. One of the teams standing in their way is hated rival Georgia Tech.
The "Rambling Wreck" has just been a wreck this year. After a resounding 49-34 win over Mississippi State in the Orange Bowl to end last season made coach Paul Johnson's team look like it was one of the up-and-comers in college football, '15 has been forgettable.
Injuries, defections and just plain, bad football led to a 3-8 record that included just one win in the ACC. That victory, however, was a huge one when the Yellow Jackets upset Florida State at home. So, they're definitely capable of pulling off a big upset.
If they're going to do that against UGA, it all starts with stopping running back Sony Michel. If the Jackets can do that, they've got a good shot to win because the Bulldogs have major, deep-rooted quarterback issues that can't be fixed this season.
This is one of those games where you can never tell what's going to happen, but it's normally a close contest.
5. Missouri vs. Arkansas
5 of 9
It's hard to say that Arkansas' roaring downhill train came to a halt last week against Mississippi State. Yes, the Razorbacks lost 51-50 to the Bulldogs when Beniquez Brown blocked Cole Hedlund's 29-yard, last-minute field goal.
But that was just a scoreboard-busting air assault by two good football teams playing great football.
Still, coming so close to a fifth consecutive win only to watch the opponent celebrate a crazy win was gut-wrenching.
"I've been through a couple of heartbreakers since coming to Arkansas, but that one might be at the top of it," Arkansas coach Bret Bielema told the Associated Press (via ESPN.com). "Just to be that close in that type of a game and to walk out empty-handed."
Now, Bielema's team will host a Missouri team that simply can't get anything going consistently on offense. Last week against Tennessee, quarterback Drew Lock and running back Russell Hansbrough were shut down in a 19-8 loss.
Yes, Mizzou's defense has been stout, but that doesn't matter if you can't score any points.
With the way Arkansas quarterback Brandon Allen has been lighting up stat sheets and with the running attack going full throttle again, this is going to be a tough game for the Tigers to hang.
The best way to wash out the bad taste of a loss like last week's is to dominate the next game, and Bielema's bunch has a chance to do that. If the Hogs can, they'll get to seven wins. Meanwhile, Mizzou desperately needs a win to get bowl-eligible in coach Gary Pinkel's final season.
4. Alabama vs. Auburn
6 of 9
Records don't always matter in the most storied rivalry in the Southeastern Conference, but this year's Iron Bowl just looks too lopsided to be ranked much higher going into the game.
Of course, Auburn has plenty of talent and coach Gus Malzahn's Tigers may have found some offensive wrinkles in last week's feel-good domination of a hapless Idaho team. There's also that little bit of ground truth in defensive coordinator Will Muschamp's defense improving a little each week.
But Alabama looks like the best football team in the country right now.
Clemson and Iowa may still be undefeated, but nobody wants to tussle with the Tide right now.
Running back Derrick Henry emerged from the shadow of Leonard Fournette to gallop into the front of the pack for the Heisman Trophy race, quarterback Jake Coker is limiting mistakes and Calvin Ridley is an emerging star receiver .
Then, there's that incredible defense that coach Nick Saban tosses out there each game with future NFL stars on all three levels. If you can get past a stout front seven, the secondary is loaded with playmakers, too.
Auburn needs to get an incredible game from quarterback Jeremy Johnson, who hasn't had one of those yet. The Tigers also need to ride the legs of Jovon Robinson and get production from their other runners, too. Also, hitting a couple of big plays downfield would be nice.
Playing in Jordan-Hare Stadium works to their advantage, and the last time these two teams met there, the legendary "Kick Six" went down in the history books. Asking for history to repeat itself is a tall task this year for the Tigers.
3. Texas A&M vs. LSU
7 of 9
There's so much drama on the Bayou this week surrounding LSU coach Les Miles, it's easy to forget there's a football game this week, and it's a pretty good one at that.
Texas A&M is coming to Baton Rouge fresh off a 25-0 domination of Vanderbilt, where it looked like the Aggies defense got back on track and quarterback Kyle Allen began to round into his early-season form again.
Now, they'll set their sights on a reeling Tigers team that has dropped three straight games (to Alabama, Arkansas and Ole Miss) and has everybody in the country speculating on whether or not Miles will coach the team next year or have his contract bought out.
ESPN.com's Joe Schad reported Monday that there's "a very good possibility" Miles' contract will be bought out, according to a high-ranking source involved with the decision-making at LSU. Wriggling free from the contract of a man who has a better record at the program than predecessor Nick Saban would be puzzling.
It would also be expensive, such as in excess of $15 million expensive.
But nobody in purple and gold is happy with the late-season swoon following last year's five-loss campaign. Also, for a program that sits on such fertile recruiting ground, five straight losses to Saban and his Crimson Tide stings and festers.
So, there are plenty of storylines swirling around the swamps like mosquitoes this weekend, and coach Kevin Sumlin's team wants to feast on the injured football team.
But they'd better watch out. LSU still has Leonard Fournette, plenty of talented receivers and defensive backs, and he is capable of playing championship football. This could wind up being a good one.
2. Ole Miss vs. Mississippi State
8 of 9
It's Thanksgiving, not Easter, but the Eggs in this bowl are all dressed up and shining again for the national stage after last weekend.
Ole Miss throttled LSU at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium last weekend to get back on track in a big way, completely turning the page from a stunning upset to Memphis a few weeks ago and a heartbreaking loss on a crazy lateral to Arkansas.
Mississippi State surged for the dramatic win in its own game against the Razorbacks.
Both programs proved they can still rise to the occasion in a marquee game. And it's just in time for the Egg Bowl, a rivalry that is extremely important for those who play and coach in it and entertaining for those of us who love to watch.
"It means everything," Ole Miss senior Mike Hilton said, according to FOXSports.com. "Everyone knows how important the Egg Bowl is. They’re going to come in with a chip on their shoulder. We’re going to come in with a chip on our shoulder. It's going to be a fight. We'll see how it turns out."
SEC Country's Daniel Wilco captured the eloquent words of Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen, who relayed perfectly what the Egg Bowl and many other rivalries in the Southeast mean:
"Those are your neighbors. The people you go out to restaurants with. Your friends, the people that live on your street, (that) are in your country club, your church. It’s a big deal. There’s either going to be a lot of maroon or a lot of red and blue being worn at church on Sunday. God's going to smile on all of us the same after the game. But the people wearing their colors will probably think He's smiling a little bit more at (them). That’s why I've always treated this game as such an important football game.
"
The Rebels are going to be banged-up on defense, and the Bulldogs haven't consistently proven they can play great on that side of the ball, either, so this could be another barn-burner. Regardless, it'll probably be a bunch of fun.
1. Florida vs. Florida State
9 of 9
The Florida Gators probably hope they have a little bit easier of a time with this instate, out-of-conference rival than the one they played last week.
But they'd sure love the same outcome.
The only problem for coach Jim McElwain's team is the Florida State Seminoles are light years better than a Florida Atlantic team that took the Gators into overtime last week.
The Owls had a would-be, game-tying touchdown catch get swatted by Brian Poole that would have given them an extra point for the win.
In that game, the Gators were awful on offense, as quarterback Treon Harris couldn't consistently muster anything through the air, and an offensive line that has struggled for a large portion of the season played its worst game.
Still, Florida is 10-1 and ranked eighth in the country. Florida State has just two losses and is ranked 14th. It has all the trappings of being a good, defensive battle. It's one that sophomore cornerback Jalen Tabor is ready for, according to InsidetheGators' Landon Watnik.
"Nothing needs to be said in our locker room," Tabor said. "Those guys up the road, we don't like them and they don't like us. We feel like we're the best team in the state, they feel like they're the best team in the state. They're coming in here. They're coming in The Swamp. They're going to have to bring everything they've got in here."
Those are the kinds of comments that make this week so much fun. None of these teams will be sending the other one Christmas cards in a month, but many of the guys know each other, like each other and have competed since high school.
Once those jerseys go on, it's a whole new mentality. That's why everybody loves rivalry week.
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")
