SEC Football 2011: Predictions for Every SEC Team's Season Opener

As another year of SEC football gears up, many SEC teams are playing the customary tune up games as expected. However, there are a couple of potential upsets brewing and a couple of very big games pitting ranked teams against each other to start the 2011 college football season. Here is a brief look at every SEC team's season opener, with some bold predictions to boot.

Kent State at Alabama

Tune up game. Kent State will be lucky to get in the red zone against this Alabama defense. If nothing else, this game could be the last competition for the starting quarterback position between Phillip Simms and A.J. McCarron.

Score: Alabama-49 Kent State-3

Bold Prediction: Harvey Updike Jr. will be caught at the game incognito with wig and fake mustache.

Missouri State at Arkansas

Missouri State must have some sort of self-loathing issue to agree to travel to Arkansas in Week 1 and to Oregon in Week 3. This is a tune up, but also a good opportunity for first-year QB Tyler Wilson to get his feet wet as a starter.

Score: Arkansas-42, Missouri State-10

Bold Prediction: Knile Davis' replacement, Ronnie Wingo Jr., rushes for 100-plus yards.

Utah State at Auburn

Auburn also has a tune up game Week 1. Like Alabama and Arkansas, this game will help ease in a first-year quarterback, Barrett Trotter. Utah State gave up over 2,000 yards on the ground and 30 rushing touchdowns last season, and that is without seeing the likes of Michael Dyer.

Auburn may have one of the toughest schedules in the country, but they will not break a sweat against Utah State.

Score: Auburn-31, Utah State-6

Bold Prediction: Michael Dyer runs for 150-plus yards and three touchdowns.

FAU at Florida

Florida Atlantic only managed to squeak out four victories last season and look for them to start 0-1 in 2011. There’s no way FAU is going to be able to hang with the Gators in Gainesville for four quarters. In fact, FAU will be lucky to still be in the game halfway through the second quarter.

This game should be a good opportunity for Charlie Weis and John Brantley to get on the same page and work some things out for the rest of the season, so don’t be surprised to see the Gators run up the score a little bit.

Score: Florida-49  FAU-13

Bold Prediction: John Brantley throws for 300-plus yards and at least two touchdowns with no interceptions.

Boise State at Georgia

Okay, not a tune up game. This is easily the second biggest season opener for any SEC team in 2011. This game really means a lot more for Boise State than Georgia. Should Boise State lose, they only have one more team ranked in the preseason top 25 on their schedule, with TCU ranked 14. A loss definitely keeps Boise out of the National Championship hunt but also probably eliminates any BCS game for the Broncos.

Even though this game does not affect Georgia’s goal of an SEC Championship, don’t think the Bulldogs won’t come to play. Coming off their first losing season since 1996, the Dawgs will be hungry and eager to show the nation that last year was last year, and Georgia football is back. Whether they can prove it against Boise State remains to be seen, but this should be a great game.

Score: Georgia-23, Boise State-21

Bold Prediction: Isaiah Crowell breaks at least one 25-plus yard run and scores his first college touchdown.

Kentucky vs. Western Kentucky

Western Kentucky only managed two wins last season and will start off 2011 with another loss.  Kentucky does have some rebuilding on offense, but look for quarterback Morgan Newton to have a huge year for the Wildcats. Despite losing Randall Cobb and Chris Matthews, and wide receiver being a concern for the Wildcats, an experienced offensive line should give Newton time in the pocket to find his targets.

This game will be a good start for Newton to pick up where he left off in 2009 after Mike Hartline was injured. Newton went 5-1 in six games, including road wins over Auburn and Georgia. At 6’4”, 230 pounds, and with a couple of years experience in the system, look for Newton to have a breakout game, and season, at Kentucky.

Score: Kentucky-35, Western Kentucky-13

Bold Prediction: Morgan Newton will throw completions to at least six different players in the game.

Oregon vs. LSU

Forget the SEC; this is the biggest week-one game in the country. This is the first game with real National Championship implications. A loss would probably not eliminate Oregon or LSU from climbing back into the National Championship conversation, but both would have to win out against some very stiff competition in the SEC and PAC-12, respectively, especially with the new PAC-12 Championship Game. 

Unfortunately for LSU, sanctions came down today, and quarterback Jordan Jefferson is suspended indefinitely for his role in an August 19 bar fight. LSU is still pretty deep at the QB position with backups Jarrett Lee and Zach Mettenberger, either of which could start. However, Jefferson had been named the starter and been taking most of the reps with the first team. How fast his replacement can get up to speed will be crucial for LSU. Look for Lee to start simply because of his previous game experience.

Also, LSU wide receiver Russell Shepard is suspended for the Oregon game for incidents unrelated to the bar fight. Off the field problems could play a huge part in this game for LSU.

Score: Oregon-28  LSU-17

Bold Prediction: Whoever the quarterback for LSU is, he'll throw at least two interceptions.

Memphis at Mississippi State

Snore. Memphis won exactly one game last season and Mississippi State is gearing up for another great year under Coach Dan Mullen. Whether it is Chris Relf beating them through the air or Vick Ballard on the ground, expect Memphis to take a pounding.

The one highlight of this game worth watching will be the emergence of MSU wide receiver Chad Bumphis, who has already been drawing comparisons to former Florida Gator Percy Harvin. 

Score: Mississippi State-51, Memphis-6

Bold Prediction: Mississippi won’t punt the ball until at least the third quarter.

Brigham Young at Ole Miss

This should be an interesting game. Highly recruited Jake Heaps should be an improved quarterback for BYU coming into his sophomore year. BYU is moving to a pro-style offense that should suit Heaps much better this season. 

BYU is solid on defense, with the exception of the secondary. The Rebels do have a veteran offensive line and senior Brandon Bolden in the backfield. But for Ole Miss to have a chance, junior college transfer quarterback Randall Mackey will have to exploit the weak secondary play and be able to pass the ball vertically.

Score: Brigham Young-24, Ole Miss-21

Bold Prediction: Brandon Bolden gets 30-plus touches out of the backfield.

South Carolina at East Carolina

South Carolina is coming back from its 2010 SEC East Championship stacked with talent. Marcus Lattimore comes into his sophomore season as perhaps the SEC’s premiere back besides Alabama’s Trent Richardson. Alshon Jeffrey is the best wide receiver in the SEC. Stephen Garcia is surrounded with weapons this season; he just has to get them the ball and try not to do anything stupid.

As good as South Carolina is, however, don’t expect ECU to just lay down. Quarterback Dominique Davis threw for nearly 4,000 yards last season and has a huge weapon in wide receiver Lance Lewis. ECU's best chance is to try to exploit a relatively weak USC secondary and get yards in big chunks.

In the end, though, ECU’s defense just won’t be able to stand up to the Gamecocks potent offense for four quarters, and South Carolina will ultimately outlast them.

Score: South Carolina-42, East Carolina-28

Bold Prediction: Stephen Garcia throws for three touchdowns and NO interceptions.

Montana at Tennessee

One more tune up game. I am not sure what to say about this contest, except for Tennessee will win, convincingly. This should be a nice warm up for Tyler Bray and the Tennessee offense and get the Vols off to a good start. Things get a little tougher against Cincinnati in Week 2. Then the Volunteers head to Gainesville to take on the Gator, and we will see what UT is really made of.

Score: Tennessee-42, Montana-10

Bold Prediction: Neyland Stadium will not appear full, though I’m sure the game is technically a sellout.

Elon at Vanderbilt

Elon has a football team? Who knew? I guess it’s fitting that Vanderbilt schedules an FCS team to start off with. After all, they need any win they can muster outside of the SEC because victories are going to be few and far between in league play. 

Vanderbilt will take this game, but they really need to put up some showing in the SEC and top their one-win SEC 2010 season. With all the talk of conference realignments and super conferences, Vanderbilt may not be long for the SEC, which may be a good thing for the Commodores.

Score: Vanderbilt -20, Elon-10

Bold Prediction: Someone somewhere outside of the state of Tennessee will watch this game.