SEC Daily: Predicting the Biggest SEC Games of Week 3
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Last week was one of the weirder weeks of college football in recent memory. In a week where there were not a ton of big games, it was far from easy to predict what ended up happening.
A SEC team in Florida was upset at home against South Florida and another SEC team in Mississippi State pulled off an upset against No. 12 Arizona State. There were also plenty of blowouts in Week 2 with Tennessee stomping East Tennessee State 72-17 and Alabama rolling over Louisiana-Monroe 73-0. This past week also saw the first SEC conference game of the season with Ole Miss rebounding from a slow start and beating Kentucky 30-23.
As the calendar approaches the portion of the schedule with regular conference games, this week brings us four SEC conference games and two more SEC teams playing tough out-of-conference opponents.
With so many interesting games from around the conference this weekend, let’s go ahead and predict the best four games.
No. 6 Georgia at No. 15 Tennessee, Sept. 13, 2:30 p.m. CT
In the game of the week this week in college football, Georgia and Tennessee open their conference slates against each other as “College Gameday’s” weekly destination. Tennessee’s offense has looked dominant even with new quarterback Joey Aguilar. But how good really is Tennessee? Nobody is really sure yet. After all, the Vols have played Syracuse and East Tennessee State.
For Georgia, Gunner Stockton and the offense has not been as great as people thought it could have been after scoring just 28 points on Austin Peay. But the Bulldogs’ defense has been nothing short of great. Just like Tennessee, though, Georgia has not been tested either, which makes Saturday’s game a great one to watch.
Georgia has gotten the better part of Tennessee for the majority of the last 15 years, and I think that continues Saturday, but it will not be easy.
PREDICTION: Georgia 27, Tennessee 21
No. 16 Texas A&M at No. 8 Notre Dame, Sept. 13, 6:30 p.m. CT
Texas A&M is in the spotlight Saturday night as the Aggies travel to Notre Dame. The Irish have an advantage going into this game due to the fact that they had a bye following its tough loss to Miami in Week 1.
Texas A&M is another team that people are not too sure on where they stand amongst the ranks of good teams. It faced off against UTSA and Utah State in its first two games and won both comfortably.
Notre Dame is a different environment and among the most difficult for opposing teams to play in. With a SEC team traveling north, expect an incredible crowd that could cause false start and other penalties for Texas A&M.
PREDICTION: Notre Dame 31, Texas A&M 23
Florida at No. 3 LSU, Sept. 13, 6:30 p.m. CT
Saturday’s Florida-LSU game was almost a game that would have been discussed as a matchup between two playoff hopefuls. But a Gators loss to South Florida on a walk-off field goal derailed any of that talk.
Regardless, Florida still has an opportunity for a huge bounceback against a team in LSU who has National Championship aspirations. It is possible Florida may have looked too far on its schedule and has already been thinking about its trip to Death Valley for more than a week now.
But there are very few places in college sports that are more difficult to play at outside of Tiger Stadium. I think the environment and the bright lights of primetime fuels LSU and the offense starts to find a rhythm.
PREDICTION: LSU 27, Florida 17
Vanderbilt at No. 11 South Carolina, 6:45 p.m. CT
South Carolina got the better of Vanderbilt last season as the Gamecocks ran away in the second half to win by two scores against the Commodores last season. With Vanderbilt going to Columbia this year, it will be another road test to start its conference schedule.
Vanderbilt passed its road test last week with a dominant second half at Virginia Tech. This Vanderbilt team showed that this team really is different. But playing against a better dual-threat quarterback in LaNorris Sellers this weekend is a tall task. How Vanderbilt uses its defensive strategy against Kyron Drones compared to Sellers will be interesting to watch.
Make no mistake about it, however. South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer sees how scrappy and resilient this Vanderbilt team is capable of being. Vanderbilt will have Beamer’s full focus to avoid a home upset. I think Vanderbilt keeps a close until South Carolina pulls away in the final quarter
PREDICTION: South Carolina 31, Vanderbilt 21
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Graham Baakko is a writer for Vanderbilt Commodores On SI, primarily covering football, basketball and baseball. Graham is a recent graduate from the University of Alabama, where he wrote for The Crimson White, WVUA-FM, WVUA 23 as he covered a variety of Crimson Tide sports. He also covered South Carolina athletics as a sportswriting intern for GamecockCentral.