College Football enters week 7 this week and the SEC action gets turned up a notch as 13 of the 14 teams will be active on Saturday.
12pm ESPN, South Carolina (2-3) @ No.3 Georgia (5-0)
South Carolina is coming off a bye week as well as an impressive 24-7 win against Kentucky. While they gave Alabama a good game, on the road at Georgia looks to be too much for Muschamp’s team.
Georgia has been cruising through their schedule, bolstered by a very talented defense. The Bulldogs haven’t allowed more than 17 points in a game all season and have trounced all opponent except Notre Dame.
South Carolina 10, Georgia 35
12pm SECN, Mississippi State (3-2) @ Tennessee (1-4)
We’ve finally detected signs of life in Knoxville, TN. The Volunteers showed a lot of fight against a tough Georgia team last week and stuck with them for most of the first half. It wasn’t until the very end of the first half that Georgia was able to take the lead and hold on to it.
Mississippi State meanwhile is coming off a week of rest after getting dominated by Auburn in their last game. Mississippi State has looked okay this season except for some inconsistencies they’ll hope to avoid this week.
This game is mostly a toss-up. Tennessee’s new quarterback Brian Maurer had the offense moving pretty well early last week. The Vols would love to earn their first win at home this year and the team is thirsty to please the fans.
Mississippi State 17, Tennessee 24
3:30pm CBS, No.1 Alabama (5-0) @ No.24 Texas A&M (3-2)
The Tide has once again rolled on through the beginning parts of their schedule. Realistically they’ve been challenged for about 15 minutes this season, and only trailed once the whole year early on against Ole Miss.
Texas A&M looked promising through the first four weeks of the season, then looked lost against Arkansas in their last game. Arkansas traditionally plays A&M close but even so, there was some cause for concern.
That being said, A&M could’ve won 45-0 against Arkansas and I’d still lean heavily with Alabama. Nick Saban‘s group is sleepwalking through the schedule at this point just begging for someone to challenge them. They’ll have to wait another week though.
Alabama 48, Texas A&M 29
4pm SECN, UNLV (1-4) @ Vanderbilt (1-4)
Vanderbilt will face the Rebels once again hoping for a better outcome than last week against different Rebels. UNLV has lost four straight by at least 16 points in each game after beating the Southern Utah Thunderbirds in their first matchup.
Vanderbilt is actually bad. Fair assessment at this point. Playing Georgia close looked promising but in the next four games, they’ve been hard to watch. There isn’t much on the defensive side and there is nothing on the offensive side. Last week’s litmus test against Ole Miss got out of hand by game’s end.
It’ll be nearly impossible to get bowl eligible for the Commodores but if they want to crack the door for it they’ll need to make sure they win this one Saturday.
UNLV 20, Vanderbilt 38
7pm ESPN2, Ole Miss (3-3) @ Missouri (4-1)
Ole Miss seems to have found their quarterback in true freshman John Rhys Plumlee. The Mississippi native has run all over California, Alabama and now Vanderbilt. Though he hasn’t shown much with the arm, Rich Rodriguez‘s offense seems to be suiting him to run the offense with mostly his feet.
Outside of that weird week one game, Missouri has dominated this season. The defense has shaped up after allowing 37 points in week one to allowing just 31 points in the next four games combined. The season may hang in the balance however after starter Kelly Bryant went down with a gruesome injury on a questionable hit against Troy last weekend.
The good news is Bryant may be able to go on Saturday without being too limited. The quarterback situation for the Rebels makes it intriguing and the offense does seem to be clicking much better. All said, it’s as close to a coin toss game as it ever could’ve been though Missouri will retain the advantage.
Ole Miss 24, Missouri 34
7:30pm SECN, Arkansas (2-3) @ Kentucky (2-3)
Arkansas is having an identity crisis at quarterback that they’ve been struggling with all season. Nick Starkel and Ben Hicks have both seen playing time this season and both played last week after Starkel left with an injury. Hicks was able to lead Arkansas to a near upset as a replacement. Starkel’s injury to his left shoulder may keep him out of this week’s game.
Kentucky has had their own fair share of quarterback injuries. Starter Terry Wilson was lost for the year earlier in the season. Sawyer Smith meanwhile was battling his own injuries against South Carolina and may be unable to go this week as well.
It is entirely possible the Wildcats will be playing wide receiver Lynn Bowden Jr. at quarterback Saturday for all or some of the game. The Junior used to play quarterback in high school back in Ohio at Warren G. Harding.
Two 2-3 bottom feeders playing backups and wide receivers at quarterback should set up for a confusing and wild Saturday night in Lexington. This is another toss-up game, but Kentucky at home after a bye week – regardless of the QB situation – has me leaning Wildcats.
Arkansas 21, Kentucky 26
8pm ESPN, No.7 Florida (6-0) @ No. 5 LSU (5-0)
It’s the matchup of the week in the SEC. Two of the final four undefeated teams in the conference battle it out under the lights in Death Valley.
Florida has looked like anything but a top 10 team at times early in the season. Last week against Auburn put all those worries to bed. The Gators dominated the line of scrimmage and got the freshman quarterback Bo Nix all out of wack. They forced four turnovers and maintained control all 60 minutes of a game in which they never trailed.
LSU meanwhile has been on cruise control throughout the first five games and looked dominant. The closest game was on the road against Texas in a game they managed to control for the majority. Joe Burrow has played the part of a College Football Playoff quarterback and hopes to continue that Saturday night.
Florida 20, LSU 31
*All times listed are Eastern Standard Time
You can ‘Like’ The Game Haus on Facebook and ‘Follow’ us on Twitter for more sports and esports articles from other great TGH writers along with Kyle!
“From Our Haus to Yours”