SEC Saturday: LSU at UGA and Rebels Visit Tide
Last week in the SEC was a bit of a snoozer. There were not too many games to get excited about with a lot of bye weeks and a lot of mismatches. The Florida Gators beat the Tennessee Volunteers in the Swamp 31-17 and that was about the best game of the week. That game had either first half turnovers. The Arkansas Razorbacks lost to the Rutgers Scarlet Knights in a close on 28-24. The Hogs blew a 24-7 lead in that game. This week will more than make up for it though.
First we have the game where College Gameday will visit between the LSU Tigers and the Georgia Bulldogs. The Dawgs have obviously been looking forward to this game for a few weeks. They nearly forgot to show up last week vs North Texas Mean Green. That game was close for the entire first half before UGA pulled away in the second half. LSU on the other hand trounced the Auburn Tigers at home last week 35-21 in a game that was not really as close as the final score.
LSU quarterback Zach Mettenberger is a former Georgia quarterback who was kicked off the team for a sexual harassment situation with a student. the home crowd will likely be especially tough on him this week. Aaron Murray is a fine quarterback for Georgia even if his record against ranked opponents doesn’t always show it. He did however, win his previous game against a ranked opponent when the Bulldogs beat the South Carolina Gamecocks 41-30 in week two.
Speaking of South Carolina, many have them on upset alert this week when they travel to Orlando, FL to take on the unbeaten UCF Knights. The Knights have an upset against the Penn State Nittany Lions on their resume this year and are looking to add another. Blake Bortles could elevate himself into the Heisman Trophy conversation with a good game against Carolina tomorrow. Watch for the rushing battle to be a good one between South Carolina’s Mike Davis and UCF’s Storm Johnson. The winner of this could go a long way toward deciding the outcome.
The Ole Miss Rebels will visit the Alabama Crimson Tide in a battle of 3-0 teams. The Tide has a road win over the Texas A&M Aggies on their resume and the Rebels beat the Texas Longhorns on the road. Ole Miss also has an impressive road win over the Vanderbilt Commodores.
Bovada has odds on the three big SEC games:
LSU at Georgia– LSU is +3 -120 and Georgia is -3 EVEN. We are going to take LSU +3 in this one. We like their defense a bit better than UGA’s.
Ole Miss at Alabama– Ole Miss is +14 -105 and Alabama is -14 -115. 14 points is a lot to give a 3-0 SEC team, especially one with as much talent as Ole Miss. But they are not quite ready for this. We like Alabama -14.
South Carolina at UCF– South Carolina is -7 EVEN and UCF is +7 EVEN. We are thinking along the same lines with this game. UCF is not quite ready for they are about to see from Jadaveon Clowney and the Gamecocks defense yet. We like USC -7 in this one.
