News Article: SEC preview and predictions – Week 7

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SEC preview and predictions – Week 7
By Jess Nicholas
TideFans.com Editor-in-Chief
Oct. 12, 2009

Last week’s record: 4-3 (57.1%)
Season record: 38-11 (77.6%)

Last week was a slate full of tough games to pick, but Vanderbilt-Army wasn’t supposed to be one of them. Unfortunately for the Predictions Dept., the Commodores’ ship sank in the wake of Army’s artillery attack, while Georgia decided to stage a performance of “Sybil” by getting dominated by a middling Tennessee team. This week’s slate of games includes Florida facing a strong offense in Fayetteville, while Alabama meets a surprisingly tough South Carolina team.

GEORGIA at VANDERBILT
It’s fitting these two teams should meet this week, given the embarrassments they were responsible for Oct. 10. It’s also difficult to figure out which was worse: Vanderbilt losing to what has been, consistently, one of the 10-15 worst teams in Division-I over the last decade (Army), or Georgia going up to Neyland Stadium and making Tennessee not look just competent, but like a division contender. So this pair of head cases now gets to fight it out at Dudley Field for the title of “two-week-old codfish that stinks the least.” As much as we’d like to say Vanderbilt has a shot, we can’t. Losing to Army trumps even losing to Tennessee – by 26 points – well, maybe Vanderbilt has a shot after all.
Georgia 27
Vanderbilt 10

SOUTH CAROLINA at ALABAMA
See our extended preview!

FLORIDA at ARKANSAS
Florida is No. 1 in the country in several different defensive categories and also ranks 2nd in the nation in rushing offense. Neither is likely to hold up after this game is over with, though, given the danger Arkansas’ offense provides and the fact the Razorbacks are better up front than a lot of teams the Gators have faced thus far. But Arkansas stands little chance of upsetting Florida due to the Gators’ speed on defense and the inability of the Arkansas secondary to stop anything at any time with even remote consistency.
Florida 37
Arkansas 24

KENTUCKY at AUBURN
Kentucky’s unlucky streak continues, as the Wildcats lost QB Mike Hartline to a knee injury against South Carolina. Auburn isn’t in a good place, either, coming off an embarrassing blowout loss at the hands of Arkansas. But even Auburn’s iffy defense ought to be able to corral the Wildcats this week, as Kentucky will be forced to choose between Will Fidler, a wide receiver (Randall Cobb) or a true freshman who was redshirting (Morgan Newton) to take Hartline’s place. The only hope Kentucky has here is for its defense to pitch a shutout or something close to it. The Wildcat defense is tough, but Auburn’s offense has proved to be a viable enterprise. Just bad timing for the Wildcats.
Auburn 31
Kentucky 20

ALABAMA-BIRMINGHAM at MISSISSIPPI
UAB has been a little better than most pundits thought the Blazers would be, but not good enough to beat Ole Miss. The UAB defense is atrocious, and Ole Miss will be looking to work out the kinks after getting mauled by Alabama last Saturday. Offensively, UAB can’t pass, but the Blazers are ranked in the top 10 nationally in rushing offense. The only BCS-league team the Blazers faced (Texas A&M), however, whipped them 56-19 and wasn’t bothered much by the defensive effort. Ole Miss romps in this one.
Ole Miss 42
UAB 13

MISSISSIPPI STATE at MIDDLE TENNESSEE STATE
The real question here is why in the world a SEC team, even Mississippi State, would ever agree to visit a Sun Belt team in its home stadium. MSU is getting better each week, even though it lost to a Conference USA team (Houston) Saturday; Houston is legitimate. MTSU is a dangerous team, having already beat Maryland this year, and the Blue Raider passing attack could find success against State’s porous secondary. Look for this one to be closer than most think it should be, although MSU should still win.
Mississippi St. 40
MTSU 30

IDLE: Tennessee, LSU