Huge one for the Crimson Tide and the Dawgs between the hedges. Auburn tries to re-group and find a quarterback who can lead them to at least one victory. There are some pretty big tilts in the SEC and a huge national game at Death Valley, the Death Valley in South Carolina, and all the big names in college football are in action this Saturday. Here's a look at what to expect.
Last week: 12-5; Overall: 60-17 (78%)
No.13 Alabama (3-1) @ No. 8 Georgia (4-0)
Sanford Stadium, Athens, Ga. (92,746)
2:30 PM CT/3:30 PM ET
CBS
Verne "Oh my! That was stunning!," Gary; jaws are on performance enhancers; Allie LaForce
Line: Dawgs by 2
There's a hurricane in the Atlantic right now, Joaquin, and it could be pretty dangerous for some on the east coast, but most hopefully not. But it's going to bring some rain nonetheless to the southeast, and Athens has an 80% chance of showers and 10 MPH winds, and the wind will be a somewhat of a factor. But the wet ball will really have an impact on the game, unless the hurricane turns up north in the Atlantic. It's hard to predict the weather two days in advance, but the forecast calls for rain in Athens, so going to base it on that. Taking care of the football is going to be at a premium in this game. Alabama will have to take care of the ball as well as they can. Jake Coker and the running backs, Derrick Henry, Kenyan Drake and there's a chance Bo Scarborough will play, will all need to take care of the football. Damien Harris too if he gets a shot. Scarbrough, the five star in the 2014 class who was ineligible to play academically the first four games and suffered a knee injury in the spring that he has come back from, could play a role, but it'll be his first game back and first as a college football player, so his impact in this game could be minimal. But Henry and Drake will get the majority of the snaps and they need to run well, move the chains, get in the end zone and not fumble for the Crimson Tide to win this game.
On the other side, Greyson Lambert has completed 77% of his passes, 52-of-68, for 733 yards, for seven TDs against zero interceptions. The Dawgs first priority on offense will be to get Nick Chubb and Sony Michel the ball. Chubb has been overshadowed by LSU's Leonard Fournette this season because Fournette has been running wild albeit against not very good defenses. But Chubb has been stellar again this year. He rushed for his 12th straight 100+ yard game last week against Southern, one behind Herschel Walker's mark of 13. He has rushed for 608 yards on 71 carries, 8.4 yards per carry, and six TDs. He averages 149.8 yards per game on the ground. His 12 consecutive 100 yard games ties him for the longest active streak of 100 yard rushing games with Toledo's Kareem Hunt. Michel is excellent as well, with 223 yards on 32 carries, 7.0, and four TDs. This is a ground and pound team which can do some stuff in the air like Alabama. But it's about the ground game for both teams and both defenses are excellent and will be homed in on stopping the run.
The Alabama defense will severely test Georgia's ground game and load up the box and make Lambert, who hasn't played against a stellar defense this season, beat them through the air. Against a pretty good Vanderbilt defense, Lambert completed only 11 of 21 passes for 116 yards. It was a perfect day, so there were no excuses. And he'll really be challenged by Alabama's defense. The Tide's front seven is as good as there is in college football along with Ole Miss's. Alabama is going to try to make Lambert beat them and Georgia is going to try to shut down Henry, Drake, and Scarborough, if Scarbrough plays much of a role, and make Coker beat them through the air, too. Again, turnovers may very well decide this one. Who takes care of the ball better on what could be a very rainy night, will win this game. I like Alabama to get the job done in Athens in a defensive war.
Alabama 14, Georgia 10
San Jose State (2-2) @ Auburn (2-2)
Jordan-Hare Stadium, Auburn (87,451)
3 PM CT/4 PM ET
SEC Network
Dave Neal, Matt Stinchcomb, Kayce Smith
Line: AU by 20
Weather looks questionable on the Plains, too, with a 60% chance of rain and winds at 11 MPH. So this could be a pretty ugly game. Sean White will give it another go for the Tigers. I like the Tigers to pull it out, but it won't be a Rembrandt.
Auburn 24, San Jose State 10
No.3 Ole Miss (4-0) @ N0.25 Florida (4-0)
Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, Gainesville (88,548)
6 PM CT/7 PM ET
ESPN
Brad Nessler, Todd Blackledge, Holly Rowe
Line: Ole Miss by 7
This point spread seems about right. No weather issues in Gainesville on Saturday. Florida is 10 for 10 on fourth downs this season. That's incredible. Against Tennessee last week, they were down 27-14 with five minutes to go when quarterback Will Grier completed a 20 yard pass on fourth and eight to wide receiver Brandon Powell and the Gators cashed in to cut the lead to 27-21. After holding UT on downs, Florida got the ball back and on fourth and 14 from their own 47 yard line with 1:49 left, Grier connected with freshman wide receiver Antonio Callaway for 63 yards and the go ahead score. Callaway caught the ball just beyond the first down marker and spun to his left and turned on the jets down the sideline for the seven. The Vols missed a 55 yard field goal try at the end of the game and Florida won improbably 28-27 for their 11th consecutive victory over the Vols. Florida is the story of the SEC right now outside of Ole Miss. But I like the Rebels to clamp down on defense, get some turnovers and move on in the SEC west with this win over a pretty good SEC East opponent in the Gators. Should be a good game though.
Ole Miss 28, Florida 20
No.21 Mississippi State (3-1) @ No.14 Texas A&M (4-0)
Kyle Field, College Station, Texas (102,512)
6:30 PM CT/7:30 PM ET
S-E-C Network
Brent, Jess, Maria
Line: A&M by 6 1/2
I really, really like Dak Prescott. He's stayed for four years and paid his dues. Hopefully he'll get to the next level and do well there. He played an excellent game in State's victory at Auburn last week, and State has a good football team. They're playing tougher defense this year under defensive coordinator Manny Diaz, who is in his first year back as coordinator after spending time at Texas and La. Tech. He was State's defensive coordinator in 2010, and he's a good coach. Dan Mullen gets a lot out of his offense. But this is at Kyle Field and A&M is explosive on offense, though not terrific on defense. I like this to be a really close game with A&M edging the Bulldogs out at the end. Look for A&M freshman Christian Kirk to have a big game. The freshman wide receiver is a rising star in the SEC and nationally, and almost beat Arkansas single handedly last Saturday.
A&M 35, State 31
South Carolina (2-2) @ Missouri (3-1)
Memorial Stadium, Faurot Field, Columbia, Missouri (71,004)
11 AM CT/Noon ET
SEC Network
Tom Hart, Andre Ware, Laura Rutledge
Line: Missouri by 2 1/2
South Carolina may have found a quarterback in freshman Lorenzo Nunez who completed 12 of 22 passes for 184 yards and a pair of 7's, and ran for 123 yards in the Gamecocks' 31-14 victory last week over Central Florida. He looks a lot like Blake Sims to me. He's good. The SC defense played very well also as linebacker T.J. Holloman intercepted two passes. Missouri suspended starting quarterback Maty Mauk for this game for disciplinary reasons. So the Tigers will go with highly rated four-star freshman Drew Lock. Lock was a 95 four-star by 247 sports and I watched his high school film and he's pretty talented, though his throwing mechanics aren't perfect. He played some against Kentucky last week and did OK in a Missouri loss at Kentucky. Mauk is an OK quarterback, so this could be an upgrade. But you can't replace experience at quarterback and Lock doesn't have it. Nunez doesn't have much more, but he looks more ready to me than Lock does right now. So I'm going to go with the Gamecocks to pull off the upset and get back on track for a better season than it looked like two weeks ago at Georgia. Good weather, sunny, 67, but the wind will be at 13 MPH, so Nunez's legs will be a major factor.
South Carolina 28, Missouri 24
Arkansas (1-3) @ Tennessee (2-2)
Neyland Stadium, Knoxville (102,455)
6 PM CT/7 PM ET
ESPN 2
Mark Jones, Rod Gilmore, Quint Kessenich
Line: Vols by 6 1/2
There is a 90% chance of rain in Knoxvegas Saturday, so ball security will be an issue for both of these teams that like to pound it on the ground. I like super running back Jalen Hurd and excellent quarterback Joshua Dobbs and the Vols to pull it out over a much better Arkansas team than the record indicates. The Hogs have an excellent running back in Alex Collins and a pretty good quarterback in Brandon Allen. So it'll be close, but the Vols edge the Hogs out.
Tennessee 21, Arkansas 14
Other SEC games:
No.9 LSU 45, Eastern Michigan 10
6 PM CT/7 PM ET
Duh U (ESPNU)
Allen Bestwick, Dan Hawkins
Vanderbilt 24, Middle Tennessee 21
6 PM CT/7PM ET
CBS Sports Network
Jason Horowitz, Derek Rackley, Cassie Gallo
Kentucky 42, Eastern Kentucky 7
6:30 PM CT/7:30 PM ET
SEC Network Plus
Mike Couzens, Cole Cubelic, Kevin Weidl
Key National game
No.6 Notre Dame (4-0) @ No. 12 Clemson (3-0)
Memorial Stadium, Clemson, SC (80,000)
7 PM CT/8 PM ET
ABC
Chris, Herbie, Heather Cox
Line: Clemson by 1
Death Valley will be rockin for this one. Notre Dame has battled through a lot of injuries on defense and played some good football this season. C.J. Prosise is an excellent running back having rushed for 600 yards on 74 carries for an 8.1 average, and six TDs. DeShone Kizer is a solid quarterback for the Irish. The freshman took the place of the injured Malik Zaire in the Virginia game and threw a touchdown in the final minute to help the Irish pull off a miracle victory over UVA. He's a good player. But I like running back Wayne Gallman, who has rushed for 310 yards and three touchdowns and is an excellent north-south runner, and quarterback Deshaun Watson, who has completed 74 percent of his passes, 58-of-78, for seven TDs against three ints, to get the job done at home in what looks like a rainy night in Clemson.
Clemson 24, Notre Dame 20
Other games:
No.1 Ohio State 42, Indiana 27
2:30 PM CT/3:30 PM ET
ABC
Mike Patrick, Ed Cunningham, Jerry Punch
No.4 TCU 41, Texas 38
11 AM CT/Noon ET
ABC
Sean McDonough, Chris Spielman, Todd McShay
No.5 Baylor 63, Texas Tech 42
2:30 PM CT/3:30 PM ET
ESPN 2
Dave Pasch, Brian Griese, Tom Luginbill
No. 22 Michigan 24, Maryland 7
11 AM CT/ Noon ET
Big Ten Network
Kevin Kugler, Matt Millen, Lisa Byington
No.2 Michigan State 35, Purdue 27
11 AM CT/Noon ET
ESPN 2
Beth Mowins, Anthony Becht, Paul Carcaterra
No.16 Northwestern 31, Minnesota 28
11 AM CT/ Noon ET
Big Ten Network 2
Scott Graham, Glen Mason, J Leman
No.20 Oklahoma State 42, Kansas State 31
3 PM CT/4 PM ET
Fox Sports 1
Justin Kutcher, Steve Hutchinson, Bruce Feldman
No. 23 West Virginia 31, Oklahoma 28
11 AM CT/Noon ET
Fox Sports 1
Joe Davis, Brady Quinn, Kris Budden
No.7 UCLA 38, Arizona State 24
6:30 PM CT/7:30 PM ET
FOX
Gus Johnson, Joel Klatt, Molly McGrath
No.18 Stanford 31, Arizona 28
9:30 PM CT/10:30 PM ET
Pac-12 Network
Ted Robinson, Glenn Parker, Jill Savage