SEC
East
Florida
| Georgia
| Kentucky
| South Carolina
| Tennessee
| Vanderbilt
West
Alabama
| Arkansas
| Auburn
| LSU |
Ole Miss
| Miss State
SEC Fearless Predictions
Sept. 1 | Sept.
8 |
Sept. 15 | Sept.
22 |
Sept. 29
Oct. 6 | Oct.
13 |
Oct. 20 | Oct.
27 |
Nov. 3 | Nov.
10 |
Nov.
24 | Dec.
1
How are the picks so far? SU: 65-17 ... ATS:
43-27-2
SEC Fearless Predictions, Week
12,
Part 2
SEC Game of
the Week
Kentucky (7-3) at Georgia (8-2)
12:30
PM GamePlan
Why to watch: It's all still
there for Georgia to take. The Bulldogs,
after shocking Florida and Auburn in
their last two SEC games by a combined
score of 87 to 50, are still in a
position to win the East by beating
Kentucky and then hoping for a Tennessee
loss to either UK or Vanderbilt. Even if
the Vols win out, Georgia is playing
well enough, and has gotten high enough
in the BCS rankings, currently at nine
with a chance to move up several spots
with the matchups ahead for the top Big
12 teams, to snag an at-large BCS bid.
Before dealing with Georgia Tech in two
weeks, avenging last year's 24-20 loss
to the Wildcats is the first goal. UK
halted a streak of three losses in four
games with a less-than-impressive 27-20
win over Vanderbilt, and now it has to
come up with one more win to assure
itself of a bowl game. If the Cats lose
this week, and lose next week to
Tennessee, an ugly second half slide
might mean a Mississippi State, South
Carolina or Arkansas could take one of
the SEC's bowls from them. Kentucky's
offense has to get back on track, while
Georgia's attack has to keep on rolling.
Why
Kentucky
might win: Could Georgia be on
letdown alert? Even though the Dawgs
have everything to play for, they can't
help but be a little bit down after the
emotional win over Auburn and with the
rivalry date with Georgia Tech to
follow. The Bulldog secondary came up
big last week against Brandon Cox and
the Tiger passing game, but the UK air
attack, and receiving corps, are far
better and should be able to push the
ball consistently deep. Georgia faced
one team, Tennessee, that had a passing
game that was working, and Erik Ainge
had a fantastic day. UK should be able
to throw the ball to keep up in any sort
of a shootout, but ...
Why Georgia might win: ... the
offense has to be far better than it's
been over the past month. Andre Woodson
hasn't been Andre Woodson since throwing
for 415 yards and five touchdowns
against Florida, and the running game
hasn't shown up since rolling for 209
yards on Florida Atlantic in late
September. Worse yet, the run defense
has had a consistently bad month, giving
up 200 yards or more, while the Georgia
running game has been fantastic since
the emergence of Knowshown Moreno. With
Thomas Brown back in the mix, the
Bulldogs have a 1-2 rushing punch that
should be able to control the game from
the start.
Who to watch: Andre
Woodson has been fine, but he hasn't
been the Heisman-caliber playmaker who
had the lead in the race early on in the
year. He needed a bounceback game after
a three-pick game in the loss to
Mississippi State, and while he was fine
against Vanderbilt with 222 yards and a
touchdown, he wasn't able to overcome a
mediocre day from the running game. To
beat Georgia, he's going to have to not
only be perfect, but he'll have to be
explosive. He might have to throw for at
least 300 yards to overcome the
certain-strong day from the Bulldog
running game.
What will happen: Georgia
only had one bump in the home road
losing to South Carolina early in the
year, but this is a far different team
now. Head coach Mark Richt might not
have any more motivational ploys in his
bag, but he won't need one this week as
the running game controls the game from
the start.
CFN Prediction:
Georgia
45 ... Kentucky 31
...
Line: Georgia -7
Must See
Rating: (5
On
HBO, "Michigan vs. Ohio State:
The Rivalry"
- 1 Writer strike induced
reruns) ... 3.5
|
SEC Saturday,
November 17th |
Florida Atlantic (5-4) at Florida (7-3)
12:00
PM GamePlan
Why to watch: Florida has
done all it can do for it's SEC
campaign, finishing up last week with a
dominant win over South Carolina to
finish the year 5-3. Now it has to sit
back, watch, and hope for Georgia and
Tennessee to screw up, but in the
meantime, there's an interesting
non-conference game against Florida
Atlantic to deal with before facing
Florida State. The Owls have been living
on the edge in the race or the Sun Belt
title with only one loss to UL Monroe,
coming in three overtimes, and with date
next week against FIU before the
showdown with Troy to finish up the
year. The two teams have never played.
Why
Florida Atlantic
might win: FAU has an interesting
mix of positives that should be able to
put a few points on the board. The
offensive line is rock-solid in pass
protection, giving up just ten on the
year, while Rusty Smith is growing into
a top passer. The Gator secondary has
been suspect all season long, and while
it has allowed just one touchdown pass
and picked off three throws in the last
two games, it should give up 300 yards
to Smith, even if they come in comeback
mode.
Why Florida might win: If you're
going to have a shot at beating Florida,
you have to stop Tim Tebow and the
running game. FAU's run defense started
out the year fine, and kept Arkansas
State in check last week, but it gave up
three touchdowns to the Indians and has
allowed 13 rushing scores in the last
four games. South Florida ran for 302
yards, UL Lafayette ran for 317 yards,
and Tebow, yet another running
quarterback for the Owl D to deal with,
should lead the Gator attack to similar
success.
Who to watch: The
Gator offense is all about Tebow, and
Percy Harvin has a few moments of glory
every game, but the offense has taken on
a new dimension of explosiveness with
the return of Andre Caldwell after he
was banged up earlier in the year. He
hit his stride over the last two weeks
with 20 catches for 251 yards and three
touchdowns, with 11 of the grabs coming
last week against South Carolina. Now,
defenses have to commit a safety to
helping out on No. 5 all the time, which
leaves open that much more room for
Tebow to move.
What will happen: Even in
letdown mode, Florida should be able to
rumble at will on the Owl defense. FAU
won't make any big mistakes, but the
defense won't be able to come up with
enough big plays to avoid a blowout.
CFN Prediction: Florida
45 ... Florida
Atlantic 17
...
Line: Florida -33
Must See
Rating: (5
On
HBO, "Michigan vs. Ohio State:
The Rivalry"
- 1 Writer strike induced
reruns) ... 1.5
Vanderbilt (5-5) at Tennessee (7-3)
2:00
PM GamePlan
Why to watch: All eyes are
on Tennessee, who keep meeting challenge
after challenge to stay in the lead in
the SEC East race. If the Vols beat
Vandy this week and Kentucky next week,
they'll play LSU for the SEC title game
thanks to a 35-14 win over Georgia
earlier in the year. The Commodores need
a win either this week or against Wake
Forest in the regular season finale to
be the 11th SEC team to be bowl
eligible. They won the last time they
were in Knoxville, taking advantage of a
down Tennessee team in 2005, but this
will be a far tougher challenge as the
Vols are playing their final home game
of the year, and the last game in a
four-game homestand.
Why
Vanderbilt
might win: The Vandy passing game
hasn't exactly blown up so far, but the
receiving corps is solid enough to put
up some big yards against a suspect
secondary. Tennessee hasn't faced too
many teams that can throw and didn't
have much success against offenses like
South Carolina's and Alabama's. Vandy QB
Mackenzi Adams is coming off one of his
best games of the year. The Commodores
have been good at generating pressure
all year long, and did a decent job
hitting Kentucky's Andre Woodson last
week, registering three sacks to go
along with eight tackles for loss.
However ...
Why Tennessee might win: ... no
one's getting a hand on Erik Ainge. The
Tennessee offensive line has allowed
just three sacks all season long, and if
Ainge gets a little bit of time, he
won't make mistakes. He's leading a Vol
offense that's been impressive at home
averaging 40.3 points per game and has
shown enough explosion to put a game
like this away in the first half.
Meanwhile, the defense has stepped up
its play over the last two weeks
allowing just seven points to UL
Lafayette and 13 to Arkansas. If the D
could shut down Darren McFadden and
Felix Jones, it can handle the anemic
Commodore attack.
Who to watch:
Ainge won't win All-SEC honors in a
league with Tim Tebow, but he has
quietly come up with a strong season
even though he doesn't have the same
weapons he enjoyed last year. He's
letting the running game do most of the
work lately, but he's coming through
when he needs to with at least one
touchdown pass in each of the last five
games and with no more than one pick
thrown in any game so far. He doesn't
have to be perfect to beat Vandy, and
the game will be a blowout if he doesn't
turn the ball over and make any big
mistakes.
What will happen:
Tennessee needs this game, and will play
like it. The Commodore defense will keep
it close early on, but the offense won't
have enough pop to mount any sort of a
comeback.
CFN Prediction:
Tennessee
31 ... Vanderbilt 17
...
Line: Tennessee -12
Must See
Rating: (5
On
HBO, "Michigan vs. Ohio State:
The Rivalry"
- 1 Writer strike induced
reruns) ... 2
SEC Fearless Predictions, Week
12,
Part 2