By
Gabe Harris
1. Florida-Georgia in Jacksonville, FL - November 1st
Is this going to be one of the most anticipated games of the year, or what? Disregard Florida’s championship season two years ago, Georgia and Florida being the two favorites to win the SEC in 2008, Tim Tebow defending his Heisman, or Georgia feeling they should have been playing for the national title last year. All you have to know is Georgia destroyed Florida last year 42-30 for just their 3rd win over the Gators since 1990 and in doing so put them on notice that they would no longer be their whipping boy. The two most dynamic offenses in the SEC will be on display so betting the under might be ill-advised. With all due respect to Tennessee, this is for the SEC East championship.
2. LSU @ Auburn - September 20th
One cannot talk about regular season games going a long way to deciding a division championship without mentioning the Tigers of Auburn and LSU. No series this decade has had more thrilling, edge of your seat, exhausting endings than this one. Though the same could be said about any decade when these two Tigers tussle. The road to Atlanta goes through this game as six of the last eight SEC Championship games have featured one of these two teams. In Baton Rouge last year, Auburn stole defeat from the jaws of victory as LSU threw a touchdown pass on the final play. The home team has won eight in a row and with this being an early season game and both teams starting new quarterbacks; home field will go a long way in determining the outcome.
3. Georgia @ Auburn, November 15th
Florida-Georgia is more nationally known, Auburn-LSU is fiercer, but no series in SEC history is longer than Auburn-Georgia with Auburn holding a 53-50-8 series edge. This game will likely be a must win for two teams with conference and national championship aspirations unless one or both can make it to this point late in the season unbeaten. The Bulldogs have blown out Auburn two years in a row by a combined score of 82-35 and it was even worse than the scores would indicate as Auburn’s offense let them down with 8 combined turnovers, many deep in Auburn territory. Enter Tony Franklin and his version of the spread offense which hopes to give Auburn more of a consistent threat on offense. They will need every point they can get if they hope to win this game and contend for a spot in the SEC Championship game.
4. LSU @ Florida, October 11th
This match up will feature the last two conference and national champions in a midseason game that could feature two top 10 teams. Further adding to the stakes is the fact that each team has won this game in their championship season and the loser did not make it to Atlanta for a rematch. Even though these two teams are in opposite divisions, the importance of this game cannot be understated. This game will be LSU’s third in a three game stretch that starts at Auburn and features Mississippi State in the middle. If the Tigers drop one of those then Florida will be a must win if they hope to repeat as SEC Champions.
5. Georgia @ LSU, October 25th
While not every game on this list features one of these two teams, almost all do. These two teams have not faced off since December 3rd, 2005 when Georgia beat LSU 34-14 for the SEC Championship. Georgia feels they should have been in the national championship game over LSU in 2007 (though ask Auburn fans which snub was the bigger slight) and will use this game to exact a little revenge. This will begin a stretch of four tough SEC games for the Bulldogs followed by Florida, at Kentucky and at Auburn. Winning all of those might be too much, but if they do the Dogs will be in Atlanta and maybe Miami for the national championship. LSU will be finishing up its roughest stretch of the season with road games at Auburn, Florida and South Carolina with a home game versus Mississippi State thrown in for good measure. These two teams have only played 26 times in their history with LSU holding a 14-11-1 advantage so catch these two whenever you can.
6. Florida @ Tennessee, September 20th
Isn’t Urban Meyer 3-0 versus Philip Fulmer? Didn’t Florida humiliate Tennessee last year 59-20? Why is this still a big game? Because it is still Florida-Tennessee and the winner always becomes the pole sitter in the race for the SEC East Championship. Until last year, the loser of this game had not made it to the SEC championship game since 1997. Those are not good odds and do not expect Tennessee to repeat as SEC East champs without winning this game. Tennessee will be at home and should be as fired up as they will be all season considering the way Tim Tebow and the Gators aired it out last year even though they were up by five touchdowns late in the game. If the Vols lose another one like last year the season could spiral out of control and that new extension Fulmer signed this off-season will not be worth the paper it is printed on.
7. Alabama @ LSU, November 8th
If you attended last year’s game between these two in Tuscaloosa as I did, you will understand the added intensity this rivalry received when Nick Saban became the head coach at Alabama. But that will be nothing compared to what will await Saban when he sets foot in Death Valley for the first time as an opposing coach. LSU overcame 14 penalties and 3 turnovers to beat Alabama 41-34 in thrilling fashion last year. After this game Alabama went into a downward spiral losing to Mississippi State, Louisiana-Monroe and Auburn to finish the season 6-5 while LSU went on to win the national title. Will Alabama prove they can win a game in November or will Les Miles leave Saban further in the rearview mirror of Tiger fans?
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SEC's Top 7 Defining Games, 7.15.08
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