[MUSIC] >> Welcome in the latest episode of that SEC podcast. I'm your host, Michael Bratton. I go by SEC Mike on Twitter and there's the Dean himself, Athlod sports senior editor, Steven Lassen back. Once again, I dropped some knowledge on us. How's it going, Steven? >> Mike, it is so good to be talking to you because, as I said, there is never a bad weekend of college football. And it was maybe the wildest weekend of SEC ball that I don't know, I've seen in some time. So I'm excited to be talking about it with you and looking forward to what's ahead in week seven. >> Right, and let's remind the lister, Steven, we do call you the Dean, but maybe you're the Dean of fading your picks because you got another one in a row. But I got, I was only one between you and I and Shane to get my my bookie, like the week, right, so fade everybody else. Listen to me, head on over to mybookie.ag today, the online sports book. And don't forget that promo code. Most importantly, that SEC, that's T-H-A-T-S-E-C over at my bookie. And that'll get you double your money. Whatever you want to deposit into my bookie online sports book, they'll double it up to 1,000 bucks. So you can have 2,000 bucks in your account today or a minimum of 50. So you can have a hundred if you just want to throw 50 on it, but that really helps to show out. But, Steven, what are you going to do to fix this lock streak that you, that you've got going here, a streak going the wrong way, mind you? Mike, I got some, I got some good tips coming up. It's the midpoint of the season. We're going to make some coaching changes. The players are working even harder this week. Our strength and conditioning coach has got some new methods. It's, it might take me an hour to go into this, but we're feeling pretty good. We, it's the second half of the season where we always come on. So, okay, I trust you. Yeah. Just, hey, don't forget, our price picks have been pretty good. We had another successful week. So, I guess hitting one out of those two, two bad, right? 50, 50. Just like we could always count on my buddy JR, man. What a, what a guy he is. He's just gifted another membership this time to cousin Jerry. Welcome to the family. Hope to see you at the next family reunion that, that was a hit. But Steven, we're back playoff projections update, which they have, it's like you threw a grenade at the last one. They have been blown up after the weekend that was in the SEC. We're going to have his Stevens updated panic meter. And oh boy, he was telling me off air. I think he said, is this too much panic? I said, it may not be enough. He, he's high on the panic meter for, for a lot of these teams. And then we'll preview each and every upcoming SEC matchup. But I'm, I'm slack and Steven, I apologize. I don't have my, my updated scoring efficiencies. I certainly, I can share that later in the week. But instead of that, just, just quick thoughts before we get into all that, I just previewed what quick thoughts on what happened over the weekend. Cause it was just such a wild one that I know some of us, you know, on rocky top down in Tuscaloosa among many others can, are still thinking about it. Still haunted by what happened on Saturday. Man, I'm still thinking about it too. I mean, what, what a crazy Saturday. I thought at one point on Saturday, you know, Missouri and Texas A&M was such an important game. And then I thought we got to the afternoon slate. And then there was the, you know, a Vanderbilt started fast and you kept thinking, okay, Alabama's going to come back at some point, right? And then there was that fourth down touchdown pass by Pavia. Of course, Jalen Milrose fumble after that. It was, it started to set in in that afternoon. And at the same time, you're trying to take in Ole Miss. And then you get to the nightcap and you get to Tennessee and Arkansas. And another top tier team fell. And I think it kind of gets back to what we were talking about, sort of joking about in the intro, which is there's never a bad week of college football. You get 12 weeks in the regular season. You get some chaos when top teams go on the road, maybe more than we've ever seen with Alabama falling to Vanderbilt. And in a very, Mike, in a very broad sense, I think there might be something to this. And it might have to do with just all the changes that we've seen in college football, whether that's all the coaching changes in recent years, the transfer portal, NIL, I think conference realignment also, the leagues, like especially the SEC and the Big Ten are deeper in terms of depth. So the bottom and middle tier of these conferences are maybe not as far apart as we've seen in maybe the last, you know, 10 or 15 years. So a lot of changes, I think led to some of this chaos, but also I think just sort of the beauty and chaos and chaotic nature of the sport gave us some really great stuff on Saturday for, if you want to, I guess if you're not in Tuscaloosa and Knoxville, it was just a very good weekend to be a college football fan, I guess, for all the chaos. Yeah, oh, by goodness, Stephen, we just had a massive donation from Phil Watson. Thank you so much, Phil. He just gave us 200 bucks. Please explain to me how Josh Hyples and offensive genius, I need answers. What, okay, we're going to get, well, heck, maybe we just get to the panic meter. I don't know, Stephen, but let's address this question for cousin Phil. Dana C, Josh Hyples, what in the world's going on? Because this is, I would say two seasons now, Stephen. I mean, that's all we talked about in the off season, where the lowest offensive output of Josh Hyples entire head coaching career was last year in Knoxville. Now we pointed to that, but we also said, heck, they won nine games. The defense is getting better. They can run the football, which those are still true. I think they're still a machine running the ball and their defense is looking better than ever, but there is a week, week link right now and it's, we all thought it was going to be the past defense. It's the past offense. Stephen, what, what in the world's going on here with, with Nico and this passing attack? I thought they had all these receivers. I'm, I'm not seeing it. It's puzzling, isn't it? Because if you just kind of think back now to the first couple of games, you had NC State and Oklahoma, and I think the thinking was, man, NC State was going to be pretty good team in the ACC this year. They're struggling. And you also look at Oklahoma and maybe that now, maybe it wasn't so much Tennessee taking their foot off the pedal in the second half. This might just be Tennessee's offense this year, which is puzzling because Tennessee has, I think, upgraded at quarterback with Nico over Joe Milton. The receivers are better this year. Dylan Sampson's having a great season. Their offensive line was supposed to be one of the best in the SEC and this struggled on Saturday night. In three games against power five opponents, 5.6 yards per play for Tennessee this season. Some of that, obviously, Oklahoma has a good defense. And I think we need to give Arkansas a lot of credit too. But that is not the Tennessee offense that we expected to see. And I think it also, in a very sort of big picture sense for Tennessee, it's, it's almost like all the things you thought were good weren't necessarily true on Saturday night. And it goes back to like the offensive line struggling. Receivers not getting open, not enough big plays. Nico struggling. I don't know if it's necessarily just one issue there, Mike. But I think now it's becoming a little alarming if you're a Tennessee fan at this point to see on paper a matchup where you should have been able to push the ball downfield. And like I said, some of those factors, O line run game, Dylan Sampson had a great night. If you some of the reporting on Arkansas's defense and some of the stuff that Travis Williams threw at him, a lot of new stuff, certainly, I think impacted that. But just with the weapons, the quarterback, the scheme that Tennessee has now to beat in this position coming out of week six is pretty alarming to me. Is there one thing that's kind of standing out to you? Because it just seems like a collective thing at this point to me. Well, I'll put it to you this way, Stephen, if you would have told me, it doesn't matter who the opponent is, whether it's Alabama, Georgia, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, who's holding their opponents in conference to 19 points. I would have said, well, damn, Tennessee's whooping all these teams, you know, even if it is Georgia, even if it is Alabama, you know, you never expect 14 points from a Josh Hype, unless the quarterbacks out, you know, or, or all the receivers somehow missed the game or something, you know, something wild like that. But to answer your question, I think it's, yeah, I mean, I think it's, I don't know if it's one specific thing, but it's, like you said, it's a combination of things. I think it's Nico Hype and we're seeing an inexperienced on the road. He's, he's not had a conference game at home yet. Now that'll change this, this weekend. Well, I'll put it to you this way, Stephen. And again, I'm not saying, because we have seen the history between Tennessee and Florida. But if they can't beat this damn Florida team at home, with the massive advantages they have across the board, particularly Tennessee rushing attack versus Florida rushing defense, if they can't beat this Florida team, maybe the season's over and Hype will be a fraud, you know, but I'm not ready to quite go there. And, and I get it. We're all panicky, right? Ole Miss fans were panicky a week ago. They just killed South Carolina. So am I wrong? And maybe this is just a little bit of homerism, but the way I view it, Stephen, and I think Alabama losing the Vanderbilt and Kentucky pushing Georgia and hell, even Mississippi State playing with, with Texas for better, you know, more, more than a half of football. I, I think what this young season has taught us is there's going to be chaos. And I'm, I'm truly only concerned. And we may be skipping ahead a little bit here to your panic meter, but I'm only concerned for like Missouri getting absolutely destroyed by Texas A&M does does lose. I'm not even too panicked about Alabama, even though there are, there's a lot to panic about, but just, you know, losing by a score to Vanderbilt, Tennessee losing by a score to Arkansas, you know, Georgia, Kentucky going out of the wire. I mean, these, these, I think these are going to be the results all season long. And I'm truly only panicking unless it's completely lopsided, like South Carolina getting blown out at home by Ole Miss. Is that fair? I think that's fair. I think the other thing is, and, and this kind of gets back at the conference realignment coaching NIL transfer portal is there is a bigger margin for error than ever before in the 12 team playoff area. You can afford to lose a game or two and still be okay. And especially when you start looking at the bubble and the way it's going to look, I mean, Ole Miss LSU is pretty important at this weekend for the playoff, but at the same time, it's probably not going to knock one of those teams out because they're still going to have a chance to play their way in. I think on Tennessee specifically, I think this was just my observation at times from watching the Oklahoma and the Arkansas games now is that it does feel like there's a little bit of I don't know if tentative is the right word, but you've got an incredibly talented quarterback and maybe Nico just needs to grow into the job. He just needs more experience insane height for him. And obviously he's got all the skillset, but it may take him a year to get there. But also, I think your receivers like they've got to be able to consistently separate and make plays and certainly injuries on Saturday night was a problem for Tennessee. But I think maybe if I'm Josh Hypo, I think maybe do you have to trust Nico a little bit more? Do you have to? I don't want to say open it up because it feels like the playbook is already pretty open for Tennessee when they can get the tempo and the pace going. But does that make any sense at all? No, I hear you. And I think playing at home, that could alleviate a lot of this. And then that is, you know, also, I mean, Alabama's loss was on the, but I mean, technically on the road, there was more Alabama fans and Vanderbilt fans. But again, that I think that's what this league is going to be this year. And again, we're getting way ahead. So we'll get to that in just a second. But I want to let's start here, Steven, with your updated college football playoff prediction. And here's where I'm saying like, why, again, it's one loss. I get it. But coordinates, David Tennessee is right there still in the, he's got him in the playoff. So Texas has jumped back to number one. So that means, Steve, again, I say this every week, but I just want it to, to stick in everybody's mind in case they've forgotten or they, or they simply don't know the, how this bracket is going to unfold. But the top four seeds can, can only be one conference at a time. So we can't have multiple SCC teams in a top four, even if all, let's say the top four is all SCC. It's going to go to the highest ranked conference champions. So Steven's got Texas projected as the SCC champion number one overall seed. Ohio State is the big 10 champions. Number two seed. Miami is the ACC. Oh, my Steven must be on the ACC ref payroll or something. Miami number three, Kansas state number four as the big 12 champion. So again, Steve is not saying Kansas state's number four in the country or anything like that. But this is, this is the, the logic they're going with it. And Steven has railed against it since the day they, they had outs. So just what that to be clear. But so in the first round, he's got number five Georgia hosting Boise state number 12. Again, they're putting the G five highest rated G five champion here for some reason. We got Oregon number six hosting Notre Dame number 11 number seven Alabama hosting number 10 Ole Miss Ole Miss jumped back in to the playoff field. Steven had him out last week and then number eight Penn State hosting number nine Tennessee thoughts on, you know, the selections you went with here, Steven LSU was on the bubble. A&M made a big jump. They're on the bubble. Missouri, you kick them out as you should have after that performance and Oklahoma's on the bubble. Can you break down these projections for us? So first of all, Mike has already warned me about not railing anymore in the playoff committee's top four. So that went all seriousness. I still think it's a colossal error by the playoff committee to go that route. But yeah, I think the biggest thing going forward is, is kind of what we saw last weekend. Chaos, lots of decide, plenty of changes. Every week, this bracket looks different for a reason. And that's because we're trying to react to results and also trying to think ahead a little bit. And I think if you're Ole Miss, what happened on Saturday with Alabama losing, with Tennessee losing, we also had some other teams across the country, you know, lose like USC, Michigan, the doors back open for Ole Miss to get in their huge games this Saturday against LSU. And of course, there's some other tests still to remain. But I think that my takeaway in all this is, you know, we see Tennessee lose, we see Alabama lose, still very much on the positive side of the bubble. Another loss or two, it starts to get a little dicey. And of course, Tennessee and Alabama have to play, Georgia has to play Texas. So there's still a lot of losses to be had out there. But I also want to point out one thing in the committee, you know, chairperson, the new person in charge there. On College Game Day on week one, he said that the best teams is what the committee is designed to pick. Most deserving and best sort of gets into that semantics discussion of kind of what does it mean. But if that's the case, then if you're sitting there saying, Hey, if Tennessee's nine and three and Clemson's 10 and two, which one are you picking? If you're picking the best teams, that helps teams like Tennessee and Ole Miss and probably even Alabama on the bubble. So I think the takeaway is we had some chaos, it changed a little bit, expect a little bit more. We also very much see you Texas A&M making a move up the standings and also a very favorable schedule to come. So I think Texas A&M, I am circling as one of those teams that over the next couple of weeks could easily play their way into this. Yeah, I'm glad you said that, Stephen, because that is a team that two weeks ago, probably not even in consideration. Now, I think given their schedule, and I could throw it up here, but I think A&M, I don't want to say favored to make the playoff, because again, it's still year one for this coach, we need to see consistency. But if they split, and again, we probably, we're all fools, Stephen. I'm the biggest fool of all, but we probably got to stop looking at these schedules because like Tennessee is a perfect example. You just chalk off Arkansas as a win, Alabama just chalks off Vanderbilt as a win. We certainly can't do that, but I'm about to do it. If they can split LSU and Texas, which are both at home, you have to feel great about A&M making the college football playoff unless they trip up somewhere else, right? I think so, and I would say that I think so because I'm a little bit worried about like South Carolina on the road, Auburn on the road, but I think to your point, if A&M finishes 10 and 2, and I also think if you're Texas A&M, you probably want to be a kind of a Notre Dame fan too, because let's just say Notre Dame schedule is pretty favorable the rest of the way they play USC, and they've got to play the service academies. It's a pretty favorable schedule. So 11 and 1 Notre Dame or even 10 and 2 in Texas A&M, that's one of your losses, and let's say you lose to Texas. A Notre Dame team, it's in the playoff and a Texas team that might win the SEC. That's a pretty strong resume. So I think one of my takeaways on A&M is that it feels like over the last couple weeks, they have really started to round into form, and I think that's if you're looking at like playoff odds or teams that are going to surprise the next couple weeks, I think Texas A&M is going to play, could play their way into this. And actually, I think their schedule gives them a really good chance to do so. Okay, Steve, well, hey, we got one more from Cousin Phil here. Appreciate you, brother. Another 50 bucks, my goodness. Wish I was making Cousin Phil money here, but of course, a couple more donations like this, I will be. All right, appreciate the answer on Josh Hype. Allow me to repeat back what I heard. Hype will maybe butch 2.0, and we went from Natty talk to hoping to beat the worst gator team we've seen in 20 years. Also, I don't think he's butch 2.0. I mean, that's where again, we're going overboard. This guy's already butch never won 11. Hell, he never won 18 in two years. And again, the way Tennessee is trending, I think they're going to be annually into discussion for the college football playoff. Again, well, I think we're all over reacting to one loss, which is totally fair. That's, I mean, we live and die with this stuff. That's, that's why you're on this show that we're doing 365 days a year talking at college football. But what level of concern for you, Stephen, one being the lowest 10 being the highest that Josh Hypele is butch Jones 2.0? Pretty low. If Mike, you can correct me if I'm wrong. I've always felt like butch Jones was one of the most hypersensitive coaches in the SEC at that time. You know, every word that was written and printed and posted online, he had to know about it and was always constantly in the circle of trying to react to it. I think the best thing, and I think you kind of said it there, it is, it's one game. Like if Tennessee loses this week to Florida, my alarm will start going off. And I think there were some things that the last few weeks have been alarming for Tennessee. But this, their favor to be Florida, Alabama looks vulnerable. Georgia is probably the only game that I mean, I may pick, if I had to pick Tennessee, schedule the rest of the way, I feel pretty good about still getting to 10 and two. I don't think they're, I don't think he's butch Jones 2.0 yet. If they lose start having more performances like that, I will get a little bit more worried. Yeah. Anybody that has got a losing record of Billy Napier, I'm concerned about your, your sanity. But hey, real quick, Stephen, before we get to the panic meter, appreciate you cut given, or cousin can, excuse me, he just became a member of the channel. We appreciate you, brother. He's big Florida phase, not going to appreciate those Florida comments, but I'm just being honest here. And then Robinson services, appreciate you brother. He just became a member of the channel as well. So let's get into it, Stephen. Panic meter time, your panic meters at an all time panicky this weekend. Who are we going with first? I might be overreacting. So you guys in the comments and Mike, you've helped me to, I'm overreacting here. All right, we'll start with Alabama. Nine. So typically when you see an upset happen, you know, you think, okay, well, there's some things that went wrong. You think it's a lot of turnovers that team just didn't play well. Alabama scored 35 points on 45 plays. I will take that every single week. If I'm a head coach or offensive coordinator, what was alarming was Alabama was just simply dominated and outplayed by Vanderbilt. I mean, it was not a fluke. There was nothing flooky about a couple turnovers, special teams, touchdowns, like we see some times in these upsets. They pushed them around. Mike Vanderbilt pushed around Alabama in the trenches. When has that happened before? Probably never, right? I mean, you have to go back in the record books to, you know, to find something like that. We were not alive last time it happened. We'll put it that way, Steve, because I have never seen it. Right. It has, it's been, you know, before my lifetime, the last time that Vanderbilt beat Alabama, but like I said, it wasn't a fluke. I mean, Alabama allowed Vanderbilt to dictate the style of the plate, you know, the tie-in possession, the, the four downs, the third down, inability to get off the field. And like I said, they, uh, Vanderbilt was the more physical team. So I graded at a nine because let's be honest, Alabama shouldn't be losing to Vanderbilt. And, uh, it raises, I think, a lot of questions because the last six quarters that Alabama's played, the defense has been very bad. No doubt, Steven, but, uh, let me ask you, what is more concerning? Is it the defense, which is a major, major concern for everything you just stated that or the culture, again, we probably shouldn't overreact to one thing, but, uh, Malachi Moore, I mean, he just, my, my word, if anybody's missed it, I mean, he, an epic meltdown of all meltdowns. This is a two time cap and this is a fifth year senior way, you know, they, they're trying to replace him. He's kicking guys back to the sideline. He's kicking the football after the, I mean, it's just, he looked like a child and, and maybe not even just the fact that he did that, there's no repercussions. He has apologized and fairness to him. I don't think we'll ever see that again from him, but Caitlin Boris come out and this guy's a, this guy's a class act. He's one of our leaders. Yeah. I mean, there's, there's just, I mean, it's completely night and day different from the way Nick Saban want to handle this. And fair or not, when you take, when you replace Nick Saban, you're going to be compared to him every step of the way. And in my mind, this is a failure on Caitlin and Bort, we'll see. Now they come out here and they, and they destroy South Carolina, the rest of their schedule. I'll be proven wrong. But, uh, what, what concerns your most, the defense or what is seemingly culture, I don't know if culture is it, but you know, the, the, the inability to handle this for, for Caitlin Bort, because I don't, I don't think he has any clue what he's, what he's, uh, bitten off here. And I think that's showing already. I think it's fair to say that's the welcome to the SEC moment. You know, you and I have talked all off season at some point there's going to become that moment of welcome to the SEC. You're going to be the main character on fine balm on Monday morning. And you know, as many people have said, did you not want to be the main character on the internet at any day? And, uh, Cain Womack and Caitlin Dabour, the main character in the SEC, uh, this week. And certainly I think pretty surprising for Malachi Moore, you know, a guy that's a senior leader, gotten stuck around to the program transition to be doing that. I would still go with defense though, because I'm, you know, we're sitting here, look at their schedule, obviously, South Carolina this week, but Tennessee, we'll see about Missouri, LSU, um, you know, and if you get into hypothetical SEC championship game or even down the road in the playoff, number one, I think it's fair to kind of wonder here, Mike, like where are the difference makers? Like we used to see in the Will Anderson's, we're used to seeing those guys, like somebody's got to step up and be that guy on third down, they can get the stop. Uh, the secondary is very young. I think it will get better with more snaps, but to have kind of an effort and sort of that type of performance since the Georgia game, certainly I'm, I'm sure they had it left down to some extent, but I still think that the defense is my greatest concern with this team right now. And to your points, Steven, I mean, again, looking forward, they got South Carolina at home at Tennessee, Missouri at home at LSU, at Oklahoma and Auburn at home. Now, clearly they're not going to lose to all these teams. That's, that's not what I'm trying to say here, but every one of these teams got more talent than Vanderbilt. And every one of them, I would think is capable. I mean, Vanderbilt, for anybody, I mean, I assume most people watch that game or at least saw the highlights, but they're essentially running a triple option out of the shotgun type, but, and it's brilliant the way they're doing it. But a lot of these teams can do similar things. And specifically, I'm looking at South Carolina, Tennessee, Oklahoma with, with Michael Hawkins back there now in Auburn. And so I, I'm not writing off LSU or Missouri, but, but they're just, their offenses are, are much different. But point being, there's a blueprint now with this defense that maybe Georgia exposed. And if they play, let's say Alabama's defense plays as poorly as they did against Vanderbilt, which is not a given. This may be the worst performance. This, there's a reason that I, I picked Vanderbilt in the spread, because I thought Alabama would have a let down and let down, did they? But if they play as poorly as, as this every single game, the rest of the way, how many games will Alabama lose? Do you think Steven? I'd probably put it at least two, because I think certainly Tennessee and LSU would get them. And I mean, Auburn's going to be tough just because it's the iron bowl. And then going on the road in November by November, Oklahoma, I think will be better offensively too, especially if Michael Hawkins continues to settle in. So I think in that scenario, nine and three, not even crazy to think eight and four, I do think there is kind of a line after a game like that on Saturday, like you're trying to appropriately react and also not like go overboard. And so I think what, what worries me is that this is now six quarters. And like individually, you could say, okay, well, Georgia was just trying to come back and Alabama took their foot off the pedal. But I mean, we also seen the times, you know, South Florida found some success and, you know, Wisconsin was moving the ball early before Tyler Van Dyke got hurt. So I mean, this is a defense that comes into the new coordinator, new scheme, a lot of changes. I think it's fair to say that it's not as dominant as we've seen. A lot of those teams don't have our man Diego Pavia though, but there's still a lot of good quarterbacks left on that schedule. Yeah. So I mean, this, this is going to be fascinating to see where this goes. Not at nine and three. I don't think Alabama makes the playoffs after losing to Vanderbilt. Do you? I think if they lose to LSU and Tennessee, yeah, I think they'd probably on the outside at nine and three. All right. Who's next on the panic meter there, Steven? And I've got a bad feeling. I know where you're going. Let's go. Let's go with Tennessee. I know we kind of touched on them, but let's grade them out as a seven. I didn't give Tennessee a nine because Alabama lost to Vanderbilt. That's, this bread was significantly larger than Tennessee and Arkansas. But I think just come to some of the things that we saw on Saturday for Tennessee. Number one, I think Tennessee's defense, you know, for the most part, you know, Arkansas drove the ball in the first half in the second half with Taylor and Green injured, game on the line, Tennessee's defense couldn't get a stop against the backup quarterback for Arkansas. Second thing is Tennessee's offense, kind of as we, we discussed, you know, just the, the tinnitiveness, the firepower just wasn't there. Great game from Dylan Sampson, but passing game, receivers, quarterback, offensive line, just not kind of the standard. I think we expected that of a Tennessee offense. Oh, dogs going crazy here. Yeah, no, I, I feel you, Steven, but is. Am I, am I too? Am I underreacting? Because at a seven, should it be an eight? Maybe I don't, I mean, I kind of, like I said, trying to figure out the appropriate level to, to react here. Well, I know if you're a Tennessee fan, Steven, the the maters at 10 full board 10. But again, I'm not panicking too bad right now. I'm really not. I just think, I think it's one game. I think it's an outline. I think it's on the road. I think we're going to see a lot of losses, but we do got to get the, the offense corrected, because every defense moving forward, I would imagine that Tennessee is going to face. They're going to force Nico to beat him. Now, he has flash that he's got the potential to get that done, but I don't know. I mean, he certainly didn't last week. If he was an effective pastor last week, I think they would have killed Arkansas. Is that fair? Yeah, I think they would have won. For sure. I think what stood out to me in that game was it was to take the Arkansas side of things. It was almost like, Oh, no, here we go again in the first half. You're consistently driving the ball and you look up and you're only up three nothing and then Tennessee takes the lead. So, I think a lot of credit to first of all to Arkansas for they've had these sort of moments, these errors, these mistakes that have prevented them from winning these close games this year, and then finding a way to come back. But also at the same time, I mean, they left the door wide open for Tennessee to take that game in a game where Tennessee was out playing the first half and they, you know, Tennessee couldn't do it largely because they just kind of couldn't get the stop on defense at the end, probably mismanaged the end of the game and certainly was unable to get the passing game going. So it's weird to be sitting here at about the midpoint of the season and saying, Nico in Tennessee's passing game needs to pick it up because you kind of figured that would be a streak this year. So it's been a weird season all across the board and these just might be outliers too. That's the kind of crazy thing this year with some of these road games and you know, chaos and some of the other like factors that we talked about, it just might just be a one off too for Tennessee. And let me ask you this because I don't know if you've even considered this Steven, but I had on two people last week, Neil McCready, Rebel Grove covers Ole Miss and Gabe B. Orman from Power Mizzou covers Mizzou, obviously. But I asked them the same question that is the hype and the expectation of playoff for bust, is that getting to those programs? And now I'm starting to wonder if that's getting to others, like a Tennessee who, I know that it's an expanded playoff, but it has never made the playoff. Now the expectation, I mean, there's 10 fan bases in the SEC, Steven, that are, they kind of expect to get there. Now maybe not annually, but you know, I think Florida fans think they should be there, maybe not with Billy Napier, as soon as they fire him and get a quality coach. But as soon as that happens, you know, Bama, Texas, Georgia, Oklahoma, Tennessee, I think Auburn, if they didn't have, you know, that idiot running their, I mean, it's almost all of them expect to get there and it's not reality, yet when you lose a game like, yes, it's like, oh God, we're not going to make the playoff, like it's a complete success or it's a complete failure, and there's no middle ground right now. It's a really interesting observation, because maybe this is just me and Kirby Smarts kind of had, I think, a little bit of a different demeanor this year, and maybe that's just me just sort of catching him at different times. But it's almost like, you know, he was kind of talking about how the season is going, you want to just kind of remain even keel, you don't want to get too high, you don't want to get too low, and I almost wonder, to some extent, if the expanded playoff is maybe allowing teams to take their foot off the pedal to some extent too, and say, we got a mulligan we will be fine, whereas in the past, you have to be a little bit more perfect week to week. So I'll be interested to see where that goes. I think you could kind of look at both ways of hype and also sort of, we also have some mulligans here. It's okay, maybe if we're not sharp this week, and for Alabama, you do understand, because they beat Georgia the week before, but for some of these teams, I just think it might just be tough environment, right timing, right circumstances, and Planet Arkansas plan, you know, some of these other road venues in the SEC is obviously very difficult. All right, so who's next on the panic meter? Gotta go with Missouri at eight, and I think the biggest kind of takeaway from that game was after watching it, I tried to sit down and write what went right for Missouri, and honestly, I couldn't find too many things in that game that went right, and I think that's very alarming, because you think about the schedule for Missouri. It was supposed to be one of those chances for a marquee victory to help your playoff hopes down the road. They're really going to have to win that Alabama game because of their schedule this year, but also it does feel like, I mean, number one, they were really dominated at the line of scrimmage, not able to run the ball, not able to protect Brady Cook, and then A&M really was able to get things going offensively against their front. But also, I think, and of course, this goes back to kind of the hype and expectations. This Missouri team is a kind of once in a couple of years opportunity here, with NIL and freshmen and transfers, they'll be able to reload, but Luther Burton is a pretty special player, and I would assume that he's off to catching passes in the NFL next year. Like, all the seniors, all of your core, the way you've been building this roster, it's kind of slipping away unless they can write the ship and beat in Alabama and win the rest of their games. So to some extent, I think some of your worst fears about Missouri from the first four games, we're kind of realized and also what it might mean in the bigger picture, if that makes sense. No, it definitely does. And again, I got the schedule pulled up here. Yeah, you got absolutely embarrassed against A&M on the road, but for all we know, A&M could be one of the best teams in the country. They're certainly playing like it. You got at UMass, you got Auburn at home, you got at Alabama, you got Oklahoma at home at South Carolina at Mississippi State and Arkansas at home. But again, this goes goes back to exactly what I was saying, Steve. Like, let's say Missouri goes nine and three. They're not going to make the playoff. That's going to be one of the top five seasons they've had since joining the SEC and it'll be a complete failure and a bust. I mean, it's, it's rough, but that, but that's where we're at. I don't know, I don't know if that's the right attitude to have or not because because people demand excellence, but I don't know that I'm making a point, but shout out to cousin Steve. He said, hey, by mazoo tigers, got destroyed, but one hundred bucks on Vandy's appreciate you because of Steve. But again, I mean, it's just, it's just wild, we're in a wild place, Stephen, where, yeah, I'm right there with you. I'm more panicked about Missouri than I am about Tennessee. We had the blanket gate. Do we think Eli sent that? Of course. Yeah. Of course you did it. The fact they had to use these motivational tactics, they're wearing the blanket, all this. I mean, that's foolishness and and clearly Mike Elko. It's not just Mike Elko. A lot of these SEC guys, they hate, they hate drink. I don't know. They hate the strong word, but they, they dislike the tactics and the, and you know, the guitar playing and this, I love stuff like that. I, I think it makes us fun. I mean, this is supposed to be fun. This doesn't have to be all serious, but to some of these damn guys, this is serious business, Stephen, and there's no jokes and there's no trolling, but I wish they'd all troll like Steve Spurrier. You know, that that's the heyday of the SEC in my opinion. Well, hell, it might be right now, but you know, when I was growing up, that's, that's what I remember is some trolling. But yeah, when you troll, you're going to get trolled when, when you get embarrassed and I forgot to hand out my worst coach award last, last episode. I've been, it's been a, we'll just call it the Hugh Freeze award, but last week drink would have earned the Hugh Freeze award. That was pathetic. That, I mean, the, the, the lack of preparedness and the lack of effort and, and Shane goes in shade. It, you made out thick it. You know, everybody, everybody loves a guy. He's the funniest guy in the world, but there's, there's some real insight in, in that man's head, if he can stay sober enough to, to express it. But he said something that was so profound on the last episode, Stephen, that, you know, there was one sideline was, looks totally chaotic and a lack of control. And then the other was completely organized. They were on a mission and they, and they destroyed the other team. And, and the one that was organized was the first year coach in his fifth game or sixth game, whatever it was. Meanwhile, we got drink, you know, coming out, what was he in year four or five. And this, I mean, that's, that's inexcusable to me. You know, I think to, to your point, I don't want to read too much into it, but I was a little concerned about the body language I was seeing. Right. And again, maybe I'm just overreacting. Maybe it was a bad day for Missouri. It's a little concerning. The other thing is, and this kind of gets kind of what we were just talking about, which is, I think so much in college football is like, you have to seize that opportunity, because you don't know what's going to happen at the end of the season. You don't know what's going to happen in the future. You know, that opportunity right now, the window is open for Missouri to win 10 games, go to the college football playoff. They made a high profile bowl last year. They beat Ohio State. They had this core coming back. They hit the portal. And if they fall short, to your point, they could finish 10 and two, missed the playoff. And I think it's a disappointing year because of the setup for this season. So I, this, the next second half of the season, and obviously they get you massed this week, is going to be really, really interesting from Missouri. There's still an opportunity, but there's also a lot more questions after just getting to your point embarrassed against Texas A&M. All right. Who's next on the panic meter, Steven? Mike, let's go to Auburn. It's a seven. Pretty simple. Same old, same old at this point. You know, I should kind of give a little credit here to Auburn. Like it wasn't as chaotic or as like bad as we've seen in previous weeks, but still a lot of the same old, same old, some offensive, you know, chaos to some extent, freeze and patent thorn, you know, the freeze yelling at patent thorn, some questionable decisions there by your quarterback. There wasn't the chaotic mistakes, but also Georgia is one of your rivals. This, the final score, I don't think was quite indicative of how wide it felt between the two teams. So it's a seven because you also see that the season is starting to slowly slip away for Auburn in terms of getting to a bowl on the positive side. They picked up a really talented freshman quarterback. They'll bring in next year, which certainly helps, but you can also only win so many times on the recruiting trail, and you have to start translating that to wins. So I think that's the objective for Auburn at this point, because right now, they're on a trajectory to be worse in the record department than they were last year. But the whole season can turn around here. I think, well, maybe that's a little too bold, but the narratives can turn around if you can beat Missouri. Wouldn't you agree with that? And it would sink Missouri further into a deep, deep hole here. Yeah, you know, I think that's the interesting thing about this Auburn team is like, nobody would be surprised almost if they won at Missouri or Kentucky. I mean, that's kind of been the inconsistency of this team and having a couple of extra weeks to get ready. So no, I think sitting here at two and four, I thought the record would probably be four and two at this point. So they're going to have to probably win a game or two to surprise and get to a bowl game. But if they can get to six wins, even maybe potentially get to seven, you start talking about, wow, it turns things turned pretty quickly after a slow start, but they're going to need the chaotic and sort of catastrophic mistakes to stop to get there. And the last thing I'll say, Stephen, because I have said enough about you for ease, but can you recall a time where a guy was, you know, teams in turmoil, turmoil is a strong word, but I mean, at the end of the day, I don't care that you're doing your, the fans don't care either. If you're losing a game, it doesn't matter if you got one excuse for a million and you're losing and you're dead last in the SEC. But as there ever been, can you recall a coach in the SEC that's, that turned it around when what they have to point to is, well, recruiting's doing really well. I mean, that's what I hear every damn time one of these coaches, uh, can't get the job done. I mean, Bush Jones, coach Oh, uh, Jimbo. I mean, all these guys, when that's what, when that's what you got to point to recruiting. I mean, the writing's on the wall. I mean, is there, are there any examples? Mike, I'm not thinking of any. Um, I kind of just ran through the recent history of SEC teams and coaches in my mind and I'm struggling to find one. And it was a lot easier back in the day because you got a guy they literally couldn't transfer, unless they had to sit down or anything like that. Now your entire roster could leave. And people are not going to give you four or five years to get your guys in there. This, you're supposed to be better year two or worse. So again, I don't know. Good luck. Good luck is what I got to say on that. You know, it also, it's something that I like to think about a lot when it comes to new coaches is you're selling your hope, you're selling your optimism. Um, and then at some point that hope and optimism just becomes five and seven and all that sort of fades away. Like what you're selling isn't translating on field, which hurts your recruiting. I mean, kind of see Florida state right now. Um, you know, a team that's the losses are stacking up and we'll see where the recruiting class ends up. So I think six and six sort of salvages this season, seven to five, you'd be ecstatic. I think at this point, but I think it's, it's going to be a stretch to get there. Hey, one more from cousin Phil. Really appreciate you. He's dropping a whole paycheck here to watch the show. He gave us 50 bucks. All right, guys, last one for the day. I better get back to work so I can afford to watch the show tomorrow. Really appreciate you guys. This is the top SEC on YouTube. See you all tomorrow. Go Vols and cheers. Appreciate you cousin Phil. Appreciate you Phil. It's all about, it's all, it's all Shane and Mike. It's not anything to do with me, but I was about to say that's probably cousin Shane. That's his alter ego there. That's all the money that he's winning on my book. Your price picks are fixed right now. All right, who else on the panic meter here, Steven? Mike, I'm going to grade South Carolina at a six this week. I think just the, the opportunity for South Carolina on Saturday, coming off and off week, you had two weeks to prepare. And we also saw that this South Carolina team pushed LSU to the brink a few weeks ago. And they were just flat out dominated on Saturday. Offensive line issues showed up again. I didn't love the fake punt call early by Shane Beamer too. I thought you punted at that point, play some defense and get that pass rush back out there. So I just think it's a pretty disappointing performance if you're South Carolina because you had some optimism coming off of the first two SEC games to have a 24 point loss to Ole Miss after they lost to Kentucky was pretty surprising. It's not necessarily that they lost, I guess. It's sort of how they played if that makes sense. Yeah, no, that makes perfect sense. And now you're getting an angry Alabama too on the road. I mean, it's a less than ideal situation, but some head scratching moments here. Like you said, the fake punt, which again, that's being revolved. So maybe we go a little bit easy because we shouldn't criticize someone that is aggressive like that. And when it works, he's a genius when it, when it doesn't, it looks like a fool, but just doing it right out the gate. I don't know. It just, it made no sense. And then bringing in Robbie Ashford and then he fumbles right away. And they're using them as a runner. I mean, I, I don't know. I mean, it's so weird. You can't call it a change of pace when they're, they're essentially that the skill sets of the two quarterbacks is so similar. So that and I know they got a lot of young guys, they got a lot of promising talent, but the foolishness displayed by that, that concerns me more than anything, the foolishness, the lack of offensive identity. I mean, one week it's there, one week it's not. And maybe that is because guys are banged up and they're not very deep right now, but I throw up this, uh, South Carolina schedule one more time. And again, I'm not saying they can't beat any of these teams, Steven, that Alabama at Oklahoma, Texas, saying I'm at home, but there'll be underdogs and all of them. Heck, they may be underdog at Vanderbilt, Vanderbilt keeps improving. And that's before Missouri in Clemson. So again, we can win a couple of these games, but I think realistically our record is going to get worse. And it's, it's not going to be indicative of how good of it. I mean, I, I think South Carolina is a borderline top 25 team yet they're likely going to be, I don't know, foreign, you know, I mean, they can get to a bowl game, but it, but it's going to take some upsets. Is that, is that fair? I think that's fair. I was, like I said, I was kind of expecting a little bit better fight out of this team. And maybe Ole Miss, maybe, you know, we talked about the chaos from week to week, maybe Ole Miss just had a bad day against Kentucky. And this is sort of the Ole Miss that we're going to see going forward. But to your point, Mike, I mean, at Tuscaloosa, going to Norman, getting A&M, then all of a sudden the Vanderbilt game looks a lot harder. This schedule, I think six and six, you know, you and I talked kind of last week that six and six, seven and five would be a good season for them. And I still think they can get there. But I just kind of thought coming off the off week and to, you know, some of the growth by Lenore Sellers, and certainly he's been injured. They've got a lot of young guys to your point, but I expected a much sharper and much more of a closer game, especially given the fact they almost beat LSU a few weeks ago. Yeah. And I think that's what I was trying to say, Steve, well, my ramblings again. If the losses pile up, I mean, it's, it's going to be tough, I think, to remain competitive, to have that edge. That's what South Carolina needs. That's what they had earlier in the season. They were doubted against Kentucky, they were doubted against LSU, which I think they won that game. But again, so, so maybe me doubting them. Maybe that'll fuel them. But I think they're going to be doubted quite a bit here on out just because, again, I think they're borderline top 25 team, but they're, they're just missing some aspects that make some of these other teams a little bit more complete than them, if that makes sense. The schedule for South Carolina was really hard coming into this year. It looks even harder now, for sure. But you know, the other thing I think with South Carolina is that there is an opportunity, especially in the month of November, which Shane Beamer has excelled in, to pick up a couple wins. And certainly, if you get Lenore Sellers growing into the role, you get some of these players that have been in and out of the lineup, you get healthy. You could maybe see this team starting to come on a run, but that schedule does them no favors by any means. Hey, Steven, don't be too hard on yourself. According to Paul, it's all Steven and cousin Shane. Nobody wants to hear Mike be soft and cry. I mean, I don't think I've been caught a lot of things soft. I don't know about it. But give us Steven and cousin Shane only. So what day is that coming? I mean, I will watch it. And I guess is that like an SEC after dark and at some point, it's cousin Shane and Steven doing it. Yeah. All right. Any more? I think you got one more right on your panic meter. I do. Let's have a little fun, right? Florida. Oh, six, Billy Napier one. He started. And now you're playing Tennessee, who you own. Yeah. This is, I do think, I know we'll talk a little bit about this game, but it does feel like if you're Billy Napier, if you're going to save your job, like these next two weeks are really important. By the way, I would, I would just say this. I loved the fight by Billy Napier to get a penalty in that game against UCF. I know it's a small thing, but sometimes when you're back against is against the wall and you're fighting for your job, show some fight. And that's what he did on Saturday. So kudos for picking up a penalty. If we talk about questionable decisions by players this week in here, I am praising Billy Napier for picking up a penalty. Man. Now, but what is the level of concern? If they do the unthinkable, I don't even know if Florida fans are expect. Well, quite frankly, I think they are expecting win because they're playing Tennessee. But if, if let's say, let's say they get on a run here, Stephen, if they beat Tennessee, we're sitting here, we're three and four and two, excuse me. I mean, heck, what are the odds? Again, they're, they're a massive underdog. We're about to preview this game. But if Florida beats Tennessee, what are the odds Billy Napier's back? If Florida beats Tennessee, do you think they beat Kentucky to? No, because they can't beat Kentucky, but they own Tennessee. That's the problem, I think, with the schedule is it's not very favorable. You know, Ole Miss, LSU, Texas, Georgia, and Tennessee are all playoff contenders. And like you said, the series against Kentucky and also Florida State at the end of the year. And I think obviously Florida State's going to be fighting trouble eligibility, but there's no breaks in there. And I think even if they win this week, they could lose all the rest of the games. I do think I have there's been some chatter about like the coaching changes market. It's been really slow this year. And I do think there is some of the transfer because the cutoff for the rosters, the four games. You also had the extended playoff, maybe teams are just being slower decision-making because, you know, it doesn't have to happen right now. I still think that he's going to need to get to six and six to save his job. So absent what happens is against Tennessee, they got to find a couple more wins the rest of the way. And I think it's fair to say that even if Florida fans, you know, they start to rally, I mean, based on what I heard, what I saw, they seem very impressed by beating Central Florida, which I think is a joke that people thought that may even be competitive. But his problem is, you know, he could turn around and he beats the Tennessee and then he gets just bamboozled by Kentucky. Like we can't, we can't have his, it's one thing if you're pew freezing it and it's coming down to the wire and you're blowing it. You know, that, again, that's not good either. But it's different than getting completely embarrassed, nationally televised, like, like they have so many times under Billy Napier, you know what? Mike, I was going to pull the back in our day, you know, for Florida and Kentucky. I mean, you remember them at these games. They were on JP sports. They weren't closed. It wasn't, you know, it was just assumed that Florida was just going to blow out Kentucky and that's it, right? And the fact that it's sitting here and it's been this, the kind of series it's been, I think is also kind of speaking to how far Billy Napier has to go. Now, if you're Florida and you all of a sudden get on a roll, maybe you get behind Billy Napier. But at this point, I think I think it's probably inevitable of what happens at the end of the year. Right. And man, I just, again, better vault syndrome, Stephen, I just can't get over this game that we're about to preview here. But before we get to that, Stephen, I got to wrote, let the folks know a special sponsor this week, Mando, Mando control body odor anywhere, you've got it. If you're Billy Napier, he needs it all over him because he, because their body odor is out of control down there with shop, Mando dot com as S H O P M A N D O dot com and the promo code S C C, you get your five bucks off a starter pack. Stephen, they sent cousin Shane and I, some of this stuff. I love it. My girlfriend loves it is body wash, bars of soap. It's deodorant sticks and it's this little gel stuff. There's no sweat here, Stephen, because it's all thanks to Mando. So head on over to Mando Mando starter kit. Again, it comes with a solid stick of deodorant, cream tube deodorant, two free products of your choice and free shipping over at Mando shop, Mando dot com promo code S C get your $5 off, which is 40% off the entire package. That's a cheap package. Stephen, you can't beat it. Man, I actually wrote that promo code down and had to, I'm going to check that out later. That's a heck of a deal. I know it. Well, Stephen, let's get into it. We got a, we're, we're nearly an hour deep here. We even got to the previews yet, but there's so many good games. So I got some preview graphics here. Let's go with this, this big one. I'm massive one. Stephen cannot wait for Oklahoma Texas. First time as S E C rivals here. They've always been rivals, but not S E C rivals to now thoughts on this one. And Texas is favored by 14 points, but in any shot, all I keep hearing, all I see, Stephen, the favorite doesn't matter. Throw the records out, throw the stats out. This is a wild and unpredictable rivalry. I would have to agree with that. So if I'm Texas, I would be super careful, I guess maybe I would be careful not to be overconfident, if that makes sense. Also, keep in mind Texas gets Georgia next week. So the timing of this game is really interesting, but I'll, I just think the rivalry here brings out the best in both teams, should be plenty of motivation for Texas, given what happened at the end of last year's game, you know, with Oklahoma stealing that one. So I think there's a lot of intrigue for me in sort of the injury report for both teams, because Oklahoma's got so many guys beat up at receiver, you got viewers and Manning. I'm pretty confident viewers will be starting this week for Texas. But I think seeing who Oklahoma has available, plus what did Oklahoma manage to do off of the off week to give them a chance on Saturday? Like Michael Hawkins did some good things against Auburn. We saw what their defense did in that game too. So I am going to be curious to see what they were able to build around him offensively. I still think it's going to be difficult to consistently maintain some drives, but they're going to need some, and so they're going to need some breaks, basically is kind of what I'm getting at here. But Texas is on paper, the better team, but the rivalry angle, I think will bring out the best in Oklahoma, the off week, and of course, that Oklahoma defense as well. I think they will have some things in store for Texas. Obviously, I think Texas is favored for a reason, but rivalries, as we know, bring out the best in the underdog. Any concern that by all indication, Quinn Ewers, before he got injured, the Heisman, I don't know, front runner, he was my front runner, but a great player, phenomenal player, no doubt, not questioning him. But any concern of a rust factor for Quinn Ewers in this game? I think that's fair, especially since you're playing a pretty good defense in Oklahoma. We also have seen, Texas doesn't show too many flaws this year. They've lost some turnovers at times. The offenses that they faced haven't been super great this year, including that road game at Michigan. Not a ton of concerns here, but I think your fear for Texas would be, let's just say Ewers comes out slow, you throw an interception, maybe it's a return for a touchdown, or Oklahoma has a short field. They get off to a good start. All of a sudden, those ingredients for an upset start to add up. So I think there could be a little bit of rustiness there for youers. And is it fair? You know, maybe not everything's not apples to apples to apples, Stephen, but again, Ole Miss, Cruz, light schedule that were killing everybody, their fans said, Oh, it's just haters. We got to, and then, and then they'll play Kentucky. They were ill prepared. Tennessee, same thing, killing people, competition ramps up, can argue ill prepared. Any shot that Texas is ill prepared. If it's not Oklahoma, but maybe, you know, looking at two weeks to Georgia, are they prepared for these tests? I think they are. And I think there's two things here that stand out to me. Number one, even it was, even though it was arched manning, it was Mississippi State kind of coming into Austin and like Texas was a huge favorite and they kind of punched him early. And then Texas rallied and kind of put him away. It was the style of game was completely different. And I think most of us were expecting. But after that, you know, of course, you go, you go back to a couple of weeks to that Michigan game going on the road in a hostile environment against a good defense. They've played, I know Michigan's lost, you know, a couple games now and they've fallen down the top 25 rankings, but still a good win in Ann Arbor against a good defense and also against Mississippi State. A little bit of a slow start, like the way they rebounded. So I think they have been a little bit battle tested. Obviously, Oklahoma is a little bit different of a challenge because of the rivalry and everything else associated with this game. Because I could imagine that Oklahoma breaks out a lot of the same stuff we saw Mississippi State do with a significantly more talented roster and tries to mimic that game plan to find success. Do you think that's fair? Yes, I do. And that's where I think this game, if I was trying to come up with a perfect recipe for Oklahoma, it would be sort of a low possession, slow pace kind of game, staying out of third and long, also forcing some turnovers. Oklahoma is at the top of the SEC and forced turnovers. Texas has had, especially it's running backs at times, had some trouble with Fumbles. So I think that's kind of the formula is a lower possession game, lower scoring. And also if your Oklahoma break out the bag of tricks, like what do you got to lose here? You know, it's like a receiver pass. Maybe it's something on special teams. A few of those things are going to need to go right for Oklahoma, but they've got to win the styles fight in order to win this game. And I realize again, Texas is a big two touchdown favorite here, but would Oklahoma beating them? Would that even register as a top five upset so far in the SEC? That's a good question. So it wouldn't be as big as Alabama Vanderbilt, for sure. Arkansas beating Tennessee. Yeah. Arkansas, Tennessee. I would say it's, it's got to be a top five, I would think, I mean, just because Texas be one and the way that Oklahoma comes into this game, I think that's fair. And South Carolina thrashing Kentucky. That was a, that was a nice upset, but Kentucky Ole Miss too. Right. Right. So I'm just, I'm just throwing it out there, Steven. I'm just, I'm not bowing down to them longboards. I don't care what those dads say. All right. How about, man, what a game here, Steven. Ole Miss at LSU, number nine Ole Miss, number 13 LSU. Ole Miss favored by two and a half, have not won in Tiger Stadium since I believe 2008. It's been a while, but I also think that in this portal era, that means little to nothing because I would say the vast majority Ole Miss roster wasn't even on the roster last time they went to LSU. What's your thoughts on this matchup? Mike, the first thing that jumps out to me is the timing of this game. It is Ole Miss's seventh game of the season. And they have played some physical affairs the last couple of weeks. Of course, with Kentucky, South Carolina, and now asking them to go on the road and play LSU in Death Valley. It's a really difficult stretch for this team, but it's also important, you know, for the playoff picture here. Two teams fighting for their playoff lives. So if LSU wins this one to sort of change the narrative after that USC loss, they're very much in it. I think there's two things in this game that I've got my eye on on the field. And number one, it is a fantastic quarterback matchup. Jackson Dart, Garrett Nussmeyer, I cannot wait for Saturday night to watch these two for four quarters trade punches. Last year's game was unbelievable with Jackson Dart and Jayden Daniels. This one's going to be just as entertaining, but also the line of scrimmage is going to be fun to watch because you have an Ole Miss defensive front that I think is lived up to the hype. And we saw this on Saturday with the way they were getting pressure on Lenoir Sellers. Are they going to be able to do that against Garrett Nussmeyer and Will Campbell and Emery Jones? On the flip side, I think you could argue it's probably a little bit of a weakness on Ole Miss offensive line and LSU defensive front. So it's almost like which team is going to be able to win that strength versus strength and the weakness versus weakness? Is Ole Miss going to be able to protect for Jackson Dart? Because if they can, I think we've seen this LSU defense will give up some big plays, they'll give up some yards. And of course, there are some key injuries here for Ole Miss that are worth monitoring the rest of the week, which might dictate where this game goes. Yeah, this might sound like a crazy question, Stephen, but which side of the ball do you think is better for Ole Miss? Is it the offense or is it the defense? The fact that I had to think about that one is like kind of telling for Ole Miss, isn't it? Right. I would still go with the offense. I love the way the defense is playing though. And we saw in the Kentucky game, they gave up some rushing yards, but it was also like the penalties to it key times, especially in the secondary. So there are some things on that side of the ball they have to clean up. Now, if they dominate on Saturday night, maybe it's a different conversation next week. But I guess until proven otherwise, you have to go with Lane Kiffin and Jackson Dart, right? But it would be if I asked you the same thing about LSU in a nano second, you'd say the offense. So clearly, Ole Miss has the edge in a more complete team, right? I think so. I think on paper, they do. Of course, the road environment, the injuries, an extra week to prepare is huge for LSU. So LSU has the advantages sort of the outside factors, the X factors, if you will. But I think Ole Miss is probably more complete at this point of the season. And I would also give the LSU an edge in motivation. They've made it clear. This was part of the reason they blew up their defensive staff because of what happened last year. And go back to the playoff projections. I have to imagine if LSU wins this game, they skyrocket from the bubble to into the playoff field. Would you agree with that? Yes, I do. I think if LSU wins on Saturday, they will definitely move into the playoff field. So this is definitely one of those prove it type games for LSU. But now, I mean, this is going to be a wild one. Ole Miss cannot afford to lose it unless they're going to turn around and beat Georgia, which, again, we have seen Georgia struggle. I don't think Georgia is nearly as dominant as we perceive them to be in the preseason, but still got a favorite Georgia in that one. Mike, is it true that maybe there's just not a dominant team in the SEC this year? And I don't mean that necessarily in a bad way. What I mean is there could be just four or five top tier teams, but nobody like on Alabama's level like we've seen in the past or something. Does that make sense? Well, not if you look at these comments, Stephen, and these damn Texas people think they'll never lose a game in the history of football. But no, I think that's completely fair. And I've certainly Texas in that top you're saying, yes, three, four, five teams, whatever. But yeah, I don't think there is now that the numbers will suggest Texas is far and away, but the numbers suggested Tennessee was far and away till they started playing the SEC teams that are not in a Mississippi state. So, yeah, I think what the flaws we have seen in Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Ole Miss, we will see those flaws from Texas in the weeks to come. And it doesn't mean they're going to lose a bunch of games, but none of these teams are going undefeated. I think that's kind of where I am with this is that it's not like an anti-Texas thing. It's just that there are so many good teams in this league. It's going to be really hard to go undefeated. It would not shock me at all if Georgia beat Texas and everybody ends up with one loss at the end of the year. So, it's just hard to go undefeated in college football. Either you have a total clunker like Tennessee and Alabama did or you lose to one of the better teams on the slate. So, I would be stunned if somebody ran through the SEC undefeated this year. All right. How about this one, Stephen? They're on the edge of their seat on all rocky tops, Stephen, because Florida's coming to town. It's always a day of train wreck, nightmare, whatever you want to call it, but Florida's not even ranked. It doesn't matter. They might as well be number one for Tennessee who's number eight. Tennessee's number eight. 15 and a half points favorite early read on this one, Stephen. Mike, I think the biggest thing that jumps out to me is does the rivalry bring out the best in Florida in a series that they have traditionally done pretty well in and a spot where they could turn their season around. And I think if you're Tennessee, you could also look at this as an opportunity to sort of change the narrative too after what happened last week. So, I think there should be plenty of motivation for Tennessee to play better based upon last week, but also last season and also the series history. So, I think the kind of storylines for this game outside of what happens on the field is pretty intriguing. I think one of the matchups that I've got my eye on is Florida's offensive line against Tennessee's defensive front. Because I think if Grand Mertz gets protection, I think there are plays to be made against this Tennessee secondary. And if Eugene Wilson's back in the lineup, we saw it last week against UCF, Hawkins, DK, Badger. Florida's got some weapons that can test you, but they also have to be able to protect. So, I think the battle up front is going to be crucial here for Florida. And also, do you believe Florida's defense actually took a step forward? Because they played pretty well on Saturday night against UCF, holding them to what was at 4.4 yards per play. But that's sort of the outlier this season. We need to see it in SEC play, I think, to believe it. And I think this game may be simplistic to say, but I think it's paramount that Florida comes out and gets off to a hot start. Because otherwise, I think it'll be an avalanche and the crowd will get to them. But it's equally, it's more important, I think, that you just put that fear in Tennessee. Oh boy, here we go again. It's in Florida again. It doesn't matter if Tennessee, this is probably the largest margin Tennessee's been favored. I mean, it could be wrong, but 15 and a half over Florida. I can't recall it ever being like that. So, I don't know. I think if Tennessee gets up early, they should cruise. But if Florida gets up, and I know Florida fans hate Jim Mcawade, but I remember one of those games, he came out and just fired up off instantly and they got a big one. I think they ended up losing that game even. But there's one of the very few they lost in this series. But anytime Florida has a lead, it's just, it's doom and gloom. And then 100,000 people are going to feel it if Florida scores first in this game. Yeah, I think that's a good point, Mike. I think if you're Florida score fast, score early, take the crowd out of the game. You also build some confidence. You also let's endow into Tennessee coming off last week's loss. Kind of where are they? I think if you're Tennessee, if you avalanche Florida early, you're talking about the crowds into it. There's 100,000. It takes the belief away from Florida. And also too, I think that home crowd with Tennessee's defense and trying to maybe get some false starts and penalties, that could be a huge advantage here for Tennessee. So I missed kind of the days when Florida and Tennessee were sort of like top 10 showdowns. And you remember, Mike, the SECE sort of came down to that game. So anytime these two teams play that kind of rivalry, it brings back a lot of like good memories of how the series and some of these matchups have played out. So curious to see how it plays on Saturday. And do you think, again, I got Florida's schedule up here, Stephen, they've won two in a row over Mississippi State and central Florida. Are they more the team there that won those games? Or are they more the team that got their doors blown off by Miami and A&M? Or is it somewhere in between? I think it's somewhere in between. I think the first kind of thing that would worry me if I'm Florida's defense is. And like I said, do we believe that what happened against UCF can carry over? Or do you believe what happened against Mississippi State, A&M, and Miami, which was this group struggle? And so I think what would worry me is if Florida struggles to stop the run like they have for most of the season, Dylan Sampson gets going, then maybe that takes the pressure off and Nico and you get some big plays, that would be concerning early for me if I'm Florida. But I think they're probably somewhere in between. I don't think they're as bad as 41 17, but I don't know if they're necessarily as dominant as the win over UCF. Also, should note, I don't think UCSF really good. I mean, they barely beat TCU who just got crushed by Houston last week too. They lose. I mean, I only watched for one time. I watched them play for they looked, they looked awful. Yeah, they like I said, they beat TCU by a point who TCU lost to Houston. Houston was considered and Houston smacked him on Friday night. Houston was considered the worst team in the big 12 up into that point. And Colorado beat him too. So yeah, that's what we should all know. They were nothing. All right. How about this one? Stephen, South Carolina at number seven Alabama Alabama is a 21 point favorite, but does the tide rebound or does the bad luck continue here? Mike, I will tip my hand a little bit on the predictions here for this week. I do like Alabama to rebound. I think there's got to be an era kind of a desperation here for both themes. Certainly for Alabama, coming off the loss to Vanderbilt, you are facing an offense when under the nora sellers and some of the things they can do. Maybe if you're not physical enough, if you're not stopping the run, if the execution and all that stuff against the option isn't working again, think South Carolina could have some success moving the ball. But I think at home, there's got to be that urgency to rebound if you're Alabama. So I think that favors the Crimson tide on Saturday for sure. Are there any matchups though that that tend to favor South Carolina in your mind in this game? I think the biggest one is I mean, there's two things if I was South Carolina that I'd be looking at. The first one would be what about the Alabama offensive line? I mean, getting you know, Caden Proctor back has been significant. But Jay the Miller got crushed on that one hit that caused the fumble. The right side of the offensive line has been problematic at times. I think that's fair to say for Alabama. So what about Kyle Canard? What about Dylan Stewart? Like somebody creating a turnover off the pass rush. And then the other one is and probably the biggest leap for South Carolina is going to be that passing game because there are opportunities to take shots down the field and that requires quarterback and receiver being able to kind of hit on those connections. So those are the two areas. I think if you're South Carolina, you can attack. I don't know. There's necessarily one that really favors them in this game though. Yeah. Yeah, I'm a little I'm a little concerned with this one as well. Speaking of being concerned though, Mr. P state at Georgia number five, Georgia 32 point favorite over them other dogs. Early read on this one, Stephen. I think the timing of this game is interesting for both teams. First of all, if you're Mississippi State, Texas and then off week Georgia, that is probably the most brutal two game stretch in recently this season for Mississippi State. So brutal, brutal stretch on a team that is just trying to find itself and with all the new pieces. So I will be curious to see how Mississippi State looks coming off the off week. At this point, you're kind of searching for guys who you can build around for next year. So Michael Van Buren, do you see some growth there? Do you see some growth defensively? For Georgia, you saw what Mississippi State did early on against Texas. So don't take them too lightly because you have Texas next week. So I think if you're Georgia, just avoiding the let down, getting off to a fast start, taking the underdog out of the game. And I think they should be able to probably win this game pretty easily. But I think if you're Georgia, there are some things you've got to fine tune before you play at Texas. The tackling could be a little sharper. Offensively, they need to start a little faster. They still score a touchdown against Auburn early, but you still got to start a little faster to be able to beat Texas in two weeks. So some things to work on, but the match that really favors Georgia. Yeah, it'll be interesting to see what, if any new wrinkles that Jeff Levy and company have after two weeks to prepare you, you got to believe this was like a kitchen sink type game where they just throw it all out. But again, you don't want to overwhelm a young quarterback on the road either. But that's what it's going to take. It's going to take a lot of things that Georgia is ill-prepared for. And again, knowing Georgia and Kirby, they're not going to be ill-prepared for much. But maybe you can catch them looking at it to Texas. That's like the only way I can kind of spin it. That's what I think if you're Mississippi State and you're sort of pinning your upset hopes, it's that you're coming off and off week, Georgia's played Alabama, they've played Auburn, and they're looking ahead to Texas. So it's maybe you can throw some new stuff at them, you can catch them sleeping, like maybe with Texas coming up. And there's your opportunity there. It's just that those things I think could work a little bit, but asking them to do it on the field when this bad is their defense has been a quarterback making a second start. That's a really heavy lift, I think, for Jeff Levy's team. Now, how about this one, Steven? All of a sudden, this is a great game here. Vanderbilt at Kentucky. Kentucky still though, a 14 points favor. That's stunned me after seeing what Vanderbilt did to Alabama. But again, Kentucky's got a fantastic defense. They've had two weeks to prepare and roundabout way, Vanderbilt beating Alabama. That may be exactly what Mark Stoops wanted because he'll have his team completely focused and, heck, they better because last time they met Lexington, Vanderbilt won. What's your early read on this one? That's exactly right, Mike. I think that the Vanderbilt's win of Alabama probably caught the attention of Kentucky Mark Stoops and all of its players. If you were going to sleepwalk against Vanderbilt, they can beat you. The timing of the game, of course, is a really favorite Vanderbilt. We saw Alabama have a lead down after beating Georgia. Does Vanderbilt have a lead down after beating Alabama? So I think I'll be curious to see how Clark Lee's team just looks from the jump. The one factor that makes me think that they won't have a lead down is Diego Pavia because I think we saw this Saturday. That man is on a mission to get Vanderbilt to a bowl game this year. It is going to be a fantastic matchup between Pavia and Dion Walker and that Kentucky defense. I can't wait to see how it unfolds on Saturday. But I think Vanderbilt now has Kentucky's full attention and it's bad news for the Command Wars, I think. Yeah, but what if we get some magic from our main Pavia? Come on. Can I still not sold on Kentucky's offense? Of course, they found ways. Let's give them credit. They made the plays when they were there. Maybe it's more. It's better to ask it this way, Steve. Mark Stoops got aggressive. He called the shot, blamed Kiffin after the game, said, my goodness, he's never done that. Well, we see a more aggressive Mark Stoops, or will we go back to conservative? Because, you know, if if Pavia and everybody is doing, you know, their thing, Kentucky may need to have to be a little bit more aggressive to out score them. You know, does that make sense? Yeah, it does. I think they're probably going to go back to being more cautious. I mean, just because that's sort of the track record, right? Of playing it pretty cautious. And that was, you know, it's only Kiffin's point. It was a little bit out of character for Mark Stoops. But yeah, I think Kentucky, there are some things offensively that I would like to see, like Brock Vandegriff in his growth here. But I think also think this matchup, just based upon like how Vanderbilt's probably going to play it, how Kentucky could play it, it's probably going to be a lower scoring game. But I do think Kentucky's defensive line has a chance here. And especially having two weeks to get ready for Pavia in this offense, they should Kentucky's defense should have a maybe a little bit of a leg up on what they're trying to do, especially after watching them torch Alabama last week. And then final one here, Stephen, I don't even have a graphic because I don't respect UMass. Come on, Stephen. Number 21 Missouri, 27 and a half point favorite at UMass. Thoughts on this matchup? So first of all, when I saw the schedules this offseason putting together our Athlon sports magazine, I had to like check, I was like, wait a minute, they played at UMass. So it's a little bit of a weird road trip. UMass is probably one of the bottom 20 teams in the country this year. They're off to a one and five star. Their only win is over Central Connecticut State. They're struggling offensively averaging about 20 points a game. They're giving up about 31. Their head coach is Don Brown. You may remember that name from being a coordinator. He's got a nickname of Dr. Blitz. He loves to blitz. He has all these exotic blitz packages. He's a pretty good defensive coach. But UMass is a really hard job. I would assume Missouri takes care of business here just because, like I said, UMass is one of the probably worst 20 teams in the country. They're off to a slow start. Both sides of the ball are struggling this year. If Missouri, if this one is close, that's a problem for Missouri. That's exactly what I was going to say, Stephen. This, this has got to be a get right game. And heck, even if you win by 30, 40, 50 points, I don't know that anyone's really going to respect it because that's the expectation. You know, so got to pick yourself up off the mat. And again, there's, there's nothing you can really do in this matchup that is going to prove your doubters wrong, but got to, got to, got to do something here. This, it, you know, it's going to be telling because they may not, they may know show. I mean, I certainly hope they don't, but if they know show this one, that, that will just go to show that the season's dead, dead, you know? Absolutely. I mean, I guess maybe if you're a Missouri fan and you're looking to compare UMass and Buffalo this season, Missouri beat Buffalo 38 to nothing, I think Buffalo is better than UMass. So they should win this game pretty comfortably. If they don't, that is a huge alarm bell going off for this team going forward. They have obviously played close games against BC and Vanderbilt. So if your offense isn't hitting big plays, maybe you're just more, but there's no reason this game should be close in the fourth quarter. I do worry a little bit about sort of like the, not necessarily a letdown, but more of it's a smaller stadium. What's the environment going to be like? They're going on the road to sort of a unique trip and coming off the loss. Like where is this Missouri team? So I do worry a little bit about a sleepy start up at UMass just on paper. They should win this game and take out some frustration at the same time. And last thing I wanted to ask you, Stephen, I threw this up earlier during the show, but the updated week seven SEC standings, and it's just fascinating to me because we have 16 teams for the first time ever and we have no divisions for the first time ever. Well, not first time ever, but first time in a long while. And we've got, we've got three undefeated. Texas is first for three and O LSU and Texas tied for second at one and O. And then just a jumbled mess all the way through it. And again, I get it. We're not even halfway through the season, but how wild is it to look at these standings, Stephen, and try to fit all the pieces together? Oh, yeah. It's also funny to just to look at this point of the season and see you have to look halfway down the list to find Alabama. I mean, I just would my eyes would normally go to the top and expect to see Alabama. It's just kind of a weird season. The 16 team SEC is going to be so fascinating at the end of the year because you're going to have a lot of teams, I think clustered at three and five, four and four. I mean, heck, even Texas A&M LSU, Texas, the fact that those teams are going to be playing for the most part each other the rest of the way. It's hard, like I said, it is hard to see somebody going undefeated in SEC play this year. I just think there's too many good teams. If you have a bad day, you can easily lose at an Arkansas, Mike, you and I talked about that in the preseason. Somebody was going to get a loss at Fayetteville this year. Looks like it's going to be Tennessee. So a long way to go, but man, those standings are going to be pretty jumbled coming November. Yeah, no doubt, but it's going to be a wild, fun ride till we get there. So we appreciate you, Steven, breaking this all down, giving us your updated panic meter and your playoff projections. Any thoughts before we close this one? Mike, I think you kind of said it there. There's a long way to go. We've got a wild ride in the first half or about to hit the second half of the season after next week. Just think about all the awesome matchups to come. Georgia, Texas, Alabama, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M. So we've had a lot of stuff go on in the first half. I can't wait to get to the second half. And of course, there's a ton of great matchups ahead this weekend too. So another exciting week coming in the SEC. All right. Well, before you go, Steven, as always, please remind the cousins, how can they follow you? How can they find your work? You can check out my work over at afflonsports.com. You can follow me on Twitter at afflonsven and Steven L CFB over on Facebook and Instagram. All right, Steven. Well, we appreciate you. We appreciate each and every one of you for hanging out. We'll catch you on the next one. Hey, buddy. This beers for you, Mike and cousin Shane. That SEC podcast loves the pirate and the pirate loves that SEC podcast. Hail State. [BLANK_AUDIO]
