[MUSIC PLAYING] Welcome in the latest episode of that SEC podcast. I'm your host Michael Bratton. I go by SEC Mike on Twitter. And it's a Steven Lassen Monday senior editor over at Atholawn Sports. How's it going, Steven? Mike, it's going great. Another fantastic weekend of SEC ball. We had four games decided by one score. The thriller in Tuscaloosa. We also had Red River, some fantastic night games. So, man, we're almost at the midpoint of the season. I guess it is. And I'm looking forward to what's to come. Because if these weekends, these chaotic weekends, just keep stacking, I might need to have a cardio just like on call or something. Yeah, if any indication, Steven, the last two weeks, man, this Saturday is going to be special. Because we've got a total of conference games. And they're nearly all a one score spread. So, perfect time to head out over to my bookie, presenting sponsor of the show, mybookie.ag, the online sports book. And most importantly, don't forget that promo code. If you sign up, that SEC, T-H-A-T-S-E-C, they'll double your initial deposit over at my bookie today. If you put in that promo code, that SEC is the number one way to help us during football season. Take advantage of this offer. And, Steven, we're going to preview each and every game. Upcoming here in the SEC. We're going to have a lot of fun doing that. We've got updated playoff projections from Steven. We've got his updated panic meter. And he said, look, Mike, I think I'm getting too crazy with this panic meter. And I said, I don't think you're getting crazy enough. So, can't wait to see what Steven has in store for that. But we're also going to do, we did a third of the way, a quarter of the way. I can't remember what we called it, Steven. But we did awards. We're going to do that on this episode as well. Because we're essentially at the midway point of the SEC season. But, man, any thoughts on all that? Because we got a lot to cover, buddy. We have a ton to get to, Mike. I was thinking ahead a little bit to this weekend. It was kind of funny seeing the schedule of Alabama, Tennessee, and Georgia, and Texas. And I kind of thought, man, it's almost like, you know, the NFL Championship Sunday. You know, you get the AFC and the NFC at different times. It's like, man, there's these two top 10 show downs that we're going to get this weekend. And what it might mean for the rest of the season. But this, the last couple of weeks of conference play, once it gets started, it has been unbelievable with the close games, the overtime. So, I guess, even though I'm kind of sitting here wondering where the heck did half of the season go, we still have half a season to go still. But we've also got a lot of great matchups. So, man, I'm just, I'm so fired up for the second half of the season and can't wait for Saturday to get here for the big ones, too. - Right. And our MVP here, Steven, how about cousin JR? What a guy? Just gifted another membership. It's time to Josie, welcome to the family. Josie, I think we had another one here too. Appreciate your cousin, Brad. Welcome to the family becoming a member here. So cousin JR, he's my MVP. But, Steven, so let's get into our mid-season SEC Awards here. And, hmm, so many candidates here, Steven. I mean, it seems like it doesn't matter, each and every week during the early times of the season, it's different Heisman Trophy winners. And I don't even know if we're gonna get a Heisman Trophy winner out of the SEC, the way this crazy season is going. But who would you have as your top candidate? This was very difficult for me, Steven. I don't know about you, but who do you think, as of today, maybe not projecting out, you know, we're not saying, you know, in December, this is where things stand. We're saying today, who's the number one Heisman candidate from the SEC in your mind? - Mike, this was pretty difficult, I have to admit. And I honestly don't feel great about somebody at one. It feels like there's a lot of really quality choices. So I kind of defaulted to, so far we've had this one big moment in the season, which was that Alabama Georgia game. And Jalen Milro was so special in that game. He is first in the SEC in quarterback rating. I think he's made progress as a passer under Jalen DeBore, averaging nearly nine yards of play every time he touches it. So I went with Jalen Milro. But honestly, I would be happy to hear an argument for Quinn Ewers, Garrett Nussmeyer, Jackson Dart, and some others in there too. But I went with Jalen Milro slightly over some of these other guys. - Let me tell you why you're wrong, Stephen. 'Cause last I checked, this man beat Jalen Milro, outclassed him, outshined him, and he is just the spark of the SEC. Now, is this gonna keep happening? I don't know, fingers crossed, I hope it does, Stephen. But as of today, we're doing this October 14th. Give me Diego Pavia as crazy as that sounds. I think he has earned it for being a dynamic player, Stephen. He is top 10 in the SEC right now in rushing. He's top 10 in passing, of course, being a quarterback, but he is the engine that is driving Vanderbilt's dynamic offense right now. Diego Pavia, but clearly you hate him. But I thought it's on that. - Yeah, I clearly hated the other guy. He's been trying to tell everybody for two years. This Diego Pavia is a chaos agent, and he's gonna be a good player for Vanderbilt. He's actually, I didn't mention him intentionally because he's coming up in my awards here, but I can't really disagree with that. I mean, everything you said, as far as value production, he's showed up at the biggest moments for Vanderbilt this season. And I love the fact that Vanderbilt, after beating Alabama, went on the road and took care of business against a very good Kentucky defense. So Mike, there is no disagreement from me. I don't know that it's necessarily going to continue. It feels like some of these other quarterbacks and high profile matchups might get into the Heisman consideration. But I think maybe the biggest challenge here for the SEC and the Heisman contender is, like it is a very crowded field. And at some point, somebody's gonna have to emerge when yours being hurt. So this feels very wide open here for me. - Yeah, I'm glad you said that because again, you know, I think Diego Pirate is going to Heisman, probably not, but again, I'm saying as of today, who I would I give it to? And then I want to give a shout out 'cause it is basically as a quarterback award. And for some reason, we diminish running backs unless they're, you know, Derek Henry or something. But shout out Dylan Sampson. You know, he is really driving Tennessee too. He leads the SEC in rushing 699 yards. And he leads the SEC in rushing touchdowns with 15. And he is actually three away from the Tennessee all-time rushing record with half the schedule remaining. So again, is Dylan Sampson going to Heisman? Probably not, but I think he should be on the radar, if nothing else. - Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you mentioned the production and also the touchdowns, which I like to see a high number of scores in the Heisman discussion. But also, you know, if you were discussing this and trying to figure out, okay, Heisman, offensive player of the year, you know, the fact that we've talked about all these quarterbacks and we just mentioned Dylan Sampson. It's almost like all these quarterbacks feel pretty, much the same. And Dylan Sampson's kind of been so good at running back that maybe he'd be a pretty good pick at one. So no disagreement from me. I think either Dylan Sampson or one of those quarterbacks are probably a safe pick for the mid-season Heisman and the SEC. - How about mid-season SEC coach of the year? And really, in my mind, there's probably only two candidates, but I'm kind of curious to hear what you think. I am going with Clark Lee of Vanderbilt from the hot seat by some people to four to mid-season coach of the year. What a, just a turnaround for Clark Lee and this team. But also, I think, give him a lot of credit for the off-season building of this program. Realizing that zero ego is needed, go out and get the best coach as you can. Hire Jerry Kill, someone who's been a head coach before. You bring in Tim Beck as offensive coordinator. He's pushed the right buttons this off season. And as a result, this is not the same old Vanderbilt anymore. They are a very difficult out week to week. I mean, they barely lost to Missouri. They beat Alabama. Very curious loss to Georgia State on there, but you started looking at their schedule and there are some hard games, but if they can beat Alabama, they go on the road against Kentucky. They've got a chance to rack up some wins here. So I just think give Clark Lee a ton of credit for how far Vanderbilt has come this year, the win over Alabama. He's my mid-season coach of the year. Yeah, you won't get any disagreements. He's certainly one A to one B, but I was going to give it to Mike Yoko. See, because I think the A&M's getting better and better each week. They look like one of the better teams in the SEC, if not the country in their last performance against Missouri. So we'll see if they can keep rolling, if they keep getting better and better, which I think they certainly have the roster and the pieces to do that. But I thought I had their schedule here, but maybe I don't. If you were to tell me, Steven, that A&M was going to be what, five and one after their first six, I think, first of all, I don't think most SEC fans would have believed you. And I think most A&F fans would have taken that and they're in prime position to make a big playoff run. I think most A&M fans probably would have said you were crazy after the Notre Dame games and think it could be if I have won, but also I think that to kind of think about the award, the hallmark of a good coach is trying to figure out how to get better from off season to the season, but also in season two. And it feels like A&M every week continues to find its identity and continues to build on last week's performance. They just seem to be getting a little bit better every week. We've seen this in the offensive line, the run game, Connor Wigman coming back defensively. I mean, they've been, the defensive line, I think continues to find itself over the course of the season. So I think Mike Elko proving in season and his off season work together has this A&M team well positioned for a run at the college football playoff this year. - And extra credit for a defensive guy. It's not like he's Sarkeesian or Hypel or Kiffin or something like that, but I think he's managed his quarterbacks extremely well. And again, I think that's even more impressive considering he's a defensive minded coach, but it speaks to just his overall like CEO type qualities if that makes sense. - Yeah, I think he has a really good pulse on his team, it seems like. And also I think I would give, I gave Steve Sarkeesian a little bit of consideration here. Sometimes it's hard because Clark Lee and Mike Elko have done such a great job this year, but sometimes in these seasons where we have this team that's projected to be good, they haven't lived up to the hype. Well, Texas has lived up to the hype too. So I did give Sarkeesian consideration, but he was third on my list behind Elko and Clark Lee. - All right, how about worst coach of the year? I love to hand out these honors that no one else was given out, but they should. Who's the worst coach in the SEC this year? - So I know where Mike's going, so I'm gonna let him have that one. I'm gonna take the other side of this one, 'cause there were two coaches that stood out to me. And I took Billy Napier of Florida. Obviously the schedule was very difficult coming into this year, but we heard all off season, this was going to be Florida's best team, it was his best roster, and they were completely embarrassed in two home games to start the season. Miami and Texas A&M, granted they played a lot better at Tennessee on Saturday than I probably would have guessed, but at the same time, at this point of Billy Napier's tenure at Florida, you would have expected this program to take a bigger step by now. And also, going back to Saturday's game, fourth down play calling, just I'm sorry to be blunt, was stupid. And also the continued errors that we see on special teams to cost you points. So a game that Florida controlled early on and frankly could have won, some questionable coaching decisions cost them. So the combination of some preseason sort of projections and also in-season stuff, give me Billy Napier. - I think that's the most heated I've heard you since discussed at Marcus Centerfield back in the day, at Old South Carolina, but I don't disagree with the words you just said, but I do disagree, worst coach of the year. Come on, come on down. Hugh Freeze, everybody's favorite here. Oh my goodness, loss after loss after loss. And I don't know if you saw this Steven, I missed it till just recently 'cause Machine put it on my radar. But apparently he's come out and said, Missouri, Kentucky and Vanderbilt all got lesser rosters, essentially then Auburn. So hey, they got lesser rosters. You ought to be them, right? You better go on a three game winning streak after comment like that. So congratulations, Hugh Freeze, made a deal with the devil down there. Now they're having to pay for it, but he's recruiting nine out of nine. He'd win all these games, but one out of one, he's losing most of them. So Hugh Freeze, not even a discussion for me. - I can't disagree with the words you said there about Hugh Freeze. I knew you were going there. So if you could, I'll just clear the deck. I will let Mike slam this one home and I'll just take Billy Napier in Florida. I did also find it humorous this week that Hugh Freeze was talking about Jark was Hunter and the need to get him the ball more. Well, maybe you should go talk to the offensive coordinator or the guy that calls the plays at Auburn. But I think just in general there's, we came into the season looking at Auburn's schedule and the offseason upgrades with the roster. And there was opportunities there with Arkansas coming in and Oklahoma and Cow to get off to a fast start. And I think looking at their schedule, I think it's going to be hard for this team to get to a bowl game, which is a step back from last year. So I think definitely underachieving. And I think I'll be very curious to see where the second half of the season goes for Auburn just kind of in program direction. - Mm hmm. All right, how about SEC offensive player there? Where would you go here? - This is where I am going with Diego Pavia. It's a pretty easy pick here, trying to pick someone different than Heisman and SEC offensive player. But you just look at a stat so far. You mentioned that Mike, top 10 in a rushing, 10 touchdown passes, one interception, and just his value to this team. I think it's not just the production, it's the leadership, it's the spark, the belief that he gives Vanderbilt week to week. And he's a perfect fit for this offense because he played in it at the Mexico State. So Diego Pavia is my SEC offensive player of the year for the midpoint of the season. - Mm hmm. Hey, is this true, Stephen? Shout out Michael Raleigh, big gator fan. Did you know Dabo's only losing season at Clemson, Billy Napier was EOC, is that, do you know if that's correct? - He was definitely the EOC there, that's a good question. - I just think that's hilarious, if true, not doubt Michael Raleigh, but I know you're the encyclopedia over here, so I figure I'd ask you. But yeah, I love that Diego Pavia, I would give him the award too. But again, how about just an acknowledgement again for Dylan Sampson, leading the SEC in rushing, leading in rushing touchdowns as well. And without him, I don't know where Tennessee would be right now, he's playing out of his mind. And for all the hype with Nico and all this, it's Dylan Sampson, that is the one that is making Tennessee's offense go. - Absolutely, Mike. With all the concerns that this team is, you know, having right now with offensive line and passing game and quarterback, Dylan Sampson has just been a rock in the steady presence for this offense. And shout out to Michael, he was absolutely spot on about that, it's always funny to me to think about the Napier plus Chad Morris, and Chad Morris, Hire was critical for Debo there at Clemson. So yeah, I mean, Napier did a nice job at Louisiana, but it's just not translating it at Florida. - All right, how about SEC defensive player of the year? - I think there's a couple of quality candidates here too, Mike, I'll be curious to see where you go with this one, but I'm gonna pick Kyle Canard, a defensive end from South Carolina. I consider it Nick Scorton, Walter Nolan, I think also very much in the discussion. Kyle Canard, seven and a half sacks, 11 and a half tackles for loss, 14 quarterback hurries, according to pro football focus this year, but like the production in key matchups, one and a half sacks against LSU, two against Bama. So showing up at the big moments for this team. So give me Kyle Canard, SEC, mid season defensive player of the year. - Yeah, that's exactly where I went as well. Steven, he's just seemingly unblockable at times. I mean, he's a game record. It's very rare that one individual player is creating so much havoc for teams that, and heck, they have to know it's coming at this point in time, but I don't know that they can really dedicate all their coverage to it because of Dylan Stewart and off the other side. So what a dynamic duo those two are, and they really, as we saw last week, and we have seen a couple times this year, they, I hate to give just credit to two individual players, but they raised the ceiling so much for what South Carolina can accomplish, obviously on the defensive side of the football, but as a team overall. - Yeah, absolutely. I mean, coming into the season, we wondered how South Carolina would improve defensively, what kind of tweaks Clayton White would they be able to build off last season? And they've been able to do that, especially with how they can get after teams at the line of scrimmage. And you're also seeing some growth out of some of those guys in the secondary too for South Carolina. So that's the challenge of playing this defensive line. And say, if you take away Canards, Stewart can come off the other side, take away Stewart, you got to deal with Canards. So this is a really nice South Carolina defensive line this year. - How about, this is when you wanted to do Stephen SEC freshman of the year. - Think you got to go with Ryan Williams or Dylan Stewart, right? I mean, they've been so much of a kind of just breakout star. And, you know, I think you could throw Ryan Williams in there at breakout star as well. But just the big plays that Williams has brought, the ending against Georgia in the week-to-week impact that Dylan Stewart makes as a true freshman off the edge. So either one of those two, I'd be willing to hear a compelling argument for either one. - Yeah, no, I would go co-freshman of the year as well. I swear I didn't see Stephen's list before this, but we're mirroring each other here. But yeah, I mean, without Ryan Williams, I don't know where Alabama would be right now. I, you know, two-year point, Jalen Millroy's fantastic player. And when he goes off, Alabama's just, I just think they're completely different. But yeah, I think they have a couple of losses without Ryan Williams on their roster. And as for Dylan Stewart, we just got done praising him, but man, what a game record. And both these guys were elite prospects. So this is not like a total stoner, but it's a pretty stunning to see true freshmen come in and play at this high of a level right out the gate, particularly in conference play. It's just so unusual, but I'd have to, I don't think I could split it between them. - Williams, I mean, the, I think about that Georgia catch so many times, it was just how special of a play that was. I mean, just the control, the ability to kick it into high gear and score at a clutch moment. You do know he's 17, by the way. So it's, you know, as we hear every weekend on the broadcast. - How about best coordinator at the midway point? - I'm gonna go a little different here, trying to give, trying to recognize as many teams as we can here, Mike. I'm gonna go with Travis Williams, the defensive coordinator at Arkansas. And I go with him because they got the win over Tennessee. Also in SEC games, Arkansas holding teams to 16.3 points a game. So this defense has been critical so far this year to getting the biggest win that Arkansas has. Also, I think you can make a case here for a couple guys to like Tim Beck, at Vanderbilt, Clayton White, Pete Quikowski, defensive coordinator at Texas. So compelling case for any of those guys, I think. - Yes, someone just said Bill Beatenbo. (both laughing) Yeah, no, I don't think there's anything wrong with that selection. We're turning into that Vanderbilt podcast. But I'm gonna give it to Tim Beck, Steve, because I think, and heck, you could probably throw Jerry Kill in here as well, but just the 180 they have done with Vanderbilt's offense, it's just remarkable. And I hope they can keep it going, but this completely caught me off guard. And it's probably more Dago Pivy than anything. Just his, again, we can only say so many great things about him, but I'm gonna give Vanderbilt all the due, that they've earned it up to this point. - Yeah, we don't get to, over the last couple of years, probably haven't had too many chances to give Vanderbilt a lot of credit and talk about all the success that they're having. So I think that this year with what Pivy is doing, but also, I think Tim Beck's play calling has been really chronic, this is the kind of offense that Vanderbilt needs to run. There's been a lot of debate over the years about Vanderbilt, do they need to go to the option? What do they need to do? This is kind of the good mix. It's get that kind of unbalanced sets, the formations that they use, using the run game, quarterback run game. And we saw this against Alabama, like every time at Vanderbilt needed a play, Beck seemed to have the right kind of play call dialed up. So definitely Pavia, but Tim Beck and Jerry Kill also doing good things behind the scenes too. - Now, how about the worst coordinator of the year so far? - Gotta go with Coleman Utzler over at the city stage. - Yeah, some of this is just preseason, like it was a curious hire to begin with, no coordinator experience in the SEC. And I certainly understand the challenges. revamped roster, a lot of new faces, but they're giving up over 40 points a game. The success rate on this defense, 127 in the country for just overall performance, 131 against the past and defensive success rate. So understand the new pieces, but this was a curious hire and it's certainly working out that way each week for Mississippi State's defense. - Yeah, and I don't have much disagreement with that, Stephen, but again, it's kind of more or less what I expected, fair or not, from Mississippi State. Give me worst coordinator, Seth Latrell, Oklahoma. Come on, Dale, Seth, what the hell we doing here? We can't score on anybody and you can blame all the injuries you want, but this should never be where Oklahoma's at, to where we don't have a game-breaking running bag. I don't know what in the world we're doing at quarterback. Offense aligns is inconsistent. We don't have any receivers. Now again, receivers banged up, I get it, but this is just pitiful. This is, I mean, by virtually every metric, they're the worst offense in power five and it's not even close. And I mean, that surfaced in a big way in basically all their key games. - It's very difficult to figure out the sort of breaking point of injuries, personnel turnover and how much of it is that on the offensive coordinator. Watching Saturday's game against Texas, they definitely broke out, it seemed like a few new things. And I think that fits Michael Hawkins well, but also it just goes back to, if you can't block and you've got no difference makers on the outside, they could probably change quarterbacks to have Garrett Nussmeyer back there and maybe he would be able to have some success. But I do think some of this is personnel and I think what will be interesting to me is as we go forward, set the trowels on the hot seat. I don't know if he's gonna get fired or, I mean, I think a lot of Oklahoma fans would have fired, but I think what will be key is what kind of tweaks can he make over the second half of the season because there was some optimism coming out of the Auburn game that, hey, they might have figured some things out on the offensive line. Texas is maybe the best team in the country, certainly number one going into this week. So I think it's gonna be incumbent on him to show some progress over the next couple of weeks absent with the receivers and even with the offensive line question mark. So I think very curious to see what Brent Venables does here because it's not very often that head coaches get to hire one, two, three offensive coordinators, especially if you miss on two of those. So this would be strike one if it doesn't work out. The next one would be really critical. - And then biggest, pleasant surprise. I mean, I think it kind of goes without saying it's Vanderbilt, is there anyone else you even considered? - I think it's just got to be Vanderbilt. - We mentioned A&M to also with throw Arkansas, beating Tennessee, that was a really solid win for that program, but it just all goes back to Vanderbilt, predicted to have two or three wins in the preseason, potentially a top 25 team now and the win over Alabama does it for me. - All right, then, biggest disappointment, who is that? - It's got to be Auburn. Year one to year two, not a ton of progress so far. I certainly get the recruiting angle to this and stockpiling talent and maybe Auburn is what Miami is doing now, which is you stockpile talent for two years, the switch kind of goes on in the coach's third year. We'll see, but two and four, considering the schedule that they had, I think is a major, major disappointment. - How about this one though, Steven? 'Cause I don't disagree, throw Florida in there. I thought Florida'd be much better than they've shown. But how about Kentucky, where it feels like they're wasting a really, really good defense. Again, we expect them to go to the playoff this year. No, but this is what, year 12 for stoops. I mean, just what we're doing on offense, I don't think there's any excuse for it. It's just been pitiful time and time again. And essentially they hit one big play on Ole Miss, that's why they won the game. And hell, right after Lane Kiffin said, "Well, they've never done that before in their lives." You know what I mean? I don't know, I think I'm most disappointed, quite frankly, with Kentucky. 'Cause I kind of saw Auburn coming. - The interesting thing about Kentucky is when you was looking at the schedule, you had up there, and they're a play away for beating Georgia, and they beat Ole Miss, and they've lost to Vanderbilt. And frankly, they were, and Vanderbilt, and also dominated by South Carolina. So just kind of a bizarre start to the season for this team, they feel like one of those teams that is very hard to get a read on week to week. But in general, I think this goes back to the offense, and the offense a coordinator higher. You know, I was not a big fan of the Bush Hamden higher. I think the jury is still very much out. And also his ability to take Brock Vandergrip and develop him, he's been banged up, but that's gonna be critical over the next couple of weeks, especially like you said, with this defense that they have. - All right, Steve, we gotta move on, 'cause we got a lot to get to, but I actually did some work this morning. So be proud of me. I got my updated SEC scoring efficiencies. Didn't have it last week, but again, very top right. I think people are confused. It's not the entire square, essentially. It's all the top right, you're elite. It's the bottom, bottom left, you're awful. And the only one trending very close to that is Mississippi State. But again, very, very simple metric here. How many snaps you've had on offense? How many points are you scoring? How many snaps are you facing on defense? And how many points are you allowing based on those snaps? And clear in a way, it's Texas. Texas is elite. There's no doubt about it after six weeks. And then Tennessee Ole Miss, right there, trailing, but closest to Texas with Alabama. And they're in highly, highly efficient offense. Defense, different story, but the offense is out of this world. It's technically the best scoring offense in the SEC. And then we just got a jumbled mess over here, Stephen. And Georgia kind of confuses me. They're trailing a little bit. I think people, I don't know if they're waking up to it, but I feel like I have awoken to Georgia. It's just something's wrong with Georgia. I'm not saying they're a bad team. Not saying they're going to miss the playoff. But at this point, quite frankly, it wouldn't even surprise me if they dropped a game or two here moving forward. What stands out to you about these updated SEC scoring efficiencies? I think the first thing is seeing Texas over in that elite category. I think through everything that we've seen through the first seven weeks of the season, that's the best team in the country right there. Certainly, I think Georgia will have something to say about that. But just based upon how they played in Sarkeesian's roster building, this is the best team in the country and is bared out by the stat right here. But also, I think the clustering of these teams in all these sectors, there's a lot of quality depth here. Just looking at where A&M is in relation to Missouri and Arkansas and South Carolina. And also, just seeing Georgia not in that elite category. Seeing Ole Miss there, I was surprised. Maybe we didn't talk about Ole Miss as one of the biggest disappointments of the first half of the season, too, because of having two losses at this point of the year was pretty surprising to me. So I think that in general, this tells me Texas is what the eyes tell me. Texas is the best team so far, but also there's a lot of really quality depth in this league. And it kind of goes back to something you and I have talked about, which is these teams are going to beat up on each other a lot in the second half of the year. Mm-hmm. And quite frankly, I mean, heck, we've already seen it with Kentucky beating Ole Miss, with Arkansas beating Tennessee, with Vanderbilt beating Alabama, and Texas being the only undefeated in the conference that I think it speaks in Mississippi State given Texas and Georgia, I don't want to say those games were highly competitive, but they didn't get blown out. I think that speaks to exactly what you're saying, where just about anybody can beat anybody this year. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, like you said, Kentucky taking down Ole Miss, a Vanderbilt is beating Alabama, Mississippi State, which I think most people would consider the 16th best team in the SEC, gave Georgia a lot of trouble, gave Texas some trouble early. So I think this speaks to the quality of depth in this league, which is aided by the transfer portal in recent years. You've got the coaching changes, NIL conference realignment, all those factors that think have played a role in this, which is why I think week to week, you're probably going to see a lot of close spreads like we're seeing for this Saturday, and also just a lot of like chaos week to week, which isn't a bad thing for people like us, didn't fans do it? (laughing) All right, Steven, next we're going to get to your updated college football playoff projects. But before we do that, new sponsor to the show, highly, highly recommend these guys. It's cornbread hemp, Steven. This is a Kentucky based business, and what they do, they sell CBD and THC gummies, and they sent me some over of the CBD sleep gummies, and I literally could not recommend these enough. They're not psychoactive, whatever that is to give you a buzz. They just help you sleep. They're non-addictive, it's got no melatonin. I even told you a little while ago, Steven, that I'm doing these, and again, they sent these to me for free, and when it's up, I'm going to take advantage of this offer for 30% off, Steven, at what is the web address? cornbreadhemp.com/SEC. Use that promo code SEC for 30% off your order. There's no synthetic ingredients. This is Farm Bill compliant and legal for adults over 21. Cannot recommend cornbread hemp enough. You got any questions, reach out. I'm happy to answer. I don't work for 'em, but I just love the product, and again, if you're looking for a healthy way to enjoy a carefree moment, check out cornbreadhemp, and I love that this is a small business, Atta Kentucky, and again, that web address cornbreadhemp.com/SEC to get 30% off your order. I can almost guarantee it 'cause it's not my product, but I can guarantee that it's a good product 'cause I use it all the time. - Mike, I think there might be a cane W from Tuscaloosa ordering that to get some better sleep this week. (laughing) - Yeah, you can use some of that, Kate, I've trust me. All right, Steven's updated S, or not even SCC, but college football, playoff, projects, Texas, remains number one, and oh yeah, I always gotta say this 'cause you never know someone's seeing this for the first time, but the way the playoff format is, it doesn't matter if, let's say, Georgia's number two in a country, or Alabama's number three, this is the way they've decided to slot this, the top four seeds, well, top five conference champions get in here, and the top four are all, it can only be one conference, if that makes sense. So, Texas number one, has the projected SCC champ, Oregon, which just took down Ohio State as the projected number two, big 10 champ, Miami number three, projected SCC champion, Kansas State number four, projected big 12 champion, and then number five, Steven's dropped Ohio State, Georgia six, Penn State seven, Alabama eight, Clemson nine, LSU jumps into it at number 10, Notre Dame 11 and Boise 12. So, that would mean that Alabama would host Clemson in the first round, Georgia would host Notre Dame, we've seen that game a couple times in recent history, and then LSU would travel to Penn State, and I don't blame you, Steven, but I, it still brought a tear to my eye to see Tennessee removed from the playoff, even though they won, what the heck's wrong with you, Steven? They're in the bubble, as is A and M, Ole Miss dropped, which, yeah, of course, and then Missouri. So, we got a couple teams on the bubble here, but thoughts on these projections. - So, Mike, I have some good news for you, which is Tennessee is still very much alive for this playoff discussion. And I think something to keep in mind is that this weekend's game against Alabama could be a playoff elimination game, because Alabama's gonna get LSU, obviously Tennessee's gonna get Georgia, it feels like the winner of this game's odds are going to increase, given most of the match-ups that they have the rest of the way. So, I think you look at this week's games, when Alabama and Tennessee is critical, you also look at Texas A and M and LSU in a few weeks. That game is also going to be very huge for playoff positioning, because it does feel like, I mentioned the LSU Alabama game, Texas A and M schedule is very favorable. They have to go, of course, to South Carolina, but they get Texas and LSU in college station. So, I moved LSU in this week, because of their win over Ole Miss, and of course, Tennessee, Ole Miss both fell out, but also still very much alive in this playoff discussion. So, I would say check back next week, if you don't like this week's, check back next week, 'cause I think we're gonna see a lot of changes in a few weeks. - Well, let me ask you this, 'cause I would imagine there's a lot of fans wondering this, we got four SEC teams on the bubble, what's gonna help them the most, get some teams in here? Would it be Notre Dame losing? Would it be Clemson and Penn State? I mean, what do we need to be rooting to lose outside of the conference to get more SEC teams into this thing? - That is a great question. So, I think if I am an SEC fan at like Tennessee or Alabama or LSU A and M, I am rooting for Clemson and Notre Dame to lose. Just looking at sort of where this stacks up right now. So, keep in mind, you've got the five automatic bids by conference champions. I feel pretty good that Ohio State and Penn State are probably gonna be in, barring some upsets the rest of the way. Those two teams play later this year, but there's also a pretty favorable path for both the rest of the season. So, if you think about it like that, that kind of ties up about seven spots. So, I think you've gotta start rooting for Clemson and Notre Dame to lose. Notre Dame plays Georgia Tech this weekend, which could be difficult. They play USC later this season. They also get both Navy and Army, who are both very good this year. Clemson, pretty favorable path. And they still gotta go to Virginia Tech. They still gotta play potentially Miami in the conference championship game. So, I think what worries me if I'm an SEC fan is, both Clemson and Notre Dame have favorable paths, but they also have games that could trip them up. So, I think you want those two teams to lose. And while I think we just talked about depth, I think you want like A and M to take care of business on the road against South Carolina. You want LSU to beat Arkansas this week. So, the top isn't losing to the bottom teams, if that makes sense too. - Right. And I don't know if you saw this Steven, I like to say bold things, of course, but I predicted that Ole Miss gonna win out, which would mean beating Georgia. We've already discussed, may not, again, not saying they're awful or anything like that. People don't believe in context. But again, they look, they're very good, but I think Ole Miss has potential to be good as well. If Ole Miss wins out, which is not a given, and I'm not asking Steven to last him to say, they are winning out and predicted like I am, but if they go 10 and two, if they win out, they beat Oklahoma at home, Arkansas on the road, Georgia at home, at Florida and Mississippi State, in Oxford, if they do that, big if, but does Ole Miss make the college football playoff if they win out? - I think so. I think 10 and two gets you in if you're Ole Miss, especially if you beat Georgia. And I think if you're Ole Miss, you're probably a big Georgia fan this weekend because if Georgia beats Texas and you could be Georgia, just probably a compelling case that Georgia will be number one or number two at that point. So I think Ole Miss needs Georgia to win this game. It certainly helps, I guess it's not everything. And I do think there is a scenario too where nine and three is probably gonna be hard to get them in, but what if we have a lot of losses the rest of the way? Like what happens if Notre Dame finishes nine and three? Clemson, what about some of these other teams on the bubble? I think the big 12's gonna beat itself up a lot down the stretch. So I think nine and three probably doesn't get you in, but I think let's check back in November when we see some of these other teams start to beat up on kind of how all this shapes up a 10 and two with a win over Georgia. I think that's a playoff resume there by Ole Miss with that win. And then, oh, one other thing, Stephen, a lot of people have asked me this and I don't have the answer, so I don't know if you do. I apologize for just throwing this at you last minute here, but the playoff quarter finals. So the second round of the college football playoff, so like Texas right now, slot is the one seed. Are they guaranteed to get the winner of the eight nine Alabama Clemson? Or will they reseed this to where, let's say Boise State pulls off some miracle and beats Ohio State, would they face Texas as the 12 seed or how does that work? Do you have any idea? Yeah, unfortunately, no reseeding. So it is straight bracket like the NCAA tournament. Just another reason to hate this thing, you threw the red flags up the moment they announced it, but I've seen people in the comments, they're like, who in the heck thinks Boise can beat any of these SCC teams? The answer is none, but they get a spot for some reason. Boise State's pretty dangerous this year with Ashton Gente. If you haven't had a chance to watch him late at night, and I guess they play Hawaii this weekend, and that was later than they're used to playing, but Boise could be dangerous in the right spot. But playing like a Texas A&M or one of these other teams would be pretty tough, so yeah. We ain't scared about Hawaii. I mean, that's a Vanderbilt opponent right there. And this was Vanderbilt before they were good. Could beat Hawaii, you know what? So that's a Billy Napier scared money, don't make money. That's why he played that way, it's Saturday. And speaking of scared buddy, don't forget, I get by bookie presenting spots for the show. Head on over to mybookie.ag today, putting that promo code that SCC. If you ain't scared to fade cousin Shane, I mean, that's a lock right there in Steven. Who was your my bookie lock of the week? I can't remember from last week. Missouri. Okay, oh yeah, so you covered, you covered easily. Yeah. Let's just speak in. Listen to Steven, listen to me, I'm on a lock streak, but oh, before we get to the previews, Steven, I love your panic meters. Who are you panicking about heading into week eight here? Mike, we have several teams to get to this week. Let's start with Alabama. Because I've got them at a nine. Ooh, a panic meter here. A player two away from losing to South Carolina a week after they lost to Vanderbilt. I expected to see a much better. Frankly, I expected to see a little bit broader margin of victory on the scoreboard. And it just continues, this defense continues to be an issue. I mean, you can go down the stat sheet, one, just one, three and out over the last two games. Fourteenth in the SEC and rush defense, and in three SEC games, opponents are converting 47 of their third down attempts. Don't have to look at the stat sheet either. The eye test will tell you that too. It's a defense that is struggling, often seems like out of position. The secondary is obviously very young, but still this is a defense that has way too much talent to be playing at this level. And I have it at a nine largely because Tennessee comes up this week, they still have to play LSU, they get Missouri. If Alabama wants to make the playoff, this defense is going to have to play a lot better than it did the last two weeks. And just thinking ahead, Jalen Milro can only carry this team so far this season. So it's got to be some major improvement on defense to think about contending for the national championship. - And if you had to put your finger on, what is the main issue here, Stephen, is it certainly not the talent? Is it the coaching? Is it the transition from the greatest of all time to Mr. T-shirt? What is the big issue here? - Mr. T-shirt. I think it could be all of the above to some extent. It does feel like, and I think maybe Georgia is kind of, I don't say necessarily struggling with this, but you also wonder sometimes, you think back to some of the really good defenses for Georgia and Alabama, like who is the game record upfront on the line of scrimmage that just causes havoc and disrupts everything? I think Alabama recently hasn't maybe necessarily had that guy, especially this year. Secondary, very young. Scheme change too. So, and just been a lot of criticism about being too predictable on defense too for Alabama. So, I think all those factors in there, it's hard to kind of pinpoint one thing. It is very odd to see them have such a hard time on third downs though every week. That seems like a big red flag for me about maybe scheme and to some extent coaching too. - Yeah, I mean, I'm hearing some wild stuff, Stephen. I mean, apparently DeBors got this right hand man. He brought with him from Washington. He was a defensive guy that there's some tug of war with the defensive staff and this guy now. So, they're that into the mix. I heard a former SEC staffer who's worked at Alabama, Ole Miss and Auburn. He described the situation as just basically, the players are running the thing, you know, his words not mine, but he said, the inmates are running the asylum down there in Alabama right now. So, take that for what it's worth, but-- - Can I offer one other thing too? - Mm-hmm. - Well, the, I don't want to say like team culture, but I want to say like program culture because the standard was said under Nick Saban, like we are going to play dominant defense. Can the DeBors defense at Washington really weren't great? You know, Chuck Morell is part of the defensive coordinator and he was not on the, not calling the plays now, but he's in, I know he's at Alabama in an off field role. It just feels like they're very much an offensive team and it's also like Lincoln Riley to USC to some extent. Like you have to set that expectation you're going to be good on defense and set that bar. I don't know if that makes any sense, but maybe that's part of it too. - Yeah, all right, shout out. So again, so Stephen, the encyclopedia here, that's the exact guy I was talking about. That's what, I didn't know even how to pronounce that guy's name, but yeah, more else. So again, I don't, I don't know. It doesn't look like it's getting fixed though anytime soon. And schedule's ramping up here quickly on Alabama. You know what? - It's going to take a lot of Jalen Milro to save this team because it does feel like they are going to go as Jalen Milro goes. I know that's pretty basic and he's, you know, like I said, he's maybe the best player in the SEC to the first half. This defense, I think the secondary could get better, but also it's just hard to see this group being kind of as dominant as we're used to seeing. - Right. And the thing with Jalen Milro, a fantastic player. I put this out there, I believe it. He may be the best running threat in the entire conference. And that's saying something in this conference. I mean, I don't even think that's an exaggeration. I mean, you could throw in a couple of guys like a Dylan Samson, but I don't know. I'd almost rather have Jalen Milro with that ball in his hand. But the problem is, and he's certainly capable. He's got the, maybe the best deep ball also in the SEC. But man, he'll make a highlight play and then he'll make a decision and you're thinking what, what in the world was that? And that was a lot of, I think, the consternation Nick Saban had with him. It wasn't, you know, they were trying, they tried to coach him out of these things and he's now two years in and he's making the same poor decisions consistently, which is a real problem, which to your point, they could go as far as he can take them. And boy, did he take them much further than I thought he could last year. But can he do it, you know, again, you know, it's, I don't know? - I think there also has to be maybe some pressure on Alabama's offense knowing you might have to score every time you touch the ball, right? I mean, I mean, am I crazy to think anything about that Alabama? It just seems like a collection of problems. Maybe they're just not as good up front. They're young secondary scheme. Like, does that seem logical? - I certainly, and I think, you know, it looked like they had waved a magic wand and fixed all the issues, but they didn't lose a lot of guys to the portal. - Yeah. - And they brought some guys in, I get it, but I think we're seeing the effects of that scene of just some key pieces lost. - It's harder for top teams, I think, to keep depth in the program. Like everybody's going to struggle with it. And Alabama, certainly with losing Nick Saban, definitely did the soft season. - Mm-hmm. All right, so panic meter nine for Alabama. Who else are you panicking about here? - Tennessee. - No! (laughs) I hope-- - I agree completely. - Hope cousin Shane was sitting down. I didn't mean to scare him. So I've got Tennessee at eight on the panic meter here. I think, obviously, the defense early on in that game against Florida gave up some drives, made the critical stops. Florida's boneheaded coaching also played a part in that too. But offensively for Tennessee, something is missing from this offense. And I dug into the numbers for Nico, some of the advanced numbers this season. And, you know, a lot of it is, when he has a clean pocket to throw from, he's completing over 70% of his passes. And so I looked at the blocking stats for Tennessee this year. John Campbell and Lance Heard are two of the lowest rated tackles right now in the SEC, according to Pro Football Focus. And so there is a real problem right now for Tennessee on the offensive line. They've got to protect better. Nico's got to play better. Also, you know, I think Tennessee as a team has five drops this year. But that's also an area they could clean up because you see what Dylan Sampson is doing on the ground. There's some potential here. So I am panicking because Tennessee is going, I think looking at what's to come, if you think they lose to Georgia, they need to beat Alabama to make the college football playoff. So this is not a one game blip anymore. It has been going on for two or three weeks now for Tennessee. And so now my panic meter has significantly increased. - Mm-hmm, yeah. I, again, I got the schedule up here. Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, stayed all at home at Georgia, you tip at home Vanderbilt away. The way they've been playing the last two weeks, stretch it to three if you want with Oklahoma. I'm confident they can beat Mississippi State at home. I'm confident they can beat you tip at home. The rest, they could lose all of them. Even Kentucky, the way they've been playing. So yeah, I agree 100% with you, Steven. I mean, it's one game's a fluke. Two's, two's a trend, three's, three's of panic meter over here. And again, it's, it would be a travesty if they don't get it fixed because they've been working and working to get this defense to, you know, I never even thought the defense would be elite to be quite honest with you, Steven. I just thought if they had a top 25 defense, they could play with anybody the way they go on offense. And now they're here. In fact, they may have a top three or defense in the SEC, but they've got one of the top worst offenses the last couple of weeks. So I don't know what in the world, I don't know how you fix it. - I think maybe the thing that would give me confidence if I'm a Tennessee fan is the fact that the defense is as good as it is. And if you're worried about Tennessee offensively, you have to think Josh Hyple can at least push the right buttons. Now, there's some things that certainly you can criticize Tennessee and Josh Hyple for this year. But it feels like at least maybe this is my overly optimistic view of every team. Like my overly optimistic view of Tennessee is it feels like they've got the right pieces, but you also look like when you have the sacks, you get behind the sticks, you can't get your tempo going. You misfire in one pass. They've had penalties. The receivers, it's just like a bunch of small things that kind of added up. It's almost like it's really hard to kind of pinpoint just one thing outside of just Nico needs to play better and they've got to get better offensive line production for sure. - Great question for Michael Raleigh. If you could combine Tennessee defense and Alabama offense, do you think they can win an extra championship? - That's not, and you might have something there. I'd still like Texas and then whatever that team is. - Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I think it's clear as day. I mean, there's the problem, Steven. I mean, for Nico, we've got so much hype and hell check. I mean, check the tape out. I was not among those saying, you know, this game changing quarterback and win the Heisman or anything like that, but he is clearly struggling. But again, it's what, six games into his career. I don't think it just seems like like the first possession against Florida, they were driving right down. I think had they scored a touchdown there, the first possession where Nico coughed it up. Had he not done that, had they scored a touchdown, I think they would have blown Florida out. But it's one of those deals where it's like, one thing goes wrong and then it just snowballs and he's not seeing the field too well. Again, this is a young quarterback, but the system is designed to help these quarterbacks. And it doesn't seem to be helping right now. And they're getting abused on offensive tackle and receivers are banged up. I mean, it's just, I don't know. I don't know that this is getting any better to be quite honest with you. - Although the counter would be Connor Wigman looked pretty bad against Notre Dame in the season opener. And then he looked really good against Missouri. And I guess when you're dealing with very highly talented quarterbacks that have a, you know, pretty competent OC with some weapons around him, the switch could be flipped at any minute. So I guess I would kind of couch kind of this is like, I haven't sold my stock in Nico long-term. I'm a little concerned that he's having this much, this kind of struggles at this point of his career given what Tennessee has around him and kind of what we thought about him and what we saw last year against a good Iowa defense in a bowl game. I know you can't read too much into bowl games, but I think everything just seemed aligned for this Tennessee offense to get back on track. And it just hasn't happened this year. - All right, who else you got that panic meter on there, Steven? - Let's go with Ole Miss. I'm not necessarily like selling my Ole Miss to the playoff stock to your point. But yeah, this was, it felt like very early on in that game against LSU that they were in control. And they just had some missed opportunities, left the door open and we saw LSU at night, Garrett Nussmyer of course was great and clutch situations. But now I think as we kind of turned the page into the second half of the season, one of the questions we talked about in the offseason was could Blaine keep this team together? The playoff hopes they've diminished at the same time, they're still in it if they can beat Georgia and run the table. But with all of the transfers and new pieces, this is gonna be an interesting experiment in the NIL era to see where Ole Miss can go the rest of the way. So my panic meter is high because of the roster kind of situation. But also I think the line of scrimmage on Saturday night showed up again. I mean, six acts allowed by the offensive line and also zero by the defensive line, especially on defense, a group that is supposed to be a difference maker group didn't quite get there on Saturday night, could have been the difference maybe on one of those four downs, but they just didn't measure up with line of scrimmage on Saturday. - Right, now again, they were going up against a very good LSU defensive line. But yeah, that was a man-owned man type game and LSU came out there at least. But yeah, I think Ole Miss certainly just got issues on the offensive line. And I don't know, you tell me, Stephen, I, their fans aren't going to want to hear this, but the moment it happened, I said, and I still can't believe they just disparage. That's what, I guess, that's what fans do. You know, Stephen, they leave that we got a bad mouth, the guy. But if they had, if they, if they had joking still, and I get it, he's making all these demands, whatever, but I think they beat Kentucky, I think they beat LSU because they're missing, they're missing something. And for all the stats, Jackson Dart puts up, he's, he is not like a top three quarterback in the country. He may have top three stats, but he has never been a guy that, that is, you know, like a game breaker that's going to win you all these games. He's, he's a hell of a player. Yeah, I think he's the toughest quarterback in the issue. So this is not me talking down to him, but it seemed like Juckins was the, was the critical piece the last couple of years. I feel like they miss him desperately. Yeah, I think that's definitely spot on, Mike. I mean, I, I mean, I think Henry Parrish and Ulysses Bentley and some of those other running backs are solid. And as, you know, the running backs are generally replaceable in terms of production, whether that's at the NFL or the college level, but there is sometimes that somebody's just really special and Juckins is really special. And I think he'd make a difference, like you said, in some of these close games. I think this also speaks to portal additions on the offensive line take a long time to get acclimated to. Yeah, I know they've been bringing in guys over the last couple of years, you're kind of deeper there, but that's a tricky spot to be searching for help every year. Everybody's looking for help. And there's not a lot of high impact guys. And I mentioned Lance Hurd struggling this year may take some of these guys a long time to get acclimated. I also say this too, I did not, I did not particularly love some of the play calling at times in that game. I understand the need to go for the 70 yard bombs at times. It's also okay to take the layups at times too. (laughs) Yeah, without Trey Harris, that offense is, it's just not firing, you know what? Yeah, I thought Juice Wells had a chance to make some plays in the last couple of weeks. And certainly, you know, he caught a long pass against South Carolina, but Trey Harris just changes so much for that offense and was definitely missed. Anyone else who hit the panic button on here, Steven? I got a few more, Mike. I'll kind of rapid fire through some of these, but how about Georgia at seven on the panic meter? You know, did they overlook Mississippi State? Probably at the same time. You know, this is now what two of their last three games they've been giving up a lot of yards in the secondary and it's not a great time to be searching for answers in the secondary with Texas coming up. They've had some issues in tackling. So I'm kind of wondering here, my panic meters high, you're going into a high profile showdown, where is this defense? And that's kind of why it's at a seven. Yeah, I agree and this is a team you kind of tend to give them the benefit of the doubt 'cause how successful they've been in the last three seasons. Well, really, really more than that. But just winning championships, but this team ain't that. Now, can they turn it on? Can they get there? I think they still can. And we'll learn a lot about them this weekend. Is this too bold, Steven? If they get beat this weekend, which is an if, let's say, and they will, but if they get beat this weekend, I think they can miss the playoff. 'Cause again, I just said Ole Miss winning out. So let's give them a loss there too. If they are, I mean, heck, their schedule's insane, but nine and three at best, do they make the playoff? I think they'd be in difficult shape. I think in that scenario, let's just say they lose to Texas and they lose to Ole Miss. I think you need a win over a 10 win Tennessee team, so you're counting on Tennessee to beat Alabama. And certainly, strength of schedule is gonna come into play here. If they take Texas to the brink, it only lose by a field goal. Same thing for Ole Miss. That sort of plays into what the committee has said. The best teams are going to be picked. But nine and three puts you squarely on the bubble to be sweating it out. 10 and two, I think they're gonna be okay. Now, they beat Texas. I think they're a lot, just to be clear. So, I mean, that's a fine line, but that's what I'd be selling if I was curvy this week. We beat this team, we're good. If we lose, we're putting in people's hands to do it for us. So, yeah, I'm right there with you. And again, struggling against Kentucky, losing in the fashion they did to Alabama. Mississippi State was unimpressive. I thought, heck, Auburn's been a turnover machine. They couldn't even turn over Auburn. But I mean, they controlled that game throughout. So, I shouldn't poo-poo that one. But I don't know, they just don't look like elite, elite Georgia. - Which phrases the question to me is, are they slow playing us for this weekend's game? And they're gonna show up and look like the number one team in the country. But I think you brought up a good point there. It's a trend now. I mean, they started slow against Clemson, closed call against Kentucky. 10 point win over Mississippi State team. They were heavily favored by. So, there's definitely a trend here. It's not a one game blip. It's been a couple of weeks now. - Who else are you panicking on here? - I've got a couple more here, Mike. Oklahoma at six. I mean-- - Probably not high enough. - Probably not high enough. I think this is kind of, I got two couple of teams that are kind of clustered together. It's Oklahoma at six, Kentucky at seven, in Florida at eight. I think we kind of know what these teams are. The reason why I have Florida at eight is, and I floated this to Mike before we started the show, is Graham Mertz's injury, the excuse Florida needs to keep Billy Napier around this for 2025, especially if DJ Lagway plays well. But I think the issues for these teams are all kind of similar. For Oklahoma and Kentucky, it's offensive issues. Their sort of panic level is a little different relative to the contenders. And then on the other side of things for Florida. I mean, same old, same old. It's like one step forward, two step back. Same issues, penalties. Questionable play calling, predictable play calling. You saw a great first half of moving the ball, not cashing in. And the defense has been significantly better the last two weeks. It's kind of a quite an in-season turnaround. But I haven't met as an eight, because the coaching situation, is this like I said, is that something that could happen maybe? - Perhaps, but how about this though, Stephen? 'Cause I thought Florida quite frankly, I thought they played their best game of the season on Saturday. - Yeah. - And they should, they should have beat Tennessee. I don't want to say Tennessee got lucky. I'm not a big believer in all that, 'cause Tennessee was making plays to stop them. But yeah, no ball Billy over there, low T Billy, whatever you want to call him. I mean, clearly I think he cost him that game. So yeah, I would probably back off the panic meter a little, but again, maybe Graham Mertz was the steady force there. Because for all the hype and the great throws we've seen from Lagway, I think his future is very bright. He could be the best quarterback in this conference in a year or two. I've also seen where he's a true freshman. And how's that gonna play against Kentucky? Kentucky's got a great defense. Georgia, Texas, LSU, Ole Miss, I mean, good luck brother. Yeah, you know, you need another tune up in there and they're not getting except Florida State. There's a tune up, I guess. But that's gonna be at the end of the game, you know? - Yeah, it was the six games remaining and four of those at one point have been top 10 teams or our top 10 teams now, Ole Miss falling out and a good Kentucky defense. That's a brutal schedule for a true freshman quarterback. But you know, as we're talking about this, I'm having flashbacks to the Nikko thing is like the talent is there. Can they put it all together? And also I'd like to see, you know, continue to see that Blackway's a different quarterback than Mertz. He needs to be a little bit more aggressive in your play calling downfield, but there's also a point because he's a freshman and all these tough opponents. So it's gonna be really interesting to see how this goes for Florida. - Well, speaking of interesting, Steven, let's get into the week eight previews 'cause I'm fascinated by some of these games here and we gotta start with Georgia, number five, Georgia at number one, Texas, Texas favored. By three and a half point, it keeps growing, Steve. Oh my word, Georgia was favored about two weeks ago, not anymore, night game, seven, 30 Eastern, six, 30 Central, all in ABC. And just based on the numbers, Steven, I mean, Texas, the better team statistically, what's your thoughts on this game? - This week's Super Bowl in the SEC. I mean, massive implications for the SEC title, college football playoff, potentially the Heisman Trophy, of Carson Beck can come out and have a huge night. I think just on paper, what's fascinating to me is you have the Texas defense that this is by far the best offense they have played this year. And this is now, Carson Beck has been playing, obviously made some mistakes in the game against Mississippi State, but put up huge numbers. So there's gonna be an opportunity here to see just how good Texas is defensively against this Georgia offense. And then on the other side of things, I am interested to see what Quinn Ewers and let's assume Isaiah Bond is able to play what they're gonna be able to do against this Georgia defense. Is Georgia's defense where they just preparing two weeks for Texas? Did they sleep walk through Mississippi State? That's gonna be kind of an interesting battle on Saturday night. So I think there's a ton of intrigue for, by far, the biggest game of the weekend on the schedule. - And this is a serious question, Steven. Can we live in a world where Texas wins this game by a large margin? I mean, I don't know if I can handle these people anymore. Like say they win by 14, 20 points, something like that. Will life go on or will I cease to exist? - I think you and Cousin Shane will be recording on Sunday at some point. I think what's kind of interesting to me is I kind of came in the weekend or last weekend before Friday starting to think about this matchup and kind of thought, I might be tempted to take Georgia straight up. And now I'm kind of like, I don't know if I can talk myself into it, just based upon last week's games. Try not to be too much prisoner of the moment, but also like the elements of this game, it feels like it could be a fairly higher scoring game. Would you agree with that? - Yeah, I certainly think so. But, and then here will be critical. Stephen, do you have any idea off the top of your head who Texas played last season after Oklahoma? - It wasn't TCU, was it? - No, it was Houston. - Houston, that's right. - How about the year before? You probably don't know these. - Right, yeah. - I was state. How about the year before? Oklahoma State, well, and they lost that, but COVID year, I don't take that for anything, let's throw out COVID year 2019, Kansas, which they barely won by two points. The point being, Stephen, this is a new eight, Baylor the year before, come on, get the hell out of here. It was a joke of a schedule, they had to play one team. How do they look now? Again, Oklahoma's not that good, and they whooped them. As I said, they would. That was not a surprise. It should be a surprise to no one, even Oklahoma fans, even though they were stunned by it. But this is different. This is right, getting right up off the mat. You called it Super Bowl. This could be the game of the year for Georgia, 'cause again, if Georgia loses this, I think they're done. Not done, but they will be. You know what I mean? I think it could go that far for them. So you're gonna get big game Kirby here. You're gonna get, and Georgia, hell, they were the favorite to win every game two years ago. And they said, "Oh, seven and five." And they went on to feed it. You know what I mean? Like the nonsense they come up with. So they're not gonna need any nonsense this week to be motivated. So I don't know, that's gonna fascinate me. If Texas wins, buddy, buddy, they're probably going on to feed. They're probably going to win a whole national championship. 'Cause I think that it'll prove that much to me if they win this game. Watch out for the Texas A&M game later in the season too. This is definitely one of those welcome to the SEC moments that you get Oklahoma. You turn around and play a Georgia team that was pretty much the preseason favorite this year. Also, it is funny to me after watching that game on Saturday for Texas and Oklahoma. They won 34 to three and you left, they could play better. Yeah, they could have won by more, right? I mean, they left stuff on the table. So I think that obviously it's a sign of a good team to beat somebody by 31 points and you didn't play your A game. The matchups in this game, maybe talked about the quarterbacks and the receivers, but also, this is a big boy matchup in the trenches. The offensive lines for these two teams, we'll see if Jared Wilson can come back for Georgia at center and make a difference in this game. But this is a very, very high level like skill talent, quarterback, offensive line. And I do wonder like, has Georgia lulled us to sleep the last couple of weeks? Look at this game. Texas coming off of the Oklahoma win. There's some interesting storylines for both kind of where they are at this point. Would anything be funnier? If Texas won this by 21 points and then next week lost Vanderbilt. That would be how appropriate this season is gone, right? (laughing) (indistinct) (laughing) But so who do you think is the better unit here? Texas offense or Georgia defense? I think you have to go with the Texas offense right now. I mean, I wouldn't have said that like back in the preseason. I would have just assumed that Georgia's defense would be right at the top of the SEC. But just with the way they were given a big place to Mississippi State, we saw it against Alabama as well. You know, getting Isaiah Bond, Silas Bolden, Matthew Golden, you know, the tight ends for Texas involved. It's a lot of playmakers that Georgia's gonna have to account for. And what if anything do you think is a advantage, maybe even a big advantage for Georgia? I think it's, maybe it's advantage might be, this might be the right kind of, the wrong kind of wording for me to say this, but I think there has to be, if you're Georgia's offensive staff, you're looking at the offenses that Texas has played. And you're saying, can they really, you know, I mean, they've played Oklahoma, they've played Michigan, they've played a bunch of pretty mediocre offenses. And now Georgia is coming into Austin with Carson Beck and all these receivers. And I think you can move the ball here. So there's a lot of talent on this Texas defense. So I'm not trying to undersell. And it's just that, I think Georgia's offense will give us a very good barometer of where this Texas defense is. - Mm-hmm. All right, how about this one, Stephen and another? What looked like a good show, dad? I don't even know if it is anymore. Stephen, number seven, Alabama at number 11, 10, I see, falling like a stone here. It was top 10, top four, two weeks ago. Alabama favored by two and a half, 330 Eastern, 230 Central on ABC. According to the game, but also, Stephen, this is a complete toss up here. What's your thoughts on this game? - I can't believe I'm about to say this. It's like, is Alabama's defense, what Tennessee's offense needs to get back on track, right? I mean, who would have thought about that at this point of the season? We'd be saying that back of the preseason, but, man, you know, it really is like, for me, it's like thinking about Tennessee's offense, and can they get on track in how much Alabama has struggled defensively? And I think about how many times that, whether it's motion or misdirection, or these guys for Alabama's defense were out of place, like, Tennessee had this success two years ago up in Knoxville of getting the Alabama safeties, all out of sorts in that game. So it does feel like Tennessee, there are some opportunities here to get back on track. The other side of it is, if you're Alabama, you got to have a lot of confidence in Jalen Milro coming into this game. And if Alabama's offensive line holds up, there are plenty of opportunities to make plays against this Tennessee secondary. I suspect Ryan Williams will be probably more involved this week, other than four catches for 32 yards. So this one feels very much in toss-up territory for me. I, you know, Tennessee at home, some advantages there, but do you trust this offense? Even against an Alabama defense that has struggled to be a big question. Which coach do you think is under more pressure to win this one, though? Josh Hypo or Kaylin DeBore? - I think it's got to be Kaylin DeBore. I certainly think the, obviously the hype of winning the Florida game was good for him. Winning the Alabama game would be even better. But if you're Kaylin DeBore, a lot of questions have been building the last couple of weeks. And I think, you know, do people think that he's in over his head in the SEC? I'm sure some fans do. And this would be a good opportunity to go on the road and sort of answer some of those doubts. - Right, but he is known for being a big game coach. Correct? - Absolutely. - I mean, he's beating Sark, he's beating landing, he's beating Kirby now. I mean, I don't know if people consider Josh Hypo, you know, an elite coach. I certainly thought he was till these last two weeks, but I'm kidding. But yeah, again, that would scare me as a Tennessee fan is just the big name or the big game coach that DeBore is. But hell, you can't say that. And then turn around and lose the Vanderbilt and shouldn't have lost to South Carolina either. You know what I mean? So yeah, I just don't know what to make of this football game. And I know you're kind of kidding, but not really. This could be a get right game, but I thought last week was going to be the get right game. I guess Florida's defense, which has been pitiful. So they couldn't do anything on them. I don't know how much confidence I have in Tennessee's offense to manufacture much against Alabama's defensive struggling as they might be. But certainly this is going to be a game to get it right. And you think at some point, which I think it's fair to say Saturday night, Tennessee's home crowd was an advantage. I think these fans will be even more ramped up for this one. But I think it's going to come down to what we've kind of been hitting at here is how do they defend Jalah Milro? Because Tennessee's got an outstanding defensive line, but this is a weird game where you don't necessarily want to be rushing them nonstop. Because you don't want them to break contained, Keenan Peelies out for the season, unfortunately. I mean, that's a big blow. So I could certainly see, and I'll probably predict this. I think this could be a Jalah Milro gross crazy game. Now, at the same time, I heard someone talk about this as well. I mean, look at who he's played the last couple weeks, Georgia, Vanderbilt. You can snicker at Vanderbilt all you want. They got after him a little bit. And then South Carolina certainly got after him. I mean, he's probably a little beaten up right now. So I don't know, I'm kind of talking in circles here. - He looked a little tentative on some of those runs in the second half. Maybe it was just me sitting in my office, watching all these games and trying to make sense of what was happening. It does feel like Alabama has the most, or I guess if you're trying to predict this game, I think putting a lot of faith in Jalah Milro is usually a pretty good idea. It also feels like strength versus strength, Alabama's offense against Tennessee's defense and weakness versus weakness right now. Tennessee's offense against Alabama's defense. So a ton of interest, third Saturday in October. I mean, it doesn't get much better than this potential playoff elimination game too. - Let me phrase it this way, Stephen. Let's say both these quarterbacks have similar statistics to where I'm going to give them each two touchdowns and one turnover. Niko has one turnover, Milro has one turnover, and they each have two touchdowns. If that's the only information you're given, who would you say wins this game? - I take Tennessee. That would mean that Niko played well and I trust Tennessee's defense more than Alabama right now. - That's what I wanted to hear. - I don't know, I'm good, but- - Shane, do you need this question? (laughing) - But I guess just the point being like if Jalah Milro doesn't go bananas here and score four or five touchdowns 'cause I don't think there's any way Niko does that give him the way he's playing. But basically, you just can't let Milro beat you. - Right. - You know what I mean? - Yeah, if I'm Tennessee, I want somebody other than Jalah Milro to beat me. And to your point, keen and pealy, being out is a huge loss in a game like this where you're going to need that second level to defend Jalah Milro. So tough spot for Tim Banks, but also think seeing how Alabama's offensive line is given up pressure to Vanderbilt and South Carolina. James Pierce played well last weekend's Florida. I'd feel pretty good if I was Tennessee about getting some pressure or at least causing enough havoc with that defensive front on Saturday. - Right. And this is a great time, Stephen, to announce one other sponsor that is just perfectly timed 'cause the way Tennessee's playing, cousin Shane and I will be utilizing Better Help this week. If you're unfamiliar, Better Help online therapy, can't be beat. Stephen, if you're thinking about getting into therapy, give Better Help a try. All you gotta do, fill out this brief questionnaire and they pair you with a therapy licensed therapist and you can switch at any time. If you're not happy with the therapist, you get at no charge. It's all online. You don't have to go anywhere. You can do it at home. So head on over to betterhelp.com/SCEC. Give 10% off your first month. That's h-e-l-p.com. Better help h-e-l-p.com/SCEC. Get 10% off Better Help online therapy. Cannot recommend it enough. Stephen, the way Tennessee's offense has been playing. - I was worried about you and Shane and I think it was a cousin fill last week. He was pretty concerned about Tennessee's offense last week, so rightfully so. I was worried about you guys since Saturday night and then of course the Tennessee woman it out. I felt a little bit better about you guys. - Oh, we're like Kirby. We're just riding the waves over here. You know what? That's what he said. - Oh, you didn't shove anybody this week, right? - Oh, not yet. - Oh yeah. - All right, speaking of big-time match, this one is gonna be wild. I think Stephen, LSU, number eight LSU at Arkansas. LSU favored by a field goal. Yeah, another night game. Credit Arkansas getting these night games. SCC used to hate you, only give you 11 AM kicks. Now you got back-to-back top 10 opponents at home at night. What a showdown this could be, rivalry game. And this was one of those, Stephen. I don't know how you feel about these, but when it's a rivalry and then only like one team kind of like really considers it a rivalry. I always give that team an edge. I don't know truly how much of a rivalry LSU considers this, but it is the golden boot. What's your thoughts on this matchup? - I think LSU better take this game seriously. - You know, whether or not they considered it a rivalry, I think if I'm Arkansas, I love the timing of this matchup. You're getting LSU off the big win against Ole Miss at your place on Saturday night. The crowd, we saw it when they played Tennessee. Unbelievable fans to raise your back stadium. I think Arkansas can very much win this game on Saturday. Go back two years ago when Arkansas played LSU. You know, after beating Alabama, remember LSU barely won that game. You know, like the heroics by Harold Perkins in that game. So that kind of goes to the theme of this game is Arkansas, the timing of it really favors them. The biggest question is, is what's the status of Taelyn Green? Is he gonna be at full go 100%? They're going to need his mobility to win this game. So I think the injuries for Arkansas will be critical. And also how fast can LSU kind of turn the page from a big win to get refocused for what should be a very motivated Arkansas team on Saturday night? And I know Sam Pittman spoke today. He said, "We hope Taelyn Green will be able to go, but we'll see by Wednesday." So they're playing coy as they should. But let's assume he plays two weeks prepare and rest up. Man, what a showdown. And all of a sudden, if Arkansas can get to five and two, what a run they'd be on. And speaking of the timing as well, LSU coming off an emotional, physical game that they never led until the moment they took the lead at overtime to win it here. But, man, is this even an upset? You think Steven, if Arkansas wins? - It'd be an upset by the spread, but I think based on just the dynamics around it, it very much feels like it wouldn't shock me at all, just because of the timing of it. But I also wanted to consider it too for LSU, looking at the schedule, A&M, and then Alabama. Like this next three games seem very critical. We'll see what happens in Florida. And now Vanderbilt, also a much tougher game that we anticipated. So these next three games are going to be critical. And if your art, if your L is cheap, I know you're coming off the big win, you're looking at A&M in Alabama. That's why this game against Arkansas is pretty dangerous. One other factor here at Arkansas is, let's just say Taelyn Green is not 100% or he can't go. They've got two weeks to get Malick, I think, with Reddy. So I think Katrina was having a couple of weeks to get a quarterback ready. He could be a huge advantage for Arkansas. Obviously, you'd much rather have Taelyn Green. - Right, and I'm kind of curious too, which I think you deserve some props for giving some credit to Travis Williams. But I'll be curious to see, clearly he came up with a fantastic game plan to stifle Tennessee. What will he do against LSU? And their dynamic offensive line and quarterback. And so I think that'll be critical. I would think with a banged up quarterback, and again, let's hope Taelyn Green is 100%. But I think that's asking a lot. Again, hopefully he plays and hopefully he is 100%. But let's say he's somewhat limited. Yeah, God, I think that they don't want to necessarily get into a shoot out here. LSU struggles to run the football somewhat one-dimensional if Arkansas can really run the ball like they have this year. Again, I'm going to throw up their stats here. They're pretty friendly here. Top 20 rushing attack. Meanwhile, LSU's got a top 94 rushing attack. Again, you could chew up clock. You can limit the snaps. Keep Garrett Nussmeyer off the field. I think that'll be critical for Arkansas getting a win here. And beating Tennessee, that has completely changed the narrative. And there's danger in that too, because if you turn around and drop one, then fans are, oh, God. Sam Peave has got to go, you know what I mean? But if you can build on that, you get two top 10 wins. Sam Peave could go from the hottest seat in the country to I think he would be guaranteed he's coming back next year. Also, maybe some coach of the year consideration to keep winning these games. And Mike, it's something you and I talked about in the preseason, which was Arkansas schedule was challenging, but you also get a lot of these games at home. And with the environment that Arkansas has, with what the strides they've made defensively, with how difficult it can be to defend, tail and green, there are a lot of factors that can work in their favor. LSU's giving up over 200 rushing yards a game in SEC contest this year. So there are some opportunities here. And I am also going to be sort of like focused in on watching to see if Landon Jackson is taking on Will Campbell or Emory Jones. There's a lot of intriguing matchups in the trenches. So to your point, I think in Arkansas gets some pressure on Nuss Meyer, if they're able to run the ball, turn it into like a 19 to 14 game like we saw against Tennessee, I think that definitely benefits them, especially if tail and green is less than full strength. And let me ask you this, Stephen, if big F here, not predicting it, but if Arkansas can beat LSU, they got after that at Mississippi State, Ole Miss at home, Texas at home, Louisiana Tech at home, at Missouri. If they beat LSU, is nine and three off the, you know, is that believable? Meaning they would drop only one remaining game. - I don't think that's really that crazy. So if you beat LSU, I mean, you're certainly going to be favored against Mississippi State, Louisiana Tech, maybe even Missouri at this point. The Ole Miss game, Ole Miss is Georgia of the week after they play Arkansas. So that's a tricky timing and you get an off week to get ready for Texas. So I love this home schedule for Arkansas. That's why I think they've got some chances to still pull some upsets regardless of what happens on Saturday. - Now about LSU, this is something I asked cousin Shane where there's often, and you would know better than we would probably, but you know, there's teams like I threw out Tennessee in '98. There was, you know, the Ohio State team that had Maurice Claret. I mean, there's many throughout college football history that are solid, but very to no one, very few to no one picking them to win a national championship. Could LSU fit that formula as it were? I mean, if they, I mean, let me ask it to you this way. Maybe there's a better way to ask it. Would you rather be like Ole Miss and blow it all these teams out and then you're getting a dog fight and you can't respond? Or would you rather be like LSU and getting into all these dog fights and finding ways to win? I mean, me personally, I think that's what a good team does. It is find ways to win. And you start winning these dirty game, like let's say they beat Arkansas by two or three, just like they did Ole Miss in South Carolina. They already have the belief it looks like, but could they be like a team of destiny? 'Cause if I'm sitting here telling you they are winning at Arkansas, I understand at A&M it's very difficult, Alabama at home, at Florida, Vanderbilt, and Oklahoma, but they just beat Ole Miss. If I know they're beating Arkansas, I think they could conceivably, I'm not predicting it, but I think they could beat all these teams. - Yeah, I was gonna say, I think if they beat Arkansas, I think maybe the only game they won't be a favorite in is at Texas A&M. I think they'd be favored over Alabama at this point, unless we see a dramatic turnaround in Alabama's defense the next couple of weeks. So I think I would rather be battle tested in some of these SEC games. They've already went toe to toe with Ole Miss. They won on the road at South Carolina. You have close victories at home and the road and your battle tested, you've got a quarterback who can come through in the clutch. And also I think they're figuring some things out defensively. I mean, it's not gonna be a shutdown group, but they've figured out ways to manufacture a pass rush. They've got some guys in this defense who can get better with more snaps. So this LSU team, much like A&M, I think can only get better from here. - Mm-hmm, all right, how about this one? Steven, this is a very intriguing match up. Boy, both these teams desperately need it. Auburn, at Missouri, Steven, Missouri's two weeks to prepare. Or no, no, excuse me, I felt like they were on a buy. It was Auburn that was on a buy, but Missouri played UMass, which was essentially a buy. Missouri's number 19 in the country. They're favored by just four and a half though against Auburn. This is gonna be an early one, 11 a.m. Central, 12 Eastern on ESPN. This just has the feeling of the old JP sports morning. I mean, something wild is gonna happen in this one. I can just sense it. How about you? - It does, because I think the feeling for me, just right off the bat looking at this match up is, it feels very much like Auburn has lost these games. Who are they gonna be that they're in underdeveloped to that they probably don't have business blame. And it feels like it could be this game. And so it feels like a dangerous game for Missouri. And on the Auburn side, having that extra time to prepare and yes, they're two and four, but their offense has been finding ways to move the ball. And Missouri defensively is not what they were last year. So you could conceivably see, "Hey, it comes together this week. "They don't turn the ball over. "They don't have penalties." Missouri's not able to generate the big plays. Grading cook is a little bit off. And you can easily see how Auburn can go on the road and win this game. One factor that I think is gonna be probably critical for both teams on Saturday. It's super simple is turnovers because Missouri has lost a team. This season, Auburn has lost 15. So in a game that feels very much like a toss-up according to Vegas, feels like that in quarterback play is gonna be crucial to them. - Mm-hmm. And to the best of my knowledge, we still don't, we don't know the status of Luther Burden. Hopefully he can play in this game, but he got, he got banged up against UMass and did not return. So that's gonna be critical. - I think ESPN reported on Monday that sounds like he'll be able to go. - Okay. - Yeah, it's like returning to practice is kind of a worded awkwardly, but it made it seem like he'd be ready to go. But we'll see. - Yeah. And this might seem like a silly question, Stephen, but I think it's a fair one. Which quarterback do you have more confidence in in this match? A Brady Cook or Peyton Thorne? - That's a good question. Um, I would, I still think Brady Cook is gonna turn this around one week. Don't you? I mean, I know we're six games in, so. - I don't know. I think they kind of are who they are now. Now, and then they gotta find different ways. And let me say it this way. 'Cause I was listening to another show and they were, they were trying to figure out who's got the best set of weapons in the conference. And I think you could certainly make the, and I'm not saying best individual one receiver. I'm saying a collection with a running bag, with a tight end. And I think the case could be made for Missouri. Now Missouri's problem is quarterback. Left tackle has been a real, real issue that the guy from SMU, I don't think they got what they were hoping out of him. But when you talk about the collection receivers, the duollet running back, tight end, Missouri's got all the other pieces that everybody covets, but they're missing some big ones here. So, yeah, I just, I don't know. What's your thoughts on that? Steve, could they have the best skill talent essentially? I guess is what I'm asking you in the SEC? - I don't think that's crazy at all. You know, I still like Texas and Georgia certainly up there. You know, one thing is you were talking about the offensive line that sort of goes back to what you and I have talked about a lot too, which is portal additions on the offensive line are very much hit or miss. I mean, even if they start lower levels or power conferences, it takes time. It seems like for these guys to come in and play and everybody's looking for help. So, no matter, you know, if you're a backup at Toledo or a starter at Ball State, you're probably gonna get some attention to the portal 'cause everybody's looking for offensive line help. But I think that also gets at the thing here with Missouri, which is if they can clean up some of these things on the offensive line, they can get ready, cook on track. Mike, they've got the weapons at running back in receiver and it tied in to make this offense go. And if they want to make it run at the playoff, this has got to start here on Saturday by beating Auburn. - Right. And I mean, no chance what Hugh Fraser came out and said, right? Well, the lesser than roster, that's never gonna come back to bite him, but that's perfect bulletin board material that, hell, I may even just DM it to drink. Just make sure he saw it, you know what? - So had the blanket, I wonder what he could come up with this week, right? - All right, how about this matchup, Stephen, another? I mean, we're just shock full of great potential matchups this weekend. N-E-S-E-C Kentucky, at Florida, both, I think on the brink of collapse here, desperately need to get this one. Florida, two point favorites. So almost a complete toss-up. It's a night game though, 7.45 Eastern, 6.45 Central on the SEC network. And unfortunately, Graham Mertz out for the season. He tours ACL against Tennessee. So we're going with DJ Lagway here. And I'm not saying that's a bad thing at all, but first start against an SEC team for DJ Lagway here. But how do you see this one? - We've had the sunglasses bowl. This is the desperation bowl on Saturday nights. No doubt about it, because both teams desperately need a victory. For Kentucky's offense now, they have played four SEC games. They have scored four touchdowns in those games. This feels very much like a 13 to 10, 17, 13, 20 to 17 type of game. I think the group that you trust the most has got to be that Kentucky defense. Florida's defense has played better. Kentucky's offense has struggled. So this very much feels like what can DJ Lagway do against a very good Kentucky defense in a game where points feel position turnovers probably all going to be magnified. And Kentucky has dominated the recent series too. - Who has the coaching edge in this mantra? Mark Stoops and Billy Napier. - I would take Mark Stoops, I think. - By any time that's the answer, the other guy is not doing so high. You know what? - I think the correct answer could be what is Brad White going to cook up on defense in this game for Kentucky, right? - Would you agree with me though, that the loser of this game, the season's going to spiral potentially out of control? - I think for Florida especially, just because of that schedule. You know, Kentucky with the defense that they have, it feels like that can keep them in it every week. You know, from a scheduling standpoint, what Kentucky has, what Auburn and Tennessee. Yeah, I mean, it's a tough slate still for Kentucky. So I think just for all purposes, you know, it feels like the Kentucky needs to get this one because Auburn's not going to be a gimme. They'll get Murray State, but Louisville, Texas, Tennessee, those are going to be hard to win. - Right. Yeah, a loss here would drop Kentucky to one in four. In conference play, Florida would drop to one in three, if they were to lose this game with the win over Mississippi State. So, oh man, it's, yeah, this is going to be an ugly one, but strangely enough, after I don't even know the number, what was it, like 38 consecutive wins? Kentucky's won three in a row now they snap that streak. And is it, I think it's like four out of five or something like that, they've beaten Florida. - Yeah, you know, you said earlier that Missouri Auburn was the JP game of the week. This one feels like it right. - Yeah, I was overlooking this one. Of course. How about this one, Steven? Two weeks to prepare here for the Aggies. They're big favorites. This is the largest spread in the conference games here. Texas A&M 15 point favorite at Mississippi State 315, central 415 Eastern on SEC network. Will Texas A&M keep the hot streak rolling? - Mike, I think they're going to. And I think number one, the two weeks to get ready for this game certainly have an impact. Mississippi State has now played Texas off week, Georgia, and they're just undermanned. It is a difficult spot to play in Starkville, but also kind of going back to what we talked about earlier with Mike Elko, the say A&M team is getting better by the week. And Connor Wigman has had a couple of weeks to get healthy, get closer to 100%. It certainly sounds like he's going to be at that strength on Saturday. It really feels like A&M, all the ingredients are coming together. The other thing is I think looking at how far Texas A&M has come, every game is in sort of that must win no let down space. And I think under Jimbo Fisher, I think you could easily see a let down. I think Mike Elko will keep this team focused even though it is a tough spot. And some of the matchups just really favor A&M here. The defensive front for the Aggies against the Mississippi State offensive line, really liked the way Michael Van Buren has been playing in a tough spot, but the say A&M defense, it just seems to get better every week. So I think the matchups in the timing favor, Texas A&M here. - And I know there was a buy in there, but playing Texas, playing Georgia, both on the road in their last two games, they get to come home to Starkville, but that could be very difficult for Mississippi State. But what would it say about Jeff Levy and company? If they, let's say they do basically the same thing, where they even if people say don't believe in moral victories and then they're like, well, what about a moral victory? So maybe I do believe in them and then for some teams, like Mississippi State, I think I would buy that. If they, let's say they lost by seven or 10 or something like that, I think that would be something to build upon, would you? - Yeah, I do. And I think just thinking about how the Texas and Georgia games went, I think the kind of the consensus was they were gonna be blown out. And the Georgia game certainly wasn't. And they gave Texas a lot of trouble early. So I think they just fared better. And I think maybe there might be some confidence there for Mississippi State that, hey, we just, we played two of the best top five teams in the country. And we took Georgia to the brink, we played Texas well. And even in a year zero situation, you're looking for moral victories, like you said, for Mississippi State. So the fact that they have played well at times against some of the top teams. And you've got a quarterback at Michael Van Buren who's maybe building for the future. If you can take Texas A&M and push them, that sort of just gives you a little bit of confidence for the rest of the way. 'Cause this is year zero and there's a lot of heavy lifting to be done and rebuilding. And you're just unfortunately looking for these type of moral victories at this point. - And you hit on this already, but I'll reiterate it, that I think the biggest challenge for Elko and company this week is just consistency. Getting pumped up, you're three and own conference. You look red hot. It doesn't matter who you're playing. We have seen that in this conference. It does not matter. 16 can beat one seemingly this year. So I'm not saying that Mississippi State's gonna win, but if they don't show up and they don't, at least play with their B game on the road. They could lose this game. - Maybe it helps Mike Elko and Texas A&M, that Mississippi State just gave Georgia all it could handle too. For motivation, focusing perspective, just the fact that they were able to do what they, they lost 52 to seven. Yeah, I might be a little bit more worried about it, but because it was closed, maybe that sort of gets Texas A&M's attention here. - All right, what's your thoughts on this one, Steven? I think it's a first one to three points. We'll win it for South Carolina. That Oklahoma Oklahoma is favored by three. I don't think that's the over-under. I think that's what Oklahoma's favored by. 11.45 AM Central time, 12.45 Eastern on the SEC network. What a showdown here. - Mike, it does feel like the first one to like 10 might win this game. These two teams feel very similar to some extent. You have two teams with pretty good defenses. Also the defensive lines for both teams, probably going to create a lot of havoc. There's two stats just on the surface of this matchup that jumped out to me, which was these two teams have combined to lose 19 turnovers and allow 46 sacks this year. So it feels like whichever offensive line could just play a little bit better, whichever quarterback can maybe create some plays off schedule, some short fields, like that's probably going to decide this game. And also maybe a little bit of beamer ball here on the road, block punt, something like that. It definitely feels like a lower scoring defensive struggle here. - And maybe the same thing I asked you about Florida, Kentucky, but could this be a calamity for the team that drops this one? - Oh, absolutely. I mean, both of these teams, when you look at their schedule, there's not an easy path to six victories. I think the interesting thing about South Carolina is at different times this year, my confidence level has been rising with them. And in the Ole Miss game, it sort of dropped. But if the South Carolina that shows up against Alabama and LSU shows up on Saturday, I mean, their schedule was very difficult, but I could easily talk myself into finding six wins. And the same thing is certainly true with Oklahoma. If Michael Hawkins continues to develop, you're at four wins already, you're gonna beat Maine. So if you get South Carolina this week, even with a difficult schedule, I think you can kind of fight your way maybe to get to seven. - Yeah, so I mean, this is gonna be a very telling game. I really do think now. And it's gonna be a battle, it's gonna be a war. You got two great defenses, but I don't know. I don't have, I'll just put it this way. I don't have faith in either offensive coordinator to really generate a plan that is going to take advantage of the other side, if that makes sense. - Of the games that Oklahoma and South Carolina has played this year, Caddal Loggins have maybe had a more competent plan at times, sometimes than Oklahoma, is that crazy? - Yeah, I mean, that's not crazy, which is pathetic. - It's hurting. - Yeah, yeah, but again, this being a Norman, and I'll spend it this way, Steven. If this was, say, no disrespect, 'cause, hey, South Carolina's nearly just knocked off Alabama. But I would think for some fan bases, maybe like a Georgia, or maybe that was part of it last week, Alabama, they're not gonna be too psyched up for South Carolina. I think Oklahoma is because it's all new, and these are new opponents in a new conference. These fans really gotta show out on Saturday, and give the Sooners an edge, 'cause that may be what decides it. - Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think we see this in different conferences and also in the SEC, that home field advantage can be huge. And especially in a game like this, if you can create a couple false hearts, and you're asking Lenora Sellers to operate out of 1st and 15, and with the way both these offenses have been playing this year, I will take my chances with 1st and 15, 2nd and 13th in long-yarded situations with both these teams trying to execute. So the crowd, the defense, all that could be very big for Oklahoma on Saturday. - All right, and then the last one here, I don't have a graphic, I didn't have time. Ball State, Matt Vanderbilt, wait, can you tell us anything? Is this gonna be any kind of a, I mean, are we at the point, Stephen, where Vanderbilt's gonna be overlooking people now, 'cause they're so red hot? - I mean, if you're Vanderbilt, I don't think you can necessarily afford to overlook people considering you lost to Georgia State earlier this year, but I think Georgia State's better than Ball State, not by much. So if there is a positive here for Vanderbilt, Ball State is probably one of the 15 to 20 bottom teams in college football, two and four to start the season, they lost 62 to nothing to Miami a few weeks ago. Also, to compare, this Ball State team beat Kent State, that Kent State team, that Tennessee blew out by two points. - Oh. - So that kind of just gives you an idea that they're very much in that discussion to be nine, 10, 11 in the Mac. If you're looking for players to watch, Tanner Coziol, their tight end, their quarterback, Caden Simosa, both pretty solid players in the Mac, could give Vanderbilt some trouble, but Ball State's giving up 46 points a game on defense. - That's a good opportunity for Diego Pavia to put up some big numbers on Saturday. - If Vanderbilt wins on Saturday, and I don't even think that's an if, but let's say Vanderbilt wins, beats Ball State, and let's say Texas beats Georgia. Does Vanderbilt get college game day for old Texas at Vanderbilt? - Oh man, I hope so. That'd be awesome, wouldn't it? I mean, Diego Pavia just needs to be a guest on game day for the whole thing. - Yeah, what a wild see that I hope, I hope it happens for Vanderbilt's sake, not for Georgia fans' sake, but again, that would be pretty wild, wouldn't it? I mean, of all the things that happen, that'd be even stranger than Cal getting college game day, wouldn't it? - Yeah, I mean, well, 'cause what Vanderbilt's had at one other time, it was that game against Auburn. I think when this was the year where Bobby Johnson was the head coach there, and of course, it was the year they were pretty good, but yeah, that would be pretty special for Vanderbilt to get it this season after beating Alabama, chance to go to a bowl game, number one Texas, potentially, coming in. - Right, I know, so, I mean, the stars are aligning on the West end there, and I'm here for it. So, Stephen, we went very long on this one. Anything else to close us out? - Man, Mike, I'm just looking forward to these games this weekend, and I can't wait to see what happens. All right, it's just chaos, let's see what chaos is to come this weekend. - Right, and before we go, as always, can you remind the folks how to follow you, how to find your work? - Absolutely, afflonsports.com is where you can read all my work, and you can check me out on Twitter, @afflonsetven, and Stephen LCFB over on Facebook and Instagram. - All right, Stephen, we appreciate you stopping by and dropping all this knowledge. 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]
