Casualties are inevitable. The smoking guns this week are in the hands of the Ole Miss Rebs and the lowly Volunteers. Au Revoir, Bengal Baritone, CaribTiger, Jonny S and VandyTigerPHD. There’s always next year!

This Week’s Games

#14 Auburn @ Texas A&M

Auburn got a bye week to get ready for a show down with... an Aggie team that just got throttled at home by State. Auburn hasn’t folded like the typical loser of the LSU/Auburn affair, but the Aggies seem right on schedule with their annual late season collapse. Loser coach’s seat engulfed in flames?

UMass @ #16 Mississippi State

State has been a force at home this season and finally notched a major road victory last week. UMass only has 2 wins, but upset Appalachian State last week! Are they smelling another upset special? Do the Minuteman have more magic up their sleeves? Who am I kidding, they are going to get obliterated.

Florida @ Missouri

Florida fired their coach after he lied to the media and failed to put an effective offense on the field in 2.5 seasons. Honestly, they fired him because he’s an asshole. Got what he deserved. Missouri is on a winning streak! Randy Shannon takes Mizzou by storm, rallies the troops and pulls one out here, igniting the “hire Randy Shannon” campaign. It will be glorious.

Western Kentucky @ Vanderbilt

Western Kentucky has sorta limped through the season and took it on the chin last week. Vandy looks to be free falling with 5 straight losses. The Dores are 10 point favorites at home, which feels right. They need to win 3 of their last 4 to make a bowl. That needs to include this game.

South Carolina @ #1 Georgia

This is the most formidable team Georgia has played since Mississippi State. That was in the middle of September. The Dawgs are huge favorites at home after mudhole-ing Florida and getting their coach fired. South Carolina is the quietest 6-2 in the nation. They are unranked in every major poll, while NC State, a team with the same record that they beat, is. This is a showdown of a couple former Saban disciples. Winner reportedly gets Nick’s last family Christmas card. Am I wrong for going closer than the experts think here? Might be downright interesting if USC had Deebo.

Ole Miss @ Kentucky

Kentucky was always a bit of a farce and narrowly beating an awful Tennessee squad with their best player suspended... at home... doesn’t do much to dissuade me of that opinion. But good for them getting bowl eligible! Ole Miss, well, they just... umm, well... last week... you know... it was... it happened. Gonna go out on a limb and say Matt Luke isn’t gonna get that interim tag removed. Looking forward to them winning the Egg Bowl though.

Coastal Carolina @ Arkansas

It counts! Coastal Carolina are... technically... a Sun Belt team. Coastal Carolina is taking that 2 year bowl exemption seriously, by going 1-7 this season. Arkansas is terrible. They rallied from a 20-point deficit to beat a somehow worse Ole Miss team. The Hogs need to win 3 of their last 4 to make a bowl. 2 of those games are against ranked opponents and 1 of them on the road. Yeah, they could use this rent-a-win.

Southern Miss @ Tennessee

The Vols are TD favorites and I honestly... am not sure why. The Golden Eagles aren’t a great team and they just took a beating from UAB, but -7 against whatever Tennessee is currently strutting on the field... I think the AD is trying to let Butch finish this season before firing him, but goodness, if he drops this one.... Knoxville might burn to the ground.

#19 LSU @ #2 Alabama

I suppose it’s the game of the century of the year of the month of the week again. Vegas, the analysts and well pretty much everyone think LSU will dutifully show up for their beating here. Usually in a road upset, you are trying to align one area where a team mismatches that could throw things in their favor. I don’t really see it with these two teams. Alabama is a run-dominant team that struggles to pass. LSU can expertly defend the pass but struggles to stand up in the run game. Basically you need a hero’s effort from LSU AND some breaks to go their way.