B&S week 7: game by game previews
Just four SEC games this weekend, but a massive one in #5 Georgia vs. #8 Florida
By: Bossman Slim, The Hammer, The Waco Kid
Photo: John Raoux, AP Photo
No early games this week, so wake up a little late, have a big breakfast, and get ready for 3:30 because it’s gonna be a roman gladiator style throw down in Jacksonville. A&M and South Carolina has some intrigue, Tennessee and Arkansas should be a good game, and the only interesting thing about Mississippi State-Vanderbilt is the Bulldogs space uniforms.
Dig in and get primed for tomorrow’s action.
Midday Games
#8 Florida at #5 Georgia - 3:30 PM ET on CBS (Georgia -3.5)
The Hammer has a full in-depth preview of the game, which you can read here. Here’s a snippet of what he’s cookin’:
“With Zamir White and the Dawgs running back stable, Georgia should be able to get 150+ yards on the ground, but Florida will be selling out to stop the run. They are going to try and make Bennet beat them. The Bulldog signal-caller needs to make a few plays down the field, very similar to the plays Kellen Mond made for A&M, in order to keep the Gators honest. The Florida defense is giving up 29.2 points per game, so the opportunity should be there. I think the Bulldogs should try to emulate the Texas A&M blueprint against Florida. Rely on the run and use it to set up play-action, then take some deep shots and try to catch the Gators napping. If Bennett can hit a few deep balls and take care of the football, Georgia can score points and keep pace.
Photo: Brad McClenny, The Gainsville Sun
I can't wait to see this matchup on the other side of the ball. Kyle Trask and Florida have looked pretty unstoppable offensively averaging 476 yards and 42 points per game. Meanwhile, the Dawgs defense only allows 300 yards and 16 points per game. Strength against strength. Georgia is big, nasty, and physical on defense and they don't let the opposing offenses get much. But, Alabama was able to crack the code and put up 41 on the Dawgs.
Florida might be able to do the same. Kyle Trask has been putting up silly numbers and the combination of Kyle Pitts and Kadarius Toney on the outside is lethal. Through four games, Trask has thrown for 1,341 yards, 18 touchdowns, and two interceptions all while completing 68.3% of his throws. Bennett’s numbers are much more pedestrian. Through five games the Bulldog quarterback has thrown for 1,089 yards, seven touchdowns, five interceptions while completing 58.4% of his passes. Advantage Gators.”
The Hammer
Vanderbilt at Mississippi State - 4:00 PM ET on SEC Network (Mississippi State -19.5)
The B&S staff trying to determine who got the pleasure of reviewing this snoozefest.
0-4 vs. 1-4. Yay.
Mississippi State has fallen off a cliff since beating the defending national champs on opening weekend. The Bulldogs have not won a game since beating LSU, and the Tigers have only made that win look worse by losing games to Missouri and Auburn. Mississippi State will be wearing space-themed jerseys this weekend, which is a great metaphor for KJ Costello’s Heisman campaign. His campaign was like when you were a kid and your Dad told you he saw a shooting star, only for you to immediately look up and it was already gone. This is a lost season for the Bulldogs, with a mass exodus from the program as Leach cleans house.
Photo: via @HailStateFB
With that stellar outlook for Mississippi State, let me tell you something crazy: the Bulldogs are favored by 19.5, because they are playing Vanderbilt, who is demonstrably worse. The Commodores have not won a game this year, getting the brakes beaten off them in nearly every game. There really have not been many bright spots to report on for Vandy, except that they got to head to Ole Miss and get distracted by eye candy to dull the pain for a week.
I’ll agree with Vegas here. Mississippi State takes this one, but it’s closer than the line. These two teams are a mess.
Mississippi State 27
Vanderbilt 20
Bossman Slim
Tennessee at Arkansas - 7:30 PM ET on SEC Network (Tennessee -1.5)
Photo: Charlie Kaijo, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
The line says it all. These are both below-average football teams. Or at the very least equally as bad. It is evident, due to the record of these two teams that the top teams in the SEC did not get the memo: To provide for a fair season with wins to be distributed equally. I, personally, am not necessarily a pro-SEC West guy rather an anti-Jarrett Guarantano kind of fan. Just like many others throughout the nation (with that same mentality) we will probably not get to see a victor until at the very earliest Saturday night after Arkansas hosts Tennessee for a 7:30 ET showdown. Tune in, I expect the margin in this one to be razor-thin.
Mirror, mirror on the wall who’s the most pedestrian of them all? While one of these teams will answer this question, the winning team will have the opportunity to step out of a cycle of mediocrity and regain momentum heading into the latter part of the season. At this point, either team could come out victorious, but the glaring difference is the quarterback play. The Hogs have been terrorizing defensive backfields with the seemingly unstoppable duo of Feleipe Franks and receiver Treylon Burks. Add in the return of running back Rakeem Boyd last week against A&M and the Razorbacks were able to keep a tough Aggie defense honest for the majority of the night. A&M was unable to take the same approach they took defensively in the Mississippi State game, against Arkansas. By that I mean, they did not have the luxury of only rushing 3 and dropping backers into coverage and spy positions, with Boyd in the backfield they had to use at least 4 down linemen coupled with blitzes from the linebackers. By sheer numbers and statistical analysis, this opened up the Aggie secondary to holes, which Franks was able to exploit, ending the game with 239 yards for 3 touchdowns. Even in a loss, those are impressive numbers put up by a quarterback against a much better defense than that of Tennessee.
The Vols’ defensive front will come out with 4 down lineman, possibly with an outside backer rushing the edge to start the game. This would typically be problematic, but Arkansas has a head coach that was previously the offensive line coach for Georgia, so if anyone can come up with a gameplan to stop defensive pressure it will be Sam Pittman. If they do show this front, as they have in every single other game, Franks should be able to take advantage of a cover two man scheme that leaves the middle of the field open as well as a tight end mismatch on the linebackers. Also, the Vol backers seem to sometimes lose running backs coming out of the backfield, so Rakeem Boyd could have a big receiving day. On top of that, there are times when the safeties play ten yards off in man coverage so look for those underneath crossing and hitch routes to be easy gains for Arkansas. Tennessee will try to confuse the Razorbacks with twists and stunts but at the end of the day if the o-line can keep gap integrity it will not matter.
Tennessee’s Jarrett Guarantano has been underwhelming to say the least. His numbers are by no means horrible, the guy is just not a winner. His approach to the game is lackadaisical and leaves fans craving…holy crap he’s the new Jay Cutler. When you have a quarterback out there you want to see the fire pits of hell running through his veins. When I see Guarantano, I see a guy that has always shown up and been better than everyone else so he no longer understands what it takes to be competitive at a higher level. If Tennessee has any shot at beating Arkansas, Guarantano will have to step up his game and prove he can prepare and play like every other athlete in his position. He has the raw talent to do so but the will to win may not be there. This attitude will prove difficult against a Razorback defense that ranks in the top 10 in turnovers. The Vols may have to rely on running back Eric Gray to carry the team, but even that will not be enough.
Smokin’ Jarrett Cutler
Four out of the five games Arkansas has played have been against top 20 opponents, experience like that cannot be replicated. And if it had not been for a few bad calls we could be looking at a 3-2 Arkansas team on the brink of great things. Tennessee has played two ranked teams and lost significantly in both matches, while only beating some of the worse off teams in the SEC. Arkansas will take the early lead and not give it up. Tennessee will make a last-minute push in the fourth quarter but at that time it will be a little too late for the Vols. The West will conquer, if only by a minimal amount.
Arkansas 27
Tennessee 22
The Waco Kid
Settle in for another great weekend of football. If you haven’t already, you can sign up for the Mornin’ Biscuits Newsletter, which comes straight to your inbox 4-days a week. You’ll have one tomorrow before College GameDay.
See you then.