The SEC race and College Football Playoff field positioning has arrived in compelling fashion.<\/p>\n
The No. 1-ranked Georgia Bulldogs will look to get to the first half of season finish line with a 3:30 p.m. ESPN matchup against a fresh and upset-minded Auburn team coming off a bye week.<\/p>\n
Georgia came out of its battle with Alabama in Tuscaloosa a banged-up football team with questions in its backfield and secondary that will test Kirby Smart\u2019s roster management \u2014 UGA could have as many as 10 games left after the bye week depending on how the CFP bracket shakes out and the depth of the Bulldogs\u2019 run,<\/p>\n
The Crimson Tide is in a much more perilous position as it heads to Tennessee for a 3:30 p.m. ABC showdown against a No. 14-ranked Vols\u2019 team that could have CFP potential with a win over Alabama.<\/p>\n
Tennessee features tailback DeSean Bishop who ranks seventh in the nation with 678 yards rushing and the team ranks 15th in the country with 228.3 yards per game on the ground.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re such a downhill running team,\u201d Alabama defensive coordinator Kane Wommack said. \u201cIt\u2019s the identity of who they are.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Vols also have a good defense, ranking 12th in the nation in pass efficiency defense, making it a strength-on-strength matchup against the Tide\u2019s talented quarterback, Keelon Russell.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe crowd noise will be an obvious factor for us, it\u2019s one of the loudest places in the country,\u201d Alabama offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know there were some issues for us back in 2024. We don\u2019t want this to get on top of us, there\u2019s 100 plus thousand in there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grubb said Alabama will have some \u201cguys settling into new spots\u201d after explosive receiver Ryan Coleman-Williams took some hits against Georgia that will have him sidelined this week and center Racin Delgatty was banged up enough that the Tide has listed him as \u201cquestionable\u201d for the game.<\/p>\n
Tennessee, meanwhile, has a complex quarterback situation with season-starter Faizon Brandon listed as questionable while George MacIntyre prepares for what\u2019s expected to be his second career start after a choppy 24-17 road win over a tougher-than-expected Arkansas. <\/p>\n
Missouri at Ole Miss is another featured matchup featuring one-loss teams looking to stay in the hunt for the SEC title game and CFP field.<\/p>\n
The Tigers have been tougher than expected, featuring SEC leading rusher Jamal Roberts and a Top 10 rushing defense, while the Rebels counter with playmaking sensation Trinidad Chambliss and a talented back in Kewan Lacy making his second appearance since being out with a shoulder injury.<\/p>\n
Here are the times, TV channels and picks on this week\u2019s games involving SEC teams:<\/p>\n
Florida at Texas -9.5, noon, ABC<\/p>\n
Pick: Texas 30, Florida 20<\/p>\n
Mississippi State at LSU -10.5, noon ESPN<\/p>\n
Pick: LSU 34, Mississippi State 21<\/p>\n
The Citadel at Texas A&M -45.5 1 p.m., SEC Network+<\/p>\n
Pick: Texas A&M 56, The Citadel 7<\/p>\n
Auburn at Georgia -18.5, 3:30 p.m., ESPN<\/p>\n
Pick: Georgia 38, Auburn 10<\/p>\n
Missouri at Ole Miss -6.5, 3:30 p.m. SEC Network<\/p>\n
Pick: Ole Miss 30, Missouri 24<\/p>\n
Alabama -6.5 at Tennessee, 3:30 p.m. ABC<\/p>\n
Pick: Alabama 34, Tennessee 31<\/p>\n
Arkansas at Vanderbilt -5.5, 7 p.m., ESPN2<\/p>\n
Pick: Arkansas 30, Vanderbilt 28<\/p>\n
Kentucky at Oklahoma -6.5, 7:30 p.m., SEC Network<\/p>\n
Pick: Oklahoma 27, Kentucky 20<\/p>\n
Last week: 3-4 straight up, 2-5 vs. spread<\/p>\n
Overall: 38-11 straight-up, 25-24 vs spread<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The SEC race and College Football Playoff field positioning has arrived in compelling fashion. The No. 1-ranked Georgia…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":883823,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[326328,399,6606,320885,398,396,397,99,56715],"class_list":["post-883822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-football","tag-chris-cole","tag-football","tag-georgia-football","tag-georgia-alabama","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-football","tag-ncaafootball","tag-sports","tag-uga-football"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=883822"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883822\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/883823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=883822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=883822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=883822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}