College football Saturdays have a problem.
There are too many damn games.
Nine SEC games are on the schedule this Saturday, including six involving ranked teams and four games where both sides have legitimate reasons to believe they’re walking out with a win. You can try to watch all of them. You can have three televisions running, a tablet propped against the Coke Zero can, and your phone streaming SEC Network+ like some sort of football command center.
Or we can make this easier.
That’s the idea behind SEC Football Games 2 Watch. Every week, we’re picking two SEC games deserving the full Titanquisitor treatment. One gets named Game of the Week, one gets the second spotlight, and everything else gets enough attention so you know what’s happening without spending half your Saturday reading previews instead of watching football.
For the debut edition, the obvious headliner might appear to be No. 1 Texas heading into Knoxville.
It isn’t.
We’re going to Gainesville.
2:30 PM CT — ABC
There are games where the rankings tell you everything you need to know.
I don’t think this is one of them.
Ole Miss enters Saturday ranked No. 4 after beating LSU 32-24 last week, a win that jumped the Rebels four spots in the AP poll. Florida climbed back into the rankings at No. 21 after going into Auburn and coming away with a 44-39 win. Both teams are 3-0, SEC Nation is setting up shop in Gainesville, and suddenly a September afternoon in The Swamp has become one of the most interesting games on the entire college football schedule.
That’s why this is my Game of the Week.
Texas-Tennessee has the bigger numbers beside the names, but Ole Miss-Florida feels like the game where we’re going to learn considerably more about both teams.
Ole Miss already gave us one answer last Saturday.
The Rebels can beat a very good football team.
Trinidad Chambliss has thrown for 924 yards and seven touchdowns through three games while completing 70 percent of his passes, including 363 yards against LSU. Ole Miss now has consecutive ranked opponents and has to follow one emotional SEC win by immediately going into one of the conference’s nastiest road environments.
That’s where this gets interesting.
Florida isn’t crawling into this game hoping to survive.
The Gators are 3-0 under first-year head coach Jon Sumrall, are averaging 54 points per game, and have already scored 12 rushing touchdowns. They’ve gone from unranked to No. 21 and now get a Top 5 opponent walking directly into The Swamp.
There are very few places in college football where momentum can turn as violently as Gainesville when Florida is actually good.
One turnover becomes seven points.
Seven points becomes a stadium losing its collective mind.
Then suddenly whatever perfectly reasonable offensive plan you brought into the building doesn’t seem quite as reasonable when 90,000 people are screaming at you.
Ole Miss is the more accomplished team through three weeks, though, and beating LSU convinced me enough that I’m taking the Rebels here.
It might not be comfortable.
Actually, I’d be disappointed if it were.
Gary’s Pick: Ole Miss
11:00 AM CT — ABC
Nothing like easing into Saturday morning.
Coffee.
Breakfast.
No. 1 Texas walking into Neyland Stadium.
Texas and Tennessee are both 3-0, and this will be the SEC opener for both programs. Texas already owns a victory over then-No. 1 Ohio State, but Saturday brings something the Longhorns haven’t faced this season: a true road game. In fact, this is Texas’ only true road game until November.
And they’re starting with Knoxville.
That’s considerate of the schedule makers.
Texas beat UTSA 30-6 last week, which sounds perfectly respectable until you consider that the performance was sluggish enough to leave some questions heading into Tennessee. The Longhorns nevertheless remained No. 1 and received 58 of 69 first-place votes in the latest AP poll.
Tennessee is ranked No. 14 and now gets its opportunity to put an enormous dent in the national picture before most of us have finished lunch.
The atmosphere is the part that interests me most.
Arch Manning has played in huge games. Texas has played in huge games. But playing an SEC road game inside Neyland is its own particular form of nonsense. More than 100,000 people will arrive Saturday morning convinced they’re personally responsible for ruining Texas’ season, and they’re going to spend three hours trying.
It also gives us the completely stupid but highly entertaining battle over who gets to call itself the real UT.
These are the sort of important matters college football was built upon.
I think Tennessee makes Texas work for it. If the Longhorns start slowly again, Neyland is going to make the morning extremely unpleasant.
But I’m still taking No. 1.
Gary’s Pick: Texas
South Alabama at Kentucky
11:45 AM CT — SEC Network
Kentucky might have delivered the biggest surprise in the SEC last week, walking into College Station and beating then-No. 9 Texas A&M 31-21. Kenny Minchey threw for 252 yards and two touchdowns, while C.J. Baxter added two rushing scores.
Now comes the dangerous part: coming home and remembering you’re supposed to beat South Alabama.
Pick: Kentucky
Oklahoma at No. 2 Georgia
2:30 PM CT — ESPN
Oklahoma barely escaped New Mexico 14-6 last week and responded by falling completely out of the Top 25. Georgia had a rather different Saturday, beating Arkansas 45-17 and holding onto the No. 2 ranking.
Now Oklahoma gets Georgia in Athens.
Congratulations.
Pick: Georgia
Vanderbilt at Auburn
3:15 PM CT — SEC Network
This is one of those games that probably won’t dominate any national conversation but could get weird enough to occupy your second television.
Vanderbilt is coming off a wild win over NC State, while Auburn needs to respond after losing 44-39 at home to Florida. Auburn gets another one at Jordan-Hare, and I think that’s enough to get the Tigers back on track.
Pick: Auburn
South Carolina at No. 8 Alabama
6:00 PM CT — ESPN
Alabama wasn’t exactly interested in making last week’s Florida State game stress-free, falling behind before eventually turning it into a 50-36 win. South Carolina, meanwhile, let a 16-0 lead disappear in a 41-34 loss to Mississippi State.
Bryant-Denny at night isn’t where I’d choose to work through those problems.
Pick: Alabama
No. 23 Texas A&M at No. 10 LSU
6:30 PM CT — ABC
Somebody is going to feel considerably better about themselves Saturday night.
Texas A&M was No. 9 before Kentucky walked into College Station and knocked the Aggies down fourteen spots in the poll. LSU was No. 7 before losing 32-24 at Ole Miss and falling to No. 10.
Two ranked teams coming off losses, under the lights in Baton Rouge.
That’s not a bad consolation prize if one of our Games 2 Watch turns into a blowout.
Pick: LSU
6:45 PM CT — SEC Network
Don’t sleep on Mississippi State.
Actually, don’t sleep on this game.
Missouri and Mississippi State are both 3-0, but the Bulldogs are one of the teams I’m becoming increasingly interested in watching. Mississippi State has scored 141 points in three games, an average of 47 per game, and quarterback Kamario Taylor has already accounted for 1,010 yards of total offense and 12 touchdowns. The Bulldogs went on the road and hammered Minnesota 38-13, then fell behind South Carolina 16-0 and came back to win 41-34. It’s Mississippi State’s first 3-0 start since 2017.
Missouri isn’t some sacrificial victim, either. The Tigers are also unbeaten and enter ranked No. 19 after beating Troy 27-17. This is their SEC opener, and Missouri has won its conference opener three straight years under Eli Drinkwitz.
That’s what makes this my sleeper.
Mississippi State has reached the point where I’m no longer looking at the Bulldogs as a cute early-season story. There may be something here. If they beat a ranked Missouri team and move to 4-0, we’re going to have to start having a considerably different conversation about Mississippi State.
I’m taking the Bulldogs.
Pick: Mississippi State
Tulsa at Arkansas
7:00 PM CT — SEC Network+
Arkansas gets Tulsa at home.
There are probably several paragraphs I could write here about matchups, personnel and what the Razorbacks need to accomplish.
Instead:
Arkansas just got beaten 45-17 by Georgia.
They’re already having the sort of season where Tulsa at Arkansas makes me stare at the schedule for a few seconds and think, You know what? Screw it.
Give me Tulsa.
If Arkansas proves me wrong, congratulations to them for successfully defeating Tulsa at home.
Pick: Tulsa
GARY’S PICKS FOR THE WEEK
No. 1 Texas over No. 14 Tennessee
No. 4 Ole Miss over No. 21 Florida
Kentucky over South Alabama
No. 2 Georgia over Oklahoma
Auburn over Vanderbilt
No. 8 Alabama over South Carolina
No. 10 LSU over No. 23 Texas A&M
No. 24 Mississippi State over No. 19 Missouri
Tulsa over Arkansas
Nine games.
Four ranked-vs.-ranked matchups.
No. 1 going into Neyland.
No. 4 walking into The Swamp.
And Mississippi State quietly sitting over there at 3-0 waiting to see if anybody is paying attention yet.
That’s a Saturday.
But if you’re only giving two games the big television, Ole Miss at Florida is the Titanquisitor Game of the Week, and Texas at Tennessee is your 11 AM appointment.
Everything after that is gravy.
Or, in Arkansas’ case, potentially another problem.
