Last Saturday gave us a few reminders about how quickly this conference can rearrange itself.
Alabama went into Starkville and turned our Game of the Week into a 56-23 statement, Florida followed its huge win over Ole Miss by getting blasted 45-17 at Missouri, Tennessee handled Auburn 24-14, Kentucky survived South Carolina in overtime, and Texas A&M finally got itself back in the win column by beating Arkansas 34-7. The SEC remains perfectly capable of making you feel smart one Saturday and stupid the next.
This week somehow gets even better.
No. 2 Georgia goes to No. 6 Alabama in a matchup between two unbeaten teams. No. 10 LSU heads to Lexington for a Kentucky team that has quietly become one of the more interesting stories in the conference. No. 1 Texas and Oklahoma meet in Dallas in the Red River Rivalry. Ole Miss goes to Vanderbilt, Tennessee heads to Arkansas, and Texas A&M gets another road test at Missouri. The SEC only gives us seven games this Saturday, but there isn’t much filler.
And there was never really any question where the big television was going.
No. 2 Georgia at No. 6 Alabama
6:30 PM CT — ABC — Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Sometimes picking the Game of the Week requires a little thought. This one did not.
Georgia and Alabama are both 5-0, both 3-0 in the SEC, and both scoring at a ridiculous pace. Georgia enters averaging 51.4 points per game, the best mark in the country, while Alabama is right behind at 49.6. The Bulldogs have not trailed at any point this season and have outscored their opponents 257-67 through five games, while Alabama has scored at least 45 points every single week.
So yes, this should be fun.
There is one fairly important complication hanging over all of this, though: Tropical Storm Isaias. The system is expected to move through Alabama this weekend, and the current forecast raises the possibility of heavy rain, strong winds, and severe weather in Tuscaloosa on Saturday. As of Wednesday night, Alabama says there are no plans to change the game, but the school and SEC are monitoring the situation, and that obviously leaves some uncertainty around whether the 6:30 PM kickoff stays exactly where it is.
Georgia has looked almost annoyingly complete so far. The Bulldogs beat Arkansas 45-17 on the road, handled Oklahoma 41-13, then took care of Vanderbilt 38-14 last week without ever really giving anybody much reason to believe the game was slipping away. The defense is allowing only 13.4 points per game, leads the SEC in rushing defense, and has spent most of the season making opposing offenses look like they accidentally wandered onto the field during warmups.
Alabama’s response to the challenge in Starkville was even louder. Mississippi State entered last week undefeated and ranked, had earned the right to be taken seriously, and Alabama proceeded to beat the Bulldogs 56-23. That was supposed to be the week where we found out whether State was ready for the top tier of the SEC. Alabama answered that question before lunch.
Now the Tide gets Georgia at Bryant-Denny.
This rivalry has become one of the defining matchups of modern college football, and Georgia still has plenty of reason to remember what Tuscaloosa can feel like. The last time the Bulldogs came here, Alabama jumped out to a 30-7 halftime lead before Georgia came storming back, briefly took the lead late, and still lost 41-34. Alabama also holds a 45-27-4 advantage in the all-time series and has won nine of eleven meetings in Tuscaloosa.
But Georgia also got the last word.
The Bulldogs beat Alabama 28-7 in last year’s SEC Championship Game, shutting the Tide out through the first three quarters and claiming their second straight conference title.
So now we get the rematch, except this time it is in Tuscaloosa, and both teams are undefeated.
Assuming Mother Nature lets us have it, this is about as clean a setup as college football can give you.
The part I keep coming back to is Alabama’s passing game against Georgia’s defense. Georgia has been excellent against the run and very good overall, but Alabama has more ability than anyone the Bulldogs have faced to make them defend the entire field. If the Tide can keep Georgia from dictating the pace defensively and force this into the kind of game where both teams have to score in the 30s, I think home field starts mattering a little more.
Georgia, on the other hand, has been so efficient that Alabama may not get many opportunities to recover from mistakes. The Bulldogs are first in the SEC in scoring offense, second in scoring defense and second in turnover margin. Alabama leads the league in turnover margin at plus-seven, so whoever gives away the first extra possession may find themselves chasing the game for the rest of the night.
I do not expect a blowout either way. I think Georgia is probably the more complete team, but Bryant-Denny at night is exactly where I stop trusting the cleanest statistical argument.
I’m taking Alabama at home.
Barely.
Gary’s Pick: Alabama
No. 10 LSU at Kentucky
6:00 PM CT — ESPN — Lexington, Kentucky
Kentucky is rapidly becoming the team I keep expecting to fall back to earth, and every week the Wildcats find another way to stay interesting.
They went into College Station and beat Texas A&M. They took care of South Alabama. Then last week they went to South Carolina, fell behind by 17 points, fought all the way back and won 35-34 in overtime when Will Stein decided he had no interest in playing another possession and went for two.
Kenny Minchey hit Willie Rodriguez for the winning conversion, completing the biggest road comeback in Kentucky football history. Minchey finished with 272 passing yards and three touchdowns, and Kentucky moved to 4-1 overall and 2-1 in the SEC.
That is not nothing.
Now LSU comes to Lexington.
The Tigers are ranked No. 10 and have already shown both sides of themselves this season. They lost at Ole Miss, then immediately responded by destroying Texas A&M 35-6 before putting 63 on McNeese last week. LSU’s trip to Lexington is also notable because the Tigers have not played there since 2021, when Kentucky beat them 42-21. LSU’s previous trip before that was the famous 2007 triple-overtime loss, and the Tigers’ last win at Kroger Field came all the way back in 2002 on the Bluegrass Miracle.
So Lexington has not exactly been a vacation destination for LSU lately.
The obvious question is whether Kentucky can keep creating these ugly, emotional games where the Wildcats hang around long enough to make the favorite nervous. That has been their strength so far. They are not blowing everyone off the field, but they have shown a very annoying refusal to go away.
LSU has the better roster and probably the higher ceiling, but Kentucky has already beaten Texas A&M on the road and survived South Carolina after falling into a huge hole. At some point, you stop calling that luck and start accepting that this team might just be difficult to put away.
I still think LSU wins.
But I would not be remotely surprised if this is a one-possession game deep into the fourth quarter.
Titanquisitor Pick: LSU
Texas A&M at No. 14 Missouri
11:00 AM CT — ABC
Texas A&M finally got the response it needed last week, beating Arkansas 34-7 while holding the Razorbacks to just 214 total yards. The Aggies improved to 3-2 and got their first SEC win of the season after consecutive conference losses had started making things uncomfortable.
Missouri, meanwhile, just beat Florida 45-17 and climbed to No. 14, which suddenly makes this a much more interesting trip than it looked like a couple of weeks ago. The Tigers already proved against Florida that they can punish a ranked opponent at home, and I am not ready to assume A&M fixed everything because Arkansas showed up.
Pick: Missouri
South Carolina at No. 16 Florida
11:45 AM CT — SEC Network
Florida has had one of the strangest two-week stretches in the SEC. The Gators embarrassed No. 4 Ole Miss 52-28, looked like one of the hottest teams in the country, then immediately went to Missouri and lost 45-17.
Now South Carolina comes to Gainesville.
The Gamecocks are 2-3 and 0-3 in SEC play after losing in overtime to Kentucky last week, so Florida could not ask for a much better opportunity to settle things down at home. The Gators are too talented for me to abandon after one ugly road loss, especially against a South Carolina team that has spent the season finding painful ways to lose.
Pick: Florida
No. 1 Texas vs. Oklahoma
2:30 PM CT — ABC — Cotton Bowl, Dallas
Calling the Red River Rivalry a sleeper game feels a little ridiculous, but here we are. Oklahoma hasn’t been very impressive, and it’s not expected to be close.
It is No. 1 Texas against Oklahoma, in Dallas, at the State Fair, with SEC Nation setting up outside the Hall of State. Nothing about that sounds hidden.
But in a week where Georgia-Alabama and LSU-Kentucky get the two full previews, this is the game sitting just underneath them that I absolutely would not ignore.
Texas is still No. 1 and has already survived its first major SEC road test, beating Tennessee 20-17 in Knoxville. The Longhorns have also owned this rivalry the last two years, beating Oklahoma 34-3 in 2024 and 23-6 in 2025 after losing 34-30 in 2023.
That usually makes me nervous. Rivalry games have a nasty way of making recent history feel irrelevant.
Oklahoma doesn’t have the ranking beside its name this week, but that may actually make the Sooners more dangerous. They get to walk into Dallas with the entire pressure of the matchup sitting on Texas, because nobody is asking Oklahoma to protect a No. 1 ranking or prove it belongs in the national championship conversation.
They just have to ruin Texas’ day. And Oklahoma fans would consider that a perfectly productive Saturday.
Texas should win. The Longhorns are the better team, they have already dealt with a hostile SEC environment at Tennessee, and they have handled Oklahoma comfortably the last two years.
But if this thing is within one score in the fourth quarter, I would forget every ranking beside both names.
Red River does not care.
Pick: Texas
No. 9 Ole Miss at Vanderbilt
2:30 PM CT — ESPN
Ole Miss had a week to recover after Florida completely dismantled the Rebels, and now they get a Vanderbilt team coming off a 38-14 loss at Georgia.
This feels like one of those games where Ole Miss either comes out angry and reminds everybody why the Rebels were ranked in the Top 5 two weeks ago, or Vanderbilt makes the afternoon considerably more irritating than anyone in Oxford wants it to be. I am leaning toward the first option, but after what Florida did to Ole Miss, I am not calling anything automatic.
Pick: Ole Miss
No. 15 Tennessee at Arkansas
3:15 PM CT — SEC Network
Tennessee responded to the Texas loss exactly the way it needed to, beating Auburn 24-14 behind a career day from DeSean Bishop. Bishop ran for 220 yards and three touchdowns, including scoring runs of 25 and 44 yards, while Tennessee improved to 4-1.
Now the Vols go to Arkansas, and this feels like one of those road games where the objective is simply not to make your own life difficult. Arkansas just got held to seven points by Texas A&M, while Tennessee finally found the ground game it needed last week. If Bishop carries anything close to that form into Fayetteville, I think the Vols handle this.
Pick: Tennessee
SATURDAY’S PICKS
I have Alabama over Georgia in a tight one, LSU over Kentucky, Texas over Oklahoma, Missouri over Texas A&M, Florida over South Carolina, Ole Miss over Vanderbilt and Tennessee over Arkansas.
This is one of those SEC Saturdays where the schedule builds almost perfectly. You get Texas A&M-Missouri in the morning, Red River in the afternoon, LSU-Kentucky at six, and then Georgia-Alabama kicks thirty minutes later.
Which means the hardest decision of the entire day may be what you do when LSU-Kentucky is still close and Georgia-Alabama is about to start.
That is a good problem to have.
But there is no debate about the big one.
No. 2 Georgia at No. 6 Alabama is the Titanquisitor Game of the Week.
No. 10 LSU at Kentucky gets the second television.
And Texas-Oklahoma is the Sleeper Game of the Week, even if calling Red River a sleeper feels like cheating.
I can live with that.
