Well, we finally know what the College Football Playoff committee thinks, and while it’s fun seeing everyone freak out about it, it’s important to remember that the rankings don’t mean much of anything right now because a lot can happen between now and the end of the month.

The first rankings arrived Tuesday night, and the SEC is sitting in a pretty comfortable position and some might say overrepresented, but considering this is an SEC column I definitely wouldn’t make that claim. Georgia checks in at No. 2, our beloved Crimson Tide is No. 5, one loss Kentucky is at No. 6, Texas is No. 7, Ole Miss sits at No. 10, Tennessee is No. 13, LSU is No. 14, Missouri is No. 18, South Carolina has climbed all the way to No. 21, and Florida hangs on at No. 24. Nine SEC teams made the initial Top 25, and that’s not because of ESPN, it’s because it’s the best conference in the country.

November football has arrived, sadly our final month of the regular season, and now several of these ranked teams will start eliminating each other. This is a HUGE Saturday in the SEC, possibly one of the most stacked weeks we’ve seen yet, and with the CFP rankings out every week matters more than ever.

Georgia goes to Oxford looking for a little revenge against the team that ended its last College Football Playoff run. Alabama comes off a much-needed bye and walks straight into Death Valley. Kentucky and Tennessee meet in a Top-15 game that has major SEC implications. Texas goes to Missouri. South Carolina tries to extend one of the hottest runs in the conference.

There are eight SEC games happening tomorrow. And while it’s a stacked week, two of them stand above the rest to make very easy choices for our 2 Games 2 Watch. And after not having it for the past two weeks, I’m officially retiring the Sleeper Game of the Week.

No. 2 Georgia at No. 10 Ole Miss

6:30 PM CT — ABC — Oxford, Mississippi

Georgia remembers Ole Miss, I’m pretty confident about that and the fact that they’ve had this game circled.

The last time these teams met, Ole Miss beat Georgia 39-34 in the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day and ended the Bulldogs’ 2025 College Football Playoff run in what was a big emotional moment for Ole Miss and one of the most thrilling games of the playoffs last year thanks to some heroics from Trinidad Chambliss. Now Georgia gets its first shot at the Rebels since then, but they’re going to have to try and get their revenge in front of a hostile Oxford crowd. Georgia leads the all-time series 34-15-1, but Ole Miss has won three of the five meetings during the Kirby Smart era and both of the games played in Oxford.

So there’s your history.

Georgia enters at 7-1 overall and 5-1 in the SEC, sitting No. 2 in the first Playoff rankings after responding to the Auburn loss with a convincing and dominant 27-8 win over Florida. The Bulldogs continue to look like one of the most complete teams in the country, leading the SEC in both scoring offense at 41 points per game and scoring defense at 14.9. Only one opponent has scored more than 20 points against them all season, and that was sadly Auburn (although had it not been for some of the worst officiating I’ve ever seen, Alabama would have gotten at least 20 against them too, not that I’m still bitter about that or anything).

Ole Miss enters at 6-2 and 4-2 in conference play, ranked No. 10 by the committee after recovering from its loss at Texas by beating Auburn 45-15. That score was a little misleading for a while because Auburn had actually cut the margin to 17-15 in the third quarter and it appeared we might have a game and that Auburn might could do it again.

Then Ole Miss scored 28 unanswered points, with 21 of them coming in the fourth quarter where the defense stepped up and shut Auburn down.

The Rebels have one of the better passing attacks in the SEC, averaging more than 280 yards through the air, while Georgia’s defense is allowing fewer than 190. That’s probably the matchup that decides whether Ole Miss can turn this into another one of those evenings where Georgia spends four quarters wondering why the Rebels refuse to go away. Of course the problem could be, as it was in the Sugar Bowl, Trinidad’s ability to scramble and make plays. He’s elusive, and if Georgia allows him to run free and give his guys time to get open, it could be a long night for the Bulldogs.

The bigger problem for Ole Miss may be the other side of the ball. Georgia is averaging more than 200 rushing yards per game while Ole Miss is allowing nearly 150. If you’re an Ole Miss fan, that isn’t the statistical combination that lends itself to much encouragement. But statistics mean little when the game is played on the field and not the spreadsheet, and Ole Miss stepped up last week to shut down Auburn, so there’s no reason to think they can’t do the same to Georgia.

Georgia has been able to win in several different ways this season, but the running game remains the easiest way for the Bulldogs to make this matchup miserable. If they can stay ahead of the chains, control possession and keep Ole Miss from turning the game into a track meet, eventually that Georgia defense gets to start hunting.

Ole Miss needs the opposite. They need Trinidad Chambliss making the type of plays that carried the team to victory in the Sugar Bowl, they need some explosive throws, and they probably need Georgia to spend portions of the night playing from behind. Sitting in a 17-10 type of game where Georgia gets to dictate the pace feels like a bad place for the Rebels to live although they’ve shown they can score fast.

Still, I don’t expect this to be easy. Oxford at night is going to be nuts. SEC Nation will be in The Grove Saturday morning, the game gets the ABC nighttime slot, and Ole Miss knows another loss would make its path back to the Playoff a complete long shot at best.

And then there is the simple fact that Ole Miss has already proven it can beat Georgia, multiple times, and that matters.

Georgia is the better team on paper, I think, but Ole Miss doesn’t have to care about paper analytics here.

I think the Rebels give them a fight, especially early, and I wouldn’t be remotely surprised if we’re sitting there midway through the fourth quarter with this still being a one-score game. But Georgia’s defense is the difference for me, and I believe the Bulldogs can survive a few bad possessions while I’m not sure Ole Miss can. With that said, neither team needs to gift the other team turnovers and Georgia has been very good about creating them.

Georgia gets its revenge.

Gary’s Pick: Georgia

No. 5 Alabama at No. 14 LSU

2:30 PM CT — ABC — Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Well, the vacation is over and it was nice while it lasted, and definitely much needed for the Crimson Tide (LSU had a bye week too, unfortunately).

Our beloved Crimson Tide got the much-needed bye last Saturday, which meant we were able to watch an entire SEC weekend without worrying about officiating, Keelon Russell getting hit, or somebody in the Halls threatening to throw something through a television. More importantly for Alabama, they got a chance to get some guys healthy and rested.

Now Alabama goes to Death Valley, but thankfully it’s not a night game. Lane Kiffin thinks that’s a conspiracy because the SEC doesn’t want him to win.

Alabama enters at 6-2 and No. 5 in the first CFP rankings, which is much a better position than things felt like they were heading toward after back-to-back losses to Georgia and Tennessee. I know some people, or a lot of people, are still pissy about Alabama being ranked so highly, but a healthy Tide looks much better than the version that was on the field against Tennessee. The Tide stopped the skid with a 31-20 win over Texas A&M and then finally got a week to recover before beginning the November stretch.

LSU had the same luxury of a bye. The Tigers are 6-2 and ranked No. 14, and their last game was a 38-17 win at Auburn where Sam Leavitt threw for 388 yards and three touchdowns without turning the football over. That may have been his best performance of the season, which is exactly the sort of sentence I love to type before Alabama has to go play them.

The Tide is at its best when Russell’s mobility becomes part of the offense without becoming the entire offense. Georgia and Tennessee both found ways to make Alabama uncomfortable, but Texas A&M saw a much more composed Tide team. Having a week to reset should help, especially considering the physical stretch Alabama just survived. Although Alabama still has multiple key players listed as questionable, including star receiver Ryan Williams, and as an Alabama fan I can only hope that at least a few of these questionables will be good to go because we need them out there.

LSU’s challenge is containing Keelon without giving Alabama easy throws underneath, which itself hasn’t been one of Alabama’s strongsuits.

And Alabama’s challenge is making Leavitt look less comfortable than Auburn did. Bama can’t allow Leavitt to sit back and throw for nearly 400 yards again. Alabama needs pressure to disrupt timing and needs LSU facing third-and-long rather than living in manageable situations all afternoon. And then they need to actually finish and get off the field, not give up explosive play after explosive play every time they get LSU to third-and-long.

Death Valley is also Death Valley. I don’t care that this is a 2:30 kickoff rather than a night game, despite the joke a little ways above. Baton Rouge is going to be loud, angry and convinced the Tigers can knock off the No. 5 team in the country. And they should be, LSU has a great team and they’re rested too. We’ve seen LSU look somewhat lousy against Kentucky, but we’ve also seen them be dominant. The same can be said about how Alabama has looked at times this year.

That’s SEC football.

But Alabama has something LSU doesn’t. I know this will piss off a lot of people, but a close loss here won’t automatically end Alabama’s playoff hopes. If LSU loses, they’re pretty much out of contention barring chaos like we haven’t seen before, which considering what we’ve already seen this year is certainly possible.

Win and keep moving. Lose and start needing serious help.

I think Alabama comes out of the bye looking much more like the team we saw before the Georgia and Tennessee stretch wore everything down. LSU will land some shots, Leavitt will at times undoubtedly look like the greatest quarterback in college football and make ridiculous plays, and I fully expect portions of this game will annoy the hell out of me. I can only hope it’s great catches and elusiveness that annoys me, at times, and not piss poor tackling, dropped balls and especially not poor officiating that does it.

I’m an Alabama die-hard and so this isn’t a surprise, but even if I weren’t I’d still be picking Alabama. Roll Tide Roll!

Gary’s Pick: Alabama

No. 7 Texas at No. 18 Missouri

11:00 AM CT — ESPN

This is an excellent way to start Saturday.

Texas has recovered from consecutive losses to Oklahoma and Florida by beating Ole Miss and Mississippi State, including a comfortable 31-3 win over the Bulldogs last week. The Longhorns have climbed back to No. 7 in the Playoff rankings and suddenly look like a team that survived its October crisis rather than one still trapped inside it.

Missouri responded nicely to the ugly loss at Ole Miss by beating Arkansas 34-10 before getting last weekend off. I know, beating Arkansas isn’t saying much, but a dominant win is a dominant win. The Tigers are 6-2, ranked No. 18, and get Texas at home in a game that could completely change how their November is viewed.

I like Missouri and think they’re a really good team, but I just trust Texas more right now.

The Longhorns appear to have steadied themselves, and if Arch Manning avoids giving Missouri easy opportunities, Texas has enough talent on both sides to survive a difficult road environment.

Pick: Texas

Arkansas at Auburn

11:45 AM CT — SEC Network

Somebody has to win. I know, that sounds mean, but it’s also basically where we are with these two. I live in Auburn land, I know how frustrated they are. And we’ve all seen the poor Arkansas fans wearing paper bags on their heads.

Auburn has lost two straight since the incredible win at Georgia, falling 38-17 to LSU and then 45-15 at Ole Miss. The Tigers are now 4-5, and suddenly that afternoon in Athens feels like something that happened three seasons ago rather than three weeks ago. Auburn was riding that high of knocking off big rival and #1 ranked Georgia, and then got demolished by LSU and Ole Miss. And the sad thing is the Ole Miss game was right there in reach in the third quarter, and then it just vanished as the Rebels put up 28 unanswered.

Arkansas just got handled 34-10 at home by Missouri and has spent most of this season making life harder than it needs to be. I honestly feel bad for Arkansas.

So why am I taking Auburn? Three reasons: 1. Jordan-Hare. 2. Jokes about Auburn aside, we’ve seen what they can do and who they can beat. 3. They’re playing Arkansas.

Let’s look underneath the wreckage of the demolishing they took against LSU and Ole Miss and see that Auburn is still the team that beat Georgia, and as the only team to score more than 20 points against the Bulldogs (27 to be exact).

I’m certainly not laughing too loudly at Auburn’s current misfortune. Their Super Bowl is coming up here in a few weeks, and I’ve watched enough Iron Bowls to know better than to antagonize whatever dark magic lives inside that rivalry. For now, I think Auburn gets one, and I really hope they do. Lord knows if they lose to Arkansas, they’ll suddenly become the best team that ever existed when it comes time to play the Iron Bowl.

Pick: Auburn

Texas A&M at No. 21 South Carolina

2:00 PM CT — ESPN

I don’t know if South Carolina is the best story in the SEC right now, but it’s damn close. The Gamecocks have beaten Florida, Tennessee and Oklahoma in consecutive games, with last week’s 42-25 win in Norman being the most convincing performance of the bunch. LaNorris Sellers threw three touchdown passes, ran for two more and became the first South Carolina quarterback in at least 30 years to produce that combination in a game.

Now Texas A&M comes to Columbia.

A month ago, I probably would have leaned toward the Aggies. Not anymore, not after the way South Carolina has been playing since the loss to Alabama earlier in the season.

South Carolina is playing with confidence, Sellers has become a nightmare to defend, and Williams-Brice Stadium should be completely awake by the time this thing kicks off.

I’m riding the streak, plus I just kinda like South Carolina and their coach.

Pick: South Carolina

Vanderbilt at Mississippi State

3:15 PM CT — SEC Network

This is one of those games where the loser probably walks away feeling much worse about the direction of November.

Vanderbilt is 3-5 and coming off a 34-17 loss at Kentucky before its bye week. Mississippi State has now lost five straight after opening the season 4-0, with Texas beating the Bulldogs 31-3 last Saturday. The early-season Mississippi State offense has basically disappeared without their star quarterback, and that’s unfortunate because they were the Cinderella team in September.

Vanderbilt has its own problems, but the Commodores have at least shown enough offensive life throughout the season that I trust them slightly more in a game where somebody is going to have to manufacture points. This is going to be an ugly game, and I don’t really care much one way or the other.

Give me Vandy.

Pick: Vanderbilt

No. 6 Kentucky at No. 13 Tennessee

5:15 PM CT — ESPN

It didn’t get the spolitlight of one of our two featured “Games 2 Watch,” but there’s a real good chance that Kentucky at Tennessee could be the best SEC game of the night.

Kentucky is No. 6 in the first CFP rankings, the highest Playoff ranking in program history, and enters at 7-1 after beating Vanderbilt before getting last week off. The Wildcats have spent the entire season quietly winning games while the rest of us keep waiting for somebody to explain when we’re supposed to stop being surprised. But there is one thing to keep in mind and that’s the fact that Kentucky could just have easily loss to South Carolina, LSU and Oklahoma as they beat them. If this were a four loss team, we wouldn’t even be circling this one.

Tennessee is 6-2 and No. 13, but the Volunteers have had two weeks to stew over that 27-24 loss at South Carolina. And Knoxville isn’t where I want to play a Tennessee team that has had two weeks to be irritated, or at all, considering how Alabama went there a few weeks back and got beat by 16 points.

This game may come down to whether Kentucky can withstand Tennessee’s rushing attack without committing extra bodies and opening things up elsewhere. The Wildcats have been excellent, and I wouldn’t remotely call a Kentucky victory an upset.

But I like Tennessee at home and think, despite their one-loss Kentucky is a little overrated. Then again, sometimes you get a team of destiny where it’s just better to be lucky than all that great.

Pick: Tennessee

Oklahoma at No. 24 Florida

6:45 PM CT — SEC Network

Florida’s trip to Atlanta didn’t go well as Georgia beat the Gators 27-8 and forced four turnovers, ending whatever momentum Florida had built with the earlier win at Texas.

Oklahoma had an even worse Halloween as they let South Carolina walk into Norman and put up 42 points, and leave with a 17-point win.

So somebody gets a bounce-back Saturday and start November off on the right foot. Florida is at home and so I like their chances. The Gators are still ranked No. 24 by the committee, and I think the defense matches up well enough with Oklahoma to keep the Sooners from getting comfortable. We’ve also seen glimpses where Florida looks unbelievable, so there is a great team there, it’s just which version plays this game?

But the Gators have beaten Ole Miss and Texas while Oklahoma hasn’t done anything but beat Texas (I know, that’s something). I think Florida gets the victory at home, and I don’t think it will be very close.

Pick: Florida

SATURDAY’S PICKS

I’ve got Georgia over Ole Miss in the Game of the Week, Alabama over LSU in the second Game 2 Watch, Texas over Missouri, Auburn over Arkansas, South Carolina over Texas A&M, Vanderbilt over Mississippi State, Tennessee over Kentucky and Florida over Oklahoma.

That’s eight conference games, and man it’s nice to finally have a full SEC Saturday again after the past couple of weeks’ slate only featuring four or five games.

No Sleeper Game of the Week this time because, frankly, Kentucky-Tennessee doesn’t deserve to be called a sleeper when the teams are ranked No. 6 and No. 13 and so I retired the distinction.

The schedule also lays out beautifully.

Texas-Missouri starts us at 11. Auburn-Arkansas follows at 11:45, although no one but fans of those programs care. South Carolina gets Texas A&M at 2, then our beloved Crimson Tide walks into Death Valley at 2:30. Vanderbilt-Mississippi State gets underway at 3:15 before Kentucky-Tennessee takes us into the evening at 5:15.

Then the remote starts getting abused.

Georgia-Ole Miss kicks at 6:30 on ABC, while Oklahoma-Florida starts fifteen minutes later on SEC Network. That’s three games that are going to be flipped between, although in the grand scheme of things the main two will be Kentucky-Tnnessee and Georgia-Ole Miss.

Georgia has Ole Miss.

Alabama has LSU.

Kentucky has Tennessee.

Texas has Missouri.

South Carolina has a chance to make four straight wins look like one of the biggest turnarounds in the country.

Business, as our good friend Jim Ross (who continues to have absolutely no idea who we are) might say, has officially picked up.

No. 2 Georgia at No. 10 Ole Miss is the Titanquisitor Game of the Week.

No. 5 Alabama at No. 14 LSU is the Second Game 2 Watch.

Let’s play watch some football, and Roll Tide!