SEC Preview, Week 11: Psychological warfare in the SEC

story by Chris Rushing, College Sports Matchups (CSM is a content partner with The City Wire)
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OK, one thing is for sure: this Cam Newton story is getting stronger instead of dying down. Will it continue past this weekend? Will it continue past the end of Friday? No idea, but there are plenty of headlines on the issues – we need not add another one.

After all, there will still be seven games on the Southeastern Conference slate Saturday. No. 2 Auburn football (10-0, 6-0 SEC), definitely the most involved of the Newton saga, hosts Georgia football (4-5, 3-4) in the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry.

No. 12 Alabama (7-2, 4-2) will attempt to shake off last week’s 24-21 loss to LSU football when No. 18 Mississippi State football (7-2, 3-2) comes to Tuscaloosa for a night game. Of course, MSU has been dragged in with the Newton story also, but there’s also the more important question of how the Bulldogs will fare just days after Nick Bell’s sudden and tragic passing?

Fans of No. 24 Florida football (6-3, 4-3) claim that the Gators have found their offense (finally) in the form of a three-headed quarterback monster featuring John Brantley, Trey Burton and Jordan Reed. Of course, I revert back to an old proverb: “If you have two quarterbacks, you have no quarterbacks.” How does that apply to a trio of signal callers? I guess we’ll find out under the lights when No. 22 South Carolina (7-3, 4-3) comes to town with the SEC East crown on the line.

Ole Miss football (4-5, 2-4) travels to Knoxville for the first time since 2005 to take on Tennessee football (3-6, 0-5) in a nationally televised contest. Sure, there are plenty of games being played this weekend, but the fact that the Rebels and Volunteers are playing on CBS should tell you the depth of quality games on the slate for the league.

In the other SEC tilt that means nothing in the standings and everything to bowl eligibility, Kentucky football (5-5, 1-5) visits Vanderbilt football (2-7, 1-5) when the Wildcats will attempt to lock up a school-record fifth consecutive postseason trip.

No. 6 LSU football (8-1, 5-1) puts the finishing touches on its non-conference slate when Louisiana-Monroe takes on its third SEC team of the season in Tiger Stadium.

Finally, No. 14 Arkansas football (7-2, 4-2) also steps out of league play following a huge win in Columbia last weekend when UTEP comes to town.

In other words, there are three very important games with a quartet of others that don’t mean very much. Of course, the most important question surrounding SEC football: can I rebound from my two-loss performance a week ago?

• Ole Miss at Tennessee (Knoxville, Tenn., 12 p.m. ET, CBS)
You gotta love CBS double-headers when the network gets first and fourth picks of games. Clay Travis of AOL Funhouse tweeted yesterday if a worse game has ever been nationally televised. It’s a fair question, but I’d say the Auburn-Mississippi State 3-2 slugfest from 2008 ranks highly on the list.

It is extremely difficult to go 0-8 in SEC play. Only once has a school not named Vanderbilt accomplished this feat since I’ve been paying attention to college football. True, this was a recent accomplishment thanks to the coaching prowess of Ed Orgeron at Ole Miss, but Derek Dooley (contrary to public opinion following the loss at LSU in September) is a much better coach than Orgeron.

Meanwhile, this is a must-win for Ole Miss for its bowl hopes. The Rebels have very little room for error and still face No. 6 LSU on the road and No. 18 Mississippi State at home to finish the season. Neither of those will be easy wins, but UM needs to have five wins heading into the stretch to have a fighting chance.

Where Ole Miss has little room for error left, Tennessee has absolutely none. The Vols have six losses and cannot endure another one without eliminating itself from postseason contention. This game has the potential to being one of the most entertaining of the day for the league.

Call it now: Ole Miss 24, Tennessee 20

• Vanderbilt at Kentucky (Lexington, Ky., 12:21 p.m. ET, SEC-Network)
The good news for Kentucky and the bad news for Vanderbilt is that it appears as though Derrick Locke will play for the first time since going down in the Auburn game over a month ago. Joker Phillips has been hinting of his return throughout the week, and there is plenty of reason for optimism in the UK camp today.

Other than this, there’s not much reason to watch if you’re not a fan of either school. Vanderbilt is pretty bad this year, which makes you wonder: what was I thinking when I took Ole Miss just moments ago?

Call it now: Kentucky 38, Vanderbilt 10

• Georgia at No. 2 Auburn (Auburn, Ala., 2:30 p.m. CST, CBS)
Verne Lundquist, Gary Danielson and Tracy Wolfson will travel to Jordan-Hare Stadium one final time for 2010 as the network telecasts the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry for the sixth time since 2001.

My guess is that Aaron Murray and A.J. Green will get their numbers and their scores. There is plenty of evidence in Auburn’s porous pass defense numbers to give credence to that fact. I also believe that it won’t be enough to take down Auburn in Jordan-Hare Stadium. Georgia’s best chance, point blank, is the distractions getting to Auburn throughout the week and if Newton is held out at the last minute because of a new fact uncovered in the NCAA investigation.

This is the final home game for a group of 26 seniors, a group that is winless against Georgia thus far over the span of their AU careers. The Newton thing could play into the Tigers’ psyche, but I think those two facts will play into the team’s motivation much further. If Newton is innocent and there is nothing uncovered to keep the Heisman frontrunner out of this game, the groundswell of support from his teammates could make this game over by intermission.

One of the more interesting battles will be the scheming of Gus Malzahn and Todd Grantham. This is the first 3-4 front Auburn has faced in 2010, and it will be interesting to see how Malzahn and the Tigers attack the defense after working on the passing game almost exclusively the past two weeks. The Bulldogs have plenty of talent on the defensive side of the ball, and UGA’s ability to keep coverage from the linebackers in space could prove to be a largely deciding factor in the outcome of the contest.

The visiting team has much more success in this series that is separated by just one game over the past 114 years. Both schools have winning marks in the other’s stadium. Georgia’s current four-game winning streak is the longest in the series in over two decades. I think it ends Saturday and Auburn officially becomes the SEC West champion.

Call it now: Auburn 45, Georgia 30

• UL-Monroe at No. 6 LSU (Baton Rouge, La., 6 p.m. CT, PPV)
This game may be sloppy for a little while. Something tells me that LSU might be just a little hung over following the huge win over Alabama a week ago.

However, the talent gap is vast and wide, so I don’t see the War Hawks facing LSU’s starters past halftime.

Call it now: LSU 38, ULM 14

• UTEP at No. 14 Arkansas (Fayetteville, Ark., 6 p.m. CT, ESPNU)
Much like the LSU-ULM game, I don’t see Arkansas playing extremely well but not nearly bad enough to lose.

If this is anything of a game in the third quarter, the Hogs might have reasons to complain on the message boards and call-in shows following UA’s eighth win of the season.

Call it now: Arkansas 60, UTEP 24

• No. 18 Mississippi State at No. 12 Alabama (Tuscaloosa, Ala., 6:15 p.m. CT, ESPN2)
The Bulldogs’ off-week couldn’t have come at a better time. Of course, things were very much unforeseen in Bell’s sudden death, but I don’t know how any of the MSU players could have seen their buddy get buried last Friday and turn around and play a game the next day.

If MSU can play inspired for more than a quarter in Bryant-Denny Stadium, you might see Dan Mullen’s best coaching job to-date. Of course, the much more unwelcomed distractions swirling around Starkville concern former players and alleged boosters allegedly concerted a pay-to-play plan with Cecil Newton last November. While Cam Newton may be the Auburn quarterback, every detail coming out has involved Mississippi State.

Alabama has a possible void in the Fast and Furious attack with Trent Richardson possibly missing the game with the sophomore’s knee injury sustained in the LSU loss. Will the Crimson Tide give up following a tough loss that could end all championship hopes with an Auburn win over Georgia or in Bryant-Denny Stadium in two weeks?

We’ll see, but I think UA is capable of scoring more than seven points at home and will force Chris Relf to throw the ball multiple times in the second half. You know, something Urban Meyer’s team couldn’t. At least Mississippi State’s jerseys will have the correct spelling on them for the ‘Bama marketing and ticket offices to avoid grammatical errors on future athletic ticket printings.

Call it now: Alabama 27, Mississippi State 10

• No. 22 South Carolina at No. 24 Florida (Gainesville, Fla., 7:15 p.m. ET, ESPN)
Meyer declared this week “championship week” in Gainesville. While the Gamecocks stumbled to a 41-20 home loss against Arkansas a week ago, the Gators were traveling back to campus after stomping Vandy with big play after big play in a 55-14 triumph to set the stage for Saturday night’s showdown.

Meyer hadn’t had a three-game losing streak at Florida – heck, he hadn’t had a two-game skid – prior to October. The one common ingredient in UF’s losses: the SEC West. The common denominator of all four home losses suffered by Florida under Meyer’s direction: the SEC West. In case you’re not catching on, Meyer has never lost to an Eastern Division team in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.

Then again, the Gators have yet to defeat a team with a winning record so far in 2010. Think about that for a minute: the East Division crown could go to a team with one win over a team with a plus-.500 winning percentage. Of course, South Carolina only has one itself – the 35-21 triumph over then-No. 1 Alabama on Oct. 2.

The key to the game, in my eyes, is South Carolina’s ability to run the football. Is Marcus Lattimore healthy? His absence could be tough for the Gamecocks to overcome in a rowdy blue out in the Swamp. However, Stephen Garcia and Alshon Jeffrey have plenty to fall back on in the offensive game plan with or without the star freshman running back. In other words, I think that this is South Carolina’s (not Florida’s) game to lose.

Don’t forget: Florida’s name has been dragged a bit into this Newton scandal also. Meyer has been upset with being confronted about the ordeal as he has been planning for “the biggest game of the year.” The Gators are more talented than the Gamecocks. However, I think the Gamecocks are the better team. My guess: USC punches its first-ever ticket to the title game.

Call it now: South Carolina 27, Florida 21

• Rushing’s predictions:
Last week: 6-2
Overall: 64-11