College Football News

GoMeanGreen1999 · October 26, 2005

2005 SEC Week Nine

SEC Fearless Predictions

Oct. 29 - Week Nine, Part 2

Sept 24 | Sept 24, Part 2 | Oct 1 | Oct 1, Part 2 | Oct 8 | Oct 8, Part 2 | Oct 15

Oct 15, Part 2 | Oct 22 | Oct 22, Part 2 | Oct 29

CFN SEC Record: 44-9 straight up, 25-23-1 ATS

Make your picks for all of this week's top games

Mississippi State (2-5) at Kentucky (1-5) 7 pm ET

Why to watch: It's the anti-SEC title game with the worst teams from each division battling it out for the dishonor of being the SEC's basement resident. Mississippi State hasn't found in offense in years, while Kentucky can't find any sort of offensive balance whatsoever. On the plus side for the Wildcats, the defense showed up for the first time all year in last week's 13-7 loss to Ole Miss, but close doesn't count for beleaguered head coach Rich Brooks who needs wins now. MSU gets Alabama next week, so a win here to halt a four-game slide is a must to avoid a major freefall.

Why Mississippi State might win: Unlike Kentucky, MSU can play a little bit of defense. It's not getting any help whatsoever from the offense, but it's still solid at avoiding the blowout. Teams that can mix it up a little bit give the Bulldogs some problems, but that's not going to be an issue against the Kentucky attack that averages a mere 285 yards per game. Before last week's loss to Ole Miss, UK was allowing over 40 points per game against D-I teams. If MSU's offense is ever going to get on track, this has to be the game. Unfortunately for the Bulldogs ...

Why Kentucky might win: ... the offense isn't getting any better. Throw away the 38 points scored against Murray State and MSU is averaging 10.5 points per game. Jerious Norwood is a good running back, but he's not getting any room to work since no defense takes the passing game seriously. The passing attack only managed 84 yards last week against a Houston secondary that has been burned all year long.

Who to watch: Obviously each team has issues, but there are also several good performances going unnoticed this year. Kentucky safety Muhammad Abdullah would be a shoo-in for All-SEC honors if he played for any of the bigger conference teams. He's big, fast, and hits like a ton of bricks with 47 tackles so far this season. For MSU, Willie Evans has been one of the nation's best pass rushers all season long with 8.5 sacks and 11.5 tackles for loss. He has decent size at 258 pounds, but the key to his game is speed. Watch for him to be a terror in the UK backfield.

What will happen: Kentucky is a much better team at home than on the road. Mississippi State isn't that good anywhere.

CFN Prediction: Kentucky 23 ... Mississippi State 17 ... Line: Kentucky -1 | Make your pick and compete against others

Must See Rating: (5 lock yourself in a room to watch - 1 Commander in Chief) ... 2

Final Score:

South Carolina (4-3) at Tennessee (3-3) 7:45 pm ET ESPN2

Why to watch: It might come as a bit of a shock, but Tennessee struggling to survive with a 2-3 conference record and a two-game losing streak. Things went from bad to worse this week with the news that star RB Gerald Riggs Jr. is out for the year with a leg injury, which is the last thing the struggling offense needed. South Carolina might be plodding along, but Steve Spurrier's bunch is 4-3 and tied in the SEC East with the Vols. A win in Tennessee would be, by far, the biggest in the new Ball Coach's young era and would pave the way to a winning season. Tennessee wants to pull up out of the tailspin after losing to Georgia and Alabama, and with a trip to South Bend ahead next week.

Why South Carolina might win: What happened to Tennessee's offense? For whatever reason, it's just not clicking. It might be easy to argue that playing Florida, LSU, Georgia and Alabama would bring down anyone's stats, the Vol offense didn't do much against UAB or Ole Miss, either. South Carolina's defense has hardly been a rock, and has had a few problems getting steamrolled over by some of the SEC's better running games, particularly Georgia's, but it hasn't been bad against decent passing teams, despite a personal-record setting 339-yard passing day from Vanderbilt's Jay Cutler last week. It'll take a total USC defensive breakdown for the Tennessee offense to roll.

Why Tennessee might win: The Cock 'n' Fire isn't going to do a whole bunch of either against a Tennessee defense that isn't getting nearly enough publicity. Lost in the lousy start to the season has been a fantastic performance from the Vol front four that's holding running game to a mere 89 yards per game and is getting into the backfield on a regular basis. USC's running game averages 86 yards per game, and it'll be lucky to come close to that mark.

Who to watch: With Riggs out, Arian Foster will be the main man in the Tennessee backfield, but watch out for the possibility of freshman LaMarcus Coker to lose his redshirt and get in the mix. Foster ran for 53 yards last week against Alabama, and the Vol coaching staff hopes he breathes some life into the floundering offense. Coker hasn't been 100% healthy all year, but he can go if needed. The hope is for Foster to be able to handle the workload himself, and for the passing game to generate more to take the heat off the backs.

What will happen: This isn't going to be pretty. South Carolina's offense will sputter 'n' cough, but the Tennessee attack won't do enough to make it a blowout until late.

CFN Prediction: Tennessee 27 ... South Carolina 13 ... Line: Tennessee -13 | Make your pick and compete against others

Must See Rating: (5 lock yourself in a room to watch - 1 Commander in Chief) ... 3

Final Score:

North Texas (2-4) at LSU (5-1) 6 pm ET GamePlan

Why to watch: This was supposed to be played on September 3rd as the opener for both teams, but Mother Nature had other ideas. Katrina forced the postponement to this week, and it couldn't come at a better time for LSU. The Tigers are coming off a thrilling 20-17 overtime win over Auburn and are just now starting to jell into the team many thought it'd be. A glorified scrimmage like this is needed to keep tuning up for the big showdown in two weeks against Alabama. Of course, no one can look past the big game with Appalachian State next week. North Texas has been one of the year's most bizarre flops with the running game not doing anywhere near what it was expected to, while dreams of another Sun Belt title will be gone with another conference loss.

Why North Texas might win: The only possible chance North Texas has of keeping this within four touchdowns is if LSU decides to rest the starters after the first quarter. After intense battles with Florida and Auburn, the Tigers want to get a few good drives in, get up early, work on a few plays in live action, and go home. They're 104th in the nation in turnover margin giving away 15 so far on the year, so if the Mean Green can force a few early takeaways, it has a shot of keeping fans interested for a quarter. However ...

Why LSU might win: North Texas doesn't score. The offense is the worst in America by a full 16 yards per game and hasn't scored more than two touchdowns in a game yet this year. How bad has the attack been? The schedule has been at MTSU, Tulsa, at Kansas State, Troy, at FIU, and at Louisiana Tech, and the Mean Green is averaging ten points per game. LSU's defense could keep UNT to under 100 yards.

Who to watch: LSU RB Joseph Addai might be the SEC's most underrated back. He started off the year as the number two man before Alley Broussard got hurt, but he came in and was even better than the team could've hoped for with 643 yards and six touchdowns in six games. He was overshadowed last week by Auburn's Kenny Irons, but he ran hard, fast, and well with 105 yards and his third straight 100-yard rushing day. Unless he gets his 100 yards in the first half, expect the string to be broken.

What will happen: LSU's backups will try to keep it close in the second half, but won't be able to.

CFN Prediction: LSU 52 ... North Texas 0 ... Line: LSU -44 | Make your pick and compete against others

Must See Rating: (5 lock yourself in a room to watch - 1 Commander in Chief) ... 1.5

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