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Week 10 is being called Separation Saturday with six ranked teams playing each other. But It’s safe to say No. 2 LSU vs. No. 4 Alabama is the biggest game on the slate today for most football fans, and the ESPN GameDay crew is no different.
“Every year, you get your magazines out, and everybody gets excited in August, and you try to figure out which games may have an impact on the national championship, and the LSU-Alabama game is that game,” Kirk Herbstreit said from Tuscaloosa.
“You just know that whoever wins that game is going to be in the driver’s seat in the SEC West, eventually get to Atlanta, and eventually get to the final four.”
Herbstreit’s focus tonight will be on the two headlining running backs, the two quarterbacks and the defenses they face.
“I can’t wait to watch Leonard Fournette against this [Alabama] front seven and Derrick Henry against a very aggressive LSU defense,” Herbstreit said. “I really think it’s going to be which quarterback — Brandon Harris or Jake Coker — ball is in hands late in the game, who’s going to make the plays to win.”
The rest of the GameDay crew agreed with Herbstreit: the quarterbacks will be a deciding factor in this matchup.
The crew did talk about other games though, including Vanderbilt at No. 10 Florida and Kentucky at Georgia.
“The big thing [the Gators] need to do, which they understand, is just not to lose the game on the offensive side,” Herbstreit said. “And I think that’s what [Treon] Harris — his numbers are down, but he is trying to make better decisions.”
Herbstreit also had high praises for Gators head coach Jim McElwain.
“Jim McElwain, the job that he’s done, he’s got to be considered not only as the SEC Coach of the Year but also the national Coach of the Year,” he said.
Not all the SEC coaches are flying high like McElwain. Herbstreit expressed his wonder about whether or not the emotional Georgia defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt can ignore the turmoil and focus on the game today against Kentucky.
Herbstreit’s Week 10 SEC picks
- Auburn over No. 19 Texas A&M (upset alert, TAMU -7)
- No. 2 LSU over No. 4 Alabama (upset alert, ALA -7.5)
Vanderbilt at No. 10 Florida (FLA -20.5), Kentucky at Georgia (UGA -17), Arkansas at No. 18 Ole Miss (MISS -9) and South Carolina at Tennessee (TENN -17) were not picked by the GameDay crew today.
