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Last week was a tumultuous one for the SEC West. Not only did Ole Miss assert itself with its win over Alabama in Tuscaloosa, but Leonard Fournette and LSU also made noise with their thrashing of Auburn.
There are nine games involving SEC teams this week, so let’s take a look at projected final scores for Saturday’s conference matchups, according to four different media outlets — tennessean.com, Bleacher Report, fbsschedules.com and Fox Sports.
SEC PICKS BY TENNESSEAN COLUMNIST DAVE AMMENHEUSER
Georgia 49, Southern 10
LSU 44, Syracuse 14
South Carolina 35, Central Florida 10
Tennessee 24, Florida 22
Alabama 66, Louisiana Monroe 10
Ole Miss 42, Vanderbilt 14
Texas A&M 34, Arkansas 24
Kentucky 24, Missouri 20
Auburn 31, Mississippi State 28
Note: Here are the most telling observations. Ammenheuser likes two teams to suffer their first losses of the season — Florida and Missouri. What jumps out to me is that Florida is a home underdog this week despite getting off to a 3-0 start. Ammenheuser’s other picks are not surprising, including his prediction that Texas A&M will move to 4-0 while handing Arkansas its third straight loss.
SEC PICKS BY BLEACHER REPORT
Georgia 57, Southern 14
South Carolina 30, Central Florida 16
LSU 27, Syracuse 10
Florida 20, Tennessee 17
Alabama 45, Louisiana Monroe 10
Texas A&M 37, Arkansas 26
Ole Miss 57, Vanderbilt 15
Auburn 35, Mississippi State 28
Missouri 24, Kentucky 19
Note: Several things jump out here. Bleacher Report predicts that Florida will beat Tennessee outright. Then, it has Texas A&M beating Arkansas by two scores; the Razorbacks are favored by a touchdown. Plus, BR sees Auburn not only beating Mississippi State but prevailing by more than the field-goal spread. It also has 24.5-point favorite LSU having somewhat of a letdown this week, forecasting a Tiger victory but not a cover.
SEC PICKS BY FBSSCHEDULES.COM’S ERIC TAYLOR
Georgia 63, Southern 0
Central Florida 28, South Carolina 21
LSU 35, Syracuse 20
Tennessee 24, Florida 13
Alabama 59, Louisiana Monroe 0
Texas A&M 44, Arkansas 24
Ole Miss 35, Vanderbilt 6
Auburn 31, Mississippi State 28
Missouri 23, Kentucky 9
Note: Wow. There are some eye-openers here. Taylor likes UCF to win outright at South Carolina, where the Gamecocks are favored by two touchdowns. He has Tennessee winning in Gainesville by two scores and A&M beating Arkansas by nearly three TDs. Not only does he have Mizzou rolling over Kentucky by two touchdowns, he has the Tigers scoring 23 points. I’m wondering if he even watched the Tigers’ brutal 9-6 win over UConn last week.
SEC PICKS BY FOX SPORTS
Georgia 56, Southern 8
Alabama 33, Louisiana Monroe 19
LSU 31, Syracuse 21
South Carolina 28, Central Florida 22
Tennessee 27, Florida 23
Texas A&M 32, Arkansas 28
Missouri 28, Kentucky 25
Notes: Each game in Fox Sports’ predictions is simulated 101 times, so these scores may actually turn out to be quite accurate. No Vanderbilt-Ole Miss score is available, and a 28-28 result has been predicted for Mississippi State-Auburn. But if you really must know, Auburn gets the edge on decimal points.
Stan Chrapowicki is a contributing writer for Saturday Down South. He covers SEC football, Alabama and Auburn.
