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While at first glance this week in the SEC looks like it might be spare — particularly compared to what is coming in the next month or so — there are plenty of juicy storylines with each snap. Here are 10 storylines to watch for this Saturday.
Noon — Ole Miss at Auburn
Ricardo Louis vs. the Ole Miss secondary
It is becoming increasingly clear that the loss of Duke Williams — kicked off the team after he decided to turn a local bar into the set of “American Gladiators” — helped Auburn’s offense, at least as much as it hurt. No longer shackled to a scheme centered around putting the ball in his hands, Auburn has looked much less sluggish in recent weeks. And no player has benefited from that more than Louis, who caught 6 passes for 79 yards last week against Arkansas (and dropped at least two more). Of course, he now faces an Ole Miss secondary that just vaporized Texas A&M, limiting the potent Aggies to just 134 yards passing.
Laquon Treadwell vs. … well, you know already
It was impossible not to bleed for Laquon Treadwell in the 2014 version of this game. In case you don’t remember, Treadwell lit up Auburn’s secondary last year, catching 10 passes for 103 yards, the last of which he was literally carrying in for the game-winning score until the last possible moment when … well, his leg detached from the rest of his body. The play was initially ruled a touchdown on the field; however, before Ole Miss trainers could wheel Treadwell to the locker room, officials announced that replay had revealed Treadwell lost control of the football mere inches shy of the goal line, and Auburn escaped with a 35-31 victory. Even Auburn fans felt bad about that one. Treadwell, thankfully, is healthy and looks great this season; it’s easy to suspect he’s been thinking about this game for a while now.
Noon EDT — South Carolina at Texas A&M
Texas A&M’s three quarterbacks vs. anybody, really
Here’s how bad the Aggie offense was last week in Oxford: Kevin Sumlin said Tuesday that three different quarterbacks — Kyle Allen, Jake Hubenak and Kyler Murray — were all in the mix to start this Saturday vs. the Gamecocks. No, really. That’s what he said. Imagine if things go poorly in the first quarter? Aggie fans don’t boo, per se … but the crowd will be disquieted.
Shawn Elliott vs. Kevin Sumlin
Conversely, interim head coach Shawn Elliott’s team can essentially play like the textbook “team with nothing to lose” on Saturday at Kyle Field. If the Gamecocks can force a turnover or do something to gain some momentum Saturday … let’s not even go there, shall we?
Pharoh Cooper vs. Aggie defense
Here’s the key matchup for Texas A&M’s defense, which is improving as the weeks go by. South Carolina’s Pharoh Cooper is his team’s best big play threat, and best bet to try something tricky early on in Saturday’s contest. Noon games are just the worst, right? For fans in the stadium, I mean. Not for us at home. For us, they’re great.
3:30 p.m. EDT — Georgia vs. Florida
Faton Bauta vs. Vernon Hargreaves III (et al)
I’ve legitimately never heard of Faton Bauta. I guess I’m not the foremost expert on Georgia’s quarterback depth chart. Even so, I have the rest of today to figure out a) who he is and b) why he was suddenly elevated from third to first on Georgia’s depth chart three days before the team’s biggest game against its most hated rival (and, oh yeah, they’re really quite good on defense).
Treon Harris vs. Jake Ganus
17-of-32 for 271 yards isn’t really turning a ton of heads, I guess, but given that Florida pressed Harris into service after starting quarterback Will Grier was suddenly suspended, it was hardly worst-case scenario. That the Gators were in a position to potentially tie the game at the end wasn’t so bad, either. Georgia has been hurt already this season by the “dual threat” QB, so Harris may be set up for a big day. Remember, he and the Florida running backs absolutely bladed the Georgia defense in this game a year ago.
McElwain & Nussmeier vs. Jeremy Pruitt
What that means is that the real battle in this game will come down to the two coordinators, who have spent all of two weeks trying to figure out the other. Expect things to get weird.
7 p.m. EDT — Vanderbilt at Houston
Greg Ward Jr. vs. the Vandy D
The nation’s No. 4 scoring offense vs. the nation’s No. 13 scoring defense. I didn’t make up a word of that last sentence.
7:30 p.m. EDT — Tennessee at Kentucky
Josh Dobbs vs. Patrick Towles
I said this a week ago about a different game, but it’s kind of lame to think of quarterbacks as a “matchup” since they don’t actually face one another on the field. Still, these two have both been “pretty good but not good enough” all season, and both guys have been right on the precipice of winning big games at various points.
One of them has to break through in this game, right? Um, right?
Will Heath is a contributing writer for Saturday Down South. He covers SEC football.
