Boom or bust: 3 SEC players who will shine and 3 who will flop in Week 5

Week 5 in the SEC will feature several heavyweight matchups as No. 13 Alabama and No. 8 Georgia, as well as No. 3 Ole Miss and No. 25 Florida, square off against one another. Aside from the elite games, several contests throughout the conference lend themselves to some prominent matchups, many which benefit SEC teams, others not so much.

Here are several SEC players who will excel in Week 5 and some that won’t.

BOOMS

1. Leonard Fournette: This one is going to hurt, folks. The NCAA might want to revisit the idea of instituting a mercy rule. If not, they will by Saturday night after Leonard Fournette gets through with the Eastern Michigan defense. On the road, the LSU running back torched a Syracuse defense that was among the top 30 in the nation for 244 yards. This week, Fournette gets to stay home and go up against an Eagles run defense that is the very-worst in the nation. Eastern Michigan’s run defense is so bad, that opponents know they can cram the ball down their throats with ease, rushing for 222 attempts against the Eagles this year. That’s 20 more attempts than the next closest team Hawaii. Even more staggering is that the Eastern Michigan defense gives up an average – average!! — of 373.3 rushing ypg. Fournette is averaging 210.3 rushing ypg and trails Indiana’s Jordan Howard by a mere 44 yards for tops in the country, despite playing in one less game.
2. Denzel Nkemdiche: That Florida is 4-0 with, at times, three freshmen lined up along its offensive line is a bit of a miracle. The unit has allowed 8 sacks on the year and gets a dominant Ole Miss defense in Week 5 in Gainesville. The Gators will start three redshirt sophomores in Cameron Dillard, Antonio Riles and David Sharpe. That Ole Miss is the No. 3 team in the nation with just 3 sacks on the year is an even bigger head-scratcher — especially with the likes of guys with the last name Nkemdiche coming at you from various angles. Only five teams in the country have less sacks than the Rebels. That changes against Florida as Denzel Nkemdiche disrupts the Gators’ backfield. The older brother of Robert Nkemdiche pads his team-high 29 tackles and 5 tackles for loss. Most importantly, he gets a whole number next to his sack total, other than the .5 he owns now.
3. C.J. Johnson: Not going to pick too badly on an Eastern Kentucky team that’s reeling from the loss of freshman Joey Kraemer last weekend in an automobile accident. But the game needs to be played and the Eagles present one of the lighter matchups this season for the Wildcats. Eastern Kentucky only racks up 314.3 ypg this season on offense, putting them on par with FBS teams such as Louisiana-Monroe and Troy. Look for Kentucky defensive tackle C.J. Johnson to continue his strong play which saw him net a career-high 11 tackles and half a sack last week in the Wildcats’ win over Missouri.

BUSTS

1. Sean White: Auburn’s struggles at quarterback continue in Week 5 when San Jose State visits Jordan-Hare for the second straight year. The Spartans bring the nation’s No. 2 pass defense yielding 94.5 ypg. The unit returns just about everyone from the Spartans secondary that held Auburn’s Nick Marshall to 101 passing yards in 2014. San Jose is led by cornerbacks Cleveland Wallace III (8 tackles, INT, 4 PBRs) and Jimmy Pruitt (13 tackles, 2 INTs), as well as safety Maurice McKnight (26 tackles, FF) and linebacker Christian Tago (40 tackles). Sean White was adequate, but not stellar, in his starting debut under center for Auburn last week in the Tigers’ loss to Mississippi State. The redshirt freshman threw for 188 yards (20-of-28) as Jeremy Johnson’s replacement, but his goal-line interception proved costly. If White and the Tigers keep the ball on the ground, they should be fine against San Jose State (see No. 2).
2. Auburn/San Jose State run defenses: Sorry to pick on Auburn here, but the Tigers’ Week 5 matchup against San Jose State is rife with mismatches. Auburn and the Spartans have two of the worst run defenses in the country, giving up somewhere in the neighborhood of 225.0 ypg. That’s bad news for the Tigers with Tyler Ervin coming to town. The San Jose State tailback leads the nation with 9 touchdowns and has rushed for 10 more yards (641) than Leonard Fournette. The Auburn offense has struggled at times, but not due to Peyton Barber. The tailback is quietly putting together a solid sophomore campaign with 411 rushing yards — just 11 behind Alabama’s Derrick Henry for fourth-best in the SEC. Where Barber sorely lags behind the conference’s elite backs is in the touchdown department, finding the end zone just once this season. Henry, by comparison, is tied with Fournette for the SEC touchdown lead with eight scores. Look for Barber to get in the end zone in Week 5 against San Jose State. The Spartans secondary is among the nation’s best, but the front line has a tough time stopping anyone. San Jose State coughed up 100-yard performances to Oregon State’s Storm Woods and Seth Collins in Week 2.
3. Ralph Webb/Jordan Parker: Don’t expect much rushing offense when Vanderbilt plays host to Middle Tennessee State in Week 5. Both the Commodores and Blue Raiders possess staunch run defenses — so much so that the only team separating the No. 35-ranked Middle Tennessee rush defense (120.5 ypg) from the No. 37-ranked Vanderbilt (125.8 ypg) is No. 36 Ohio State (121.8 ypg). That spells bad news for middling starting running backs Ralph Webb of Vanderbilt and Middle Tennessee’s Jordan Parker. Neither has filled many stat sheets this year, with Webb going for 302 yards this season against Parker’s 305 yards. That’s a rough average of 75 yards per game apiece. Vanderbilt will be best to stick with its dynamic passing duo of quarterback Johnny McCrary and WR Trent Sherfield against the Eagles’ 230.8 ypg passing defense.

Chris Wuensch

Chris Wuensch is a contributing writer for Saturday Down South. He covers South Carolina and Tennessee.