NCAAF - SEC Bets - Week 8

Another week of chaotic football ravaged the SEC last week, which is starting to become the trend in this crazy season.  The two biggest wins in the conference came from LSU and Vanderbilt.

The Tigers secured a 29-26 overtime victory over #9 Ole Miss after they scored on the very first play of their first drive following a defensive stop holding the Rebels to a field goal.  LSU remains one of the only two teams that are undefeated in conference play, and have a relatively favorable schedule as they attempt to play their way into the SEC Championship.  On the other hand, Ole Miss's conference championship and playoff hopes are likely dashed with two losses and Georgia still on the schedule.  They'll have to get some help even if they win out.

Vanderbilt proved their win over Alabama wasn't a fluke by marching into Lexington and taking down the Wildcats.  The Commodores under Diego Pavia seem like a team that could actually win any game they play, which they proved against the Tide.  They're not out of contention by any means, and they'll get potentially another #1 team coming to Nashville after a restful non-conference game in Week 8.

That aforementioned potential #1 team, Texas, asserted its dominance over Oklahoma in the first SEC Red River Rivalry.  The Sooners struck first, but the Longhorns closed the game on a 34-0 run to remain the only unbeaten team in the SEC.

Alabama, Tennessee, and Georgia all survived in games they were heavily favored on paper.  Alabama benefitted from a South Carolina missed field goal to hold on despite the Gamecocks recovering an onside kick with under a minute to play.  LaNorris Sellers threw an interception in the end zone to allow Bama to avoid back-to-back SEC losses.

Tennessee needed overtime to defeat Florida, who held the Vols scoreless in the first half for Tennessee's second straight game.  The Vols relied on their defense and made several big stops to squash Florida's scoring opportunities, and rode running back Dylan Sampson to a victory in the first OT.

Georgia built a big lead early on Mississippi State, but the (maroon and white) Bulldogs made a late run to cut it to a 10-point game late in the third quarter.  The game was never really in doubt, but Georgia was made to sweat a little more than they had anticipated.

After the wild slate of games in Week 7, here's the updated BSSR SEC Power Rankings:

Here's the BSSR Expert Leaderboard:

Ryne has pulled ahead just barely, but the race for the SEC Betting Challenge crown is most definitely heating up.

And here's the Guest Picker Leaderboard:

Last week's guest picker, Deidre, claimed the best performance yet in the over/under category.  She only managed a third place finish overall, as everyone is still trying to dethrone Grok.

This week's guest picker is the 66th best amateur golfer of at least 25 years of age in the state of Tennessee, Eric Martin.  Eric has racked up numerous accolades on the Knoxville amateur golf circuit in 2024, including wins in both the Knox County Amateur and Blount County Amateur Championships, as well as qualifying for a spot in the 2024 Tennessee Mid-Amateur Championship.  He was recently recognized as the state's Most Improved Golfer by the Tennessee Golf Association.  When he's not hitting bombs on the course, he's spiking on both men and women in competitive coed volleyball leagues in Knoxville.

We have two incredible heavyweight matchups in Week 8, as #7 Alabama travels to #11 Tennessee, and #1 Texas hosts #5 Georgia.  We should get a better idea of who the most likely contenders for a trip to Atlanta will be based on the outcome of those two contests.

We should be in for several other tight matchups as well, as Auburn at Missouri, South Carolina at Oklahoma, #8 LSU at Arkansas, and Kentucky at Florida all have spreads within 4.5 points.  There should be a lot of great action this weekend, so as always, you can roll with our consensus picks below to make the slate of games on Saturday even more enjoyable for you.

Our very own BSSR expert, Ryne, has chosen to give his thoughts on two of the upcoming games this week.  I will include those below with our respective picks for those games.

​Auburn at #19 Missouri (MIZ -4.5, O/U 52.5)

South Carolina at Oklahoma (OU -2.5, O/U 41.0)

#7 Alabama at #11 Tennessee (ALA -3.0, O/U 56.5)

#14 Texas A&M at Mississippi State (TAMU -15.5, O/U 56.0)

#8 LSU at Arkansas (LSU -2.5, O/U 55.5)

​The Saturday night environment at Razorback Stadium is sure to be an electric one for this rivalry matchup.  LSU is coming off an overtime thrilling win that saw the Tigers lead for a total of 0:00 of game time against Ole Miss.  With LSU coming fresh off an emotional win against an SEC rival, will the Tigers be ready for another rivalry game?  The Razorbacks are in prime position to shake up the SEC standings even more.  Arkansas is fresh off a bye after defeating #4 Tennessee in a home night game.  Should LSU win, they will move one step closer to making the playoff.  Arkansas, unlikely to make the playoff, is still competing at an extremely high level and would love to drastically hinder LSU's playoff hopes.  This game has the makings to be a classic.

Ball State at Vanderbilt (VAN -26.0, O/U 58.5)

#5 Georgia at #1 Texas (TEX -4.0, O/U 56.0)

Texas has a huge matchup against Georgia Saturday night in Austin.  This game will play a major factor in deciding who will win the SEC Championship and secure prime playoff position.  Texas has widened the gap between themselves and the rest of the SEC.  The Longhorns are the most dominant team in the SEC and the country to date.  Georgia needs this win more than Texas since they already have a prior loss this season.  To what lengths Kirby Smart will go to stop the Quinn Ewers-led Longhorns?  Who knows.  This game has the potential to be an all time classic as well.

Kentucky at Florida (UK -1.0, O/U 42.5)

Written by Nick Swatson and Ryne Marshall

​Photo:
"2023 SEC Football Championship Game" by The University of Alabama is licensed under CC BY 3.0.