NCAAF - SEC Bets - Week 9

10/24/2023

Week 8 was an interesting week in the SEC with a variety of outcomes across the conference. Mississippi State and Arkansas got things underway on Saturday with a thrilling 7-3 affair in favor of the Bulldogs, taking the Razorbacks to a very disappointing 2-6 record with no conference wins still.

Speaking of terrible starts to season, South Carolina was drubbed by Missouri to fall to 2-5, with their lone conference win coming against Mississippi State. While the wheels are falling off in Columbia, SC, the team in Columbia, MO is starting to look like a legit contender in the SEC East. However, their two toughest tests this season will begin after their bye this week when they take on Georgia and Tennessee in back-to-back weeks.

And speaking of Tennessee, how about the tale of two halves they played last afternoon in Tuscaloosa? They dominated the entire first half and got out to a 20-7 lead by halftime, which could have easily been a larger lead had they scored touchdowns instead of two field goals in the red zone. But it was a completely different story in the second half. There were several questionable calls and no calls made by the officials, but you have to give Alabama some credit for scoring 27 straight in the final two quarters to secure a 34-20 win. The path to the SEC championship still runs through Bama in the West, while the Vols will need to win out and get a little bit of help to conquer the East.

In the night games, Ole Miss survived a poor performance at Auburn to sneak out with a win, while LSU showed no mercy for our nation's servicemen, as they demolished Army 62-0. LSU will get a bye before they take on Alabama in what will be the biggest game remaining for them, while the Rebels will be rooting for the Tigers to win and cause a bit of parity in the SEC West.

As we've done the past few weeks, here are Ryne's and my rankings for all 14 SEC teams after 8 weeks of the season:

Micah had perhaps the best single week performance we've had in our four years of the BSSR SEC Betting Challenge, as he went 13-2 overall to extend his lead across the board. I would like to think that the rest of us still have a chance to erase the deficit, but we'll need to act relatively quickly. It looks like there will at least be a tight race for second place, if nothing else.

We have five more games to pick in Week 9, but I'm not sure how many of those will actually end up being good games to watch. The matchup with the best potential will be #21 Tennessee at Kentucky, which has the lowest point spread of the five this week. We'll see which team can bounce back from their deflating losses in their most recent games.

The World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party could be intriguing as well, as we'll get our first look at Georgia without Brock Bowers. We may get some insight into how valuable he is to the Bulldogs if they struggle against the Gators.

Regardless, every game will be exciting if you have money on the line. And that's why we're here to give you our consensus for who we think you should bet on this weekend. Though I must say that I would probably just tail Micah's picks at this point given his performance thus far.

South Carolina at Texas A&M (TAMU -14.0, O/U 53.5)