NCAAF - SEC Bets - Week 9

10/24/2024

The big games of Week 8 certainly lived up to the hype, as Alabama/Tennessee went down to the wire and Georgia waxed Texas on their home turf.

Alabama held Tennessee scoreless in the first half - the third game in a row the Vols have failed to score a first half point. But the Vols finally got the offense rolling in the second half and rode their defense to a 24-17 win over the Tide. Tennessee now has a relatively favorable schedule remaining with only a tough test at Georgia potentially deciding their SEC Championship fate. Alabama, on the other hand, is on life support for the playoff. They'll have to win out and get some help in order to save their season.

Georgia went into Austin and gave Texas a warm welcome to the SEC. It's clear that the Longhorns had been overvalued by their weak schedule up until that point, and the Bulldogs made sure to let the nation know that. One of the biggest stories from this game actually came from the officials, as they let a Texas student section temper tantrum influence their decision making on a crucial pass interference call in the second half. That's a very dangerous precedent to set in this conference, and there are bound to be some copycat attempts when refs blow calls in other games from here on out.

Every team in the SEC now has at least one loss, which is going to make for a wild finish with a potential for SEVEN teams to be tied at 10-2 by the regular season's end. Here is what would need to happen for that scenario to happen:

I included Vanderbilt in this graphic as they are the only other team that technically has a chance of going 10-2. The green cells are games that must be won for each team, and the red cells are the games that must be lost for the seven-way tie to occur. I'll be updating this graphic weekly and we'll use it as an SEC CFP tracker for the remainder of the season.

Here's the updated BSSR SEC Power Rankings after Week 8:

Here's the BSSR Expert Leaderboard for the SEC Betting Challenge:

Micah has now pulled in front after a solid Week 8, but the overall race is still very tight with six weeks to go.

Here's the Guest Picker Leaderboard:

Last week's guest picker, Eric, put forth a valiant effort but ended in a tie for 2nd overall. We pass the halfway point of the season with artificial intelligence still reigning.

This week's guest picker is Drew Duncan. With a career record of 432-6, he is the reigning pickleball champion of the Tennova North YMCA. A multi-sport athlete, he is also a force on the football field and the basketball court. From 2016-2018, he led the Brickey Flag Football League in tackles, trucks, and injuries caused. After retiring from contact sports, he became a master salesman at a global cellular phone company, a role he shoulders currently.

We have three top 25 matchups in the SEC in Week 9, but two of those feature very wide spreads. The best game on the docket this week is #8 LSU at #14 Texas A&M, who are the only remaining teams with no conference losses. The winner will put themselves in great position to reach Atlanta, while the loser will move forward with two losses, meaning they'll have to be perfect the rest of the way to potentially secure a playoff spot.

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.

Oklahoma at #18 Ole Miss (MISS -20.0, O/U 49.0)