The Alabama Crimson Tide and the Auburn Tigers both have massive games this week with the Tide traveling to Oklahoma to take on the Sooners and Auburn hosting the Texas A&M Aggies looking to play spoiler.
In what is a fairly light week around the conference, there are two games you absolutely need to have you eye on this week outside the Yellowhammer State:
11:00 a.m. CST: No. 9 Ole Miss @ Florida:
During what has been a tough season for the Gators going through an absolute gauntlet of a schedule, Florida is coming off a big home win last week against LSU and has the fanbase re-engaged and ready to try to pull off another upset. For the Rebels, they cannot lose another game and still hope to make the College Football Playoff.
6:45 p.m. CST: Vanderbilt @ LSU
This certainly didn’t seem in the preseason as a marquee matchup, and admittedly it still probably isn’t, but the temperature in the LSU fanbase has reached a fever pitch with Brian Kelly after three straight losses and four on the season. Not to mention the fact that the Tigers just lost the No. 1 quarterback in the country this week in Bryce Underwood, a player Kelly was hinging his entire future in Baton Rouge on. Simply put, LSU cannot lose this game.
Bonus: 3:15 p.m. CST: No. 23 Missouri @ Mississippi State:
This is a dreadful football game and the Tigers have absolutely no business still being ranked. Nonetheless, Alabama fans who want to make the SEC Championship need Missouri to win at least one more game in order to claim the tie breaker via conference opponent winning percentage. Maybe just keep an eye on the score in this one and tune in at the end if it’s close while you’re settling in to watch the Tide and the Tigers.
Michael Brauner is a Senior Sports Analyst and Contributing Writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @MBraunerWNSP and hear him every weekday morning from 6 to 9 a.m. on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5, available free online.