2015 SEC Football Predictions – Week 9

By Eric Taylor -

Week 8 Record (3-3) | Overall Record (48-22)

Welcome back to SEC Football Predictions. It has been a long road to 50 wins in this 2015 season and after a .500 performance in Week 8, it is apparent that we are not meeting the high expectations at traditional powerhouse SEC Football Predictions.

All that changes this week as Halloween is upon us. As is custom when Halloween falls on a Saturday, some team will inevitably run out of the tunnel in some form of black jersey or helmet to the screams and howls of pleasure-riddled fans starved for variation.

Grab your mask and join me as we trick or treat through Week 9 of SEC Football Predictions.

All Times Eastern | Utilizing AP Rankings until the College Football Playoff Selection Committee Rankings are released in October.

SEC Football Predictions | Week 9

Saturday, October 31, 2015 BOO

No. 19 Ole Miss (6-2, 3-1 SEC) at Auburn (4-3, 1-3 SEC)
Noon ET | ESPN

Quick word of wisdom: Alabama fans will begrudgingly cheer for Auburn as they open the day’s conference slate by hosting Ole Miss. ‘Bama fans excited about the Game of the Century trilogy taking place in Tuscaloosa against LSU next week need not forget that the Tide could win by 54 points in every game from here on out and still be left out of the SEC Championship Game and the College Football Playoff. If Ole Miss wins out, they still hold the tiebreaker in the West.

Now that we’ve sucker-punched every Alabama fan in the mouth in the first paragraph of the first game prediction, let’s actually talk about the Ole Miss-Auburn game. It is so tempting to take Auburn because they are… well… really it has nothing to do with anything positive Auburn has done all year. It has much more to do with Ole Miss and their ability to look absolutely pedestrian following a big win. Last week’s dominating victory over A&M was shocking, yet this is a team that posted 43 points in a win over Alabama in Tuscaloosa. After that win, the Rebels looked as if they had mistook the calendar to read January and had ridden off into the off-season sunset.

The caveat in all of this is superman wide receiver Laquon Treadwell, who is ready to face Auburn again after last year’s heart breaking end to his season. Treadwell could very well name his number of catches and touchdowns in this one and no one would doubt for a second that he’d live up to it.

Laquon Treadwell broke his leg in last year’s game and it was the difference in the loss to Auburn that ended the wide receiver’s season as well as any hopes the Rebels had at the College Football Playoff (invented by Larry Culpepper). This season Treadwell will break his own school record for receptions in a single game (14, set just two weeks prior at Memphis). He will also score three touchdowns while amassing 240 yards receiving in a performance that will have even Auburn fans applauding the effort.
PREDICTION: Ole Miss 42, Auburn 20

South Carolina (3-4, 1-4 SEC) at Texas A&M (5-2, 2-2 SEC)
Noon ET | SEC Network

Quick word of wisdom: Texas A&M crashed and burned in 2014 after a fast start and a top-5 ranking. 2015 is beginning to take similar shape for the Aggies as they are coming off two consecutive losses following an undefeated first half of the season and a top-8 ranking.

The 2014 game that started all the early season buzz for the Aggies came in a season-opening thrashing of a South Carolina team that some had picked to win the East. A quarterback named Kenny Hill threw for a mile of yards and looked like the next Johnny Football, even earning a nickname that is as forgotten as the quarterback himself. Hill announced in May that he would transfer to TCU and, as far as anyone knows, he is still in Fort Worth hanging out with a program that hasn’t lost a game since just after the Alamo.

There seems to be some extra energy in South Carolina as the team tries to make the best of a wild season. A&M appears to have the same off-the-field issues that have plagued them since their 2012 arrival to the SEC. The off-the-field problems can only be isolated to off the field so long before it bleeds into on-the-field performance and Saturday night’s dud in Oxford proved that.

The 12th Man may be more like 11.5 for this early kickoff in College Station. The home field holds no advantage for A&M and South Carolina enjoys the road trip away from the chaos of floods and retiring legendary coaches on the way to a big conference road win.
PREDICTION: South Carolina 23, Texas A&M 17

Georgia (5-2, 3-2 SEC) vs. No. 11 Florida (6-1, 4-1 SEC)
3:300pm ET | CBS | Jacksonville, FL

Big game word of wisdom: LSU may do more to decide the SEC East than any other team in that division. With the Tigers’ victory over the Gators two weeks ago in Baton Rouge, new life was awarded to Georgia after they lost to Tennessee in Knoxville on October 3. So now the winner of this game basically punches their ticket to Atlanta.

Mark Richt and Georgia love losing to Florida. Well, that’s what the scoreboard of recent history tells us, anyway. In Will Muschamp’s final year as Gators coach last year, Florida was atrocious on offense. They couldn’t pass and the run was a joke. That is until Mark Richt and his giving heart showed up to Jacksonville and asked his defense to politely allow Florida to run for over 400 yards. In one game. Georgia never knew what hit them and Florida never looked back. They didn’t have time to look back what with all the running they were doing.

With all of that being said, Jim McElwain has this Florida team looking about as good as anyone in the SEC in his first season. The true test for McElwain will come Saturday when victory over a rival and an SEC East championship is on the line.

The Gators appeared to crumble against Tennessee, but found a way to win when they had no business winning. Don’t be surprised if this game isn’t similar.
PREDICTION: Florida 38, Georgia 33

UT Martin (4-2) at Arkansas (3-4, 2-2 SEC)
4:00pm ET | SEC Network

Quick word of wisdom: Did you know that legendary women’s basketball coach Pat Summit attended and played at UT Martin? Yep. Sure did.
PREDICTION:  Arkansas 42, UT Martin 7

Vanderbilt (3-4, 1-2) at #18 Houston(7-0)
7:00pm ET | ESPN2

Quick word of wisdom: The Commodores scored 10 points last week, but luckily they were playing Missouri and when you play Missouri in 2015, all you need is to score seven or more points in any way or fashion and victory is yours. Vandy added three points and won 10-3.

Unfortunately for the Dores, they go on the road to face an offense that throws points around like they were growing on trees. On the other hand, it is unfortunate for Houston that they face a team with a pretty ripe defense. Derek Mason is getting his sea legs under him as a head coach, but his defensive prowess needs no introduction. This is the guy that had two consecutive years as defensive coordinator at Stanford where his scheme made Oregon’s offensive players appear ineligible to advance the football more than one yard forward in any given play.

This game will be entertaining. It will have zero bearing on anything that will happen in December or January, but it’s college football and we like drama. The rest is gravy.

Oh, and don’t look now, Vandy fan…. but you’re two games from bowl eligibility if you win this one. Just an FYI.
PREDICTION: Vanderbilt 21, Houston 20

Tennessee (3-4, 1-3 SEC) at Kentucky (4-3, 2-2 SEC)
7:30pm ET | SEC Network

Quick word of wisdom: Tennessee doesn’t lose to Kentucky often. In fact, they lost to the Wildcats in 2011 and right after Reagan was reelected for his second term. As president. Not Governor of California. Come on, people. Have some respect for ye old Wildcats.

The Cats have been better this year, but as they usually do, they lost to Florida to end any hopes of removing that monkey off their backs and then took a beating from Mississippi State at home last week to solidify their standing as non-SEC East champions one more season. If that doesn’t make Kentucky fans long for basketball season even more, this game will.

Kentucky is improving each year under Mark Stoops, but any large success will quickly be followed by a huge payday at another school for Mr. Stoops.

No word on whether or not Tennessee will bring in James Dobson, as reported in last week’s predictions. In all seriousness, Butch Jones and the Vols deserve applause after a valiant effort in Tuscaloosa Saturday. That is the way that series was meant to be played and it looks like Alabama-Tennessee will once again leave little to no fingernails on an annual basis.

No moral victories for Tennessee this week. The Vols take care of business in dominant fashion in Lexington as they prepare for a strong November finish.
PREDICTION: Tennessee 50, Kentucky 14

Eric Taylor is a contributor to FBSchedules.com. Follow him on Twitter @EricFromSpfld or contact him via email at EricFromSpringfield–at– gmail–dot– com

Comments (23)

Yea, I don’t see Ole Miss losing this one either. I understand the Rebels got boat raced against a very good Florida & undefeated Memphis team but Ole Miss is still a very solid program even though people luv to bash them. If Florida wins this game then their are going to ATL in my book, if they lose then the East will be one big mess again. I have Florida winning as well. I have A&M beating Gamecocks, I know Aggies have not looked good the passed few weeks but nothing is more dreadful then watching S.Carolina play, now that Steve is gone, so is the season.

I think you may be right on A&M. I think the gas tank has been empty longer in Columbia than College Station.

1.) Vanderbilt will be blown out. 2) Write it on the calendar, because Florida doesn’t have a quarterback and will lose to Georgia. 3.) Texas A&M will slaughter Southern Carolina, c’mon. 4.) Auburn will prove that most SEC teams can’t win on the road by beating Ole Miss. 5.) Why is Arkansas playing UT Martin? Can’t the big bad SEC actually play a substantive game out of conference? Or even better, you can play 9 conference games. But wait, Brett Bielema lives in a delusional land of SEC superiority. 6.) Tennessee will play a close one with Kentucky.

The only two teams worthy of constant praise in this overrated division are Alabama and LSU. Everyone else sucks.

Well, I never heard of South Carolina referred to as Southern Carolina but ok. SEC teams win on the road all the time & play many considerable OOC games. Even if the SEC played 9 conference games I assume you would find something else to complain about within the conference. I would say besides Bama & LSU that Florida, Ole Miss, Miss St are playing good ball, you can look at any conference & find to top teams that blow the others away. BIG Michigan ST/OSU. BIG-12 TCU/BAYLOR. Pac-12 Stanford/UTAH
That doesn’t mean the rest of the conference sucks.

LSU & Alabama can beat any other two teams in any other conference in the US.
I’d love to have them match up with the best of the ACC and the best of the Big Ten
and see the domination.

@Brent – It appears you missed last season’s College Football Playoffs, in a quick recap, tOHIO STATE beat The Gumps & curb stomped the Ducks.
Stay tuned for Part Duex.

I was wrong about that Tennessee game, but still said they’d win. (Definitely wrong on that FL game, lol). Tenn is starting to transform. Hopefully they can return to those glory years. It’s good for football.

@DAY, did you not watch the bowl games last year? I felt bad for Paul Fineman, Tammy, Phyliss, and all of the SEC. It was very sad and showed an era over. Yet, that doesn’t mean the SEC is bad. They are still great. But let’s end with this “my conference is better than your conference” crap that the SEC started (see Paul Fineman’s book, lol).

Better OOC schedules = level playing field = clear proof that the SEC very well be better than the rest… If you want to silence the doubters, then man up.

Common, Not sure how much you keep up with the SEC & we all make predictions but you were wrong on all of them except for Vandy. Tennessee game was not close, Florida does have a quarterback & had solid win, A&M did not slaughter S.Carolina but I thought Aggies would run away with it too Auburn proved nothing but like I said, SEC teams win on the road all the time & Arkansas is playing OOC cause that’s what the SEC does, they sprinkle OOC games in the schedule. If UCLA was playing UNLV would you be questioning why they are playing the Rebels? BIG, Big-12, Pac-12 play all their OOC at the beginning of the season. Not sure what Brett has to do with 9 conference games but ok Yes, I watched all the bowls last year & don’t think it is an end of an era for the SEC. PAC-12 was the only conference that had a winning bowl record with 6-2 (Con-USA) was second. SEC went 7-5, not bad really but the west did not fare well. I don’t think the division is overrated but that’s me. Ask any fan from any conference who has the best conference & I bet they will say there own, I am pretty sure if you asked a USC Trojan fan what is the best college football conference they would say PAC-12, then ask them what they think of the SEC & they probably would say SEC sucks! That’s just fans for ya.

I have Florida winning this week too but I have them winning by 10. I don’t really like your pick on SC- I have A&M blowing them out. Other than that good picks.

Auburn scores 20 on an Ole Miss d that held TexAM to 3? Probably not, especially with a rested R Nkemdiche returning and CJ Johnson minus the rust. The offense may not score 42, but will be surprised if Auburn can get 17 points on them.

TexAM not going to lose at home to SC. Don’t care what happened the last two weeks. One of three QBs will lead that team to a victory that will have TexAM fans wondering where this team was the last two weeks.

No idea on Florida and Georgia, but this is the SEC and the predictable thing about games like this in the SEC is that there will be carnage and nothing will be straight forward, everything about every season will come down to the wire…with that Georgia wins to foul make the East race interesting. But I’m salivating over a Florida-Ole Miss rematch.

I hope Vandy pulls an upset, but I don’t see it happening. I really am a Dores fan this week.

This Bama fan won’t be pulling for Auburn. I wouldn’t pull for Auburn if they were playing Al Queda. Ole Miss can get their loss when they play LSU.

E.T. my man, like Whitworth’s nose your always on point with your picks but I have to say if the Vols pull of a 50-14 win in Lexington they’ll be rocking out on the border like Floyd Ray Cook at a Bon Jovi concert in 1990. I always wondered why he would sit alone singing Blaze of Glory. I fully expect a Vols win but just not quite that drastic then again they usually whip up on the cats like Freddie Needham’s gold team used to whip up on the Green team down at the “bottom” when Chance Ballard was out sick with the flu.

Auburn over OM
A&M over Carolina
UGA some how gets it done over FL
ARK over UTM
Houston over the Dores big (Think Memphis v OM)
Bama pummels BYE
LSU destroys BYE
BYE over MO 2-0 (BYE pulls a safety on the opening play, I know it sounds crazy but trust me take the BYE)

Auburn over OM???
A 13-point win over a team is really not that big unless its Wyoming over Ohio State.
UGA over UF?

Hey C-dog I am assuming that you are referring to OM vs Memphis. Its cool that you clearly are a reb bear fan. I get it, I have sat for hours myself after many excruciating losses trying to convince myself that is was not that bad due to the point differential. Don’t kid yourself, an SEC team losing by 13 to an AAC team in a game where they gave up 31 unanswered points is a big effing loss in the eyes of the nation outside of Oxford, MS. I also realize that Memphis would probably beat the majority of the conference this year, but the fact is they didn’t. They beat the Ole Miss Reb uh bears, the team that wants to sit on top of the SEC West for the first time ever. The bearables are oh so close to achieving that goal. That makes the win that much bigger. Hell if Memphis would have beaten Vandy by one it would be considered a decent win in the eyes of Memphis fans but the fact that they beat the bears by 13 running away makes it huge. That is if the bears are what they think they are, but what do I know. They could still be the rebs of old or the land sharks or just some team from Lower Memphis coached by a bucked tooth backwater wannabe pastor. One thing is for sure we will find out over the next four weeks. My bet is the Flying Marshall Hendersons will not be in ATL.

I say that Florida beats Georgia 17-9. Florida looked like they could have beat LSU if they played defense.