Auburn in a key game in Manhattan, Kansas tonight against the Kansas State Wildcats.  Bama in a test against the Gators Saturday afternoon in Tuscaloosa. Jameis with another degenerate act that could affect his team Saturday night at home against Clemson. Some other key SEC games and Oregon in action. Here’s a look at the match ups tonight and Saturday:

Last week: 13-2; overall: 32-9 (78%)

No.5 Auburn (2-0)  @ No.20 Kansas State (2-0)

Bill Snyder Family Stadium (50,000)

6:30 PM CT/7:30 ET

ESPN

75 degrees, partly cloudy at kickoff

Line: Auburn by 9

Kansas State is a pretty good team. But they’re not elite. Their quarterback is a pretty good player, Jake Waters. He’s run for four TD’s and passed for a couple of more. Receiver Tyler Lockett is good with seven receptions for 145 yards and one score in the Wildcats’ first two games. Running back Charles Jones has rushed for 130 yards on 21 carries and four TDs. DeMarcus Robinson is a good running back too, he’s rushed for 71 yards on 18 carries. All of their offensive linemen are over 300 pounds, so it’ll be interesting to see how Montravius Adams, Gabe Wright and company do against them. Auburn’s defense might be tested here some. With Jermaine Whitehead not in this game for disciplinary reasons–he mouthed off to a coach and Gus suspended him for the game–safeties Jonathan Ford and Derrick Moncrief will be challenged, if Moncrief does indeed take  Whitehead’s spot. Freshman Stephen Roberts is listed as the backup to Whitehead, but that may be risky. It’ll be interesting to see what Ellis Johnson decides to do at the safety spots. Ford will start; not sure about the other spot. But it won’t matter as much because the Auburn offense should have their way with this Kansas State defense. Their defense is fine, but they haven’t faced an offense like Auburn’s, maybe ever. Baylor and Texas Tech are wide open, explosive offenses in the Big 12, but they don’t have the powerful line and the talent at the skill positions that AU has. Nick will be ready to perform well as he played junior college ball in Kansas;  this game means a lot to him. I see him having a breakout performance tonight. With Cameron Artis-Payne and Corey Grant punishing K State on the ground, and Nick with his wheels and his arm, and the ultra talented Sammie Coates and Duke Williams at wide receiver, Auburn should have a field day on offense. This will be a good test for the defense with the SEC coming around the corner in Oct. (LSU, Oct. 4 on the Plains) Like the Tigers to take care of business here in a pretty much a big way.

AU 42, Kansas State 24

 

Florida (2-0) @ No.3 Alabama (3-0)

Bryant-Denny Stadium (101,821)

2:30 PM CT/3:30 PM ET

CBS–Verne, Gary, Allie LaForce

Around 80 degrees at kickoff-clear

Line: Bama by 14 1/2

Blake Sims and Lane Kiffin will be challenged  here. Can they get it done against a pretty quality SEC defense?  I watched Florida-Kentucky, and the Gators are a good team, but not a great team. Jeff Driskel, I don’t see him ever being an elite quarterback in the SEC. I like the way Blake has played in the last two games, and Kiffin has called good games that have played to Blake’s strengths. But this will be a challenge against a better defense than the Tide has faced this year. Florida will be tougher to run against; their front seven is pretty good. But I still see T.J. Yeldon, Derrick Henry, Kenyan Drake and Tyren Jones, if he gets opportunities, to have good days on the ground. I trust the Bama offensive line. They’re a good group. The Alabama defense needs to take a step forward as the season is getting intense now. The talent defense is out  the roof, but they need Trey DePriest and Landon Collins to be leaders and take this defense to a higher level. Cornerback is an issue with some injuries, but I really like freshman Tony Brown. He looked all-world in the spring game. He’ll start. And Nick Perry is out at safety for the first half for a targeting foul in the second half against Southern Miss last week, so Geno Smith will most likely get the call. I see the Tide handling the Gators; not with total ease, but I see them making progress on both sides of the ball and advancing to the next round at Ole Miss on Oct. 4th.

Bama 31, Florida 20

 

 Mississippi State (3-0) @ No.8 LSU (3-0)

Tiger Stadium, Baton Rouge (102, 321)

7 PM CT/8 ET

ESPN

85 @ kickoff, clear

Line: LSU by 9 1/2

LSU is 43-3 in night games at Baton Rouge under The Hat, who’s been there since 2005. Their only three losses came to Alabama (27-21) in 2008, Florida (13-3) in 2009, and Bama  (21-17) in 2012. They have beaten State 14 in a row since 1999 and have won 21 of 22 over the Bulldogs since the SEC split into two divisions (the East and the West)  in 1992. Dan Mullen has a 39-28 overall record in his six years at State, but is 2-25 against Top 25 teams. People who might have been discounting LSU before the season because they lost so many guys to the draft, shouldn’t discount them any more. Their defense is playing well and their running game and passing game are both solid. Quarterback Anthony Jennings is doing a nice job. He’s been like Blake; solid with some really big plays too. I like him. LSU is a big factor in the west. They do have to go to Auburn (Oct. 4), and A&M (Nov.27), but they have Alabama at home on Nov.8th. They also have Ole Miss at home on Oct. 25th. So this team is very much in the SEC title conversation. It’s going to be hard, but it’s hard for everybody. Schedule and team health are so critical if you’ve got a team that is in the hunt for the SEC and national championship. I like the Bengal Tigers for sure in this one. State has a good team, but this is too much to ask of quarterback Dak Prescott and his team.

LSU 31, State 17

 

No.14 South Carolina (2-1) @ Vandy (1-2)

Vanderbilt Stadium, Nashville (39,790)

6:30 PM CT/7:30 ET

SEC Network

75 @ kickoff, clear

Line: South Carolina by 21 1/2

Greg McElroy and I were about the only two guys who picked Ball Coach and the Gamecocks to beat the Dawgs. My wife thought I might be smokin’ some crack to pick South Carolina. I didn’t; I’ll leave that to Jameis.

Ball Coach said he felt good about the game once he saw Finebaum picked Georgia by 20.  I just had a feeling that Ball Coach would get it done and Mark Richt wouldn’t. Sure enough, Ball Coach, at Williams-Brice Stadium, where the Gamecocks are almost unbeatable except for that disaster against A&M,  came out on top 38-35 in a classic. Georgia looked like they might beat them when safety Damian Swann intercepted a Dylan Thompson pass late in the fourth quarter and returned it to the South Carolina eight. A penalty on SC put the ball at the four; first and goal for the Dawgs. But Mike Bobo, Georgia’s much maligned offensive coordinator with good reason, called for quarterback Hutson Mason to do a boot leg rollout pass instead of handing off to Todd Gurley, who, as usual, was having his way on the ground. Mason throws the ball in the ground, gets an intentional grounding call, and the Dawgs don’t get any closer. Marshall Morgan, who had connected on 20 in a row before a miss before this kick, missed a 28 yard attempt to the right, and South Carolina got a fourth and inches and won.

So now South Carolina goes against a team that I don’t know what to think about. Derek Mason got good quarterback play from Patton Robinette last week in Vandy’s 34-31 victory over mighty UMass, but has decided to use a two quarterback system this week despite Robinette’s pretty stellar play last Saturday. Unless he’s trying to throw the Gamecock defense off by saying he’s starting two quarterbacks when really he’s going with Robinette,  I don’t understand the logic in this. He wants to use true freshman Wade Freebeck also at qb. Freebeck started last week against the People’d Republic of Taxachusetts and threw three passes. One of them was intercepted.  Mason pulled him for Robinette in the first quarter. So I’m not sure what Mason is doing here. He has talent, according to the recruiting rankings, but the team looks pretty confused out there on defense, particularly in the secondary. Dylan Thompson should have a big night against the swiss cheese Commodores secondary. Brandon Wilds should have a big night running the ball, and Mike Davis needs to get on track, and he could very well do that in this game. Like Ball Coach and his squad to handle the Dores pretty easily.

South Carolina 48, Vandy 24

 

No.22 Clemson (1-1) @ No.1 Florida State (2-0)

Doak Campbell Stadium (82,300)

8 PM ET/ 7 CT

ABC

80 degrees, clear

Line: Florida State by 16 1/2

FSU is dysfunctional. Not only the football team, but the whole university. With the latest Jameis incident it just keeps getting worse for the Seminoles and Jimbo Fisher. I don’t see them winning it all this year. For that matter, they may not even make the playoff. The ACC is pretty soft overall, so they may sneak in the playoff. But they’re not going to win it all. Just too many distractions with Winston. He is as big of a  liability as he is an asset for Jimbo Fisher and the team. And Fisher and Florida State just keep excusing him for his bad behavior. It’s just as much Fisher’s fault as it is the misguided Winston’s. Clemson has a pretty good team and Winston will be out for the first half, so I see this one being interesting. While it might be too hard for Clemson to pull off the upset since Winston will come in for the second half, they can make FSU really sweat it out. I think they will, but I see FSU surviving this game. But I just don’t know if they can survive the one man wrecking crew who is Jameis Winston.

****Amendment: I’m changing my pick to Clemson. This is on Saturday early afternoon after Jameis is out for the entire game. The game doesn’t kickoff until 7 PM CT, and it’s 12:10 PM today.

Clemson 31, FSU 30

 

Other scores:

No.13 Georgia 52, Troy 10

Noon ET/11 AM CT

SEC Network

Arkansas 45, Northern Illinois 14

6 PM CT/ 7 ET

ESPNU

No.6 A&M 62, SMU 14

2:30 PM CT/ 3:30 ET

ESPN2

No.18 Mizzou 42, Indiana 27

3 PM CT/4 PM ET

SEC Network

No.2 Oregon 56, Washington State 37

9:30 PM CT/ 10:30 PM ET

ESPN

SEC teams off this week: Ole Miss Tennessee, Kentucky