The No.6 Alabama Crimson Tide, fresh off three clutch victories over Georgia, Vandy and Missouri, respectively, with Georgia and Mizzou on the road, now hosts the No. 11 Tennessee Vols in a 6:30 P.M. matchup Saturday on ABC. The Crimson Tide has its sights set on keeping its surging momentum cookin’ going into the Third Saturday of October game. Always a key game, and with the SEC as strong and as competitive as ever, there are no weeks off from here on in. The Vols defeated the-then No.7 Tide last season, 24-17, in Knoxville, so the Tide is looking to pay back the favor. More in a second. Hugh and his Auburn Tigers have gotten some highway robbery going against them this year with the refs, and are now 3-3 overall, and, more depressingly, 0-3 in the SEC. This is a must win for a desperate coach and a desperate team against No.16 Missouri Saturday Night at Jordan-Hare at 6:45 on the SEC Network. Auburn is coming off a tough 20-10 loss to Georgia last Saturday Night, and has to put the controversial and heartbreaking loss behind them and try to knock off another top 25 team. Auburn has now played three top 10 teams in a row in Oklahoma (at the time) and Texas A&M on the road, and played Georgia at home last Saturday Night. Just no rest for the weary as the Tigers will have to find a way to capture a victory. Hugh is running out of “mulligans” at this point. Kind of a pun on his golf shenanigans this past summer at Lake Martin. If this game goes south, that may be it for Coach Freeze at Auburn, though the buyout is pretty intense at $15.4 million. How many more coaches can Auburn pay off? James Franklin just pocketed $49 million from Penn State for getting fired, so it usually works out well for those guys. Still, they don’t want to get fired. They usually love their jobs and want to be highly successful and are embarrassed if they aren’t. No. 5 Ole Miss visits Sanford Stadium and the Georgia Bulldogs Saturday at 2:30 P.M. on ABC. Blockbuster there. There are other key matchups in the conference and nationally as the season gets more serious now. Previews and Predictions below along with my updated Playoff Predictions.

Record

Last Saturday: SU: 10-4, Overall, 83-25, 77%; ATS: 6-8, 52-56, 48%; O/U: 8-6, 59-49, 55%.

All times Central. All games Saturday unless otherwise noted.

No. 11 Tennessee (5-1, 2-1 SEC) @No. 6 Bama (5-1, 3-0)

Bryant-Denny Stadium, T-town, 100, 077

6:30 P.M.

ABC

Sean, Gregory, Molly

Crimson Tide by 7 1/2, 59 1/2

I don’t like the way the Crimson Tide has been playing; I Love how they’ve been playing. Kalen said earlier this week that it isn’t perfect, which is true for any team But it’s pretty darn good. Kalen loves the resiliency of his team the most. Agree with that 100 percent. It is a highly resilient group that has rebounded terrifically from the opening season debacle at Tallahassee. Love the way Ty leads and competes and love his talent to go along with those first two stellar qualities. Love the receivers, too. Tailback Jam Miller is questionable Saturday as he is in concussion protocol from a hit on a key pass reception @ Missouri, so it could be Kevin Riley, who’s been impressive so far, and Daniel Hill, most likely, if Miller can’t give it a go. And the defense has been outstanding, led by terrific safety Bray Hubbard, who picked off a pair of Mizzou QB Beau Pribula passes last Saturday. Kane Wommack has his unit clicking. Very physical, good tacklers and opportunistic. The Tide defense has become prolific at getting turnovers, which can win a lot of football games. The Vols are pretty good though. Quarterback Joey Aguilar, a UCLA transfer, as Tennessee and UCLA swapped QBs with Nico Iamaleava, who has been excelling lately for the Bruins in their two victories over Penn State and Michigan State, respectively, went out west. Aguilar has completed 118 of 182 passes, 65%, for 1,680 yards, 14 TDs against 5 ints. He’s capable of throwing interceptions, so that’s something the Tide will be homed in on. I like the Crimson Tide to keep its tremendous momentum going.

Alabama 34, Tennessee 23

No.16 Missouri (5-1, 1-1) @ Auburn (3-3, 0-3)

Jordan-Hare Stadium, 87,451

6:45 P.M.

SEC Network

Tom, Jordan, Cole

Missouri Tigers by 1 1/2, 43 1/2

There was end zone-gate and timeout/clap gate last Saturday Night in a wild one at Jordan-Hare vs. Georgia. Auburn seems snakebitten with the refs. Jackson Arnold looked like he was over the end zone line and had secured a touchdown to put the Tigers up 17-0 before halftime with all the momentum on Auburn’s side. But lead referee Ken Williamson’s crew and his replay official saw it differently. It was called a fumble on the field, and the replay official could not find 100% “beyond a reasonable doubt” evidence that it was not a fumble, so the fumble call was upheld. I’ve looked at it 10 to 12 times this week and Arnold does move the ball from his right arm to his left arm right when he crosses the goal line. He looked in, but it has to be 100 percent conclusive, as the call on the field was a fumble. I liked it as a touchdown, but it was a lot closer than some people have suggested. Kirby’s timeout/then clapping, which he said Auburn was doing, which was 100 percent accurate as the Auburn safety was clapping on the play, was a bit comical. It was like Curly, Larry and Moe, with Curly, wildly calling for a timeout, and Moe grabbing Curly’s ear and signaling for clapping. “Yeab, Yeab, Yeab!” Just a wild last two minutes of the first half. Auburn has to put it behind them and be focused on a pretty strong Mizzou team. I like the Auburn Tigers to pull off the slight upset.

Auburn 23, Missouri 21

No. 5 Ole Miss (6-0, 3-0) @ No. 9 Georgia (5-1, 3-1)

Sanford Stadium, Athens, GA., 92,746

2:30 P.M.

ABC

Chris, Herbie, Holly

Georgia by 7 1/2, 54 1/2

Kirby vs Lane is quite a matchup. Both excellent football coaches, one specializes in defense (Smart), while the other excels at offense (Kif). I like Trinidad Chambliss and Ole Miss to give Georgia everything they want, but for the Dawgs to survive another SEC slugfest.

Georgia 31, Ole Miss 28

No.4 Texas A&M (6-0, 3-0) @ Arkansas (2-4, 0-2)

Razorback Stadium, Fayetteville, AR., 76,000

2:30 P.M.

ESPN

Mark, Roddy, Quint

Aggies by 7 1/2, 60 1/2

I like Mike Elko and his Aggies squad to advance, but I also like Bobby Petrino and his revived Razorbacks team under him, after a close 34-31 loss at Tennessee, to give A&M all it wants.

A&M 34, Arkansas 31

No. 10 LSU (5-1, 2-1) @ No. 17 Vanderbilt (5-1, 1-1)

FirstBank Stadium, Nashville, 40, 350

11 A.M.

ABC

Tess, Jess, Katie

Dores by 2 1/2, 48 1/2

Give me the Vanderbilt Commodores in an extremely hard fought contest.

Vanderbilt 17, LSU 16

No.21 Texas (4-2, 1-1) @ Kentucky (2-3, 0-3)

Kroger Field, Lexington, KY. , 61,000

6 P.M.

ESPN

Dave, Brock, Stormy

Longhorns by 12 1/2, 44 1/2

I admit, I’ve been hard on Arch Manning all season, but last Saturday he played one heckuva game in Texas’ 23-6 Red River Rivalry victory over Oklahoma. He played like the No.1 player in the country, which he was in 2023 coming out of Isidore Newman School in N’Awlins. Arch was sensational against the Sooners. What stood out to me just as much as Arch’s play was running back Tre Wisner and the Texas defense. Wisner rushed for 94 tough yards on 22 carries. He was phenomenal. The Texas defense was even better. Wow, they locked it down on John Mateer and the OU offense. Defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski had his defense playing at a tremendously high level. There was also a 75-yard punt return for a 6 by wide receiver/RB Ryan Niblett, which should have been called back for a block in the back, that was a critical play in the game, That play opened the game up for Texas. I like Arch, Tre, and that force of nature that is the Texas defense, to keep their shot at making the playoff very much alive.

Texas 35, Kentucky 10

***Indiana has signed Curt Cignetti to an eight year, $93 million extension that runs through 2033, which will pay him over $11.6 million annually. Great move by the Hoosiers’ brass and love that Cignetti is staying. *****

No. 14 Oklahoma (5-1, 1-1) @South Carolina (3-3, 1-3)

Williams-Brice Stadium, Columbia, S.C., 77,559

11:45 A.M.

SEC Network

Taylor, Matt, Alyssa

OU by 5 1/2, 43 1/2

I’m going to take the upset here.

South Carolina 21, Oklahoma 20

Mississippi State (4-2, 0-2) @ Florida (2-4, 1-2)

Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, Gainesville, FL., 88,548

3:15 P.M.

SEC Network

Dave, Fozzy, Morgan

Gators by 9 1/2, 51 1/2

I like Billy Napier to survive another week in this 2025 SEC gauntlet as there is extremely intense pressure on him. I like the guy. I think he’s a good football coach. I’m pulling for him to have a strong finish. Jeff Lebby and State are still working to get to a more competitive level.

Florida 30, Mississippi State 17

National Slate

No. 13 Notre Dame 35, No.20 USC 31

Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, 80, 795

6:30 P.M.

NBC/Peacock- Chicago Fire and Chicago PD on Peacock are phenomenal shows.

Noah, Todd, Kathryn

Fighting Irish by 9 1/2, 60 1/2

Marcus Freeman and his Irish survive a stellar effort by Lincoln Riley and the Trojans.

No. 15 BYU 24, Utah 23

LaVell Edwards Stadium, Provo, UT, 62,073

7 P.M.

FOX

Utah by 3 1/2, 49 1/2

I’ll take Coach Kalani Sitake and his Cougars to pull off the slight upset over Kyle Whittingham and his Utes at BYU and remain perfect at 7-0 overall and 4-0 in the Big 12.

No.1 Ohio State 42, Wisconsin 3

Camp Randall Stadium, 80, 321

2:30 P.M.

CBS

Brad, Gary, Jenny

Buckeyes by 25 1/2, 41 1/2

The winning machine that is Ohio State keeps it rolling. Like Texas and LSU, the Buckeyes’ defense is totally lock down. Maybe the best in the country. Those other two are excellent also, along with Alabama and Auburn. Georgia is getting back to being prolific too.

Friday

No.2 Miami 35, Louisville 14

Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens, 65,326

6 P.M.

ESPN

Dave, Dusty, Taylor

Canes by 13 1/2, 49 1/2

I like Mario Cristobal and his winning machine to keep it rolling as well. Miami is another stout D.

Back to Saturday

No. 7 Texas Tech 28, Arizona State 24

Mountain America Stadium, Tempe, AZ.

3 P.M.

FOX

Connor Onion? Mark Helfrich

Texas Tech by 7 1/2, 51 1/2

I like Coach Joey McGuire and his outstanding Red Raiders squad to survive a scare in the desert.

No. 22 Memphis 52, UAB 28

Protective Stadium, B’ham, 47,100

3 P.M.

ESPN2

Matt Schumacher, Dustin Fox, Tori Perry

Memphis by 21 1/2, 62 1/2

Memphis has $10 million allocated for NIL funds and UAB has $1.2 M. South Florida also has a $10 million coffer. Makes it tough to compete with those teams in the American. Trent Dilfer was a catastrophic hire by AD Mark Ingram. Maybe interim head coach Alex Mortenson can turn it around and get the Blazers three or four more victories before the season concludes. There are some candidates for the head job who are appealing, according to my source. SMU Offensive Coordinator Casey Woods and Navy OC Drew Cronic are a couple who stand out. Both young and outstanding.

My top 12 teams are, in this order, 1. Indiana, 2. Ohio State, 3. Miami, 4. Alabama 5. Texas Tech, 6. Georgia, 7. Texas, 8. A&M, 9. Ole Miss, 10. Georgia Tech, 11. BYU, 12. Memphis.

The Hoosiers’ 30-20 victory at Autzen Stadium over then No.3 Oregon last Saturday afternoon has turned out to be much more impressive than Oregon’s victory over Penn State, which at the time looked stellar, but looks a little more hollow now after Penn State’s implosion under James Franklin, who was relieved of his duties last Sunday to the tune of a $49 million buyout. Incredible. However, Penn State can’t get Cignetti it doesn’t appear. You never say never, but he’s now doing extremely well in Bloomington where they’ll probably build a statue of him with continued success. Love the loyalty on both sides. Hope it sticks. Best victory of the season by the Hoosiers last Saturday @ Oregon.

Semifinals

Thursday, 1/8/26

Vrbo Fiesta Bowl, State Farm Stadium, Glendale, AZ. 63, 400

6:30 P.M.

ESPN

No.1 Indiana 24, No. 10 Georgia 21

Friday, 1/9/26

Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, Mercedes Benz Stadium, Atlanta, GA., 71,000

6:30 P..M.

ESPN

No.4 Alabama 17, No.2 Ohio State 16

National Championship Game, Monday, 1/19/26

Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens, FL., 65, 326

6:30 P.M.

ESPN

No.4 Alabama 23, No.1 Indiana 20

Liking Kalen and the Tide to emerge as the national champ at this point, but it’s an Ali-Fraziuh fight every week. So, as I’ve said, this playoff predictions part of my column is highly fluid.

National Champion: Alabama