After this weekend’s slate of SEC games, we could get a pretty good idea of what games to circle on the schedule as the second half of the season gets underway.
Alabama-Texas A&M and Florida-LSU are pivotal games that’ll go along way toward deciding which teams represent the SEC East and SEC West.
If Florida, sans suspended quarterback Will Grier, rolls into Baton Rouge and beats LSU, they’ll be as close to an October lock to winning the division as can exist. The Gators’ remaining SEC schedule after this week: Georgia, Vanderbilt, at South Carolina. And not only could Florida start thinking about Atlanta, if they get past Georgia, that season-ending game against Florida State could tee up a shot at the College Football Playoff heading into the SEC title game.
Of course, if Florida loses, then that annual rivalry game in Jacksonville against Georgia on Halloween could decide the SEC East (assuming Georgia beats a Mizzou side Saturday that’s struggled to score in conference play).
On the West side, the chaos scenario is Alabama beats Texas A&M and LSU loses, rendering those teams -- plus Ole Miss, which has a tricky game at Memphis this weekend -- with one conference loss. A&M would have a tough path, having to travel to Ole Miss and LSU, though LSU still has road trips to Ole Miss and Alabama plus that home date against the Aggies. Alabama’s only ranked opponent left after this weekend is LSU, though something weird could always happen at Auburn in the Iron Bowl.
If A&M beats Alabama and LSU beats Florida, that could set up the Aggies and Tigers to decide the SEC West in the final game of the season in Baton Rouge.
There are still plenty of massive SEC games looming on and after Halloween, of course, but this weekend is the first one with championship game -- and playoff -- implications.