We’ve reached the penultimate weekend of the college football regular season. In the SEC, this is often referred to as “Cupcake Saturday”. Some teams will visit the bakery for some sweet treats, but there are a few matchups that will please your palate far more than just a dessert.
No. 21 Arkansas will visit No. 2 Alabama in the SEC on CBS Game of the Week, Florida visits Missouri in one of the biggest games of Gators coach Dan Mullen’s career and Auburn will be without quarterback Bo Nix when it plays South Carolina in Columbia.
What are the biggest storylines in the SEC this weekend? Let’s break them down and then make game picks straight up and against the spread.
Auburn quarterback Bo Nix had surgery this week to repair a broken ankle that he suffered in the loss to Mississippi State, which means that T.J. Finley will step in as the No. 1 quarterback for coach Bryan Harsin. Finley, of course, replaced Nix when Auburn trailed Georgia State in the second half and led the Tigers to a last-minute win.
Finley, an LSU transfer, will make his first start for the orange and blue on Saturday at South Carolina. Coincidentally, he got his first start last year for LSU against these same Gamecocks. Harsin and offensive coordinator Mike Bobo shouldn’t have to change much of the offense to fit Finley’s style. He’s calm in the pocket, possesses the arm strength to make tough throws across the field and has decent accuracy deep downfield.
“There’s a lot of similarities there, but as far as T.J., we’ve already been doing it,” Harsin said on Monday. “You kind of know what he likes and, again, we’re going to have to still run our offense and do things we feel are going to be successful. He’s going to have to be able to execute those…
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