What’s on Tap? A Preview of Week Two in SEC Football
OXFORD, Miss. – As we head into the second full week of the Southeastern Conference, the slate looks like the selection at a top-flight Oxford pub.
We have some really good stuff, the bar brands, and the stuff that could only be consumed as the result of a lost wager.
Here is a look at the conference’s bar tab for the week:
THE TOP SHELF
South Carolina at Arkansas: Beamer Ball meets Yes Sirrrrrr! Arkansas looked good last week beating Cincinnati, while South Carolina used a couple of blocked punts for scores to make its win over Georgia State look better than it was. Carolina had better find an answer to stop K.J. Jefferson, while the Hogs should get ready to see anything and everything thrown at them. The winner of this one is in prime position to put itself high in the division standings.
Kentucky at Florida: The Wildcats will be without a few players while Florida must guard against a hangover after beating Utah last week. The Cats will rely on quarterback Will Levis and the weapons he has available while Anthony Richardson of the Gators will rely on, well, himself to use some of the whiskey-smooth-like plays he made against Utah last week.
Wake Forest at Vandy: No, I have not had too much this early in the day. If Vanderbilt can win this one, the Commodores will be 3-0 for the first time since 2017 when Vandy opened with wins over Middle Tennessee, Alabama A&M and Kansas State. One thing in the Dores’ favor is Demon Deacons’ quarterback Sam Hartman will play after missing a good bit of camp, so he could be rusty.
Tennessee at Pitt: UT quarterback Hendon Hooker had no problem settling his tab last week as he had his way against Ball State. The Panthers used a pick six off a deflected pass to outlast West Virginia in the Backyard Brawl in its opener. This game could be as important as Arkansas-Cincy was last week. The Vols will have to leave the land of moonshine to visit the Iron City Beer country and that is no easy trip.
THE SNEAKY GOOD STUFF ON TAP
Appalachian State at Texas A&M: The Aggies should call former Texas coach Mack Brown to get a report on Ap State. Last week, Brown’s North Carolina team escaped ASU with a 63-61 win. A&M may want to show the game film of the Mountaineers knocking off Michigan a few years ago as well. Texas A&M shutout Sam Houston State last week 31-0, but quarterback Haynes King was unimpressively impressive. He threw for a career-high 364 yards, but he cannot make some of the same mistakes he did against the Bearkats.
Missouri at Kansas State: The Tigers might want to find a way to stop K-State’s Deuce Vaughn who ran for 126 yards in limited duty in an easy win over South Dakota and remember Adrian Martinez the former Nebraska quarterback? Yeah, he is in Manhattan now. Last week he only threw 15 times, but he completed 11 of them. Mizzou easily rolled past Louisiana Tech last week, but the Tigers cannot afford to lose this one and stay in the SEC East race.
Mississippi State at Arizona: Fans will not begin to imbibe at the tailgate too early as this one does not kick off until 10 p.m., central time. Last week, the Bulldogs how to outlast Mother Nature’s wrath during a lengthy weather delay and a pesky Memphis team to win 49-23. Will Rogers had a SEC-high 450 yards passing. The Wildcats opened with a 38-20 win over a not-too-shabby San Diego State team last week. The late kick and the trip out west could be a test for State.
THE ROTGUT
Alabama at Texas: Surprising rot gut here. Alabama is just too good and poor Longhorn quarterback Quinn Ewers. Last week during the game his car was towed, and rumor has it thanks to an NIL deal it was a Porsche. He had better have a deal with a health insurance company as he is about to meet Will Anderson, Jr. Texas might stay close for a bit, but the Tide has way too much talent. This is pretty much Dom Perignon versus PBR.
Samford at Georgia: To steal from an old sportswriter, inflation will kill Samford Saturday. As soon as the ball is inflated, they are dead.
San Jose State at Auburn: Auburn had its way with Mercer last week while the Spartans edged Portland State. This will be a culture shock for SJSU as it has just one player on its roster from east of the Mississippi River. The bad news for the Spartans is White Claw is not very popular in Auburn. The good news, the school should make enough money on this game to have an open bar on the flight back to California.
Southern at LSU. Poor Southern: They are going to have to take the wrath of Brian Kelly’s Tigers after they lost to Florida State Sunday. LSU fans are not happy, and Kelly will have to try to buy some goodwill with a route of the HBCU team. Forget the champagne against cheap beer analogy. This is a matchup of Everclear and tap water.
ONE FOR THE ROAD
Central Arkansas at Ole Miss: This can be billed as a game between two 1-0 teams. It is also Luke Altmyer’s audition to be the Rebels’ starting quarterback. After Jaxson Dart engineered a win over Troy last week, now it is Altmyer’s turn to take to the stage. If after this game Ole Miss can make a decision on who wins the starting job as the Rebels prepare to hit the road to Atlanta to play Georgia Tech, head coach Lane Kiffin might just buy a round for the house.
Steve Barnes
Steve Barnes joins The Rebel Walk staff as a senior writer and brings a trifecta of journalistic experience. As a writer, he has covered college sports for Rivals.com, Football.com and SaturdayDownSouth.com as well as served as a beat writer for various traditional newspapers.
He has been a broadcaster for arena football and several national tournament events for the National Junior College Athletic Association as well as hosting various shows on radio.
A former sports information director at Albany (Ga.) State University and an assistant at Troy and West Florida, he has helped host many NCAA conference, regional and national events, including serving five years on the media committee of the NCAA Division II World Series.
Barnes, a native of Pensacola, Fla., attended Ole Miss in 1983-84, where his first journalism teacher was David Kellum. The duo has come a long way since that time.
He will bring a proven journalistic track record, along with a knack for finding the out-of-the-ordinary story angles to The Rebel Walk.
Barnes continues to reside in Pensacola a mere ten minutes from the beach because he does have taste and a brain.
