The college football slate for Week 3 might be a bit underwhelming in the eyes of some, but for members of the Southeastern Conference, it represents the start of intra-conference play in America’s premier league.
Sports Illustrated’s Richard Johnson took a look at the full college football schedule for the coming weekend and ranked the top games into tiers. As mentioned earlier, the matchups set for this Saturday are somewhat underwhelming, and Johnson agreed by not placing any games into the top “definitely good” tier.
However, the matchup between the Florida Gators and Tennessee Volunteers in Gainesville to open up SEC play made the second tier, titled “sneaky good (or at least with something of notable intrigue)”. Johnson offered the following explanation.
Can Florida be organized enough to match up with Tennessee? If the Gators’ drive-extending penalties rear their head in this game and they can’t get lined up, the Volunteers are built to exploit them with a high-octane offense. That offense is predicated on quarterback Joe Milton proving he’s a complete passer, however, and not just the guy whose howitzer of an arm can sling the ball a seemingly unlimited amount of yards down the field. The Vols were probably in a look-ahead spot last week struggling against Austin Peay, so you shouldn’t put too much stock in a game where they didn’t exactly blow out their FCS opponents.
Two other SEC games also made the second tier — South Carolina Gamecocks at Georgia Bulldogs and LSU Tigers at Mississippi State Bulldogs. Kansas State Wildcats at the Missouri Tigers and Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets at Ole Miss Rebels land in the third and final tier: “Well, it’s certainly better than watching not football”
The Gators host the Volunteers in the Swamp on Saturday, Sept. 16, for the SEC schedule opener between two historic rivals. The opening kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. EDT and the game can be watched on ESPN.
Follow us @GatorsWire on Twitter and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.