No. 21 Texas A&M at No. 7 Alabama
While it's technically true to say Alabama is Alabama in a geographical and literal sense, Alabama is not Alabama. Head coach Nick Saban's bunch has put together an uncharacteristic 5-1 record in which the Tide narrowly escaped a loss to Arkansas and fell to an Ole Miss defense that should be locked up for assault. Alabama has certainly not looked nearly as dominant as the fighting A.J. McCarrons of days past. All this should point to an upset-in-the-making for Texas A&M, but the Aggies are in the throngs of a two-game losing streak at the hands of the pair of bulldozers from the state of Mississippi. But regardless of the downward trend, A&M quarterback and resident "trill" person, Kenny Hill , leads the SEC with 2,511 passing yards and 23 touchdown tosses . As Phyllis from Mulga, Alabama would have you believe, the Crimson Tide's dynasty isn't quite over. But the Aggies should give Bama a run for its money this weekend, and a loss could certainly put a bow on the Tide's reign of terror.
Missouri at Florida
If the absurdity of the 2014 SEC East could be summarized in one game, it'd probably be this matchup between Missouri and Florida. In the Tigers' (4-2, 1-1 SEC) last three games, they've lost to Indiana, mounted an improbable comeback win against South Carolina and been shut out 34-0 by Georgia . The Gators (3-2, 2-2 SEC) look highly uninterested in winning games and quarterback Jeff Driskel has flat-out forgotten how to play football. These two programs are both very much alive in the hunt for the division title, with one conference loss for Mizzou and two for Florida . The SEC East is a strange bird, perhaps the strangest of all the birds. Regardless, someone has to win this game because this isn't the NFL where you can tie. The winner can keep relative pace with Georgia for a spot in the SEC championship game. As for the loser, well, you can't really count anything out with this division, so maybe they can win, too.
Kentucky at LSU
LSU head coach Les Miles calls the Tigers' Death Valley the place "where dreams go to die." But the dream-to-death ratio has been 50/50 in two SEC games there this year, and Kentucky will look to put another dent in that Saturday. The Wildcats are sitting at 5-1 and could very well break into the top-25 and the SEC championship conversation with a win over the Tigers. Stop laughing — it's true. By LSU's standards, this season has been a disappointment so far, but you can never count out a program as established as the one from Baton Rouge . And it doesn't hurt that true freshman running back Leonard Fournette has been as terrifying for opponents as advertised. Despite the various storylines, one of two things can happen Saturday: either Kentucky wins, propelling the Wildcats to a program-defining win and devastating LSU, or the Tigers win and everyone outside the state of Louisiana goes home disappointed.