LIKE IT IS

No real treasures to be found this weekend

— One-third of the way into the season, four SEC schools have an open date. Two of them, Florida and Mississippi State, are undefeated at 4-0 and the other two, Vanderbilt and Auburn, are 1-3.

What that means is the Auburn Tigers get an extra week to prepare for an all-out assault on Arkansas’ defense. Look for them to run and pass with success.

There are actually some pretty good games this week and all the home teams should win. Missouri should too, even though it broke an unwritten SEC rule and accepted a game at Central Florida. SEC schools playing anyone with north, west, east, south or central in the name should always be at home.

Last week only one game was missed — Arkansas.

Oh well, $178 million in The Great Arkansas Treasure Hunt and not one stinking penny belongs to me.

ARKANSAS AT TEXAS A&M The Aggies are looking for their first-ever SEC victory, and so is John L. Smith. A&M is led by freshman quarterback Johnny Manziel, who can run and throw and is leading the Aggies in both categories statistically. We’ll find out if he’s another Kolton Browning on Saturday. Look for Tyler Wilson to pass for more than 400 yards with no interceptions. Also look for Dennis Johnson to have a great game. Did I mention Manziel can run and throw? Or that this group of Aggies has never beaten Arkansas and should be really ticked off about last year’s game? Texas A&M 35, Arkansas 31

WESTERN KENTUCKY AT ARKANSAS STATE The Hilltoppers followed up their victory over Kentucky by beating Southern Miss, but this is the Sun Belt opener for both teams. Jonesboro will be rocking with the Gus bus coming off a surprising ground attack that would have made the Army proud. Gus Malzahn did not want to run up the score against Alcorn State. After Ryan Aplin completed 12 of 13 passes, including 3 touchdown passes to put the Red Wolves on top 42-0 at the half, Malzahn called off the Wolves. Arkansas State 49, Western Kentucky 12

OLE MISS AT ALABAMA The Crimson Tide might get tested early through the air, but no one makes adjustments faster than Alabama Coach Nick Saban. Hugh Freeze has brought some enthusiasm with him as the Rebels’ head coach, and he will need it all Saturday. I’m going to go ahead and say it, someone has to: Alabama should play LSU for the BCS national championship. Alabama 42, Ole Miss 17

TENNESSEE AT GEORGIA How much would Derek Dooley pay for a victory in Athens, Ga.? He doesn’t have that much money. The Vols are improved and should reach his safety mark of eight victories, but it won’t start Saturday. Georgia 28, Tennessee 17

SOUTH CAROLINA AT KENTUCKY There may be more people at the Lexington flea market Saturday than at this game, unless they are getting together to talk about the coming basketball season. It might be close for a quarter, but even if the Gamecocks are looking ahead to Georgia, they should beat this hapless team. The Wildcats are thinking about a coaching change. South Carolina 42, Kentucky 7 TOWSON AT LSU The Tigers make Towson pay for LSU’s escape last week at Auburn. LSU 54, Towson 0

MISSOURI AT CENTRAL FLORIDA It may be a road game, but the Tigers need to rebound after being dominated last week by South Carolina. A victory Saturday and another next week against Vanderbilt and they only need to win two of their final six games to be bowl eligible. Missouri 45, Central Florida 21

Sports, Pages 19 on 09/28/2012

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