SEC working to avoid repeat of Florida-LSU scheduling fiasco

No. 8 Oklahoma (8-2, 7-0 Big 12) at No. 10 West Virginia (8-1, 5-1 Big 12) (7 p.m. Saturday, WFAA/8): With another year to wait before the Big 12 decides its victor with a conference championship game, this game in Morgantown, W.Va., could be the closest we get this season. It was also supposed to take place in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.

The game is a makeup of a postponed contest originally scheduled for October 8 at Florida, when Hurricane Matthew struck the state. Now the #23 Gators have to defeat the #16 Tigers on the road to seal the SEC East title and book their trips to Atlanta. Austin Appleby had an extremely efficient game, going 17/21 for 201 yards and a couple of touchdowns.

It’s a battle of strength versus strength when LSU’s offensive line and ground game takes on Florida’s defensive line. The last time the Tigers had a three-game stretch of not giving up more than 70 points came in the first three games of last season. “They’re both very good quarterbacks”. McCoy played most of Florida’s 20-7 win over SC after Jordan went down on the first offensive play of the game.

The Gators go into this game knowing they could clinch a second straight SEC East title and break Tennessee’s hearts by defying the odds.

Florida’s getting +425 on the money line, indicating about a 19 percent chance of winning; LSU is listed at -550, indicating about a 85 percent chance of winning.

Had Saturday’s game been played on it’s originally scheduled date (Oct. 8), the Gators would have avoided LSU All-American tailback Leonard Fournette, who was still nursing a sprained ankle. They will provide a challenge for a tough Gators defense, and as they run nearly three times more often than they pass they might remove Florida’s greatest strength: their defensive back play. The Tigers at least get some benefit of the doubt, simply because they were without their best player, Kamryn Pettway.

Your LSU Basketball Tigers improve to a flawless 3-0 start, but not without showing some incredible weaknesses. Instead, it’ll be a matter of buckling down on defense and playing both responsibly and opportunistically on offense.

While Florida has the second best rushing defense in the conference, they’ll be without key personnel.

LSU is a heavy 13.5-point favorite at home, with the total moving back-and-forth from 37-to-38. While they are both ranked in the CFP Top 4, don’t expect both to make the playoff.

LSU is certainly no slouch defensively. He ended up at LSU because he had aspirations to play in the SEC and get a great education. “He’s the meanest guy on the field, but off the field, you would have no clue that he’s the guy under the helmet wearing the No. 77”.

“He’s huge for that program”, Appleby said.

After Florida beat SC 20-7 in Gainesville, about 30 Gators lined up to greet Gamecocks Coach Will Muschamp. The Gators had just one loss, a road one to Auburn, putting them at No. 9.

Florida, meanwhile, could be minus half a dozen or more starters. We have guys who can do things offensively and defensively. Florida’s Johnny Townsend, for his part, is fourth in the nation with a 47.3 average on 45 punts. It’s insane to think that a team could fall from being #4 in the initial CFP rankings to being 9th-best in the conference in just a few weeks, but the Aggies should have never been anywhere near that lofty ranking. Tigers QB Danny Etling has completed 58.8 percent of his passes with 7 touchdowns and 4 interceptions since taking over the starting job. UCLA is 0-5 ATS in its last five games coming off a win.

They’ll reunite Saturday about 700 miles south in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He can play a form or “Point-Foward” against some teams, while still being able to exploit bad post-play against other teams.

The reason? The noon kickoff is LSU’s earliest in Baton Rouge in five years. Video thanks to GatorVision.