Over the course of this week, we at MrSEC.com are revealing the 50 SEC football games this writer is most interested in watching in 2012. For a description of how the games were chosen, scroll down the homepage and read Part One of our countdown.
For now, just know that we’re going through the schedule week-by-week with the least-interesting games listed sooner and the most-interesting games listed later. Now, on with the list:
Week Six (weekend of October 6th)
30. LSU at Florida — Les Miles and Tiger AD Joe Alleva say they like playing Florida every year, they just don’t think it’s fair that they have to. If the Gators pull the upset, expect a lot of moaning about cross-division games counting in the standings.
29. Georgia at South Carolina — Steve Spurrier joked this spring that he preferred playing the Dawgs early in the season when they’re usually dealing with suspensions. Will Mark Richt get the last laugh in what — on paper — looks to be the East Division championship game?
Week Seven (weekend of October 13th)
28. Alabama at Missouri — The Tigers get their first visit from the SEC’s juggernaut de jours. Could Gary Pinkel possibly spring an upset over his fellow Don James protege, Nick Saban?
27. South Carolina at LSU — All that offseason talk of cross-division games not counting? Expect the fans of the loser of this fantastic affair to do some serious complaining.
Week Eight (weekend of October 20th)
26. Alabama at Tennessee — Along with Auburn-Georgia, this is one of the classic, traditional games that led the SEC to keep a permanent cross-division foe in its new scheduling format. If the pupil (Derek Dooley) could somehow upset the master (Saban), it could just save his job.
25. LSU at Texas A&M — It’s a revival of an old/new rivalry that the SEC clearly hopes to turn into one of its marquee matchups (perhaps on Thanksgiving, if you ask Jackie Sherrill). Expect the 12th Man to really be hyped up for this one.
24. South Carolina at Florida — Spurrier has knocked off his alma mater twice in a row and a trifecta would go along way toward helping the Cocks capture the East crown. Will the Gators still be in the race by this point of the season or will their coach’s seat be warming (in just his second year)?
Week Nine (weekend of October 27th)
23. Kentucky at Missouri — Everyone’s expecting Missouri and Arkansas to develop into a nice SEC rivalry, but this matchup will be an annual border war, too. Trying to finally climb the SEC ladder, UK can’t afford to let Mizzou march in and further undo the progress made during Rich Brooks’ tenure.
22. Texas A&M at Auburn — Another new rivalry, this game could be extra large for Gene Chizik. Either his team will still be in the West Division race or the coach will be dealing with more “What’d if he’d never signed Cam Newton?” hypotheticals.
21. Florida vs Georgia (Jacksonville) — A classic SEC affair. Richt is now 3-5 versus Georgia’s arch-rival since 2004 and his squad’s East title hopes will no doubt run through Jacksonville again this season
We’ll pick up with Week Ten tomorrow and count down from 20 through 11.
For a complete look at the SEC’s grid schedule, click right here.
