The SEC Championship

The SEC East Florida Gators match up against the Arkansas Razorbacks of the West this weekend for the conference championship. The Gators are favored by 2.5 points in this game which will take place in the Georgia Dome. I'm gonna take a look at this game by comparing how they fared against common opponents. Florida scraped by divisional rival Tennessee by a point, while Arkansas beat the volunteers by 17. The Razorbacks barely overcame divisional rival Alabama by a point, while Florida reminded UA that the only reason they made a blip of a resurrection last year was because of a healthy Prothro.


Florida fell to Auburn after defeating LSU while enduring their gauntlet of a conference schedule. Arkansas did the opposite against those teams. Just on a side note, I think LSU is playing the best football in the conference right now. I hope the BCS selection process pits them against the perenially over-rated, under-achieved Notre Dame.

'Wow, thanks for the insightful analysis.' I know.. comparing play against common opponents is a weak (albeit not useless) prognosticator. But just for the masochist in me, let's remember how each of these conference contenders fared in their win over the Gamecocks.

Both teams tallied up more than 400 yards of offense against Carolina. Arkansas attempted 50 rushing attacks and averaged 5.3 yards of each. The Gators distributed their passing game to 6 different receivers, with the formerly-injured Percy Harvin leading the way. The Razorbacks gathered the majority of their passing yards by throwing to #85 Marcus Monk.

So who wins? Well, I'd prefer the Gators to win this one. Even though they're recruiting rivals, I would hate for conference champs to have lost to Southern Cal by 36. Regardless if they were without McFadden and Dickless at the time, that's just embarassing for a conference which prides itself on defense. Unlike Tyrone Nix's approach for the Gamecocks, if the Gators just put together some type of defensive gameplan that eliminates Monk on predictable 3rd-and-long plays and their 2 minute drill then Florida will win due to the fact that they have a more balanced offense. Also, nobody has been able to stop Tebow. Obviously, I'm going with Florida. Do they cover? Yep, I figure they'll win by 6.