Alabama Football: Marquee SEC games to watch during bye week

With Alabama football enjoying an off week, Crimson Tide fans may be seeking good college football games to tune in to. There are a handful of good games taking place around the Southeastern Conference on Saturday.

To kick things off, Arkansas plays at Auburn at noon EST. The two teams are tied for last in the division with 1-3 SEC records. Arkansas sits at 4-3, and is coming off of a road win over BYU. The Hogs have been blown out in their last two SEC games, including a 49-26 decision against Alabama football. Arkansas still has to play LSU and Ole Miss, as well as an underrated Liberty team, so this is a must-win game for the Razorbacks.

Auburn has a 3-4 record, and an overtime win over Missouri is still its only Power Five victory. The Tigers’ closing schedule is no cake walk either, and it will be difficult for Auburn to even reach bowl eligibility this season. As they do every season, Auburn plays Alabama football in the regular season finale.

Florida and top-ranked Georgia kick off in Jacksonville at 3:30 EST. Georgia still sits unblemished at 7-0, but is entering the most difficult stretch of its schedule. The Bulldogs shouldn’t have much trouble with Florida, who dwells near the bottom of the East with a 1-3 SEC record. Still, Georgia hosts Tennessee in a possible top-five matchup next week, and could get caught looking ahead.

The Gators sit at 4-3, and have been competitive in each of their SEC losses. The downside is that Florida hasn’t beaten an FBS team with a winning record since week one.

No. 3 Tennessee hosts no. 19 Kentucky at 7:00 EST. Tennessee has been one of the hottest teams in the country, but will face a challenge in the Wildcats. The Volunteers are 7-0, with the highlight of their season (and maybe of this century) being a win over Alabama football. They will have the opportunity to play Georgia next week in a game that could decide the SEC East, but they cannot afford to overlook Kentucky.

The Wildcats are 5-2 and 2-2 in the SEC, and will be focused squarely on the Vols. Kentucky is coming off of a bye week, and defeated Mississippi State in its last game. With a win over Tennessee, UK has a good opportunity to finish its season strong and qualify for a good bowl game.

In an SEC West bout, Ole Miss plays at Texas A&M at 7:30 EST. The Texas A&M Aggies are reeling, on a three-game losing streak and dealing with extensive off-field issues. For the remainder of the season, they will either quit entirely or play like a team with nothing to lose. Either way, A&M has already fallen well short of its lofty preseason expectations.

Ole Miss, on the other hand, is 7-1 and firmly in the top three in the SEC West. The Rebels look to bounce back from their first loss of the season, a lopsided defeat at the hands of divisional foe LSU. Ole Miss has a very tough schedule to close the year, including a game against Alabama in two weeks. It has to find a way to get past A&M to ensure that those late season games are as meaningful as possible.

The bye week is one of the longest weeks of the season for an Alabama football fan. Hopefully these SEC games are entertaining enough to help the weekend fly by. Come Monday, it will be game week once again.