ATLANTA — Steve Spurrier loves to beat the Georgia Bulldogs, and he’s done it with regularity as a coach. He had a losing record (1-2) against the Dogs as a player, including a 27-10 setback that snapped a seven-game Florida winning streak in 1966, the year Spurrier won the Heisman Trophy.
He has a 12-3 record as a coach against Georgia, 11-1 while he was at Florida and 1-2 at South Carolina, his current post.
He’ll try to steer the Gamecocks, a 7-point underdog, to their second straight win over Georgia on Saturday following last year’s 16-12 triumph.
"Georgia really doesn’t have any weaknesses on offense, defense or special team play," Spurrier said. "They’re a very good team."
He’s right. The Bulldogs are ranked No. 2 in the nation with a 2-0 record, but really haven’t been tested. Carolina’s defense will test them.
"The jury is still out on how good we might be," Georgia coach Mark Richt said. "Until we play a couple of SEC defenses, I’m not ready to say we’re better than we were last year."
Georgia has won five of the last six against Carolina. The Gamecocks did it with defense last year, but they’re about to find an even stronger Bulldog attack led by a more experienced quarterback Matthew Stafford and running back Knowshon Moreno. Georgia 17-7.
Western Kentucky
at No. 11 Alabama
John Parker Wilson wasn’t too pleased that the Tide had to struggle to beat Tulane last week. He said, "We did very poorly across the board, everybody. We were great against Clemson and we were horrible against Tulane. Now we’ve got to get back to where we need to be. We’re lucky the defense showed up to win that game." Tide will have no problems handling Hilltoppers. Alabama 45-7.
Arkansas at No. 8 Texas
These old Southwest Conference rivals have played some good ones in the past, even though the Longhorns hold a commanding 55-21 series lead. The Hogs have won three of the last four in Austin, but this won’t be four of five. Casey Dick’s string of two consecutive 300-yard passing games ends and Colt McCoy leads the Steers to easy victory. Texas 42-10.
No. 9 Auburn
at Mississippi State
Tigers have a 10-4-1 mark against the Bulldogs in Starkville and there’s no reason they can’t keep that success going. Auburn 24-14.
Middle Tennessee
at Kentucky
Joe Craddock has steered the Blue Raiders to an impressive upset victory over Maryland last week. This time he finally sees a solid defense. Kentucky 24-7.
North Texas at No. 7 LSU
Can a Sun Belt Conference team beat LSU in Tiger Stadium? No. None of the current Sun Belt teams have beaten LSU anywhere in 31 games. LSU 49-7.
Samford at Mississippi
Pat Sullivan says his unbeaten Bulldogs facing Ole Miss "will be a big jump in competition." Texas transfer Jevan Snead has thrown six TD passes in two games for the Rebels. He’ll just add to that total Saturday night. Ole Miss 31-10.
UAB at Tennessee
Vols struck by West Coast woes two years in a row, this time at UCLA last year at California. They should get running back Arian Foster back on track against the Blazers. Tennessee 35-10.
Rice at Vanderbilt
Vandy is on a roll with two victories in a row. Coach Bobby Johnson says, "This ups the ante. We have a responsibility to keep playing this way." Rice could feel the same way with victories over SMU and Memphis. Commodore defenders arise. Vanderbilt 24-10.