Southern Football Report: Three Big Games

With the first weekend of college football upon us, we are all setting up football parties, tailgate plans and DVR schedules on the games that we all want to watch again next week. If you’re like me you want to watch every game every Saturday because there is no such thing as ‘too much college football’. Here are three games that I am looking forward to the most and why:

Clemson Tigers at Georgia Bulldogs – 5:30pm

In a rivalry game that had been on hiatus for a decade the Tigers got the 38-35 win last year in Memorial Stadium but I get the feeling that the Dawgs are setting a tiger trap in Sanford Stadium this Saturday. Not many folks are giving Clemson a chance at winning but I think it is closer than we think. The two teams’ strengths will be matched up to one another: Georgia’s offense versus Clemson’s defense. This will be an interesting match up but the real fun will be the other two units. Clemson’s offense lost just about everyone except for three offensive linemen and Georgia lost five starters from last season to graduation and expulsion. This will be the match up I will be paying attention to and I’m sure Dawgs and Tigers alike, will be also.

Arkansas Razorbacks at Auburn Tigers – 4pm

This game has me captivated because I remember watching this game last season and thinking to myself that Arkansas had a chance to get their first signature win under Brett Bielema and to break their five game losing streak. But alas, the Razorbacks coughed up the ball three times in the second half and allowed Auburn runningback Tre Mason to rush for four touchdowns and lost the game by 17 points. The 2014 game has a little drama of it’s own as Tigers quarterback Nick Marshall will not start as punishment for his marijuana possession citation over the summer. How much he will play is still a mystery and backup quarterback Jeremy Johnson is a big unknown while Arkansas returns two of the top runningbacks in the conference.

LSU Tigers v. Wisconsin Badgers – 9pm

No two conferences trade barbs as often as the SEC and the Big Ten and this week 1 contest will pit the two conferences against one another in Texas, Big 12 country. No one reloads talent like LSU and 2014 is no different as freshman runningback Leonard Fournette will be running behind a veteran offensive line although there are MAJOR questions at the quarterback position. Wisconsin returns one of the top runningbacks in America in Melvin Gordon who rushed for 1600 yards and 12 touchdowns while splitting carries. This will be sort of an old-fashioned game as both teams will rely heavily on the running game in order to hide their inexperience at quarterback.

Tune in to the Southern Football Report this Saturday for more on these games and more from 10am-Noon for high school recaps and college game previews!