SEC Football 2012: Week Two Previews and Predictions

Last week I went 10-1 on picks with the only misstep being Tennessee, who was quite impressive in its win over North Carolina State. There are some big conference games this week, while the rest of the teams fill in out of conference opponents before starting their SEC schedule run.

Check out the following link for the SEC football TV schedule.

Conference Games
Georgia @ Missouri
This game features two of the top signal callers in the SEC East in Georgia's Aaron Murray and Mizzou's James Franklin. Georgia has a budding star in freshman RB Todd Gurley who blew through Buffalo last weekend. Georgia will need him as well as Murray to be in top form this week as I have a feeling points are going to be flying around in this game.

Missouri is used to being the overmatched underdog after years in the Big 12, and it has countered that by playing wide open on offense, though still balancing run with pass and having a ball-hawking defense that gives up yards but gets turnovers.

Here's the key to the game: Georgia is a slow starting team and even though it won last week, it was far from season-ready. Missouri will be ready to make a statement, and at home it is good enough, fast enough, and big enough to pull this one out. If this were played later in the season, I'd be more inclined to pick Georgia but not at the first of the year. Missouri comes out and makes a statement.
Missouri 33, Georgia 28

Florida (1-0) @ Texas A&M (0-0)
Texas A&M will start the season this week after last week's opener vs. La. Tech was postponed due to Hurricane Isaac. Florida rotated quarterbacks early against Bowling Green before settling on Jeff Driskel who led a much more focused power-run attack down the field for second half scores. The Gators defense was also impressive and they'll need to be in top form against this offense. Florida pulled away late in its game but the team is still young enough to make mistakes, and that's what Texas A&M has to hope for.

Head coach Kevin Sumlin is known for putting up yards with his system even against good competition but Texas A&M's transition to this new approach really needed a week of gameplay to get a feel for what it has and what will work. Home field advantage aside, Florida gets the nod here for having had the week to work out the kinks and knowing more about what it has on the field.
Florida 26, Texas A&M 20

Article Author: J. Newcastle

J. Newcastle writes for BC Sports. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/j_newcastle

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