5 SEC Football Sleeper Matchups For 2016

SEC Football is filled with hard nose rivalries and tooth and nail fought games. Most games — no matter how lowly they seem — aren’t cake walks. What games this season are being slept on too heavily?

Sometimes in sports, you just underperform. Sometimes you get caught looking ahead and are confused. Those are things you can do the most to prepare for, but sometimes you just come up short. What top SEC Football programs have games on their schedule where they could unexpectedly come up short this season? Let’s take a look.

First of all, quick note: These aren’t just SEC Football vs SEC Football match ups. Out of conference games qualify too.

Tennessee vs. Virginia Tech

Week 2

Tennessee comes into this game with ALL the hype in the world behind them. The Volunteers take on the Hokies at Bristol Motor Speedway after a fluff game against Appalachian State. Not only that, but Tech is led by new first-year head coach Justin Fuente who is coming off of a spectacular season with Memphis.

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Fuente will also have a good roster left by Frank Beamer that will be led by Senior Isaiah Ford. On top of Ford, Fuente will now open up the gates for the two very good recruiting classes for the Hokies from 2014 and 2015. Consequently, this means the Hokies have a good roster for Fuente to play with. The Vols can definitely get caught looking ahead to rival Florida in Week 4 as well and slip up. As a result of all of this, this game should be closer than it looks.

Ole Miss vs Auburn

Week 9

The Rebels should be coming into this game fresh off of hard fought games against Arkansas and LSU, which means they could be banged up. Auburn is known for picking it up late in the season and this is the perfect game to do so. The Tigers could be looking to salvage their season, or better yet spoil Rebel’s. This is the perfect game for WDE nation to get their season back on track if things go wrong. If things are right headed into this game, it could propel them farther than anyone thought. Auburn will come out firing on all cylinders regardless of the scenario. Also, the Rebels also haven’t exactly displayed dominance at Vaught-Hemingway lately either. We should also expect a shootout.

Florida vs Vanderbilt

Week 5

This is the ultimate trap game. Freon Harris-led UF barely beat the Commodores last season, and Vandy only got better. This year Vandy is sandwiched between two SEC matchups in Tennessee and LSU. Furthermore, they are heading to Vandy — which isn’t the easiest place to play.

Vandy isn’t a great team this year, but still no slouch. Catching the Gators banged up or high sprung/sung from the Tennessee game could be a game that spoils the Gator’s season. As a result of the aforementioned placement, I expect this to be a great game.

LSU vs Missouri

Week 5

A game that is very similar to UF vs Vandy is LSU vs Mizzou. Mizzou struggled last season, but now will have a more seasoned QB in sophomore Drew Lock. Lock played well last season, but not well enough for Mizzou to make noise. The Tigers still have a stellar defense and could cause problems for Fournette.

The Tigers will be taking on Missouri at home. The problems is it comes between away games at Auburn and at Florida. With both of those games having big SEC implications, the Tigers could look to play spoiler on LSU’s SEC and National title hopes.

Texas A&M Vs UCLA

Week 1

The turmoil TAMU has endured this offseason has been nothing shy of horrible. Furthermore, the best way to fix off the field problems is to get on the field. The Aggies come into Week 1 facing highly talented UCLA but are talented in their own right. Myles Garrett gets to take on uber confident sophomore QB Josh Rosen in Kyle Field and send a message. With Coach Sumlin’s job on the line, I expect a great game from the Aggies.

UCLA will also have big holes to fill in Paul Perkins and Myles Jack. TAMU is returning almost everyone besides starting tackle Germain Ifedi. In conclusion, this should be a great game.

must read: Lock Mizzou's Best Player?

What games did I miss? Which one of these do you want to see the most? What team do you think could play the biggest spoiler? Most of all, I hope you enjoyed the article!

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