SEC Mike details key storylines as third-ranked A&M heads to No. 20 LSU

Key notes from Michael Bratton interview

• LSU fans have been giving me grief over the power rankings. I might as well be dead to them. I judge it based on how I see these teams, and I have not seen anything from LSU this season that suggests that they are a good team besides beating Clemson, which I thought they’d lose. Now, we know Clemson is not that good. The only thing I can think of for LSU to win this game is that they are playing at home, and A&M hasn’t won there in the SEC. They can’t block anybody on the offensive line. They can’t run the football. Garrett Nussmeier isn’t 100 percent, and the defense is starting to cave when they play harder competition. You should feel confident going into this game.
   
• I think realistically, it is next season that Brian Kelly gets let go. Unless A&M goes in there and gets embarrassed, then goes to Alabama and gets run out of the building in Tuscaloosa. Then this could be a different conversation. They are going to force Kelly to get a new offensive coordinator, and what they do at quarterback after Nussmeier is going to be very interesting. I’d recommend they get the Vanderbilt or Oklahoma route, hiring an offensive coordinator and a quarterback that worked together, and next season, Kelly is in the hottest seat in the SEC.
   
• No, I don’t see a quarterback change to Michael Van Buren Jr. I think Nussmeier may be holding them back a bit because he hasn’t had the deep ball. He looked a lot better against Vanderbilt. So I think he is feeling better, but what he brings to you. The grasp and knowledge of the system, his experience and the fact that he’s the leader of that team. It seems like a stretch that they’d bench their team captain. They go as far as Nussmeier takes them. If they do that move and lose, Kelly could lose the locker room.
   
• The LSU-Vanderbilt game really crystallizes where we are in the conference. Vanderbilt just physically dominated LSU. Going from Coach Ed Orgeron, who was always going to have his team physically ready each Saturday. It is tradition there at LSU. But they seem they lack physical toughness. I think we know why. Tommy Moffitt, who had been the strength coach there for years, now, he is now at A&M, and A&M looks like a juggernaut. It seems like the edge is out of the LSU program. Now, we are seeing it in College Station.
   
• We never root for injuries, but LSU is so banged up. They are starting as freshmen at tackle. That could be the cure that ails A&M. I think they are going to get after Nussmeier. They haven’t been able to run the ball against anybody this season. They are not capable of scoring 40 points unless they are playing Southeastern Louisiana. If A&M allows that, it’ll be a huge concern. I am only at a 5 out of 10 concern for A&M’s defense.
   
• I think A&M runs them out of the building, 31-20. 11-point win.
   
• Oklahoma-Ole Miss is the toughest one to predict. That is saying something. I think we could have six close conference games. I don’t rely too much on the point spreads, but it stunned me when Oklahoma opened as the betting favorite. And now, the spread has continued to go towards Oklahoma. I think Ole Miss is the better team. I know they lost last week. Their defense got exposed a bit. But I don’t think Oklahoma is a team capable of exposing them again. They will have some success, but not to the level that Georgia did or Arkansas did. I am leaning toward Ole Miss, but not confident.
   
• Trinidad Chambliss has been a revelation. I know he came up short against Georgia. I don’t think I’ve seen a team score on their first five possessions and lose the game. I think they bounce back, and I think they're better, because if Ole Miss doesn’t make the playoffs, Lane Kiffin is going to Florida. If Ole Miss wins, they are a lock to go to the playoff.
   
• I think if Missouri makes the playoffs, Eli Drinkwitz stays. If they lose, he leaves. I think Ole Miss wins and keeps Kiffin, and Drinkwitz is the next Florida head coach.
   
• I hate to say it, a little of the Aggies has rubbed off on me. I think Texas is going to lose to Mississippi State on the road. I don’t know if we should consider that an upset or not. I realize Texas beat Oklahoma. But if you go back and watch that game, they were not impressive offensively. Mississippi State has shown us more this season. Texas is dead last in rushing against conference opponents. They are 12th in pass defense against conference opponents. Mississippi State is going to test them. Texas safety Michael Taaffe is not playing this week. Texas should have lost to Kentucky last week, and I think Kentucky is far and away the worst team in the conference. I think Texas is an average team this year. It is a lost season. Give me Mississippi State to get their first conference win in the last 16 conference games.
   
• I don’t think Hugh Freeze should have survived the first season. I would have gotten rid of him a long time ago. If they lose to an interim coach, he does not survive. He will not be the coach on Sunday. They are wild there on the Plains. They think they are 6-1. It is all the ref's fault. They probably count Georgia as a win. Some boosters think they have a top coach, so maybe they keep Freeze for another year.
   
• Arkansas' job is tough to gauge. It could be a good job. What are they doing at Missouri, at Ole Miss? I don’t see a major difference in the quality of those jobs. If they can get it all aligned, Arkansas can be an attractive job. Maybe they can get a Rhett Lashlee. I root for Jon Gruden, for the storylines, I don’t think it would be a good hire, though. Maybe Alex Golesh. He has an exciting offense. Then, at Auburn, the search should start and stop with Jon Sumrall. If Auburn had a quality coach, I think Auburn, if they could keep that roster together and replace the quarterback, I think Auburn could make the playoffs next season.
   
• I legitimately can’t find someone who has said anything bad about Sumrall. Arkansas should try to get him, but I think he’ll hold out for the Auburn job.
   
• I would say the max is five SEC teams in the playoff. I think six is pretty unrealistic. A&M, you want Notre Dame to keep winning. But for the conference, we need Notre Dame to lose. If they drop a third game, they are eliminated. Last week was rough on the conference, because Miami and Texas Tech lost. You just want them to dominate their conference because it opens up more spots for the SEC. So I think four will make it, but maybe five.
   
• I think A&M is already are a lock. When A&M wins at LSU, not if but when, I consider them a lock for the playoff. I have had them in since they beat Notre Dame. Undoubtedly, they are a lock to be in the college football playoff.