Here are a few things to watch in the Southeastern Conference during the season’s third week:
GAME OF THE WEEK: No. 1 Alabama at No. 19 Mississippi. Ole Miss is trying to beat Alabama for a third straight season, which is something that no team has done to the Tide while Nick Saban has been coach. The Rebels will once again rely on senior quarterback Chad Kelly, who threw for 341 yards and three touchdowns in last year’s 43-37 victory. Alabama will counter with a defense that’s given up just 16 points through the season’s first two games. The winner will be the immediate favorite to win the SEC Western Division.
MATCHUP OF THE WEEK: No. 20 LSU RB Leonard Fournette vs. Mississippi State’s defense. Fournette ran for 138 yards against Wisconsin in the season opener, but didn’t play against Jacksonville State because of an ankle injury. LSU coach Les Miles says he expects Fournette to play against the Bulldogs, but it remains to be seen if he’s at full strength. Mississippi State will counter with a rush defense that’s allowing just 60 yards per game. MSU defensive end A.J. Jefferson leads the SEC with six tackles for loss.
NUMBERS GAME: Alabama is 0-2 against Ole Miss and 28-1 against everyone else since the start of the 2015 season. … Since taking a 35-10 lead over Southern Mississippi in the second quarter of its season opener, Kentucky has been outscored 79-7. Kentucky had allowed 79 unanswered points over this two-game stretch before scoring a touchdown in the final five minutes of a 45-7 loss to Florida. … No. 15 Tennessee’s eight-game winning streak over the last two seasons is its longest since winning 14 straight from 1998-99. … No. 24 Arkansas’ Rawleigh Williams and No. 16 Georgia’s Nick Chubb are tied for the Football Bowl Subdivision lead in rushing attempts (52).
UPSET WATCH: No. 17 Texas A&M has looked rather impressive in beating UCLA and blanking Prairie View A&M the last two weeks, yet the Aggies are 3 ½-point underdogs at Auburn. … East Carolina, which is coming off a victory over North Carolina State, is a three-point underdog at South Carolina. The Gamecocks won at Vanderbilt and lost at Mississippi State the last two weeks but didn’t look particularly impressive in either game.
IMPACT PERFORMER: Vanderbilt RB Ralph Webb ran for a career-high 211 yards in a 47-24 victory over Middle Tennessee last week and is averaging 154 yards rushing per game to rank fourth among all FBS players. Webb’s outing against Middle Tennessee was the first 200-yard rushing performance since 1978 and the No. 3 single-game rushing total in school history. Webb matches up against Georgia Tech this week in what is sure to be a run-oriented game.
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AP Sports Writers Steve Megargee in Knoxville, Tennessee, and David Brandt in Jackson, Mississippi, contributed to this story. AP College Football website: www.collegefootball.ap.org .
