SEC West Predictions Based on the Mascot Theory
John Reed-USA TODAY Sports
Semifinals: No. 5 Auburn vs. No. 3 Ole Miss
The Auburn tiger survived its first round match-up with an equally imposing tiger with the help of his eagle friend. Meanwhile, Rebel the Bear had the equivalent of a first round bye with its match against Reveille the dog of Texas A&M.
This is the type of match-up all of us imagined when we thought of this bracket challenge. Tiger against bear.
Honestly, I have never seen a tiger fight a bear (please don’t send me weird YouTube videos). My idea of roughing it is staying at a subpar Super 8 which does not exactly endear me to the wild. However, we can infer that this would be a highly competitive contest.
The tiger brings strength and speed. The bear brings size and a loud growl. Normally, the bear would be favored. However, there is something about the Ole Miss bear that does not seem quite as intimidating. He seems like the kind of bear that when you enter the ring he says, “Hey man, we don’t need to fight. Let’s go grab a drink.” Which, in terms of being a good citizen is excellent, but this science experiment is not about handing out merit badges. We need to find out who will win the SEC West.
The tiger claws his way to victory in this one to advance to the championship. Don’t let this dampen the party in The Grove. Ole Miss is one of the favorites to win the SEC West. Fans that follow the sport year round remember seeing Ole Miss at the top of the recruiting class charts over the past few years.
Now those players are juniors and seniors. According to Phil Steele, the team returns 16 starters from last year. If the Rebels can at least get adequate play from the quarterback position they should be able to compete each week. For all its difficulty, the SEC does not appear to be loaded at the quarterback position. Past years have shown that a team can get by with average quarterback play as long as he has the team around him to make up for it.
No. 5 Auburn advances
Next: Tigers vs Tide