Five Questions Facing the SEC in Week 7

No. 5: Can Vanderbilt score a touchdown against No. 4 Florida?

Over the last two games, Florida's defense has really started to turn it up. In fact, the last touchdown given up by the Gators tremendously stout defense was in the third quarter of the team's Week 3 game at Tennessee. Vanderbilt has struggled all season at quarterback, with both senior Jordan Rodgers and junior Austyn Carta-Samuels playing last week against Missouri, but neither doing very much at all when given the opportunity.

No. 4: Who will win the rescheduled match-up between No. 22 Texas A&M and No. 23 Louisiana Tech?

These teams were supposed to play in Week 1, but were forced to reschedule due to Hurricane Isaac. Both programs have since developed highly explosive offenses. Louisiana Tech, undefeated thus far, has been one of college football's biggest surprises midway through the year and has only scored less than 50 points in one game this season.

Texas A&M has the SEC Freshman of the Year so far in quarterback Johnny Manziel. Manziel is a one-man offense and leads the Aggies in passing and rushing. Expect this game to be a high-scoring affair.

No. 3: Is No. 19 Mississippi State for real?

We will come one step closer to finding out on Saturday when Mississippi State takes on Tennessee. The Bulldogs have been one of the surprise teams of the SEC, going undefeated through the first half of their season. However, the competition hasn't been elite with the only SEC wins coming against Kentucky and Auburn, perhaps the two worst teams in the nation's strongest conference. On Saturday, they will take on a quality Volunteers squad, which features quarterback Tyler Bray, who has had a strong season thus far with 14 touchdowns to go along with only six interceptions. The one knock against Bray has been his inability to win the big games -- he has gotten shook in the fourth quarter of close games, just like his coach Derek Dooley for that matter.

Mississippi State came into this season with expectations of being pretty good on defense but the offense for the Bulldogs was an unknown commodity. Since then, junior quarterback Tyler Russell has unexpectedly emerged as one of the best quarterbacks in the SEC. Through seven weeks of the season, Russell has thrown only one interception and 10 touchdowns.

No. 2: Can Missouri beat the 21-point spread against No. 1 Alabama?

Probably not. This is a Missouri team that was a few plays away from losing to UCF and looks every bit like the Missouri team from last season.

Alabama has not had to deal with such struggles in quite some time, with the Tide's closest game being a 33-14 win over Ole Miss two weeks ago. The Crimson Tide boasts the best defense in the SEC and has been destroying teams all season, including a 55-0 win over Arkansas on the road.

Let's face it--the Missouri offense has been awful. Junior quarterback James Franklin has struggled all season with injuries and will once again be sidelined for a few weeks due to a knee injury suffered in the first quarter of the team's loss to Vanderbilt a week ago. It will be a struggle for the SEC newbies to stay competitive against the best team in the college football universe.

No. 1: Can No. 11 LSU do anything offensively against No. 3 South Carolina?

Last week, South Carolina came in and shut down a previously unstoppable Georgia offense en route to a 35-7 victory. The Bulldogs featured a tandem of talented freshman running backs, Keith Marshall and Todd Gurley. Athens' finest also featured one of the best quarterbacks in the SEC in junior Aaron Murray. However, South Carolina allowed only 224 total yards. The team features one of the best defensive lines, led by Jadeveon Clowney, in the country, and was able to shut down both the running and passing games of Georgia.

LSU was offensively inept a week ago, only gaining 200 total yards. Florida's defensive line and junior safety Matt Elam were all over the Tigers' running game, holding them to a mere 42 yards rushing. The only way LSU has a chance of beating South Carolina is if it can get something out of its passing game. Aside from a 56-yard bomb to sophomore wide receiver Odell Beckham, quarterback Zach Mettenberger looked haggard behind what had been seen as a solid offensive line. Everyone needs to improve against the Gamecocks.