Vols prefer Bowdens to Gators

The big rivalries keep coming to Neyland Stadium.

Last week, the Vols renewed their rivalry with Florida. This week, they will renew their rivalry with the famous Coaching Bowdens.

GameDay will sit this one out, though.

Terry, the first-year coach at Akron, is this evening's featured Bowden. He's 0-2 against the Vols after losing to them twice at Auburn (1997 and 1998). His father, Bobby, finished his career 0-1 against the Vols, who beat his Florida State team to win the 1998 national championship.

Terry's brother, Tommy, saved the family from going 0-for-Tennessee by leading Clemson to a victory in the 2004 Peach Bowl.

Tennessee 52, Bowdens 17: Better to play the Zips now than after Bowden has been on the job a couple of years. He won at Samford, Auburn and North Alabama. He will win at Akron, too.

South Carolina 27, Missouri 23: Both quarterbacks have injury issues. Both defenses have tackling issues.

The Gamecocks' D.J. Swearinger has been suspended one game for hitting a defenseless UAB wide receiver. Missouri's entire team looked defenseless in the second half of its first SEC game (a 41-20 loss to Georgia).

Georgia 34, Vanderbilt 17: Congratulations to the Bulldogs for elevating interim mascot Russ to permanent mascot status. But that raises the question: Will he now answer to Russ or Uga?

Arkansas 24, Rutgers 10: After back-to-back losses, one-year Razorbacks coach John L. Smith probably yearns for the good old days when his problems could be resolved by declaring bankruptcy. If they're looking for a replacement, how about Bobby Petrino?

I can't even remember the blonde's name.

LSU 45. Auburn 10: This should be the most one-sided LSU-Auburn game since ... last year. In fact, I'm starting to wonder if Auburn can beat anyone in the West other than Arkansas.

And no, I haven't forgotten about Ole Miss.

Ole Miss 45, Tulane 22: No one was sadder than the Rebels when the Green Wave pulled out of the SEC. In three games from 1961 through 1963, Ole Miss outscored Tulane 83-0.

The Green Wave's current offense shouldn't be discouraged, though. Ole Miss gave up 66 points to Texas last week, 12 points more than it allowed in its last 10 SEC games against Tulane.

Florida 34, Kentucky 13: The Gators might be due for a letdown after tough back-to-back SEC road victories. But letdowns against the Wildcats are quite manageable.

Mississippi State 38, South Alabama 7: The Bulldogs could be in the top 20 by the time they face Tennessee in Starkville. I can hear the cowbells already.

Texas A&M 52, South Carolina State 7: Now that I've seen Aggies freshman quarterback Johnny Manziel a couple of times, I'm more convinced that the SEC made the right call in adding them to the league. He's fun to watch.

Alabama 41, Florida Atlantic 7: I'm not exactly sure what the Owls had in mind when they scheduled Georgia and Alabama on back-to-back Saturdays. But it wasn't the welfare of their student-athletes.

Top 25: Oregon 48, Arizona 27; Florida State 27, Clemson 13; Oklahoma 31, Kansas State 27; West Virginia 45, Maryland 17; Notre Dame 27, Michigan 24; Southern Cal 42, Cal 27; Ohio State 38, UAB 3; TCU 30, Virginia 13; UCLA 34, Oregon State 23; Louisville 35, Florida International 17; Michigan State 45, Eastern Michigan 10; Nebraska 48, Idaho State 10.

Record: 54-6 (.900) overall, 25-23 (.528) against the spread.

John Adams is a senior columnist. He may be reached at 865-342-6284 or adamsj@knoxnews.com. Follow him at http://twitter.com/johnadamskns.