Believe it or not, there is a mentor-pupil matchup this weekend in Southeastern Conference football that doesn’t involve Nick Saban.
When Kentucky and host Texas A&M square off Saturday night in College Station, it will pit Mark Stoops against his former boss, Jimbo Fisher. Stoops served as Florida State’s defensive coordinator under Fisher during the 2010-12 seasons before becoming a head coach for the first time when he took over in Lexington. Fisher left the Seminoles for the Aggies last December.
Kentucky is 5-0 this season and No. 13 in this week’s Associated Press poll, its highest ranking since 2007.
OTHER PICKS
Ole Miss 32, Louisiana-Monroe 29Notre Dame 27, Virginia Tech 24Stanford 24, Utah 16Marshall 29, MTSU 27Oklahoma 31, Texas 26Colorado 33, Arizona State 24N.C. State 20, Boston College 19Michigan State 27, Northwestern 22West Virginia 44, Kansas 17Michigan 28, Maryland 19Clemson 45, Wake Forest 10Miami 27, Florida State 19Ohio State 56, Indiana 21Central Florida 42, SMU 13Memphis 38, Connecticut 15Washington 35, UCLA 12Wisconsin 31, Nebraska 20
“Mark is a very smart guy,” Fisher said Wednesday on the weekly SEC teleconference. “He has taken his time and done it the right way and really made the right moves and got a good staff. They are coaching the heck out of them, that’s for sure, and they are doing a great job of developing players.”