Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

The Southeastern Conference's last regular-season week is "Rivalry Week," with the Iron Bowl at Tuscaloosa (those Bama and Auburn folks still want to call it the Iron Bowl even though they haven't played it in Birmingham since 1998), the Egg Bowl being contested in Oxford, and the Battle for the Boot in Little Rock.

The Egg Bowl won't mean much outside of north Mississippi, but the Iron Bowl and the Boot battle have national implications and will be the featured CBS games on Friday (Iron) and Saturday (Boot).

South Carolina tries to maintain its momentum against Clemson, which for the most part has had Steve Spurrier's number since he took over in Columbia. And Kentucky has had such prolonged misery against Tennessee for a generation, you almost want the Wildcats to finally have one go their way.

All can be forgiven in Florida, we guess, if Urban Meyer's Gators take care of business against hard-to-figure Florida State. Meyer has not lost to FSU.

The rivalries are wrapped by Georgia playing host to Georgia Tech. The Bulldogs shocked the Yellow Jackets last year when Tech was riding high. Neither have been overly impressive in 2010. It would be hard to imagine Georgia's big boosters giving classy Mark Richt a "beat Tech or else" ultimatum.

Here's how the "power" shakes out in the SEC this week:

1. Auburn (11-0). Tigers seem to have had every big game at home this season. Now, Cam Newton and the Tigers have to prove their worth in Bryant-Denny Stadium. Did the week off make them stale or help?

2. LSU (10-1). We'll concede that QB Jordan Jefferson has made great strides of late, he had to - though putting up big numbers against defenseless Ole Miss at home should have been expected. Tigers will have to lean on the defense in Little Rock to stop Bobby Petrino's offensive juggernaut and maintain BCS hopes.

3. Alabama (9-2). Crimson Tide has had a chance to heal the offensive wounds and shore up the defense for the showdown with Cam and the Tigers.

4. Arkansas (9-2). Now that the Hogs can run it well, and pass it like an NFL team, even road games are no longer an obstacle. Little Rock crowd atmosphere will help against LSU.

5. South Carolina (8-3). Now that the pressure is off and the Gamecocks can pass AND run, they're pretty explosive. The championship game might be quite a matchup after all. Clemson's on the table this week, though.

6. Mississippi State (7-4). Still wondering what we'd be seeing if that alleged "deal" had gone down this time last year. This is a good team that, with a consistent passing threat, might be playing for a spot in Atlanta next week. When the Dawgs had to run and play for the OT late Saturday night, you understood their limitations.