OOC Opponents

AT A GLANCE

Tennessee- 12-7, 18
Austin Peay- 11-8, 130
Kennesaw State- 4-14, 312
Marshall- 11-6, 75
Louisville- 15-4, 39
Jackson State- 8-9, 177
FIU- 6-11, 283
Murray State- 11-6, 140
Georgia State- 8-11, 221
Georgia Tech- 9-9, 154

IN DEPTH

Tennessee is showing some signs of life after a bad stretch. They have won back-to-back SEC games over Vanderbilt and Georgia. With four winnable games before the Vols take on Kentucky, Tennessee could really help the Mocs SOS over the coming weeks.

Austin Peay had lost two in a row before beating Jacksonville State over the weekend. That has really weakened their RPI. With Morehead State and Murray State still ahead, the Governors have some room to win some big games. Sitting at first place in the OVC, the Governors are a solid team on the Mocs schedule.

Kennesaw State had won two in a row, but now has lost two in a row and is back to their losing ways. With Mercer up next, the Owls could get back to their winning ways. This game looked good at the time since they had just beaten Georgia Tech. Now- it isn't that pretty. At least the game with Belmont can't hurt the Mocs too much.

Marshall is the Mocs best win, but the one point loss to East Carolina was devastating. Still, the Thundering Herd are one of Conference USA's best teams, but they need to start proving it because their 1-3 record isn't showing it. But they did beat West Virginia last week.

Louisville is 4-2 in Big East play. If they keep that up, the Cardinals will easily find themselves in the NCAA Tournament. West Virginia, Connecticut, and Georgetown are the Cardinals next three games. They can make or break their season here.

Jackson State finds themselves at 6-1 in conference play, with their lone loss to Texas Southern- but their RPI keeps on dropping because of the weakness of the conference. Still, the Tigers are the favorites to win the SWAC and go to the NCAA.

FIU has lost four straight games after starting off 3-0 in Sun Belt play. Western Kentucky and Middle Tennessee come to play them this week, but the Golden Panthers have already fallen into a deep hole. When they were 3-0, this was looking like an OK loss for the Mocs. Now, it looks bad again.

Murray State is one of the tri-favorites for the OVC title, with Austin Peay and Morehead State. They'll be favored in every game but one the rest of the way, as they go to Austin Peay, but get Morehead State at home. But their home loss to Eastern Illinois last week proves that anything is possible.

Georgia State has now lost six out of seven games and five in a row overall. The CAA is tough, and it is rearing its head against these Panthers. The problem is that there are not a lot of winnable games left on the schedule. Towson, UNC-Wilmington, Northeastern, and William & Mary are the best chances for a win, but none of those are guarantees at this point.

Georgia Tech seemed to be finding themselves, with blowout wins over North Carolina and Wake Forest. But they came crashing back to reality over the weekend with the disappointing loss to Virginia. Home dates with Virginia Tech and Maryland loom this week, and so the chance for some more quality wins is out there. They are a good team- but not an elite ACC team.

GO MOCS!