After taking a look back this morning, let’s take a look ahead at what’s to come in the final third of the season.

With matchups hosting Oklahoma, at South Carolina and Mississippi State and hosting Arkansas, I’ll take a look at what I expect, what I think is the best-case scenario, the worst-case scenario and my predictions.

I’ll give you guys a heads up, I don’t think I’ll be in person at South Carolina or Mississippi State, but I’ll still be covering the games from home, so no need to worry about not getting the coverage you’re looking for.

I don’t think Brady Cook plays again, or if he does, it doesn’t look good.

I’ve said it a lot, but hand/wrist injuries on a quarterback’s throwing hand are really tough to come back from quickly. I also expect we’ll get a postseason notice that Cook was playing with some level of injury through the season like we did after the 2022 season. He just looked so different running with the ball after he came back from the hospital against Auburn than he had all season. It looked like whatever was pumping through his veins made it so he was finally pain free.

I also expect that without Cook, the offense will look different. Whether that’s significantly more runs with Nate Noel/Marcus Carroll/Jamal Roberts, or a different route tree for the receivers.

Speaking of, I also expect Roberts to make the backfield a full three-headed monster if Noel is able to return. He’s been very good in his opportunities and being able to spell the other two more often will keep everyone healthier the rest of the way.

But back to the biggest one, the offense has to look different. The Tigers CANNOT run an offense fully designed for Cook’s strengths with Drew Pyne or JR Blood. I think Kirby Moore is a smart enough offensive coordinator to know that and since he got the bye to figure it out and install it, I expect the offense to have a different feel.

It has to be that Cook comes back, right?

I mean, Blood, Pyne or whoever is taking snaps isn’t up to Cook’s level, so best-case scenario is the injury isn’t as bad as it seems and he used the bye week to get fully healthy and is able to play the rest of the season.

If that’s the case, I think 4-0 the rest of the way is very reasonable.

The defense is good enough to make it so the offense only has to score 21-25 points a game the rest of the way to win.

Oklahoma can’t score anyway, South Carolina is good but has flaws, Mississippi State is bad and Arkansas has been held under 25 points in four-of-five conference games.

I think the defense is good enough to win all of those games so long as the offense can score three touchdowns. The games will all be rock fights, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t wins.

And best-case scenario, Cook is back and the offense rolls to 28 points a game against not-elite opponents.

The Tigers didn’t use the bye to change the offense because they have set their expectations of Cook returning too high, he isn’t able to, and they stick Pyne back out there without any major differences.

That’s not an offense that can score 21-25 points a game the rest of the way and you’re looking at AT BEST a 1-3 record with a win against Mississippi State. But that Mississippi State game might just be competitive if it’s Pyne looking the way he did against Alabama.

The injuries are just too much to overcome and the Tigers deflate fully after another poor performance. They go into bowl season at 7-5 or 6-6 after starting the season 6-1 and decide the extra month of practice is worth going to the Birmingham Bowl or Gasparilla Bowl.

Blood is the quarterback coming out against Oklahoma. Experience matters at this point in the season and I don’t think the Tigers want to burn Aidan Glover’s redshirt anyway if they don’t absolutely have to.

The offense looks different with a significant emphasis on running the ball with the three main running backs. Blood doesn’t bring as much rushing ability as I think a lot of fans might expect, his best rushing season is 70 carries for 10 yards and one touchdown, but I just can’t imagine the coaches want to run Pyne back out there unless Blood just has no faith at all in the locker room.

The Tigers win a rock fight against Oklahoma because the Sooners just cannot score. Then lose to South Carolina, beat Mississippi State and lose to Arkansas.

They finish the season a respectable, but disappointing, 8-4 and end up in the Liberty Bowl or Music City Bowl with a fun, quick trip to Tennessee.

Head on over to the Tiger Walk to tell me about what you expect and see as the best/worst case scenarios and your actual predictions.