Friday night is another big SEC match-up night, beginning with one of the most epic battles of the season thus far as No. 1 Florida hosts No. 5 Alabama. Well, on paper it’s a big deal, but really, Florida has the potential to run away with this one. The Gators have been doing strong work this season, and at home they’re bound to go 197.5 or higher if they hit. Bama, meanwhile, is coming off of a hard loss at home and though they have great routines and huge scoring potential, they’ll need to make sure everything is perfect if they want to see big numbers in Gainesville.

No. 8 Arkansas hosting No. 9 Auburn should actually be the epic fight. The Razorbacks upset Bama in Tuscaloosa last weekend and have probably been riding that high all week long which could lead to a great result in the Barn. I think right now their scoring potential is greater than Auburn’s, but the Tigers have been doing great and consistent work as well this season, so it’ll all come down to who can hit.

Then there’s No. 13 Georgia traveling to No. 23 Kentucky. The Gym Dogs are in a bit of a slump, letting beam get the best of them twice last week, leading to losses at what should’ve been relatively easy wins. If they hit, they’ll take this one easily, but the Wildcats are on a roll and could get the third upset in a row against Georgia, especially on home turf. Kentucky’s high score so far in 2016 is lower than Georgia’s lowest, but anything can happen in this sport.

Friday will also see two Big Ten rivalries with No. 3 Michigan at No. 17 Nebraska and No. 19 Illinois at No. 32 Penn State. I’m hoping the Wolverines can finally pull out a 197+ after consistent 196.9s in their first four meets, and I also hope the Illini can step it up and show a bit more consistency on bars, where they have gorgeous lines but messy work thus far.

Last but not least, No. 10 Boise State will host No. 34 BYU in an MRGC showdown in Idaho. It won’t be an exciting meet in terms of who’s gonna win, but watch it anyway because Boise is doing great work and should be on your radar.

Saturday’s big show will be the Metroplex Challenge, where No. 2 Oklahoma and No. 6 LSU will meet for the second time this season, joined by No. 12 Stanford, No. 16 Missouri, and No. 36 Washington. This annual Texas invitational held in Fort Worth at the same arena where NCAA Championships were held last year (and again this year!) is hugely popular with the locals and is always one of the best meets of the year. Oklahoma narrowly lost to LSU in their first meet this season, but LSU has had issues in the past two weeks while the Sooners have only been getting stronger, so this could be a nail-biter for sure.

Also on Saturday is No. 11 George Washington at EAGL rival No. 56 North Carolina. GWU was unable to compete last weekend due to the snow, and while this will be an easy win for them, the excitement will come from seeing if they can break their season-high of 196.175 to climb even higher in the rankings. We’ll also see No. 14 Denver at No. 44 Bowling Green, No. 15 Oregon State hosting No. 47 Arizona State, and a Big Ten battle between No. 18 Minnesota and No. 27 Ohio State.

Sunday is a bit more low-key with no teams in the top 25 competing, so use it as a day to familiarize yourself with some lesser-known programs! No. 28 Western Michigan at No. 33 Kent State should be an excellent MAC rivalry showdown, DIII No. 67 Centenary will see if they can upset DI No. 60 Penn, the Big Ten battle between No. 29 Iowa and No. 41 Maryland is going to be good, and No. 76 Springfield hosts a cross-divisional quad meet featuring No. 61 Brown, No. 69 SCSU, and No. 71 Cortland.

Finally, Monday is home to the Pac-12 meets, with No. 7 Utah hosting No. 20 Arizona followed by No. 4 UCLA traveling to No. 21 Cal. Utah has the challenge of filling four lineup spots following the unfortunate loss of Kari Lee due to an Achilles tear this week, and Arizona is on the rise with a season-high score last week that’s only a few tenths lower than the Utes’ so despite the big difference in rankings, this meet could be very close. UCLA, meanwhile, should have no problem defeating the Golden Bears, who are doing well this season but just can’t challenge the fired-up Bruins in their best season start in years.

All meets below are listed in EST with the host team in the first box and all visitors in the second. We’ll update links to live stats and streams as they become available. Enjoy the weekend!

Article by Lauren Hopkins
Photo thanks to Eastern Michigan