Who Ya Got ?? (Week 3)

Steve Harrison:

Tennessee-Florida: Urban will treat the Vols as General Tarkin treated planet Alderran: A perfect victim to demonstrate the full power of his offense. Florida 52-21. Only burning question: In interview after Ohio State win, USC quarterback Matt Barkley praised God four times. How will Tebow respond?

UL-Lafayette-LSU: LSU plays its best game of the year, Russell Shepherd scores twice, and the Tigers beat the school formerly known as USL 48-3. Tiegah fans feel good about team's direction, then realize Nick Saban once beat ULL 48-0. LSU nation enters deep depression.

Georgia-Arkansas: 17-14 Hog win begins round of pontificating about the SEC's superior "depth" etc. etc. But perhaps this Georgia team just isn't very good.

West Virginia-Auburn: Nice guy Larry Coker, er Bill Stewart, gets perhaps best win last week against Pirates. But Auburn's freaky turnaround continues. After 31-10 Auburn win, Barn administration names Gus Malzahn as "coach in waiting."

Vandy-Mississippi State: Vandy has experience - 18 starters back - and a physical secondary. This game shows how empty Croom left the cupboard. Vandy 21-10.

Louisville-Kentucky: Has a national title contender ever fallen so fast? Steve Kragthorpe has been at Louisville for three years, but it seems like he's been on the cliched "hot seat" for five. Kentucky 28-7.

North Texas-Alabama: Is Alabama required, by NCAA statute, to play every cupcake close for two quarters? Alabama QB Greg McElroy makes his former high school coach Todd Dodge proud, but not a winner: Gumps 42-17.

SE La-Ole Miss: For the record, SLU is a much bigger dog than ULL. Ole Miss 45-0.

Florida Atlantic-South Carolina: The SEC's Thursday night team, in rare Saturday game, wins easily. The coronation of Stephen Garcia lasts for another week: 35-10.


From Courtney St. Onge:

Florida 38, Tennessee 10
Georgia 31, Arkansas 27
Auburn 28, West Virginia 20
Miss. St. 24, Vandy 21
Kentucky 21, Louisville 17
And for the rest, really, what's the point besides a home game and a few hundred thousand dollars?
Alabama, a lot, N.Texas, a lot less
LSU, little less than Bama, Lafayette, a little more than N.Tx

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From Bonnie Kunkel:

UT @ UF
Florida 58, Tennessee 12
We're not going to hear Rocky Top too often this Saturday. I think Urban Meyer and Tim Tebow are going to put a hurting on the Volunteers. I think Tebow will play longer than he needs to and Florida will go for a touchdown as time runs out despite having a substantial lead. Cheating? No way. Rubbing it in? Well, ok.. maybe a little. But it feels so good!

UGA @ Arkansas
Georgia 32, Arkansas 10

Florida Atlantic @ South Carolina
South Carolina 28, FAU 3
I still can't seem to root against the Ol' Ball Coach, but I am secretly hoping the Owls from my hometown of Boca Raton, Florida make him toss his visor a few times. When Spurrier tosses his visor, drink. When it gets tangled in his headset in the process, finish your beer.

Mississippi State @ Vanderbilt
Vanderbilt 21, Mississippi State 6

Louisville @ Kentucky
Kentucky 38, Louisville 28

SE La @ Ole Miss
Ole Miss 52, SE La 3

North Texas @ Alabama
Alabama 28, North Texas 7

Louisiana-Lafayette @ LSU
LSU 56, Louisiana-Lafayette 10

West Virginia @ Auburn
Auburn 42, West Virginia 41
I hate both of these teams, but I guess I'd rather the SEC team win. The WV fans were so obnoxious at the 1994 Sugar Bowl (which Florida won 41-7) it made me hate the Mountaineers forever.

So Cal @ Washington
So Cal 48, Washington 21

Kansas St @ UCLA
UCLA 34, Kansas State 6

Cincinnati @ Oregon State
Cincinnati 60, Oregon State 21
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From Peter St. Onge:

The good games:

Auburn 35, West Virginia 31: Nervous? I am. Auburn has shown a softness in the middle of its defense. But the Tigers should exploit a similar issue in the W.Va middle. Oddly, this will be high-scoring, ball control game.

Vanderbilt 20, Mississippi State 14: Painful to hear Fox Sports Net folks attempt to talk up this TV matchup last Saturday.

Arkansas 28, Georgia 24: Important game for Petrino, even moreso than Dawgs. Hogs need to beat a top tier SEC program in Fayetteville. Only did it once last year.

Kentucky 20, Louisville 17

The used-to-be-good games:

Florida 49, Tennessee 14: I want Urban to go for it on 4th-and-1 with under a minute to go. I want him to then say something like "We wanted to practice game-like situations," as if Tennessee is merely scrimmage-worthy. Nobody thinks Urban is nice. Be yourself, Urban.

The not-supposed-to-be-good games:

Ole Miss 42, SE Louisiana 10
LSU 34, Louisiana-Lafayette 13
Alabama 45, North Texas 21
South Carolina 34, Florida Atlantic 6
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From Tommy Tomlinson:

Tennessee at Florida: I think this year Urban goes easy, like the gangster who puts his arm around the informant and asks about his family. NEXT year: the concrete shoes. Gators, 28-13.

Georgia at Arkansas: When in doubt -- and there's a lot of doubt -- go with the team you root for. Dawgs, 27-21.

West Virginia at Auburn: This ought to be the best game of the week, and if Auburn wins, commence the strutting. Strutting Auburn fans are almost as insufferable as strutting Alabama fans. Almost. War Eagles, 33-20.

Mississippi State at Vanderbilt -- the battle for supremacy of the second tier begins. Vandy, 31-19.

Louisville at Kentucky -- Always root against the school that employs Rick Pitino. Wildcats, 21-10.

North Texas at Alabama -- This is the kind of game where you look up in the third quarter and Bama is only up 13-10. Before Saban, you'd look up at the end and they'd be down 17-13. No more. Tide, 41-10.

UL-Lafayette at LSU -- The tailgating should be sublime. Tigers, 52-3.

SE LA at Ole Miss -- The Parade of Cupcakes continues. Rebels, 42-6.

Florida Atlantic at USC -- Finally, a Florida team the Cocks can beat. USC, 44-0.
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From R. Trentham Roberts:

As we fondly remember the late Henry Gibson -- actor, poet, environmental activist and former Air Force intelligence officer ...

Florida-Tennessee:
So much written, so little actually said. This is as good a preview as any.

THE ALLIGATOR, by Henry Gibson

The alligator is my pal
He could be your pal too
He will if you'll just understand
That he's got feelings too.
He loves to play and swim about
He never sings the blues
You'll like him better as a friend
Than wearing him as shoes.
Alligator! Alligator! Alligator!
He could be your friend
Could be your friend
Could be your friend
Too.

Could be, but won't be. UF 33, UT 10.

Elsewhere:
Arkansas 27, Georgia 24
Vanderbilt 16, Miss. State 13
Auburn 23, West Virginia 21
Kentucky 24, Louisville 10
Ole Miss 35, SE Louisiana 7
LSU 40, Louisiana-Lafayette 13
Alabama 35, North Texas 6
South Carolina 31, Florida Atlantic 3
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From Michael Gordon

Tennessee-Florida: Mr. Trentham Roberts, my learned colleague from Mississippi (mull that concept for a moment), quotes Henry Gibson. For inspiration I turn to Tony Joe White. Vols go the way of Poke Salad Annie's grandma. Chomp, chomp, chomp, chomp chomp. 42-7.

Georgia-Arkansas: With a winning margin over USC no wider than a paw, Georgia leaves the hedges again to face the SEC's most underrated home crowd. Big game for Georgia. Bigger game for the pigs and the future job prospects of their mercenary coach. Arkansas. 35-31.

West Virginia-Auburn: For all the talk of Florida running up the score, just watch what happens here if Auburn gets on top early. Chizik and his team need a solid win for the program and to prove to everyone, including themselves, that they're for real. Next week maybe. Auburn: 24-16.

Vandy-Mississippi State: Bullies were consistently bad under Croom. Now even those kids are gone. Dores, 28-10

Louisville-Kentucky: How many Pitino signs Saturday at the UK stadium? One for every blade of bluegrass, that's how many. Both teams are straddling relevance. First QB to play well, wins. Kentucky, 21-20.

North Texas-Alabama: Swine flu easing in Tuscaloosa, and while there are injuries this week, no one got shot. This is a good thing. Tide, 45-7.

UL-Lafayette-LSU: Would love to hear the audibles in this one. Tigers need to impress. Incroyable! They do. Sort of. LSU, 38-10.

SE La-Ole Miss: The answer: Look away, look away. The question: How do Ole Miss fans respond when the subject is their team's laughable schedule? Another really brave stand this week by the Rebs: Ole Miss, 38-7.

Florida Atlantic-South Carolina: Last week, South Carolina's supposedly great defense got torched. This week, Spurrier's offense will play like it hasn't practiced all week. Talent gap rather than superior coaching carries the Chickens through, but not impressively. 24-16.