Friday, September 25, 2009

Who ya got? (weekend edition)

Two things we know Houston Nutt excels out: Calling brunette TV reporters and laying in the weeds. He doesn't have much experience running at the front of the pack, and based on the Thursday night performance of his team, he's not much good at it.

For much of the night, the Ole Miss team played with the physicality of astral projections. By the time the actual players showed up, they had very little time to catch Carolina but just enough time for Nutt's playcalling to close the deal . . . for the Chickens.

'Nutt said.

Moving on . . . .

Michael Gordon

ARIZONA STATE at GEORGIA: Just how much has Georgia got left after the windsprints vs. Arkansas and Carolina? Enough for the likes of Arizona State, which is coming south after earth-shaking wins against Louisiana-Monroe and Idaho State. Y'all come back, y'hear. Georgia 42, ASU 28.

ARKANSAS at ALABAMA: Best offense that the Tide has seen this year rolls into Tuscaloosa. But this is the best defense Arkansas will see for years, and the Bama offense ain't bad either. Tide 40, Hawgs 24.

FLORIDA at KENTUCKY: Urban Manhood is not happy, and Florida, though mortalized last week by Tennessee, is still good enough to brighten their coach's mood. Gators 35, Kentucky 10.

OHIO at TENNESSEE: OK, so Tennessee ain't great. Ohio is just bad. Every Smokey has its day. Vols 35, Ohio, 3.

VANDERBILT at RICE: Maybe Vandy should just face facts, save its football money, and join the ACC. 'Dores, 17, Rice 14.

BALL STATE at AUBURN: No truth that the Aubies' real schedule begins around Halloween. In the meantime, the love affair with the new coaching staff gets to third base. Tigers 42, Ball State 3.

LSU at MISSISSIPPI STATE As unimpressive as LSU has been, it's unfathonable that they can't outscore the Bulldogs. LSU 28, MSU 7.

Tommy Tomlinson:

Arkansas at Alabama: Ryan Mallett is 6-7. He'll be about 6-2 after getting pounded into the turf all day. Tide, 38-10.

LSU at Mississippi State -- Last week's friskiness (we beat Vandy!) not enough for the Bulldogs this week. Tigers, 27-17.

Arizona State at UGA -- Possible trap game for Georgia -- LSU comes to Athens next week, and UGA handled Arizona State easily last year -- but Joe Cox is so happy to be playing that I can't imagine he'll let down. Dawgs, 33-14.

Kentucky at Florida -- Hell hath no fury like a Meyer scorned. Gators, 63-6.

Ball State at Auburn -- Making up for all those points they didn't score under Tony Franklin. War Damn Eagles, 45-10.

Ohio at Tennessee -- My guess is, the Ohio coach will blame the swine flu. Vols, 42-12.

Vanderbilt at Rice -- The Chicago Bears have FIVE players on their roster -- including four regulars -- who went to Vandy. I wouldn't lay the mortgage on the Bears making the Super Bowl this year. Rice, 24-21.

Peter St. Onge:

ARKANSAS at ALABAMA: Elite defenses smother very good offenses, most every time. A win so impressive for Alabama that Tiders count it as another national title on Sunday morning. Alabama 27, Arkansas 17.

ARIZONA STATE at GEORGIA: A writer for the Wall Street Journal, located in the college football hotbed of NYC, makes a statistical case that the PAC-10 is a better football conference than the SEC. Left unmentioned: The SEC plays and wins more bowl games each year, historically beats PAC-10 teams in bowls, and has won the last three national titles. And by the way: Georgia 38, ASU 24.

FLORIDA at KENTUCKY: NFL scouts increasingly skeptical about Tim Tebow's capacity to read defenses on Sunday. No worries on Saturdays yet. Florida 37, Kentucky 14.

OHIO at TENNESSEE: Tennessee charm offensive continues, this time from basketball coach Bruce Pearl. Thank goodness for Pat Summitt. Vols 34, Ohio 7.

VANDERBILT at RICE: Your close SEC game of the week. Rice = decent O, iffy D. Vandy = iffy all over. Rice 21, Vandy 20.

BALL STATE at AUBURN: Really, we won last week. Exhale. Tigers 49, Ball State 10.

LSU at MISSISSIPPI STATE: Do we really think LSU yawns its way through a third straight game under Les Miles? If it's close, it's not an effort issue. LSU 31, MSU 10.








5 comments:

Anonymous said...

OK, here are my picks:

Ar-Kansas at 'Bama - M. Gordon will disagree, but this one's tied through 3.5 quarters. By that point, the Ar-Kansas Mullett QB starts to feel all the hits. The Evil Empire 34, Ar-Kansas 20.

AZ St at Georgia: Has AZ St produced any football players since Jake Plummer? Big Ol' Hairy Dawgs 35, AZ St 21.

Florida at Kentucky: After consulting with Mike Gandy, Urban Meyer spends his whole pre-game pep talk screaming, "I'M A MAN!!!!!" Men 56, Kentucky 7.

LSU at Misipi State: That's the way Jerry Clower pronounced it, so that's good enough for me. And it's been since he played in the '40s since they've really been relavant. LSU 27, Misipi St 6.

Ohio at Tennessee: Believe it or not, Tennessee is actually not quaking in fear of facing a Frank Solich team. Kiffins 41, Ohio 10.

Vandy at Rice: How about shipping Vandy and Duke to the Ivy League, where all the geniuses and suck football teams can be in one group? Rice 23, Vandy 20.

Ball St at Auburn: Regarding the pitiful non-conference schedule - can you blame us after the product on the field last year? The fans all wanted Turner Gill as coach so we wouldn't schedule Buffalo and have them come down on the plains and beat the snot out of us? Amazing what a couple of competent coordinators will do for you. WAR EAGLE 49, The Team That Lost To Army 17.

Bud said...

Another great SEC game last night between the Cocks and Rebels. It’s great to be an SEC fan! In addition to the action on the field, we had the scowling Steve Spurrier on one sideline and the Excitable Nutt on the other. The less than advertised Jevan Snead went 7 for 21 for 107 yards. Some Dawgs fans were ready to dump Joe Cox after he went 15 for 30 for 162 yards versus OK St, but that was way back on Sept 5. Of the SEC QBs I’ve seen so far, Tebow, Cox, Mallett and even Garcia look better than Snead. But the season is still young and anything can still happen. The fact that USC gave up 10 points while scoring 16 last night is more evidence that UGA, which scored 42 points on USC but gave up 37, has a good offense but major problems on defense. It will certainly be interesting to see what happens in the Razorback/Tide and Gator/Wildcat games tomorrow. Dawgs should beat the 12 point spread versus AZ ST.

Observer Sports said...

J, M. Gordon actually thinks you're not far off. I expect Arkansas to pop Alabama in the chops a couple of times. When Va. Tech did it, the Tide responded. So my hope is that we'll be able to handle it again, especially at home.

Hogs will score plenty of points, Alabama will match them -- plus 10 to 17.

Frankly, I'd take a one-point win, and not say word one about swine flu. Evil Empire over and out.

Michael

Bud said...

War Eagle fans, tell me you're not really playing Ball Dome Lid State this late in Sept. The college is named for Frank C. Ball and his brothers, young New York industrialists who moved to Muncie, Indiana looking to expand their GLASS CONTAINER BUSINESS. That's "JARS" for you Alabamians. It really is BALL DOME LID STATE !! Hang down your heads, War Eagles. Looks like you found yourselves another easy win.

Observer Sports said...

BD,

My Auburn brethren on this board insist this a team with real talent and real coaching.

They'll have to prove that sooner or later. Later seems to be the coin of the realm, seeing that Auburn is playing the longest preseason in the history of sports.

mg