Friday, September 17, 2010

Who ya got? Week III

Mike G.: Two games into the season and we've already come up upon a killin' weekend. By the cocktail hour Saturday, we'll know if its hogs or dogs.

Either Arkansas or Georgia takes a neck shot this weekend. The two play a high-noon showdown in Athens, with Arkansas coming off two so-so performances and the Bulldogs dragging a back leg after being thrown on their backs by upstart South Carolina.

Georgia players followed up their mediocre performance with all sorts of strange comments about taking plays off and not giving their all.

Maybe, their all -- minus probationer A.J. Green -- isn't good enough. Georgia's season is already on the line, and Saturday, its rebuilt defense will claim or lose the day. It certainly can't outscore Arkansas, so it better keep quarterback Ryan Mallett on his back.

Funny, good QBs have a way of finding their footing at the most opportune times. Mr. Tomlinson, who has scored a ticket, will be on hand in Athens to attest. Hawgs, 28-21.

Florida at Tennessee Better showering habits will only take you so far. Hang down your head, Derek Dooley. Gators, 21-10.

Alabama at Duke
As pessimistic as I tend to run, I can't see this being close. Welcome back Marcel and Mark. Tide, 42-10.

Clemson at Auburn
A "blue-out" is rumored on The Plains, which, should it happen, seems like a waste of a once-a-year gimmick normally reserved for bigger rivals. Auburn, which smashed mouthed its way past Mississippi State last week, faces a team that has never shown it can take a punch. Lot riding on Clemson quarterback Kyle Parker. Too much. Tigers, the Alabama ones, 24-20.

Miss. State at LSU
Bulldogs don't have a quarterback; LSU almost does. Tigers, 31-17

Ole Miss at Vandy
The Masolis continued their ridiculously easy early season schedule. This week they strive for a winning record. Nutts. Vandy, 17-16

Akron at Kentucky.
Zip(s) it ain't. 'Cats, 27-10

Furman at South Carolina
Perfect stage for a Spurrier-Garcia implosion. Auburn is next. Roosters, 28-10

Tommy T.: As Mike mentioned, it's FIELD TRIP! time for me -- one of my old roommates scored tickets to UGA-ARK, and we'll be leaving dawnish on Saturday in hopes of slipping into Athens before traffic backs up to Lithonia. Full report next week.

I'm jacked about the trip and terrified about the game. On neutral ground, Arkansas probably has the better team. But I'm hoping the home crowd and the sting of losing to South Carolina push the Dawgs just far enough. I wouldn't bet a dime on it, but I'm gonna say Georgia, 21-20.

Florida at Tennessee: Last year's Florida team would beat this year's Florida team by 50. But this year's Florida team has struggled against two early cupcakes. Tennessee's not great, but they're just good enough to get Derek Dooley carried off the field once this season (don't mess with the hair!) Vols, 23-16.

Alabama at Duke: Mike didn't tell you how secretly afraid he is that this one will be 13-10 in the third. That would be a wonderful thing. But he's got no need to worry. Tide, 45-7.

Clemson at Auburn: After this week, everybody'll know who Cam Newton is. War Eagles, 38-21.

Miss. State at LSU: I'm seeing some folks picking this as an upset special. If it were in Starkville, maybe. But not in Baton Rouge. Tigers, 29-10.

Ole Miss at Vandy: The Nutt Watch begins. 'Dores, 17-10.

Akron at Kentucky: The SEC schedule grid I use had last week's Kentucky game (vs. Western Kentucky) flipped with this week's game. But really, it doesn't matter. UK, 38-3.

Furman at USC: Crow now, Cocks. Next two weeks: at Auburn, home against Alabama. USC, 44-13.

Peter St.O:
Alabama 49, Duke 10 - Tide fans fret it isn't 69-10.
Georgia 20, Arkansas 17 - Richt bounceback. Or else.
Auburn 27, Clemson 20 - Will Auburn open up its offense?
Florida 17, Tennessee 14 - Tennesee too thin to hang.
LSU 17, Miss State 13 - Toss up.
Ole Miss 24, Vandy 7
USC 37, Furman 10
Kentucky 34, Akron 7



1 comments:

Anonymous said...

No real monster games this week, but some intriguing storylines.

How will SC react to a big win last week and a big game next week, with a cream puff this week? One of my SC grad buddies is already talking smack about next week. Good luck with that.

From an Auburn perspective, a win tells us nothing and a loss is devastating. Any SEC team losing to any ACC team is devastating, even if it’s Vandy losing. Clempson’s 2 cream puff games give us no clue if they are any good. So we have far more cause to be worried than hollow Michael Gordon.

Speaking of which, how about that 3:30 game at WWOS? ‘Bama will win by a wide margin; everyone knows that. But will it be a blowout from the opening kick? Tied at halftime? 100 total points scored? If yes, is it 58-42 or 93-7?

On to the picks:

‘Bama at Duke – Mark Packer once called Ted Roof a genius for getting ‘Bama on the schedule to get paid mega-money for getting blown out. Like Duke needed the money or anything. Duke has a ton of offense for an ACC school; should be an interesting test for ‘Bama’s D ahead of the Ar-Kansas game next week. The Evil Empire 56, Duke 28

Ar-Kansas at Georgia – the only entity nearly as easy to hate as The Evil Empire is any entity associated with Bobby Petrino. He is way overdue for bad karma. Too bad UGA doesn’t have the defense to deliver it. Ar-Kansas 30, Big Ol’ Hairy Dawgs 17

Vanderbilt at Misipi – Tomlinson, for reasons not known probably even to him, has picked Vandy to win for the second time this year. Must be the Prozac he needs to take worrying about the Dawgs. Misipi 42, Vandy 10

Florida at Tennessee – This offense ain’t no Oregon, but it ain’t no Tennessee-Martin either. Gators 38, Vols 14

Akron at Kentucky – With Peter St. O and Tommy T picking this game last week, I want to hear who they predict will win the UK-Western Kentucky match coming up last week. Randall Cobb 47, Zips 10

Furman at South Carolina – The classic trap game. If they were playing a top 10 FCS team, I’d pick the FCS team. Fortunately for SC, they aren’t. Fightin’ Chickens 31, Furman 3

Misipi State at LSU – I think we know that as long as they are calling real football plays, LSU has enough offense. The questions are about LSU’s D, as well as with Misipi State’s offense (having done so little against a suspect Auburn defense). We’ll probably be left with more questions than answers. LSU 21, Misipi St 7

Clemson at Auburn – After all the angst I expressed above, it boils down to this: ACC, know your role. WAR EAGLE 28, Clempson 21

Last week’s record: 9-0
Season record: 20-1