A day late, but I spent a lot of the day yesterday doing other things, so I apologize. Lines are as of this morning at 9 am.
Last week didn’t go so well. It was a rough weekend for everyone to think there would be upsets where there weren’t. And some highly ranked teams showed us they are just pretenders. My picks from last week:
I thought South Carolina was going to have it all this year, but their defense continues to disappoint and Jadeveon Clowney continues to be the most over hyped player this season. Kudos to Georgia for getting the job done. 0-1
Michigan looked fairly solid in their win over Notre Dame. I came into the day thinking Notre Dame was one of the more overrated teams this season, but I think I still have some of last year’s title game in my mind. Regardless, Michigan was the better team, no doubt. 1-1
Florida was one of two extremely disappointing teams this past weekend, losing to Miami 21-16. I think their defense is still ok, but the offense has a ton of work to do. I like this Miami team moving forward, but still feel they are behind a few other ACC teams. 1-2
Texas was the other extremely disappointing team, getting smashed by BYU, who lost to Virginia the week before, who got smashed by Oregon. Texas is not “back”, no matter what Mack Brown thinks. They don’t deserve to be ranked after that game, and luckily they aren’t. Now I know Texas will have a few more losses coming than we all thought this season, unless the rest of the Big 12 is really that bad. 1-3
Oklahoma over West Virginia was an easy pick to make, but I knew the line was way too much. The line as of the post last Wednesday was -20.5, but the Sooners only won by 9. This was definitely the easiest pick of the weekend. 2-3
When it came to my upset special, I blew it. I would have either way really, but I went with Bobby Petrino and Western Kentucky to beat Butch Jones and Tennessee. However, after the first six plays for Western Kentucky, they had already turned the ball over five times, so that pick was garbage. Good job for Tennessee and Auburn who I almost made my upset pick. Tennessee gets a tough one this weekend with Oregon, but I think they are much improved this season. 2-4
Week 1: 4-2
Week 2: 2-4
Total: 6-6
So not a great set of picks this past week, but I’m ready to bounce back this week as we all only really care about one game – Alabama vs. Texas A&M.
Week Three
#1 Alabama (-8) #7 Texas A&M
Alabama needs this game more than anyone ever needed a game. They also will need a much better performance from their offense seeing as how the defense will be tested more than ever, and you can’t rely on special teams for a couple of TD’s like last week. Johnny Football needs this game more than anything as well, so it will be a clash of titans in this game at 3:30 pm EST on CBS. I think eight points is too steep, so I think A&M covers, but Bama gets their revenge.
Texas (-2.5) #25 Ole Miss
The game is in Austin, but I am not sure Texas will be able to do much here. Ole Miss has had this game circled on their calendar as a must win this season, especially after a decent performance in a loss last year in Oxford against the Longhorns. With Texas wounded, Ole Miss looks to put the final blow on to Mack Brown. I have to go with the Rebels here.
Side note, make sure to watch my former radio partner and great friend Max Howell live on Coaches Cabana during the game.
#13 South Carolina (-13.5) Vanderbilt
Not so fast my friend. Last season’s opening game was a great one between these two teams, and I’m expecting much of the same. While I think Vandy is definitely on the much improved list, I do think SC will take this one. But this line is way too much in my opinion. If I’m a betting man, I’m betting on Vanderbilt.
#23 Nebraska (-4) #16 UCLA
This will be a really interesting game, and I think be a good gauge of where both the Big 10 and the Pac-12 are right now. I like UCLA this season, and Nebraska is on the radar for me as a potential Big 10 champion upset over Ohio State. The Huskers are going to need a big game from former Homewood star Ameer Abdullah to make an impact on this game. I’m going with Nebraska to win, but this will be a close one.
Auburn (-6) Mississippi State
I’m liking what I’m seeing from Auburn, and they are looking good going into their first conference game under Gus Malzahn. I was a little wary about the team after that first game against Washington State, but after the Cougars beat USC, that eased my mind a bit. Now I’m not saying the Tigers are ready to face the likes of LSU, Texas A&M, Georgia, or Alabama – but I think they do well against the Bulldogs this weekend and cover the line.
Southern California (-14) Boston College
Not a lot of games this week that I think are good upset candidates, but I’m going to go with Boston College over USC. If this was in Chestnut Hill, I’d definitely think this could be a win for the Eagles, but even in LA, I’m still going with it here as my “Permanently put Lane Kiffin in the unemployment line” game of the week.