All ’bout South Carolina, Georgia and Texas (A&M): Week 2 SEC Predictions
This weekend, the whole country is going to be concentrating on the Great State of South Carolina.
At 3.30pm the Devils from Georgia will roll into Columbia, and we’ll have to hear some terrible EDM music, and people will be screaming and whirling towels. And it will be noisy. Because Williams-Brice is noisy. CBS will be showing it, so you can always watch it on silent if you don’t like the commentators.
Then at 7pm Clemson rolls into Kyle Field to play the 12th Man, Jimbo’s friend and benefactor, and dog-worshippers Texas A&M who had a double-whammy last week when it beat Northwestern State and a couple of days later got to laugh at Texas losing to Maryland (and got to make lots of strip club jokes at the same time). The scene in College Station should be rocking pretty early with College Gameday on the scene, which undoubtedly will show you shots of the previous day’s ‘Midnight Yell. Oh, and the No.2 team in the country is coming to town.
Anyway, here are the games from the SEC in terms of interest for us:
- Georgia (-10) at South Carolina: For some reason, everyone’s up on Will Muschamp and his Gamecocks. They love Jake Bentley and quite rightly love Deebo Samuel. Georgia rolls into Williams-Brice for its first real game of the season, so we don’t know what really to expect, apart from some efficient quarterbacking from Jake Fromme, and a hell of a lot of talent. This should be fun. And noisy. And the game that will decide the SEC East (probably). PREDICTION: Georgia to win by 7 in one of the best games there will be this year.
- Clemson (-12) at Texas A&M: For the life of me I can’t work out why Texas A&M is a 12-point underdog at home. Is A&M simply that bad? Listen, Clemson’s defense is for real.We know that. They’ve got four potential NFL first-rounders on that defensive line, but offensively, is Kelly Bryant really that good? And will the offense be able to adjust with having two QBs playing (Trevor Lawrence in the other guy (he’s quite good, actually). For A&M, we expect Kellen Mond to cause Clemson some problems with his feet, but it’s going to be all about the Aggies offensive line. PREDICTION: Clemson to shade it by 6.
- Kentucky at Florida (-14): Kentucky stunk it out in its win against Directional Michigan, throwing up four first half turnovers in the process. Florida beat Charleston Southern and is on its way to a National Championship. Seriously though, Kentucky stunk it out for a half and got its act together, and Florida probably isn’t going to a National Championship this year. We do, however expect them to beat Kentucky for 96th time in a row. PREDICTION: Chomped in The Swamp. Florida by 18.
- Arkansas (-13) at Colorado State: This game interests me more than the Kansas State simply for the betting perspective. I can’t for the life of me understand why Arkansas is only a 13-point favourite over a Colorado State that has sucked for the best part of two games. The Rams have given up 88 points in its last two games, and an average of 606 yards/game. PREDICTION: Arkansas by 24.
- Mississippi State (-9.5) at Kansas State: While Mississippi State was rolling in its first game of the year, Kansas State was struggling with South Dakota. Both are 1-0, but the Bulldogs will be more rested when they roll into THE FAKE MANHATTAN (which is occupied by a wizardy type called Bill Snyder). And to make things happier for KSU, Nick Fitzgerald’s back with a point to prove. PREDICTION: Mississippi State by 14. Easy.
- Nevada at Vanderbilt (-9): Vandy’s win wasn’t so much impressive from the point of view how much they mashed the spread, but for the fact that the Commodores looked very decent indeed. This week, it’s Nevada, who dropped 72 over lowly Portland State. The amazingly named Ty Gangi (Potheads on campus have already said: “How high will he go?”) might give Vandy a few fits early on, but we expect Derek Mason, and his own QB Kyle Shurmur to be fine. PREDICTION: Vandy by 14.
- Wyoming at Missouri (-17.5): Wyoming can’t stop the pass. We know this because Bombers are averaging 213.5 yards/game on its secondary. This week Wyoming also faces bombers, in the face of Drew Lock, and his WR corps led by Emmanuel Hall. The X-Factor? The weather. It’s meant to be terrible that night. PREDICTION: Regardless of the crappy weather predicted, this will be ugly. Missouri by 21.
- Arkansas State vs Alabama (-36.5): If there are any Alabama fans telling us how we should respect the Red Wolves, then please feel free to slap them in the face and say: “WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?” Prediction: Roll Bama Roll. By 48.
- Southern Illinois vs Ole Miss: Last week Southern Illinois scored 21 points from turnovers, so the Rebels will want to watch out for that. But saying that, this ain’t Murray State. Ole Miss – with the best WRing corps in the nation – is going to be a lot of fun to watch this season, y’all. PREDICTION: Ole Miss by 38.
- SE Louisiana vs LSU: If there are any LSU fans telling us how we should “respect the Lions”, then please feel free to slap them in the face and say: “WHAT ARE YOU SAYING? HOW MUCH BOURBON HAVE YOU HAD? IT’S ONLY 10AM?” PREDICTION: Grrr (for 1 quarter)….Snooore (for 3 quarters). LSU by 52.
- ETSU vs Tennessee: The good news for UT fans? The Vols played well for a half against West Virginia. Unfortunately, the Mountaineers coasted afterwards. Against ETSU we should see Jeremy Pruitt comfortably pick up his first victory as a head coach. PREDICTION: Tennessee by 48
- Alabama State vs Auburn: This won’t be a let-down spot after the Tigers’ streetfight of a victory over Washington on Saturday. This won’t even be a game. Fun fact though: Alabama State beat a D-II school we’ve never heard of in overtime last week ((Tuskegee). PREDICTION: Auburn by 60.