SEC Week 1 Preview: Texas monster leads the way

At last! It’s football time in the SEC!

For years we’ve talked about Texas playing Ohio State in The Horseshoe. Good seats top off at the $2,000 mark, and even the nosebleeds are around the $400.

For simple SEC fans, we’ve got SEC Football from Thursday to Monday. And it’s going to be AWESOME.

Here’s a list of games we’re interested in. With a lot of mention of basketball, because quite a few of the games are chalky.

No.1 Texas at No.2 Ohio State (-2.5): If Arch Manning wins at Ohio State, the Heisman race is over, unless he gets caught with 8 bags of coke, 3 hookers and 5 AR-15s and some scales. Everyone’s been talking about how special he is, but we don’t have a whole lot to stand on. Ohio State QB Julian Sayin is even less. But what Ohio State do have is Jeremiah Smith, the best WR in college football and Carnell Tate who’s pretty special too, the best safety in Caleb Downs on the other side of the ball. Manning’s is Ryan Wingo. The game’s going to be fun, but make sure you know you are seeing two unpolished teams play each other, albeit in one hell of an environment. PREDICTION: Should have been at night. F**K YOU, FOX! Ohio State by 10.

2. No.9 LSU at No.4 Clemson (-3.5): Look, it’s no secret that Cade Klubnik’s a great QB. Garrett Nussmeier is too. Klubnik’s got atremendous WR corps in Antonio Williams, Bryant Wesco Jr., and T.J. Moore. For Nussmeier’s he’s got Nic Anderson and Barion Brown are both excellent transfers, and Aaron Anderson and Chris Hilton are pretty great too. The problem will be defensively. Clemson’s simply better on that side of the ball. Especially because they know how to wrap up a tackle. PREDICTION: Clemson by 6 in a classic.

3. Auburn (-2.5) at Baylor: With the arrival of Jackson Arnold throwing to filthy transfer WR Horation Fields, but Cam Coleman’s pretty damn good, too. Baylor’s QB Sawyer Robertson doesn’t make a lot of mistakes. But the question we all want to know is: Do we really just Jackson to do his job on a road environment? Prediction: Yes, somewhat. Arnold’s rescued by his WRs. Auburn by 3.

4. No.8 Alabama (-13.5) at Florida State: If Florida State’s the same Florida State as it was last year, Alabama’s going to win by 100. Ryan Williams should bully Florida State’s secondary (as he did against everyone else last year), and although Boston College QB Thomas Castellanos is probably better than Ty Simpson, Alabama’s got more weapons all over the field. PREDICTION: Alabama by 21. And they call the dogs off midway through the third quarter.

5. Toledo at Kentucky (-8): The odds dropped -12.5 to -8, which shows what the bettors think about this Kentucky team. I haven’t had this little confidence in a team that’s not Mississippi State or Vanderbilt in a while. Toledo’s QB Tucker Gleason and WR Junior Vandeross is going to give Kentucky fits. We’re not excited about QB Zach Calzada and RBs Seth McGowan and Dante Dowdell. Kentucky’s best wide receiver has left to get paid at LSU, and things just aren’t fun in Lexington (unless you’re the basketball team, which is going to be great next year). PREDICTION: Toledo with the ‘upset’, winning by 3.

6. (Sun) Virginia Tech at No.13 South Carolina (-7.5): Virginia Tech is scheduled to win 6 or 7 games this year in a pretty moribund ACC, it’s not meant to be very good. While it will be close going into QB LaNorris Sellers and (Women’s NCAA Basketball Favorite) South Carolina should walk away with this one in an absolutely raucous Merc in Atlanta. PREDICTION: South Carolina by 17.

7. Syracuse at No.24 Tennessee (-14): It’s going to be exciting to see how Texas transfer Johntay Cook II does for Syrcause. If he stays out of trouble — and Cook seems to find quite a lot of it – then Cuse should pretty good. Steve Angeli – who came in from Notre Dame – should add a little something that should test March Madness Choker Tennessee’s D. UT’s App State transfer Joey Aguilar has been told to use TEs Miles Kitselman and Ethan Davis better. This should be pretty fun. PREDICTION: Tennessee by 14 in a pretty good game.

8. Mississippi State (-13.5) at Southern Miss: The great thing for Jeff Lebby is that no-one expected very much of him at Weren’t-great-in-2025-March-Madness MSU last year. This year, though, another piss-poor year will be stoking the fires. It’s been said that Blake Shapen will help the Bulldogs improve if he remains healthy, but here’s our question: Could they really be any worse? They certainly aren’t predicting a lot if they are playing a team who won 1 game last year….and they are only a 13.5 point favorite. PREDICTION: MSU struggles, but gets over the line by 14.

9. UTSA at Texas A&M (-24.5): We love Kyle Field at night, and it will be interesting to see how Marcel Reed has progressed behind the best offensive line in the country. We don’t expect the Aggies – who were blown out by Michigan in the second round in March- to put up monster numbers against a sprightly UTSA team, but they will be comfortable. PREDICTION: Texas A&M by 30.

10. Georgia State at Ole Miss (-38.5): Lane Kiffin will run the score up, but it will be remotely interesting to see how his new QB Austin Simmons beds. He’ll be helped by an all-star cast of receivers including transfers De’Zhaun Stribling, Harrison Wallace and some seriously good freshmen. Ole Miss – who were an incredibly entertaining team in March Madness -by 45.

11. Marshall at No.5 Georgia (-39): Gunnar Stockton will throw for 1,000, and Georgia will win by 40. Georgia – who lost by 30 to Gonzaga in the first round – and Marshall basketball doesn’t really float my boat.

12. Central Arkansas at Missouri: Boringly enough, when you put ‘UCA’ into Google it takes you to a cheerleaders website. The bit of interest we’ve got is how Missouri QB Bo Pribula teams up with Missouri’s receivers. But really, we’re going to be watching because it’s SEC football on a Thursday night. Yawn.

13. Illinois State at Oklahoma: By the way, did you know that famous basketball play Kaza Kajami-Keane (currently playing for Niners Chemnitz in Germany) went to Illinois State? As for the football, double Yawn.

14. Alabama A&M at Arkansas: Did you know Alabama A&M had two SWAC titles? And that John Calipari’s building something special on the basketball court at Fayetteville? Anyway, the football game’s going to be a Triple Yawn.

15. Charleston Southern at Vanderbilt (-36.5): Quadruple yawn. Even with Vegas giving a bit of action.

16. LIU at Florida: Did you know that the LIU sharks have made the March Madness seven times in their history (as the Brookyln Blackbirds, who are the Brooklyn Campus of LIU before their merger)? They’ve never got past the first round.