Without further ado, here’s our rankings for Week 10 of the SEC Football Blog.

1. Alabama (1): It’s funny. Alabama does well against teams that have weak quarterbacks and not a great quarterback (Georgia, LSU). Alabama does well against terrible quarterbacks (Texas A&M). Alabama does less well against a mobile quarterback,with good receivers and a better running game (Tennessee, first half of Arkansas). Alabama loses against teams who have got a good defense, a good quarterback, and very good wide receivers (Ole Miss).
2. Florida (2): Er, the win against Vanderbilt was….er…..absolutely terrible. If they play like this offensively against Alabama the winner of the SEC West, then they’ll lose by 3 touchdowns. The defense is tight, though. Not many teams can run on these guys. Or pass, either.
3. Mississippi State (6): Is Dan Mullen the best coach in the SEC? Just maybe. Is Dak Prescott the best QB in the SEC? Definitely.
4. Ole Miss (4): [Wright Thompson voice] A student lies there in The Grove. Around him are deserted tents, half-full red solo cups, and the odd smashed chandelier. I walk slowly to go speak to him. I’ve been to The Grove a million times, so I make sure that he’s OK. Maybe he just wants some piece. It’s been a hell of a day. I look closer, and realise that he’s got no pants and no underwear on. He’s holding a bottle of Jim Beam in one hand. His bowtie is a mess, and his shirt is covered in beer, mess, tears and grass stains. “Arkansas did this to me!”, he says. “We lost in overtime to freaking Arkansas. Arkansas lost to Toledo. We. Beat. Alabama. And we lost to Arkansas. ” He can’t stop repeating himself. Maybe it’s the bourbon. Or maybe it’s the shock that once again the Rebels might not be taking the trip to Atlanta despite beating their hated rival. Or maybe he’s an Ole Miss fan. We’re used to shock, rage and upset living in Oxford. But Hugh Freeze was bring it all to us. And then it happened. Ole Miss Football happened.” Ole Miss is about 5-5 on batshit-crazy plays this season after THE lateral play, by the way.
5. LSU (3): The media should punch themselves in the face. They hyped up this LSU team so much that the Committee drank the same Kool-Aid and put the Tigers at No.2. ESPN gave them a College Gameday spot. This was a team who hasn’t played that well all season. And Brandon Harris was never a world-beater. And the defense was never that good. Yes, Leonard Fournette’s a great player, but when Alabama can be aggressive because when you stop him the pressure’s put hard on Brandon Harris, Les Miles is onto a loser. And that’s what happened.
6. Texas A&M (5): Team Trainwreck has just rolled into College Station. Kyler Murray goes from God to goat (not G.O.A.T.) almost at a flick of a stwitch, John Chavis’ big-time defense really isn’t looking that big-time at the moment, and to cap it all, A&M got slapped 26-10 at home to mighty Auburn. We know that there’s dissatisfaction amongst Aggies players about playing time. I get the feeling that we’ll be saying goodbye to OC Jake Spavital at the end of the season, and Kevin Sumlin’s seat it getting hotter.
7. Arkansas (7): Bret Bielema tells the media on Monday: “I made sweet, sweet love to my wife on the weekend. We did it while watching that crazy lateral play.“
8. Tennessee (8): If you’re a Tennessee fan, we’d suggest you go and see a doctor about your heart when the season is over.
9. Georgia (9): Our prediction that the Georgia vs Auburn game could be awful still stands up, despite the Dawgs scoring 27 this week. Sony Michel and Keith Marshall had good games, and Greyson Lambert was not terrible. But Georgia vs Auburn will be a terrible game.
10. Auburn (10): See above. Except we’d argue Auburn’s actually in a better direction right now. And they might get to bowl eligibility. Which is quite an effort bearing in mind how crappily they started the season.
11. South Carolina (12): Kentucky beat South Carolina so should be above them, but South Carolina’s playing the better ‘ball since Spurrier left. And the wheels seem to have come off Kentucky’s season at some speed.
12. Kentucky (12): See what we said about South Carolina. And add this: “You know you’re doing terrible when Georgia drops 27 on you and they don’t have a quarterback”.
13. Vanderbilt (13): Weird to think that Vandy will probably look at themselves and think: “We were unlucky to lose in The Swamp on Saturday.” Derek Mason is ensuring this team is no walkover.
14. Missouri (14): The team is refusing to practice until the Missouri President resigns. Some bright spark pointed out: “Since when did they show up to practice?”

Losing a game is something Georgia fans hate doing. Losing to a rival as insignificant as Tennessee (OK, that they VIEW as insignificant) is even worse. Getting blown out in The Cocktail Party by their most hated rival – again? Don’t just make Mark Richt’s chair hot. Burn it.

As soon as Georgia lost – and went their second straight game without a touchdown – the calls for Mark Richt’s head reached deafening height. Never mind that he was the winningest head coach the program had ever seen. Never mind that season after season Georgia had brought home competitiveness, bowl games, zillions of dollars into the team’s accounts and NFL Draft picks. If you lose in Georgia, you’re out.

And that’s where Mark Richt looks to be going….out.

This week life’s not going to be any easier for him as the Dawgs host Kentucky at home. The announcers will spend 2 hours talking about Richt’s job security, and the rest talking about what will be a horrible, horrible game.

Anyway, here’s your predictions for the rest of this weekend, which includes some game in Tuscaloosa between Alabama and LSU….

1. LSU at Alabama

Both sides have had games where they’ve played impressively, but when it’s come to poorer opposition, both Alabama and LSU have contrived to stink the house down. We all know what’s going to happen: LSU’s going to hand the ball to Leonard Fournette, who’s going to run headlong into the impenetrable wall known as the Alabama front line. Alabama’s going to hand the ball to Derrick Henry, who’s going to run the ball at a pretty good but not-like-Alabama LSU front line defense. If that fails, they’ll go to their quarterbacks, who aren’t great. They will throw to their wide receivers, which are pretty evenly matched (at a push we’d take LSU). But Alabama has home field advantage, and a real need to win this one. Because if they fail, they don’t win the SEC West, don’t go to the SEC Championship Game, and don’t get in the College Football Play-Off. So, nothing big on the line then….

PREDICTION: Alabama’s a 6-1/2 point favorite with Vegas. We’ll take Alabama by 10. LSU really isn’t that good, folks. 

2. Kentucky at Georgia

Because I’m one of the people who stops to look at the car wrecks. And the way both sides are going about their season, “Car Wreck” would be pretty appropriate right now.

PREDICTION: Georgia’s a 14-point favorite. We’ll take Georgia by 7 in another awful offensive showing.

3. Auburn at Texas A&M

Now Carl Lawson’s back for Auburn, the defense actually looks a little better. Will it be able to stop Christian Kirk or Kyler Murray? Probably not. But it should be really fun to see them try.

PREDICTION: Texas A&M’s a 7-point favorite? Really? That low? We’ll take A&M by 14. 

4. Arkansas at Ole Miss

The Razorbacks have actually played better away than they have at home, which is why we give them a cat-in-hell’s chance at Ole Miss. Plus, Ole Miss hasn’t really looked the same since it was smashed on the road to Florida. The win over Texas A&M in the Worst Game In History a few weeks back righted the ship a little, but then they sank a little playing badly against Auburn. Arkansas could really spring an upset, you know.

PREDICTION: Ole Miss at 10-1/2 point favorite? I’m taking the Rebs by 7. But this will be close.

5. Vanderbilt at Florida

Florida’s ranked highly, so they could do with a win just to stay in the Play-Off conversation. This win will cement the SEC East for the Gators, too. Vanderbilt still trying to get up after being crushed by Houston.

PREDICTION: Florida’s a 20-1/2 point favorite. We’re taking the Gators by 28. 

6. South Carolina at Tennessee 

Tennessee could finish second in the SEC East. South Carolina could finish last. Both need to win for differing reasons.

PREDICTION: Tennessee’s a 17-point favorite. We’ll take the Vols by 21. 

7. Mississippi State at Missouri (Thursday night)

If you like horrific offense, then you’ll love watching the team in gold and black on Thursday night. If you love watching a guy who’s underrated because he should be a Heisman contender, then you’ll love watching the team in the white (Dak Prescott). This game WILL be ugly.

PREDICTION: 9-6?? No really. Mississippi State’s a 7-1/2 point favorite. We’ll take MSU to win by 10.

After last week, Alabama (the best of the SEC) and Missouri (the worst) are both off, making our weekend decidedly less interesting. The weekend would have been pretty incredible, what with the drinking and carrying on that goes on all the way from Athens and Gainseville to Jacksonville this weekend as the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party rolls into town, but Georgia’s nothing without Nick Chubb and Florida’s not unbeaten anymore. Seriously, does this showdown – which virtually ensures the bragging rights and the SEC East title – mean that much, bearing in mind how goddawful the East really is?

Anyway, enough of my grumpiness. Here are your SEC predictions, and rankings, in order of importance…

1. Florida vs Georgia (Jacksonville)

Everything to me points to Georgia losing by a double-digit margin, bearing in mind that Nick Chubb’s done for the year, and Grayson Lambert’s really not a good quarterback. Everyone thought Florida wouldn’t be the same after Will Grier got banned for a year for drugs, but Treon Harris was perfectly serviceable against LSU. And Florida’s defense – despite their showing in Baton Rouge – is going to do a lot better against a far lesser offensive juggernaut.

PREDICTION: Florida’s only a 2-point favorite with Vegas. We’ll take Florida by 10.

2. Ole Miss at Auburn

This was one of the games of the SEC West before the season started….and then Auburn imploded. Anyway, Auburn’s looking better offensively, but defensively, it’s a horror show. Which should be exploited by Chad Kelly and Laquon Treadwell. Defensively, Ole Miss is still missing Tony Connor, but the return of Robert Nkemdiche should continue to revitalize this D, which only gave up 3 points to Texas A&M in a game which involved SEVEN turnovers.

PREDICTION: Ole Miss is a 7.5 point favourite. Let’s take Ole Miss to win by 7 in a shoot-out.

3. Vanderbilt at Houston

It’s strange to have Vandy up on this list for interesting games, but actually, it’s interesting because Houston’s is a real challenger to make a BCS Bowl (or whatever it’s called now), and Vandy’s defense is playing very stoutly. We’re not sure that the offense have got the cajones to keep up with Houston’s, but we know the ‘D’ can certainly slow Tom Herman’s freight train down.

PREDICTION: Houston’s a 12-point favorite. We’ll take Houston by 14, but only after a battle.  

4. Tennessee at Kentucky 

After the Vols’ heartbreaker against Alabama last week, it’ll be interesting to see how they rebound at home to a Kentucky team coming off losing by 32 on the road at Mississippi State. The great thing about this game might be the atmosphere at Commonwealth Stadium, which is going to be off-the-hook.

PREDICTION: Tennessee a 9-point favorite? Really? I’m taking Kentucky to at least cover that. 

5. South Carolina at Texas A&M

Texas A&M’s calling a ‘black out’ for the game, which should means that this game – which will be awful one the eye and very one-sided – should at least be fun for five minutes. We haven’t a clue who the quarterback will be (Kyle Allen, Kyler Murray or A.N. Other) , although the tip is that it’s going to be Murray, now Allen’s got the Everett-Golson-at-Notre-Dame-2014 disease. As for South Carolina? They are just trying to find life after Spurrier.

PREDICTION: Texas A&M’s a 16-1/2 point favorite. We’ll take the Aggies by 21. 

6. Tennessee-Martin vs Arkansas 

Yawn.

OK, so I’m still trying to work out who the worst team in the conference (Missouri, South Carolina or Vanderbilt). I know one thing for certain: Missouri’s got the worst offense (and one of the best defenses). South Carolina got a win after Spurrier left, but they are still awful. And Vanderbilt is still….Vanderbilt. And that’s despite beating Missouri. Jeez, it’s difficult. Anyway, I took some smelling salts (sold to me by Maty Mauk) and came up with the answers….

After a lay-off of rankings last week, here’s our rankings after Week 8:

1. Alabama (1): Derrick Henry will be a Heisman candidate. If it wasn’t for him – and some horrific Tennessee field goal kicking – this game against Tennessee could have quite easily been lost. Cigars for the team, but no cigars for the performance.
2. LSU (2): We still love Leonard Fournette, and this offense is improving. We will see what happens against Alabama, but it’s looking like Cam Cameron actually has an offensive idea that’s not “Give the ball to The Destructor”.
3. Florida (3): Goes to three after beating bye week.
4. Ole Miss (5): The defense was great against Ole Miss, only conceding three points and harrying Kyle Allen all night long. A good win for the Rebels, who keep the SEC West in their own hands.
5. Texas A&M (3): Kyle Allen is looking like 2014 Everett Golsons. That’s not a compliment. A lot of people are crying out for Mr Spavital’s job. Weird, because two weeks ago, we could have sworn that the Aggies looked great.
6. Mississippi State (6): Dak Prescott and the Mississippi State offense is starting to tick – see as they dropped 42 points on Kentucky on the weekend..
7. Arkansas (7): Won a huge fourth quarter game against Auburn. Why huge? The Hogs should make a bowl game from here.
8. Tennessee (8): SHOULD have beaten Alabama. If the secondary wasn’t so poor in the fourth quarter and the kicking game wasn’t so poor all game long, they would be the ones celebrating the biggest upset of Week 8.
9. Georgia (9): How does it feel when good miracles happen to a hated rival, Georgia? See Georgia Tech for details.
10. Auburn (10): Win over Kentucky made this team close-ish to being bowl eligible…the four-overtime loss to Arkansas means that they probably won’t make it.
11. Kentucky (10): Yeah, so getting blown out at Mississippi State isn’t a good look.
12. South Carolina (14): South Carolina might have lost to Missouri, but they are a better team now the Head Ball Coach is playing 400 rounds of golf a day. 
13. Vanderbilt (13): HUGE win over Missouri ensures that the Commodores won’t get the 0-fer in conference play. Defense is looking better and better, too.
14. Missouri (13): As was well said on the “Mizzodcast”, the Tigers could well be unbeaten if the team could find an offense. But the offensive line could rival Penn State for its awfulness. Everything’s going wrong in Columbia. And it went further wrong losing to Vanderbilt, too.

Ole Miss was expected to smash Vanderbilt at home and didn’t, instead grinding out an 11-point win over the Commodores and never totally looking in control. Yes, we know that they were coming off a monster win at Alabama, but that’s hardly College Football Play-Off form. Ohio State, by the way, has been ‘grinding’ since it won at Virginia Tech – although it found some signs of life on Saturday.

The fact is this: Ole Miss is still the toast of the SEC West, but we don’t have a clue how good the SEC West actually is. Last year, it was so much easier….

Elsewhere, Arkansas choked against Texas A&M at Jerryworld and lost in overtime, Tennessee choked away the first win in a decade against Florida, and Kentucky got its first win against a ranked side- Missouri – in a 21-13 victory. Leonard Fournette continued to be “Mr Unstoppable” at Syracuse – although LSU was awful up there, Auburn remained a trainwreck in losing at home to Mississippi State, while the SEC East’s favorite trainwreck – South Carolina – beat all-FBS trainwreck UCF (and was actually losing at halftime). And Georgia got outplayed by Southern’s band at half-time (#FIREMARKRICHT), but won the four quarters. Oh, and that little-known or cared about SEC team Alabama? They m’ehed their way to smashing ULM and taking a 2-1 series lead in that mighty rivalry.

So here are our rankings after Week 4:

1. Ole Miss (Last week: 1) : The fact that Robert Nkemdiche scored his third touchdown of the season was the highlight – not the exclamation point – on a poor night offensively for Chad Kelly, who was picked off twice. Look, we know that Ole Miss was against defensive co-ordinators in the SEC in Derek Mason (he is, folks), but getting rescued by your special teams and an inability of a Vandy kicker to nail a fourth-straight field goal hardly has you saying: “This is the best team in college football”. But they still are the best team in the SEC. Maybe.
2. Alabama (1) : This is not so much about Alabama’s defense turning it on against ULM (they only gave up 92 yards all day), but about the Crimson Tide’s offense. This offense isn’t great, but it pretty darned good. And all-round, I believe the Tide is better than Texas A&M.
3. Texas A&M (3) : Why is Alabama a better team than Texas A&M? Because at JerryWorld, Texas A&M couldn’t stop Arkansas running backs Alex Collins and Damian Williams down the middle all day long. Alabama’s got a better offensive line and a better running back duo and will run the ball down their throat. Mind you, Alabama’s O-Line had better be ready for Mr Everything Myles Garrett, Alabama’s secondary better be ready for Christian Kirk, though. He’s something else, people!
4. Georgia (4) : They got their ass whipped by Southern’s band at half-time, but won the actually football comfortably. Our prayers are with Southern WR Devon Gales, who suffered a spinal injury in the third quarter. These sort of injuries make you nauseous.
5. LSU (5) : Every time you think the Tigers on a roll, Les Miles provides a piss-poor, sleepwalking, crappy effort against a far-inferior opponent. It happened against Saturday. LSU may have won 34-24, and Leonard Fournette got over 200 yards and 2 TDs, but my God, the penalties. The Tigers gave up ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY YARDS IN PENALTIES (14 of them). That’s terrible. The Fournette factor keeps them this high, though.
6. Florida (6): The Gators got through this win by the skin of their teeth, and that’s OK. At least for Gators fans. Jim McElwain was an inches-wide field goal from losing being the first Florida coach since Ron Zook to lose to Tennessee. The Gators struggled to deal with the run, and at times the INCREDIBLE SECONDARY didn’t look so incredible. I’m still on-the-fence about the Gators. Sorry.
7. Mississippi State (8): Heartily took advantage of the wreckery in Auburn to take home a 17-9 victory. Manny Diaz’ defense ensured Auburn’s offense went without a touchdown since 2011. Dak Prescott’s probably the best QB in the SEC right now. If there’s a side trending upwards in this league, it’s the Bulldogs.
8. Tennessee (7): I saw this over Twitter yesterday: Three teams have given up double-digit leads in the fourth quarter this season. Two of them are Tennessee. The game’s match-up with Arkansas may get called off because Neyland’s flooded with both fanbases’ tears.
9. Kentucky (9): I’m becoming a genuine believer in Mark Stoops, and the trouble he might cause Georgia and other teams when they come against the Wildcats in future games. Well, Mark Stoops’ defense. And Patrick Towles. Kentucky beat Missouri and had its first victory over a ranked opponent in 19 attempts.
10. Arkansas (12) : Arkansas should have beaten Texas A&M in JerryWorld. They played really, really well. You know, until Bret Bielema decided to go conservative on the final drive, and the team murdered themselves with penalty flags. The referees didn’t exactly help them either, too. But this Arkansas team – if it gets some fire in its belly – might not be the tire fire we all thought it was post-Texas Tech.
11. Missouri (11) : The Tigers have no offense. Simple.
12. South Carolina (13): Before the game, a Gamecocks fans tweeted me a badge that said: “For the love of God, please beat UCF”. They did – 31-10 – and Lorenzo Nunez has a bit of confidence in him. Pharoh Cooper doesn’t need any confidence, thanks.
13. Auburn (9) : Formally an offensive juggernaut, the Tigers simply don’t look that dangerous when they get the ball. And considering that defense is a major issue for them…..Safe to say Tammy from Auburn is not going to be very happy on Monday.
14. Vanderbilt (14) : A great defensive performance against one of the best offensive teams in college football. Derek Mason is a defensive genius. Our problem? There’s no offense (at least against the ‘bigger’ teams). But a hell of an effort in Oxford, folks.

Things are bad at South Carolina – and Steve Spurrier’s had it with his starting quarterback, Perry Orth.

He’s replaced him with true freshman Lorenzo Nunez, who actually looked like South Carolina’s most dangerous option – outside of Pharoh Cooper – in the Gamecocks’ 52-20 shellacking at Georgia on Saturday. Nunez will start against UCF.

“I think it’s the first true freshman quarterback as a coach I’ve ever started, but that’s just where we are right now,” head coach Steve Spurrier said in a press conference. “Lorenzo gives us maybe a little spark in there that we need offensively.”

He added: “I don’t know that we’re a one-quarterback team completely, but if (Nunez) goes out there and plays very well and takes care of the ball we could be a one-quarterback team.”

BOTTOM LINE: Spurrier needed to do something – and Nunez is probably the right decision. 

We had to eat a little humble pie in the SEC this week. With Arkansas losing to Toledo, Auburn shoulda-losing to Jacksonville State, Tennessee coughing up a 17-point lead and Missouri and Florida struggling with mighty Arkansas State and ECU respectively, this was not a good week for our conference.

And it was a shitty week for the SEC Football Blog personally, going 10-1 in games straight up (thanks, Arkansas). We were right on the money in the Oklahoma vs Tennessee game (Sooners won by 7), one-point close in our Ole Miss (41 actual vs 42 prediction) and LSU calls (3 vs 2) and two out with Texas A&M (33 vs 35). The rest of them were absolute trainwrecks. Our biggest kick-in-the-footballs? “Auburn by 58”.

This week, things will get sporty with Ole Miss travelling to Alabama, Auburn going to LSU, South Carolina playing Georgia, Kentucky at Florida….and Austin Peay going to Vanderbilt (just kidding, Vandy fans!).

So here we go….

1. No.15 Ole Miss at No.2 Alabama

Here’s some fun facts. Ole Miss hasn’t won in Tuscaloosa since 1988, and has only beaten Alabama since 1989. But they’re unbeaten against the Crimson Tide since 2014!!! Anyway, the books don’t think Ole Miss- who boast an offense that’s had back-t0-back 70 point games so far this year – will make it two in a row, making Alabama six-point favorites. Ole Miss is going to have to be effective at running the ball against Alabama’s seriously good front, and are going to have to stop Derrick Henry, who has been the Tide’s own bull elephant so far this year, helping himself with 6 TDs so far. While we’re pretty confident that Robert Nkemdiche’s going to get to Jacob Coker/Cooper Bateman, the question is this: Can Chad Kelly avoid getting himself killed long enough to get the ball to Laquan Treadwell and hurt Alabama’s secondary, which we’re still not convinced about? And you’d be wise to remember this: The last time Hugh Freeze brought a highly-touted Ole Miss team to Tuscaloosa, they lost in a  33-14 rout. And it really wasn’t that close.

PREDICTION: On a day that College Gameday’s in town, Alabama wins, and wins by 10. 

2. No. 18 Auburn at No. 13 LSU 

YES, WE GET THESE THINGS: AUBURN NEARLY LOST TO JACKSONVILLE STATE! LES MILES GIVES LSU FANS A HEART ATTACK! LES MILES KNOWS NOTHING ABOUT CLOCK MANAGEMENT! AUBURN HAS NO QUARTERBACK! LSU HAS NO QUARTERBACK! LSU HAS LEONARD FOURNETTE!

As this is your CBS 3.30pm game, we expect Verne and idiot Gary to talk non-stop about these things. We expect Death Valley to be rocking, even at 3.30pm on a Saturday (a 3.30pm game just means LSU fans drink earlier), and thirsting for revenge after they were shellacked at Auburn last year. Of course, there will be pressure on Auburn’s Jeremy Johnson, who’s been pretty lousy for the last two games. There will be pressure on LSU’s Brandon Harris to play more actual quarterback – and that’ll mean throwing the ball – if Auburn can actually stop Leonard Fournette. You can expect Will Muschamp to load the box. And maybe this comes to down to clock management, and LSU missing more tackles than Auburn. And Les ****ing Miles.

PREDICTION: LSU’s a seven-point favorite, which would seem right. I actually have to call a winner for this, so I’m going for Auburn by 4 in the “upset”. 

3. South Carolina at No.7 Georgia

South Carolina’s a trainwreck at the moment, and at the position of quarterback it’s so bad that the guys at “Sold Verbal” said that Connor Mitch going out with a hip injury “might improve the quarterback play”. If we’re honest, Mitch’s hip injury isn’t one we’d wish on anyone (We’d like to note that we don’t wish injury or death on players or TV broadcasters). Pharoh Cooper – who has had just 12 receptions, 145 yards and 1 TDs – is expected to be a gamechanger (expect draft people to say: “It wasn’t his fault his quarterback was so crappy”), but how can he be a gamechanger in THAT offense? But this could be the battle of the goddawful quarterbacks. We trust Georgia’s Greyson Lambert as much as we trust Perry Orth to lead USC’s offense. Georgia has the better running backs and defense, and this might make the difference for a Sanford crowd screaming: “PLEASE DON’T **** IT UP AGAINST SOUTH CAROLINA AGAIN, DAWGS!!”. Maybe.

PREDICTION: Georgia’s a 17-point favorite. We think they win by….21. 

4. Florida at Kentucky

Kentucky’s impressive road win at South Carolina proved that they’ve got solid RBs in “Boom” Williams, JoJo Kemp and Mikkel Horton, and a pretty good QB in Patrick Towles. Florida goes into Kentucky having held off the Wildcats 36-30 in 3 OTs. I think UK’s fans are STILL grumbling about the delay of game penalty that wasn’t. Anyway, we don’t know what quite to expect of both teams. Florida struggled against East Carolina, which Kentucky ran out to big lead at South Carolina and was one near-turnover from losing. Again, we’re not sure. We ARE sure that Commonwealth Stadium will be rocking, though.

PREDICTION: Florida is a 3-point favorite. They’ll win by 7. 

5. Arkansas vs Texas Tech

Last season Arkansas ran all over Texas Tech – and in particular Jonathan Wiliams, who did most of the damage. Well, this season Williams is injured, and Arkansas stunned the college football world by losing at home to Toledo. Arkansas still has an excellent running back in Alex Collins, and as much as we’ve teased Brandon Allen about nailing the crossbar with a throw (he managed that against Toledo)/overthrowing his wide receivers inside the 20 (he managed that three times)/his early Heisman shot (Yeah, about that….), Texas Tech still has a very poor defense. Tech’s offense, however, is still no problem (128 points in 2 games).

PREDICTION: Arkansas is a 11.5-point favorite. We’re taking the Razorbacks by 14. 

6. Nevada vs No. 17 Texas A&M 

Texas A&M is expected to win this one. And win this by a mile. Hence the reason why they are 35-point favorites. Nevada played Arizona close and then dissolved to a 44-20 loss, and don’t expect them to be able to fire that quickly in Kyle Field.

PREDICTION: Texas A&M continues to cruise, winning by 35.

7. Connecticut at Missouri

Missouri fans were furious about the poverty that was Missouri offense in the win against Arkansas State. They don’t like Maty Mauk, or the options at running back. Or anything. The defense is OK, though. UConn will come into a maybe-75%- full Faurot Field with two wins under their belt (five point wins vs Villanova and Army both) and after the hideousness of last Saturday, Missouri fans will be nervous.

PREDICTION: Missouri’s a 21-point favorite. They’ll win by 25. And not look very good doing it. 

8. Western Carolina at Tennessee

We can guarantee that the atmosphere against Western Carolina’s not going to be like the one against Tennessee. UT’s going to have to get back off its knees are giving up a 17-0 lead to lose in double-overtime. UT’s going to have listen to the critics against use words like “young”, “unready”, “unworthy”, and Butch Jones is going to have to listen to comments about the imbalance between his recruiting and his coaching. Western Carolina’s not even considered by the bookies in this one.

PREDICTION: Tennessee by 42. 

9. Austin Peay vs Vanderbilt

Vanderbilt actually hasn’t been as horrible as people who haven’t seen any of their games would love to point out. Against Georgia they could have lost by 40, but they just didn’t give up — like the lady fan (WHO ARE YOU??) who sat in an abandoned student section watching the game while the rest of the Vanderbilt student fanbase walked off. Anyway, Austin Peay rolls in after losing two straight games and scoring only 13 points. Vandy’s a 40.5-point favorite, by the way.

PREDICTION: Vanderbilt wins by 42!!

10. Northwestern State vs Mississippi State

They’ll be some cowbells a-clanging. Dak Prescott and the guys are a 39.5 point favorite, and we expect damage to be done to a Northwestern State ‘D’ that’s given up 78 points so far this year after the latest in the list of heartbreaking losses meted out to that tremendous fanbase.

PREDICTION: Mississippi State by 42.

Alabama is screwing its season ticket holders.

The university isn’t screwing them out of victories – they have plenty. It isn’t screwing them out of SEC Championships – they have plenty. It isn’t screwing them out of great recruits – they have plenty. It isn’t screwing them out of National Championships – they have a plenty (400 at the last count).

The University of Alabama is screwing its season ticket holders out of good games.

Every year since 2012, Alabama has played the opening game of the season at neutral site venue. In 2012, it was at the spaceship called JerryWorld, in the middle of a massive parking lot in Arlington, Texas. In 2013 and 2014, they ‘kindly’ moved to kick off the season at the Home Depot Dome in Atlanta, GA. Then, induced by Jerry Jones’ money, they came back there to play Wisconsin in the spaceship in 2015. Alabama will play USC in 2016, Florida State in 2017, and Louisville in 2018. And you can’t just have an Alabama season ticket, either. You have to have a certain amount of points to guarantee a spot.

Arlington is a near-nine hour drive from Tuscaloosa. It’s a 9-1/2 hour drive from Birmingham, AL (Alabama’s biggest city). Atlanta’s a generous 3 hour drive. That’s still a pain-in-the-ass.

Does all this mean Alabama has reduced its season ticket prices in the view of the crappiness of the out-of-conference teams who come to Tuscaloosa for the slaughter? Nope.

If you’re an Alabama fan who actually lives in Alabama, you’d probably be killing to see a good team play under the lights of a rocking Bryant-Denny Stadium. And you KNOW that season tickets of USC, Florida State and Louisville would have loved a home-and-home, too.

But thanks to AD Bill Battle, Jerry Jones, ESPN and the other schedule setters, that isn’t going to happen anytime soon.

With Jadeveon Clowney moving off to the NFL, the South Carolina Gamecocks had a poor 2014, finishing 7-5 and 3-5 in the SEC, which including a blow-out losses to Texas A&M and Clemson, and getting outclassed by Kentucky. They beat Georgia in a rainstorm and squeaked by Florida, but overall, this wasn’t a great year for the Gamecocks.

WE NOW KNOW THE QB

Connor Mitch was named the quarterback of the South Carolina Gamecocks on Tuesday, much to the relief of many fans who we guess were beginning to question whether Steve Spurrier had decided to go for golf instead of a big decision.

Anyway, HBC named redshirt sophomore Mitch, who is seen as a pro-style quarterback, was a four-star recruit that Spurrier raided from North Carolina, ahead of Perry Orth, Michael Scarnecchia (thank God he wasn’t named QB – it would have been an editing nightmare!), and Lorenzo Nunez.

Losing AJ Cann and Corey Robinson to the NFL isn’t going to make his life easier, but the return of Brandon Shell and Mike Matulis and Cody Waldrop will help.

HANGING OUT WITH MR COOPER

South Carolina has the best WR in the SEC – and maybe college football – and his name’s Pharoh Cooper. Cooper had 1,136 yards receiving and 9 TDs, and ran for 200 yards and 2 TDs. That’s pretty good. Considering the SEC’s not stacked with great secondaries (apart from Florida’s, thanks to Vernon Hargreaves Jr), we could see an even bigger year from him.

NOW, ABOUT THE RUNNING GAME…

The SEC’s going to be based on strong runners this year, and it’s a good job South Carolina’s got a pretty pair running for them, too in Brandon Wilds and David Williams. Both are good RBs and should be good battering rams, following on from the careers of Marcus Lattimore and – more recently – Mike Davis. Wilds ran for a tidy 570 in ’14.

DEFENSIVELY….CAN IT GET ANY WORSE?

At times last year, the Gamecocks’ defense was shipping more water than the Titanic post-iceberg. It was embarrassing to watch – even for a neutral like us. Lorenzo Ward was so bad at running his own defense that Spurrier hired Jon Hoke as joint DC. Why Ward wasn’t fired outright after a year when South Carolina’s defense gave up 432.7 per game average – bad for 92nd in the country – we will never know.

Well, according to our friends at Saturday Edge, Kevin Sumlin and Steve Spurrier but a bet on who’s defensive unit will show bigger improvement (they were both sub-90th in yards given up). SE noted that they can see see Hoke’s unit showing “significant improvements” – helped by the unit returning eight starters. It had better. For both of their sakes.

SCHEDULE….

SOUTH CAROLINA 2015 SCHEDULE

This schedule is ****ing evil. Going to Georgia, Missouri, Texas A&M and a rising Tennessee and facing heavyweights LSU Clemson sends shivers down the spine of the Good Ship Spurrier, me hearties.

Sep. 3 – North Carolina (in Charlotte)
Sep. 12 – Kentucky
Sep. 19 – at Georgia
Sep. 26 – UCF
Oct. 3 – at Missouri
Oct. 10 – Louisiana State
Oct. 17 – Vanderbilt
Oct. 31 – at Texas A&M
Nov. 7 – at Tennessee
Nov. 14 – Florida
Nov. 21 – The Citadel
Nov. 28 – Clemson 

A quick prediction: The Gamecocks will start the season 2-0 with wins over North Carolina and Kentucky, before losing at Georgia. They’ll bounce back to beat UCF, then lose at Missouri in a close one, before hosting LSU. The LSU game will be quite the party, but they’ll lose because Les Miles is, er, Les Miles. The Cocks will cruise to victory against Vandy, before losing at Texas A&M in a great one. Spurrier will then be humbled by seeing his team lose at Tennessee in a rocking Neyland Stadium, full of hatred for, before rebounding to beat Florida. They’ll smash The Citadel before losing to Clemson at home in a classic.

SIX-WIN STEVE!!! Spurrier leads his team to 6-6, which is hardly surprising with an inexperienced QB and an evil schedule.

Steve Spurrier has said that the Gamecocks will be adding a graduate transfer safety from Kansas this off-season.

Speaking on the Paul Finebaum Show at the SEC Spring meetings in Destin, FL, The Head Ball coach said:

“I hope that’s not against the rules,” he added. “We think he’s got to get in grad school and do some stuff. Our conference – if they’ve had issues before – would frown on us taking a player like that.”

He added: “It’s just one year. Maybe he’s gone to a place where things haven’t worked out or maybe he played on a team that doesn’t win that much and he wants to go and play on a successful team. Let ’em play. That’s the nature of our sports these days.”

The comments confirm ex-Kansas safety Isaiah Johnson’s tweet in mid-April that he’ll be Gamecock next year. Johnson had 75 tackles in 2014 and 73 in 2013.

Spurrier also added that he doesn’t want any more four hour ballgames.

“We don’t need four-hour ballgames. Even three-and-a-half ones”, adding that the ideal time was around the 3.20 mark. “I think fans like a 3.20 game,” he said.

He added that South Carolina wasn’t the worst culprit of long games. “In the SEC we don’t throw the ball 30 or 40 times. So we’re probably below the national average“.

He added that referees need to speed up decision-making on reviews. “We need to speed up that.”