Friday SEC Pick-Em

Hello out there in SEC Nation. Here it is Friday again and time for another round of SEC Pick-Em. We have a lot of games this weekend with only Vandy having the week off. One game in particular has National Championship implications. So Nation! Are we ready to play Pick-Em?….Ready Break!

Auburn versus Ole Miss: The Rebels were able to hold on and pull out an SEC victory on the road last weekend against the Arkansas Razorbacks. Playing well on the road has not been the Rebel’s problem this year. Good games against Wake Forest & Bama coupled with wins against Florida and Arkansas, all were on the road. It is the home field that the Rebels cannot protect. There the Reb’s seem to hand the games over on a silver platter to the opposing team. Make no mistake Reb fans, Auburn may be struggling this year but they are a very capable football team. We may not like him but they are well coached, especially on defense. I’ve heard a lot of rumblings about Tubby being fired, but I don’t want to report on rumors. The Tigers have a good running back in Junior Ben Tate. Tubba-BS-Ville has also alternated between two QB’s all season so it makes it hard for Ole Miss to prepare defensively. On the offensive front; Ole Miss will have to figure out a way to move the football against a very stingy defense. AU’s “D” is ranked 5th in the SEC in total defense and 4th in the SEC against the pass. Will the “Wild Rebel” loosen up that great secondary? I would love to see The Rebels pass more out of that formation but the passes will have to be complete. Every time McCluster throws from it this year it seems he is either intercepted or the pass falls harmlessly to the ground. This means the corners can ignore their assignments and come up and make a play on the runner. That brings me to McCluster: He is such an exceptional and exciting athlete, but dangit, he has got to hold on to the ball. I don’t think anyone on Auburns “D” will try to tackle him this weekend; they will go straight for the ball. They’re a lot of variables in this one that should make for an entertaining game. I will pick my Rebels to win this game but it will be a tight one.

Arkansas State versus Alabama: Alabama is already warming up for an SEC Western division title, but I sure hope they can keep their minds on the Indians of Arkansas State this weekend. ASU has a very competent QB in Junior Corey Leonard and a very talented running back in Jahbari McLennan. Alabama is coming off a solid victory over the Tennessee Volunteers and has a game against LSU coming up next week; the Tide should beware of the “Overlook Syndrome”. We all know what I am talking about so I won’t explain it. Alabama really needs to come out and take control of this game early on, build a big lead and let some of their younger players get some game experience in the second half. I believe they will do this too, but ASU isn’t a high school. The Tide will have to play fundamentally sound football so there won’t be any surprises in T-Town. I think Bama takes care of this one big, because the Pachyderm are on a mission that will take them to Atlanta; No Indians (Correction: Red Wolves)are going to be able to stop them.

Tulsa versus Arkansas: Coming off a hard fought home loss to Ole Miss the Razorbacks are not going to get any rest this weekend either. Tulsa is nationally ranked at № 19 in the nation in the AP Poll (№ 18 BCS) and they are coming off of a 49 – 19 shellacking of Central Florida this past Sunday. They have a very good quarterback in David Johnson who threw for 264 yards with a touchdown against UCF. Johnson ran in two TD’s in that game as well, so he is a threat to bolt on you. Defensively, Tulsa has a fumble forcing machine in a kid named Malcolm Sheppard. He can cause problems for Razorback QB Casey Dick all day long by getting in his face, batting down passes, and intercepting them as well. I don’t want to count the Hogs out of it yet though. Running back Michael Smith leads the SEC in rushing yards and Casey Dick is 2nd in the conference in passing. Looking at Tulsa’s schedule, I am not really seeing SEC quality teams, but you know what? They are undefeated and most are run-away victories. Boy I hate to pick outside the conference. I would rather take a walk through hell with gasoline drawers on than to do that, but I have to pick Tulsa to win this one. The Razorbacks just aren’t firing on all cylinders this year.

Kentucky versus Mississippi State: After a great 2007 season, Mississippi State is just struggling to find a groove this year. The Dogs have been anemic on offense and other than Auburn (Another anemic offense); have had a hard time keeping the opposition out of the end zone. The Kentucky Wildcats are not fairing much better either. They had a great start, opening up with 4 consecutive wins, but then came the SEC schedule; Losing to Bama & South Carolina before bouncing back in a come from behind victory over Arkansas. The Cats are still 5 – 3 with only 1 SEC win. Their last outing was a dismal contest as the homecoming victim of the Florida Gators. There are reasons to pick both teams, I wont list them all, but I am just going to go with my gut and pick Kentucky to win this one on the road in Starkville.

Florida versus Georgia: Here it is SEC Nation! The Worlds Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party. These two teams look forward to this game every year, and so does SEC fans. This time both squads are ranked inside the top 10 in the nation. What a showdown this promises to be. The AP has Florida ranked higher than Georgia but that is reversed in the BCS standings. Whatever the rankings…it doesn’t matter! Florida has the best SEC player on their team…..The best! I know that is just my opinion but to me; Tim Tebow is worth two touchdowns. The Gators have all the weapons they need to win the SEC and make a run for the National Championship. Since losing to Ole Miss, Florida has been on a mission to silence the Nay Sayers. Likewise for Georgia; since losing to Bama, they have bounced back to National Championship contender status as well. The Dawgs have all it takes to win the conference too. I do have reservations with Georgia resulting from some flat play following the Alabama loss, what I call “Get By” football, but the offense came back roaring against LSU. The Georgia defense allowed too many points though in the LSU game. If LSU can score like that on you? Then who knows how many points the Tebow led crew of Gators can turn in. On paper this game has the recipe for a high scoring affair, with two very good offensive squads. So many times though when someone says it will be a high scoring game, it turns out to be a defensive struggle. We shall see, and I am looking forward to it. I am going to pick Florida to win this game.

Tennessee versus South Carolina: The Vol’s are having the worst year that I believe I have ever seen them have. Losing David Cutcliffe to the head coaching ranks again has not helped UT offensively, that’s for sure. Lack of a sure-fire SEC quarterback is another factor as well. On the QB front though; Nick Stephens is starting to come around. Stephens has started 4 games now and has a .633 completion percentage at a clip of a little over 13.5 yards per completion. Another tidbit is that he hasn’t thrown an interception while amassing these numbers. South Carolina Head Coach: Steve Spurrier has decided to go with Stephen Garcia as his starting QB Saturday; this will be Garcia’s second start of the year, in his first start he threw for 215 yards and a touchdown against LSU. The Gamecock defense is playing tough as well so in my humble opinion that should make the Gamecocks the favorites in this match up. Some more interesting news to me is Phil Fulmer defending his resume earlier this week with the Tennessee faithful. Why would he do that unless he is getting scared? Just a thought. I will take South Carolina to win this one.

Tulane versus LSU: Like I stated in my Alabama preview, LSU has got to beware of the “Overlook Syndrome”. It would be very easy for the Tigers to look further down the road towards their November 8th contest with the Tide. Also unclear is the status of backup quarterback: Andrew Hatch! He has still gotten considerable game time in sort of a platoon type roll since losing his starting position to Jarrett Lee after the 3rd game. Hatch is suffering from a leg injury. Tulane has some C-USA stat leaders on their squad among which are running back Andre Anderson, who is averaging a little over 123 yards a game. Still I don’t see the Green Wave having enough weapons and depth to beat LSU in Tiger Stadium. I am picking LSU to basically do what I predict Bama to do: Build a big lead early and then rest up key players as well as get experience for the younger ones. LSU wins big!

Well that’s it for this week’s edition of SEC Pick-EM. I am looking forward to all these games and coming back on Monday to re-cap them with the SEC Nation. Until then…….Hotty Toddy

Darryle “Speedy” Clark

What Do You Have To Do To Win A Heisman Around Here?

Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow! What crosses your mind when I say that sentence? When I think of this college football phenom I think a touchdown is only one play away. I see excitement and love for the game. Lastly I see a dedication to his team and teammates. Now I am not sure if this spells H-E-I-S-M-A-N, but it definitely spells M-V-P.

Is Tebow immune to bad days? Certainly not, but even his bad days are good ones to other college quarterbacks. The one Florida loss came at home against Ole Miss. Now everyone knows that I am an Ole Miss fan but this article is about Tebow, I will attempt to maintain my objectivity. In the UM ball game, Tebow was 24 for 38with 1 touchdown and no interceptions. Those numbers translates into 319 yards passing for the day. His rushing totals were down for the day but only because sacks count as negative rushing yards in the college game. He rushed for a net of 7 yards with one touchdown. He was stopped on the 4th & 1 play, but Florida fans cannot blame him for that loss. I would take his numbers any day of the week if I was his coach.

Now we will talk about the LSU game. In this contest, Tebow was 14 for 21 with 2 touchdowns and no interceptions, that all totals up to 210 passing yards. He rushed for a net of 22 yards and a touchdown in this game as well. In this game he led his team to a 51 – 21 victory over the then №4 team in the country.

Fast forward 7 days to this past weekend’s shellacking of Kentucky. Only one word comes to mind: WOW! Mr. Tebow was 11 for 15 with 2 touchdowns; He did throw one interception in this game that is the only flaw I could find. He totaled up 180 passing yards against Kentucky and rushed for another 48 yards on 9 runs. Among these 9 rushes were 2 runs for touchdowns. Florida had a lot of other weapons against Kentucky, but by far if you had to pick a single gun in this one, it was hands down Tim Tebow!

Looking forward to this coming up weekend’s Georgia versus Florida Football Classic, or “The Worlds Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party”. I can’t wait to find out what this outstanding young man has in store for us. I can’t help but remember his post game interview after losing to Ole Miss, where he promised the Gator Nation that good things would come out of that loss. I think that he has made good on that promise. I also think he will continue to make good on it. Just this past week Tebow gave his Heisman vote to the University of Texas’ QB Colt McCoy, but McCoy showed this last weekend that he can have a bad day as well when faced with a tough opponent. I know I have a shallow mind when it comes to college football, I don’t look too far outside of the SEC for talent, unless another team (Non Conference) has a game that will directly affect an SEC team, such as this last weekends game between №1 Texas and №7 Oklahoma State. For this reason I may miss a lot of the talent that is out there in this nation, but listen close to this my friends. My prediction in last Friday’s Pick-Em column that Tebow was going to make a charge and that he still had Heisman in him is still valid and I stand behind that statement 100%. He may not be what some would say is an NFL type QB, but if he keeps racking up passing yards like he has in the past 3 games, including the one loss, he will be looking more and more like a Sunday player to me. In any event, the Heisman Trophy isn’t given to the best NFL prospect of the year; it is given to the best College Player. At this moment, my shallow mind can’t look past Tim Tebow.

As usual friends, I will be back on Friday for another round of SEC Pick-Em. I think we have a great weekend of football in store for us. Until then…..Hotty Toddy

Darryle “Speedy” Clark

Mondays Weekend Re-Cap

Hello out there in SEC Nation. I hope that everyone enjoyed a fun filled weekend of SEC football. I fell a little short of a good mark on my picks this weekend but was able to keep it above .500 at a record of 4 - 3 so I guess I should be thankful. Everyone has an off week right? When it comes down to it, I will take a 4 - 3 record every weekend if the Rebels can get a “W”.

Ole Miss 23 – Arkansas 20: Emotions were high as Houston Nutt went back to Arkansas this weekend. This time as the head coach of Ole Miss and he was in the other dressing room and sidelines. This game was a hard fought victory for Ole Miss; my opinion is that it was a game of answers. The Reb’s scored early on a Joshua Shene field goal to take a 3-0 lead. Arkansas answered when head coach Bobby Petrino made a gutsy call; having already missed a field goal earlier on, he opted to go for it on 4th and 1 from the Ole Miss 13 yard line, Michael Smith took the pitch and ran untouched for the first answer of the game and a 7-3 Arkansas lead. Ole Miss answered that though with 10 points in the final 2 minutes of the 1st half. I won’t re-cap the entire game as there are plenty of those kinds of articles all over the internet, but I think you see what I mean by a game of answers. Looking at the stats I see that the Hogs actually out gained Ole Miss with 386 yards to UM’s 369 yards, but 3rd down conversions is a huge stat in this one. UM converted on 3rd down 52.9% while Arkansas only managed a 21.4% mark in that category. Once again the Rebel “D” played the run well holding Arkansas to only 104 yards rushing. Michael Smith had almost 4 times that many yards by himself in his last two outings. In Summary the Rebels kept mistakes to a minimum with only one turnover and the penalties at 6/45 yards. This formula spelled victory. Congratulations to Houston Nutt for surviving his much anticipated return to Fayetteville.

Alabama 29 – Tennessee 9: Well Tide fans, you can breathe easy for another week. Your Crimson boys protected the № 2 ranking for another week. This is a special game for these two schools; it’s the annual “Third Saturday in October” rivalry that has had so many memorable moments. Although Alabama never seemed in danger of losing this one unless you count being tied at 3 in the first quarter, it is still an energy packed, rock-em sock-em SEC game. UT’s defensive unit actually played well enough to keep their team in a position to win; they held Alabama out of the end zone once from inside the red zone and twice outside of it, the Tide having to opt for field goals on those drives. In the end though the stats tell the story of just one team holding the football and winning the game. Alabama out gained the Vol’s with 366 total yards to UT’s 173 yards. The Vol’s could only manage 36 yards on the ground and 10 first downs. Another big stat is penalties. UT was penalized for 60 yards in this game and a couple of those penalties came within the red zone. I don’t know Phil, your days of glory at UT may be over, and there is probably room for you in Peyton’s entourage if you want to reminisce. I shouldn’t have said that.

Kentucky 5 – Florida 63: WOW!!! What can be said about this? I predicted a Gator victory but I had no idea it would be like this. I have searched my memory for a game that was so one sided, I haven’t found it yet. Florida had 28 points before Kentucky got their first 1st down of the game. The Gators dominated in every aspect of the game, Offense…obviously, Defense…obviously, Special Teams…..Obviously. I am telling you sports fans, there is nothing I could write here that could put this game into perspective. The stats look just like the scoreboard, one sided. One trick stat in this one though is the time of possession. Florida made such quick work out of their scores that Kentucky had the ball longer by almost 5 minutes. Tebow looked awesome and my prediction that he still had Heisman in him is looking more like a prophecy. We shall see.

Georgia 52 – LSU 38: Well I predicted LSU to protect their yard and I was wrong. Georgia is attempting to match last years late season surge and doing a pretty good job of it. This game was a showcase game for two of the best SEC running backs. Knowshon Moreno of Georgia and Charles Scott of LSU. Both backs had huge games. Moreno rushed for 163 yards and Scott rushed for 144 yards. A leader at the quarterback position is what the Tigers are missing though as Georgia’s Matthew Stafford led his team to victory in front a hostile crowd of Cajuns. LSU holds the statistical edge in total yards and first downs but turnovers and 3rd down conversions are in the Bulldog favor. We all know how important it is to hold onto the football not only by not turning it over, but by making 1st downs. I won’t continue to state the obvious. Georgia deserved a victory and they got one. I just wish I would’ve picked them on Friday so my record could be better, oops! There I go stating the obvious again.

Auburn 17 – West Virginia 34: Auburn handed me my first loss of the weekend, I picked them to prevail over WVU simply because I am a conference first kind of guy. That is why I don’t bet on football my friends. I can never get away from picking with my heart. Early on I thought the Tigers would make good on my promise of an SEC victory, jumping out to a 17-3 lead. The Mountaineers had other plans, scoring 31 unanswered points to win this one big. WVU out gained the Tigers with 445 total yards to Auburns 260 total yards. Auburn held the ball for almost 11 minutes longer than the Mountaineers but that is misleading. AU was penalized 5/49 yards while WVU only had 1 penalty for a net 7 yards.

Middle Tennessee 22 – Mississippi State 31: “At home against a weaker opponent, the SEC will always prevail.” That was my statement on Friday’s blog entry for this game. MSU tried to make a liar out of me as MTSU made it interesting. Interesting indeed after a 14 play , 67 yard drive capped off with a 23 yard field goal to take a 16-14 3rd quarter lead over the Bulldogs. MSU had an answer for it though by scoring 17 straight points for a 31-16 lead. MTSU would add a late 4th quarter TD but fail on its 2 point conversion attempt. Statistically speaking it was a very tight ball game. Mississippi State has a slight 18 yard lead in total yards, but if you look closer at the stats you can see that MSU was a much more balanced team that the Blue Raiders. 197 yards in the air coupled with 169 yards on the ground combine to make up the Dawgs 366 total yards. MTSU was much more effective through the air than on the ground. Football fans will all tell you that a balanced attack has a much better chance of winning the tight ballgames. Whew! A win for me, but barely.

Duke 10 – Vanderbilt 7: Turnovers and missed scoring opportunities tell the story of the Vanderbilt loss to Duke. I know all too well what happens to a team that cannot hold on to the football. The offensive line of Vandy also failed to protect Mackenzi Adams as well, allowing 4 sacks in the contest. It is awful hard for a quarterback to perform when he is worried about being hit. You have to give credit where credit is due, and the Blue Devils defense got it done against a good football team. I know Vandy has now lost 3 games in a row, but sports fans, I am telling you they are a good football team. Here is an interesting bit of information I didn’t know about David Cutcliffe: Coach Cutt is now 24 – 2 against the Commodores, this record as the Tennessee OC and the Ole Miss HC, and he is 6 – 0 versus Bobby Johnson. Congratulations to a good man! The Commodores though have got to get back up off the mat and correct their ship or they may not get that elusive 6th win that will get them to bowl eligible for the first time since 1982. They have an off week to prepare for their home match-up with Florida on November 8th. Boy! It just doesn’t get any easier in this league, but they have got to find a way to make it happen.

Well that’s all the games for this past weekend. I finished up the week with a 4 – 3 record. This next weekend offers some very exciting match-ups; one in particular as the annual “Cocktail Party” is set to take place in Jacksonville. Kickoff for the Georgia vs. Florida Football Classic is set for 3:30 P.M. ET with Georgia being this year’s home squad. Ole Miss will be back at home for their rivalry game with former Rebel head coach Tommy Tubba-baldfacedliar-Ville and his Auburn Tigers. And as usual, Wednesday I will publish my weekly editorial. I have picked a great topic for this week’s installment but I am not going to give away the surprise. Until then…….Hotty Toddy

Darryle “Speedy” Clark

Weekend #9 Pick-Em

Ready….Break! Here we go SEC Nation, another great weekend of SEC football action. My Rebels are traveling to Fayetteville this weekend for the homecoming of Houston Nutt. This is sure to be an exciting game for both sides. The first BCS standings have been released so the post season is starting to show a little shape. I am telling you SEC fans…I think there are still a few surprises left out there this year. It is going to be a lot of fun watching it happen. Is anyone ready to play the pick’em game? I am, so let’s get started.

Ole Miss versus Arkansas: Well here it is Rebel fans. The game we all knew had to happen all year. The inevitable return to Arkansas game for head coach Houston Nutt. You know the Hogs and Hog Fans will be fired up for this one, but do you know what? We should be fired up too. Coach Nutt is OUR coach now and our players should want to win one for him, I am convinced that he is giving Ole Miss 100% of his efforts so as players and fans; we should give him 100% as well. Arkansas is playing a lot better football in the past couple of weeks, mostly resulting from the outstanding running of Michael Smith. What a runner this kid is? WOW, two consecutive games nearing the double century mark. Two consecutive personal bests. The Ole Miss defense has played the run pretty good this season, holding Alabama well under their season average. This weekend should be another extremely difficult test. I can only hope that coach Nutt and his offensive staff have worked hard on the turnover problem. In his weekly press conference he alluded to conversations with Dexter McCluster, possibly the most exciting athlete on the Rebel squad, about his fumbleitis. My Wednesday article was about jinxes and curses, it seems this year that if I pick Ole Miss to win one, they lose, I hate to do this for that reason, but I am going to pick the Rebels to win this one. Just call it a feeling!

Alabama versus Tennessee: This is a game that as long as I can remember has been a real rivalry. Growing up in Tuscaloosa I can remember some great games. All week long the radio stations play “Rocky Top” to fire up the fans and players. I even heard that the Alabama coaching staff pipes in the UT fight song into the locker room. But this year the Vol’s are just not the team that they used to be. I think they are still capable of pulling off an upset, especially in front of the home crowd….just not this weekend. Alabama is on a mission and I think they will protect the № 2 ranking. The Tide has had two consecutive close games but this weekend they will show they deserve the ranking. Alabama Wins!

Kentucky versus Florida: The Gators have climbed back up off the mat after being upset by Ole Miss on September 27th. They have had a week off to mend some wounds and prepare for their eastern division match-up with the University of Kentucky. The Wildcats are coming off a huge comeback victory over the Arkansas Razorbacks so they have plenty of confidence going into this game. I don’t know about you sports fans but that sounds like a recipe for a great game. I don’t have any nifty stats or inside info on this game, not that I haven’t tried to find it. No interesting trivia, just good ole SEC football. My opinion though is that Tim Tebow is about to make a charge, I don’t know why I feel this but my gut is saying he has Heisman still in him. I am sorry Cat fans, I am going with the Gators on this one, and I think they will do it big!

Georgia versus LSU: This is the weekend’s most important SEC match-up from a National Championship standpoint. I had big expectations from both of these teams to begin the year, especially with LSU coming off of a National Championship year and Georgia starting the season ranked №1 in all pre-season polls. Here of late though, both of these clubs have been playing “Get By” football. They are winning games but just not in the style you expect from them, LSU especially, having to come from behind to win is just not their style. This weekend though they are in their house. Tiger stadium or Death Valley, as LSU & SEC fan’s affectionately call it, is just a great venue for a college football game. LSU comes out of their funk this weekend in front of the home crowd. I am going to pick the Tigers in this one.

Auburn versus West Virginia: This is the first ever meeting between these two schools. This game was played on Thursday night. I had picked Auburn to win but Tommy Tubba-BS-Ville's Tigers didn't get it done, they lost to WVU by a final score 34-17. I will re-cap this game on sunday with the rest of the SEC action. I will however stand by my pick and take the loss on my weekend record. I am sorry for not noticing this game was to be played on Thursday night or I would've put my prediction with my Wednesday editorial.

Middle Tennessee versus Mississippi State: I won’t spend a lot of time on this non conference game except to say the Bulldogs need a break. They let me down last weekend, although all should know I am not MSU fan, still they were my one wrong pick on the weekend. I will still go with them though on this one. At home against a weaker opponent, the SEC will always prevail.

Duke versus Vanderbilt: Now this one is a little different than the MSU pick in the above paragraph. Duke is no longer a weaker opponent, but that is because of an old SEC man, David Cutcliffe. Coach Cutt has taken his first head coaching position since leaving Ole Miss and got the Blue Devils playing a lot better football. Duke is a hard school to be successful at in football simply because they are a lot like the SEC’s Kentucky. They are better known for their basketball tradition. Kentucky though has the best conference in the world backing them up and that makes it a little easier to be successful. Duke is 3-3 overall and you know Cutcliffe will have them ready to play for his only game against an SEC opponent. Vandy on the other hand, after starting out so promising have been smacked around for the last couple of weeks. I have to go with the conference on this pick, I believe the ‘Dores will get it done at home, a win which will make them bowl eligible for the first time since 1982.

The nation’s № 1 Texas is playing a very capable Oklahoma State this weekend so there is a chance for the SEC to move into the top spot again as long as Alabama does as I predicted. Well that’s it for this weekend in the SEC Nation. South Carolina is off this weekend. As usual I will be back on Monday to gloat or cry about my uncanny ability to pick the winners or how wrong I was, heck, I am already in the hole 0-1. Until then……Hotty Toddy

Darryle “Speedy” Clark

Curses, Jinxes, & Hexes

Hello sports fans! How many of you believe in sports curses? I mean stuff such as “The Curse of the Bambino” of Boston Red Sox lore. I am not so sure that I do but if I did I would certainly say that the University of Alabama is Ole Miss’ unicorn. I'm not saying that Alabama isn’t a better team and didn’t deserve to win last Saturday. What I am saying is that the Rebels play Bama so tight year in and year out but never cross over that hump. I’ve been an Ole Miss fan my entire life (39) and I can only remember 4 Rebel victories and they are very spread out. This got me to thinking and have decided to write this week’s article on jinxes or curses.

In the movie “Bull Durham”, Kevin Costner’s character: Crash Davis tells Susan Sarandon (Annie Savoy): “I told him a player on a streak has to respect the streak”….”If you believe you’re playing well because you’re getting L@1D, or because you’re not getting L@1D, or because you wear women’s underwear, then you ARE!”.

This is what I am talking about. College football is no different than baseball. Players, Coaches, and even fans have all kinds of superstitions. Do you remember John Madden when he was coaching the Oakland Raiders? He never removed the price tag from his slacks. As I have mentioned Ole Miss’ curse is Alabama. The Rebels have only beaten the Tide once in the state of Alabama. That was in 1988 on Bama’s homecoming. Although that was a sweet victory it didn’t make up for all the other times we have had our hats handed to us in T-Town, including this years 24 – 20 loss this past weekend. In fact, as a fan I would rather be blown out than to get my hopes up of a victory just to have it snatched away as you watch the final seconds tick off the clock.

I didn’t have to go looking very far for more instances to support the jinx theory. Growing up in Tuscaloosa I was able to learn a lot of history about Alabama’s football program. The Tide isn’t immune to curses either. In fact they have two.

Surprisingly Alabama’s unicorns are not SEC teams, one independent and one Big 12 school. Not until 1986 had Alabama beaten Notre Dame. The Tide finally got that monkey off their back with a 28 – 10 victory over the Irish in Birmingham. Ironically due to the current AP poll, Alabama’s second jinx team is The University of Texas. Bama has never beaten the Longhorns. NEVER! This fact kind of makes the current AP poll a little more interesting to me. If everything stays like it is now, wouldn’t it be great to have Alabama versus Texas for the National Championship?

Well I'm still not sure there is such a thing as jinxes or curses in athletics but some of this stuff makes me wonder. I would like to hear from anyone else in the SEC nation about their schools curse. I will continue to do some research on the subject, unless it causes bad luck.

Come back on Friday for the weekend’s previews and picks. Until then…..Hotty Toddy

Darryle “Speedy” Clark

Week #8 Re-Cap

Hello SEC Nation. I trust you had a good weekend and enjoyed all the football action. Not too much moving and shaking going on this weekend, that is compared to the roller coaster ride that the last couple of weeks had been. Texas did what so few others have been able to do this year. They protected the №1 ranking. Looks like the SEC will have to wait for another day to take over the top spot in the poll. Ok let’s get to a brief recap of this weekend’s SEC action.

Ole Miss 20 – Alabama 24:
Well what can I say? The Rebels fell a little short of a good comeback in T-town. JPW had his best day in the passing department for the season, racking up 219 yards with a pair of TD’s. The Rebs did continue stingy defense against the rushing game though, allowing only 107 yards, and that is against an Alabama rushing attack featuring Glenn Coffee. Ole Miss Fans can find a small bright light in the play of their defense. They gave up the 24 straight points that proved to be the game winners, but they stiffened and kept their team in a position to win. Ole Miss actually out gained the Tide with 359 total yards to Alabama’s 326. Once again turnovers are the Rebels worst enemy, 3 times UM turned the ball over to UA. If Ole Miss wants to win in this conference, Houston Nutt has to find a way to teach these kids to protect the football. Lose your helmet, lose a shoe, I don’t care, break a bone, but hold on to the football!

Vanderbilt 14 – Georgia 24
Georgia is just not playing the kind of stellar ball that we expected from them this season. Knowshon Moreno rushed for a season high 172 yards but the Bulldogs fail to put the game out of reach. Vanderbilt is a very capable club and you can’t leave them in the ballgame if you want to win. Well obviously I am wrong on that one since UG won the ballgame, but the Georgia fans, players, and coaches have got to be wondering what is happening? Vandy now has lost 2 in a row and must find a way to right the ship that started out so promising. The stats show a one sided contest in Georgia’s favor but the scoreboard fails to reflect what the stat sheet shows. This tells me that Vanderbilt played a bend but not break defense. They allowed a bunch of yards but stiffened when points were at stake.

Arkansas 20 – Kentucky 21
I predicted a Wildcat win but this game proved to be as close I had thought as well. Arkansas led most of the game and had another career best rushing game out of Michael Smith who gained 191 yards. Penalties look to be the big stat in this one. The Hogs were penalized 13 times for 102 yards while Kentucky kept their penalties down to 5 times for 53 yards.

Mississippi State 3 – Tennessee 34
WOW! I could not have been more wrong with my prediction on this game. I really thought after MSU got a big win against a ranked Vandy the week before that they would have confidence to start a run. The Tennessee Vol’s had something to say about that though and they did it with Panache, scoring 21 fourth quarter points to whip the Dawgs 34 to 3. The stats are not huge for either squad but MSU turned the ball over 3 times while UT didn’t have a turnover.

LSU 24 – South Carolina 17
Well all the articles I see on this game show it as being a late rally for LSU that gave the Bayou Bengal’s a victory. I don’t see it that way. The box score shows LSU scoring in all 4 stanzas of the game and South Carolina putting all their points on the board in the 2nd quarter alone. LSU out gained the Gamecocks 363 yards to 254 yards, they converted 42.9% of their 3rd downs and held the ball almost a full 10 minutes longer than South Carolina. The Gamecocks turned the ball over 3 times which is the biggest back breaker in college football but LSU was penalized 45 more yards than was SC. Since I was not able to watch this game I must go by stats alone and from that standpoint the Tigers won the game on paper as well as on the scoreboard.

Well that’s about it SEC fans. I was able to pick 4 out of the 5 SEC games correct this week, I’ll take that percentage. I will be back on Wednesday for my commentary article. I hope to see you there. Until Then…..

Hotty Toddy
Darryle “Speedy” Clark

Friday SEC Pick-em

Well here we go sports fans, another exciting weekend of SEC football. Ill tell you what, since my Ole Miss was off last weekend I am chomping at the bits for the weekend to get here. Unfortunately and fortunately the Rebs are in Tuscaloosa waging battle with the № 2 team in the nation: Alabama. I say unfortunately because I am not so sure the college football gods allow for more than one top 5 upset in a single season, but I say fortunately because that is what college football is all about. You want and pray for these types of opportunities. So without any further adieu, let’s get started with the picks.


Ole Miss versus Alabama: If you are an Ole Miss Rebel player, coach or fan then you can’t ask for any better chance to show you have arrived. This is the kind of opportunity you dream about, and Rebel faithful will be hoping for a repeat performance of their upset of the Florida Gators earlier this season. To do this the offense must take care of the football and take advantage of all scoring opportunities. The defense must get back to being physical. The type of physical that kept them in a game against Vandy and subsequently earned their team a victory at № 4 Florida. This type of intense physicality is hard to maintain week in and week out, thus producing low weeks like the loss to South Carolina at home. Alabama is not immune to these lows either as shown by their lackluster performance at home against Kentucky. To win this game the Rebels will have to start on the very first “FIRST DOWN”, and not stop till the final tick. Ole Miss has beaten the Tide only once in Tuscaloosa, Heck that’s the only victory for the Reb’s inside the state of Alabama. That was the Billy Brewer led squad of 1988. But alas it comes down to my picking the winner. As much as I want for the upset Rebel victory, I just can’t predict it. Alabama will win the game, but look for the Rebels to give them a fight. The last 3 meetings between the schools have been decided by 3 points. I predict another close game but Bama wins.


Vanderbilt versus Georgia: Well Vanderbilt has been handed their first loss of the year! How will they respond? I don’t 100% know the answer to that question, but I do know they sure have a hard opponent to do it against: The University of Georgia. Vanderbilt has swapped starting quarterbacks opting to go with Mackenzi Adams over Chris Nickson. Adams is a capable QB as shown in their victory over Auburn. He didn’t give a superstar performance in that Auburn game but he didn’t make mistakes either. Georgia didn’t just light up the scoreboard against Tennessee last weekend. This was a bit surprising to me, coming off of a bye week following the Alabama loss at home. I really thought they would make Tennessee pay all day long. Instead they earned a victory but just not the kind I was expecting. All in all though I don’t think Georgia will allow another home upset this season. I look for the Bulldogs to win this game.

Arkansas versus Kentucky: Finally, Arkansas gets that victory that all SEC fans have been expecting all year, Or at least this fan expected it. The victory over Auburn….At Auburn last weekend got the Auburn OC fired. This is not an easy pick for me. Kentucky is coming off a loss to South Carolina and they are at home. Arkansas has finally gotten a confidence builder and a solid rushing performance from Michael Smith (176 yards against Auburn D). I am going to pick the Cats in this one, but I'm definitely not 100%.

Mississippi State versus Tennessee: Mississippi State is coming off of their first big win all year with their 17 to 14 victory over Vanderbilt last weekend. The Dawgs are still struggling somewhat on offense but they are still pretty stingy on the defensive side of the ball. What can I say good about Tennessee this season? I honestly don’t know! One has to ponder if Phillip Fulmer might be on his last leg at UT. After 17 seasons at the helm it might be time for a change. I think it would still be considered an upset victory if MSU can go into Neyland Stadium in Knoxville Tennessee and knock off the Vols. This is my upset pick for week 8. Mississippi State wins in a close one,

LSU versus South Carolina: LSU has been smacked in the mouth and South Carolina is on a 4 game winning streak (2 game In Conference win streak). LSU’s defense has shown weakness as Florida lit it up against the Tigers. This is another hard pick for me. LSU is still a very talented team and they will certainly be looking to get back up off the turf. South Carolina has finally gotten their quarterback question answered with Chris Smelley and they are at home in a fan rich environment. I really don’t know which way to go with this one. Wait a minute I can’t do that, I have to make a pick. Sorry Gamecock fans, I have to go with a mad bunch of Tigers on this one.

Well that’s it sports fans. Florida and Auburn are on their bye week. One other game of interest to the SEC nation would be the Missouri versus Texas match up. Missouri is ranked 11th in the nation and is a very capable club. Texas might have more than they want. If Mizou can pull off the upset and Alabama wins, this just might put the Tide in the № 1 position in the polls, although the entire SEC nation knows they should be there already. As much as I love this conference, I hope that I can report an upset from Tuscaloosa on Monday. Until then…..

Hotty Toddy
Darryle “Speedy” Clark

Week #8 Wednesday Commentary

Hello sports fans! Well the old pollsters are at it again. What is it about the SEC that they don’t like, or that they don’t understand? Kentucky played a great defensive game against Alabama and that is what two SEC teams do. Alabama won that game, so I ask you. Shouldn’t Alabama be the № 1 team in the nation? They didn’t lose, and they were № 2, why can’t they just move up? I know they had a bye week and Texas played a great game against the № 1 team in the nation, but Texas was previously № 5! You can’t skip an undefeated № 2 team from the № 5 spot. Well obviously you can but the Mike Slive should be screaming holy murder about it.

This coming weekend my Ole Miss Rebels have to go to Tuscaloosa and play the Tide, This is the only weekend that I am not an Alabama fan. I don’t see any upsets happening but I didn’t see an upset in Gainesville when the Reb’s went down there either. Whether we are playing the № 2 team or the № 1 team is irrelevant if we lose the game, but if the upset does occur, it would be so much better for my Rebels if the polls had done what was right and given Bama their due. The Rebel upset of then № 4 Florida on September 27th would not have carried as much weight if they were ranked № 25, that is just a fact.

I’m telling you sports fans, the SEC, and more directly Alabama, is getting screwed by the sportswriters and coaches in this country. But you know what? We were in this position the last two years and look what the polls looked like at the end of the year. I just thought that when the pre-season poll came out and Georgia was the № 1 team that the South Eastern Conference was finally getting some recognition. Silly Wabbit….It only took till week 2 of the season to bring that to a screeching halt. Just once…..Just once I wish USC, Ohio State, Texas, and oh lets not forget the pride of the NCAA…Notre Dame, had to play an SEC schedule. A true 8 SEC game schedule. You wouldn’t see a № 2 USC skipping over an undefeated Georgia if that was to ever happen.

Come back Friday for My Week #8 picks, Until Then.....

Hotty Toddy

Darryle "Speedy" Clark

Wednesday Opinion

Hello sports fans. Well I apologize for this being done later in the day than usual. I dont have alot to write about this Wednesday but I do want to say congratulations to Bobby Johnson and the Vanderbilt Commodores. You just have to respect any coach that will take over a program like Vanderbilts. I am not trying to offend Vanderbilt in any way, but they are the SEC's only private school. They are very academiccally oriented which in itself is very good, but it is awful hard for a coach to produce a winning program. We all know it is not everyday you find a 330 lb defensive lineman with a 4.o GPA.







I am not saying that any of the other players in our beloved conference are stupid or dumb but we all know that what I am saying is true. Lets face it, Academics has taken the back seat to a successful program at most schools, but it cannot do that at Vanderbilt. A player must be able to make the grade before he can enroll, much less play football. They have always had very talented players, most recently: Denver Broncos quaterback Jay Cutler, but it is very rare that they can put a TEAM of these talented players together. I commend the program and the coaching staff for a great job. It would not hurt my feelings any if they go all the way this year, although to do this they would have to beat Alabama, my second most favorite team. Anway, Kudos to the Dores for a huge win over Auburn and a great season.






I will not be able to write a Friday prediction column, I will be traveling and not able to write. I do hope that all is great in Football land this weekend.








Hotty Toddy


Darryle "Speedy" Clark

Weekend Re-Cap

Well this weekend wasnt as much of a roller coaster ride as last weekend. I am a little disappointed as any of you may guess. Ole Miss loses at home to South Carolina on our Homecoming. It was another day of critical turnovers which SC took advantage of. I have decided to recap the weekend action on Sunday since my wife and I will be going to the Saints game on Monday night. I thought about possibly writing a blog entry for that game. I know this blog is about SEC football but I have never been to a Monday Night Football game and I just thought I might want to share the experience .

The Rebels took the opening drive and marched in for a touchdown. Then the defense held SC to a field goal on their opening drive. The Rebels then score another touchdown putting them up 14-3. Thats when the wheels fell off. A fumble by Jevan Snead leads to a South Carolina touchdown and the downward spiral had begun for the Rebels. I will not take anything away from South Carolina, they played a great game and didnt let their mistakes kill them. They took great advantage of the Rebel mistakes and that is what you are supposed to do. I find it hard to believe after watching them execute that they are only 1-2 in the SEC. With 2 losses I don't forsee them competing for the Eastern champioinship, but they can certainly spoil some hopes of other contenders. With almost all other stats being pretty even the only stat that sticks out are the turnovers. The Rebels turned the ball over 3 times and the Gamecocks ony once. Turnovers have been the Achilles heel of the Ole Miss football team all year. I know that Jevan Snead is only a sophomore but he has had 6 games to learn how to protect the ball. Dexter McCluster fumbled as well on the Gamecock 6 yard line. McCluster is one of the most exciting athletes on the Ole Miss team but his fumbles are always at the most critical of times. He fumbled going in for the go ahead score against Vanderbilt as well. The Gamecocks played a good game and came away with a great victory for their program on the road. Final Score: 31 to 24.

Alabama 17 - Kentucky 14.

The surpise of the weekend for me was the Alabama, Kentucky game. I predicted the correct winner but I sure thought it would be by alot more than 3 points. As the score shows the game was actually played pretty even. Alabama has a slim edge in all statistics the same as on the scoreboard. As stated on Fridays column, Alabama QB: John Parker Wilson is the question mark on the Tide team. But not to worry Bama fans, Every quaterback has bad days and JPW's led to a win anyway despite the flat play. Bama has an off week to correct mistakes and then my Rebels will be coming to town with another upset on their mind. I am sure that coach Saban will have his team ready to play.

Florida 38 - Arkansas 7.

This game was an all around whoopin' as the scoreboard shows. Florida out gained the Razorbacks 514 yds to 361. The rest of the statistics are just that whopsided. Arkansas turned the ball over twice. The lone Florida turnover, a Tim Tebow interception, did not lead to any points as the Florida defense held Arkansas. As predicted Friday, the R-Backs made a pretty good game of it early, but Florida's motivation to right the ship after last weeks upset to Ole Miss proved too much for Arkansas. One other stat that sticks out shows that this had to be one of the most penalized games this year. Both teams were highly penalized, Florida: 12 penalties for 112 yards, Arkansa: 9 penalties for 75 yards. What could this game had been like if the penalites had not been a factor?

Auburn 13 - Vanderbilt 14.

Here is my one chance to gloat on the weekend. I predicted upset on Friday and I was glad to see it come to fruition. Auburn had a good first quarter and jumped out to a 13 point lead. But you have got to give those Commodores credit. They held the #13 team in the nation to no points in the remaining 3 quarters. Auburns offense has been their big question mark all season. The Commodores took advantage of this, scoring one touchdown to end the first half and again with just over 7 minutes left in the third quarter. The PAT after the second touchdown put the Dores up 14 to 13 which would prove to be the final score. The telling mistake in this game for Auburn would be the missed extra point by Auburn kicker, Wes Byrum. Auburn was penalized 11 times for 81 yards and Vandy out gained the Tigers. Vanderbilt had 263 total yards and Auburn had 208 yards. This was the first win for Vanderbilt over Auburn since the 1955 Gator Bowl. The Dores are now 5-0 and well on their way to becoming a driving force in the Eastern Division. Watch out Georgia and Florida, here comes the Commodores.

Tennessee 13 - Northern Illinois 9.

I sure thought that the Volunteers would take care of business better than they did in this game. I called it a cruise control game for UT but it turned out to be a squeaker instead. UT is definately missing David Cutcliffe as offensive coordinator. The stats in this one look pretty even, but NI had more first downs but were penalized 7 times for 90 yards. I dont know what UT is going to do to correct this anemia but they dont get much time to think about it as they travel to Georgia next weekend.

Well that ends weekend #6. Check back on Wednesday for my commentary on the good of the conference. Possibly I will find some good stuff to write about my trip to Monday Night Fooball, that will be wrote on Tuesday.

Hotty Toddy

Darryle "Speedy" Clark

Friday's Picks

Well we didn't win the Pontiac Game Changing Performance Award, but I figured it was worth watching again.



Well sports fans, here it is Friday again and that means another weekend of college football, more especially SEC football. I will be in Oxford again for the Ole Miss Homecoming game against South Carolina. I sure hope we can avoid an emotional letdown after last weeks huge win over #4 Florida as well as the Sports Illustrated Cover Jinx. The upsets have already started as last night the Pittsburgh Panthers upset the South Florida Bulls 26 to 21. Oregon State just about made it two weeks in a row, but Utah edged out a last minute field goal to win 31 to 28. I wonder what the weekend will have in store for us. Lets get started with the previews and predictions.

As Always I will begin with my Ole Miss Rebels. This week the Rebels are back home at Vaught Hemingway Stadium for the 2008 Homecoming Game. Excitement is in the air after the stunning victory on the road last weekend in the Swamp. This weeks opponent: none other than the "Ole Ball Coach" Steve Spurrier and his South Carolina Gamecocks, and boy are they due for a win. Last week the Rebel offense put up 31 points but were benefited by some short field situations. The offense didn't make the amount of mistakes that plagued them the previous weekend versus Vanderbilt. They limited themselves to only one turnover. If Jevan Snead can carry that momentum over into this game the offense should have a few opportunities to make plays despite South Carolina's #1 rating defending the pass (Conference and Nationally). I think if we can hold on to the ball the run game will loosen up that stingy pass defense. South Carolina has had 3 different quarterbacks in its line up so I am anxious to find out how well Houston Nutt could prepare for them. Last weekend the Gamecocks won against UAB, but have struggled to get a win against a conference foe, dropping both their previous contests against Vanderbilt and Georgia. Both Vandy and Georgia are good football teams so I look for South Carolina to be a big test for the Rebs. I may be accused of picking this one with my heart but I am going to go with the Rebels to win their Homecoming game giving the emotional fan base another happy Saturday.

Next up on my SEC calender is Kentucky versus Alabama. Only one word comes to mind when describing the play of Alabama this year: Great. I can even imagine "Tony The Tiger" saying it. They haven't been turning the ball over, one of the leagues lowest penalized teams, and they take advantage of their opponents mistakes. All the things a well coached team should do. The question mark in their line up has always been John Parker Wilson. As an Alabama fan, I am well pleased with his play so far this year, but we have all seen him have moments of greatness before, usually followed by stretches of horrible play. If JPW can keep the mindset that he has so far in the '08 campaign, then I just don't see anyone beating them. This includes Kentucky. UK has been playing well so far this season. They are 4-0 and that is a good spot to be in for sure, but they have yet to face a conference opponent, well they are this weekend. I look for Bama's suffocating defense to get after UK quarterback Mike Hartline, this is his first year to start and it will be interesting to see how he handles the rain of hellfire that is about to descend upon him in Tuscaloosa. I look for Bama to win this one big.

Next on tap is Florida versus Arkansas. Florida is licking their wounds after last weekends home opener loss to Ole Miss. They wont have an easy task in front of them as they will have to go on the road to Fayetteville to take on the struggling Arkansas Razorbacks. I know on paper Florida should destroy the R-Backs, but this is the SEC, and playing on the road in the SEC is no easy thing to do. Still in all, The Gators are mad, they are fired up, and I look for them to protect the football better than they did last weekend. Tim Tebow said in his post game interview that "Good would come out of that loss", and if they protect the ball and give him an inch of running room, we have all seen what he can do. Tebow is well behind his marks for this time last season, but he is still TEBOW. I look for Arkansas to play with reckless abandonment in this one, they will have nothing to lose and should pull out all stops. For this reason I think Arkansas puts up a great fight, especially early on, but my pick for this one is Florida.

Auburn at Vanderbilt, boy does this one have the makings of an SEC slobber knocker! Auburn is playing by far some of the best defense in the nation. This comes as no surprise being that Tommy Blah Blah Blah Tuberville is a defensive guru. On the other sideline, Bobby Johnson has these 2008 Commodores sitting pretty at 4-0, and I have personally seen them play. The adjective that comes to mind is FLAWLESS. They don't make silly mistakes and they protect the football. Auburn is struggling offensively this season, but have put up "W's" by superb defensive play. Look for this one to come down to the wire, but I am going to predict an upset in Music City. Vanderbilt will take this one. Interesting note, Vanderbilt has not won in this contest since the 1955 Gator Bowl. I say they are due.

Finally, Tennessee brings in Northern Illinois. The Vols are begging for a victory and they should get it this weekend. They have not had a good row to hoe so far this season. Their schedule had them pitted against 3 big time college programs in their first 4 games. They are 1-3 for the first time in my recollection with their only victory coming against UAB. I look for the Vols to put it on cruise control in this one and secure them a victory.

The only other game of interest to me this weekend is Oklahoma versus Baylor. Well SEC fans, I wont go into any specifics and details on this one, but If we want an SEC #1, we will have to wait for another weekend. OU takes care of business easily in this one and will maintain their #1 ranking in both polls.

Well that wraps up this weekends previews and picks. I will be headed to Oxford in the morning and hope to see plenty of Rebel fans on the road. As usual I will be back on Monday to admit my mistakes and gloat about my uncanny ability to find the winner. Until then.....

Hotty Toddy

Darryle "Speedy" Clark

Wednesday SEC Commentary

Class

What I would like to write about today is CLASS. While watching an unbelievable game between Ole Miss and Florida this weekend, I had the pleasure of seeing Class epitomized. I don’t think there is anyone in this country who can argue with me when I say that Florida head coach Urban Meyer is a real class act. He certainly was upset at the end of the game, but in his press conference he gave credit to the Ole Miss team for playing hard. He said he didn’t want to take nothing away from the team they were playing. I would expect any other coach in the nation to harp on the turnovers, or the busted coverage’s, but not Meyer. He is truly an ambassador for the SEC and he is only getting started at what he will accomplish at the University of Florida.

A True Fan

Being an Ole Miss fan, I was one of the happiest people in the country when we hired Houston Nutt at the end of the ’07 season. I had witnessed what he had accomplished at Arkansas and I knew he would be able to recruit. Until this weekend though I just figured he was a head coach who would do his best for you because it was his job. For this opinion I owe him an apology. This past weekend I may have imagined it, but I swear I seen tears when he witnessed the team he coached defeat a top 5 opponent. No matter if there were tears or not, anyone could see how happy he was. I got the feeling though that the happiness wasn’t for himself. It was for his kids, the team that he believed in before they believed in themselves. I now know that coach Nutt is an Ole Miss fan, not just the head coach. I am looking forward to the rest of this season.

Once again, CLASS is the word that comes to mind when thinking of coaches like Houston Nutt, and Urban Meyer. I know I may be a little on the bias side when talking about Houston Nutt, but that is why I write this blog. I can be biased and call them like I see them.

This past weekend, the stop of Tim Tebow on 4th and 1 at the end of the game between Florida and Ole Miss is nominated for the Pontiac Game Changing Performance Award. I encourage all Ole Miss Fans to go and vote for this play. Here is the link to go do so:
http://promo.espn.go.com/espn/contests/pontiacgcp/

The nature of being in the SEC is that having to play each other, it is almost impossible to keep so many of our teams in the top 10. With Ole Miss upsetting Florida and Alabama defeating Georgia, that allowed the Tide to catapult into the #2 spot in the AP poll. LSU moved into the #3 spot. In all I think the poll is about as good as we could expect at this point. Alabama received 21 first place votes as well, so somebody is noticing. And if you look at the top 25 as a whole, wow! 6 of our squads are in the poll. No other conference at this moment can boast of 50% representation. I am not sure what is up with the USA Today poll, they have LSU in the #2 position, I can handle that but Alabama is in the #4 position behind a #3 Missouri. I don’t understand how this happens since Alabama received 2 first place votes, LSU received 1 first place vote, but here is what I don’t understand. Missouri didn’t receive any first place votes, yet they are ranked higher than Alabama. Maybe someone else can explain it to me.

Finally, one other high note. The Ole Miss Rebels will grace the cover of Sports Illustrated. This issue features a great picture of DE Greg Hardy going after Tim Tebow of the Gators. The only thing I hope is that the SI jinx doesn't get us. We will need to play with great intensity against the Gamecocks this next weekend. Superstitions are part of any sport. We as sports fans MUST respect them. I just hope we can avoid the SI Jinx.

Come back on Friday as I will run down the weekends match ups in the SEC and give my predictions, maybe every now and then I will put a pick or two out of the conference, if it has direct implications to the SEC.