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