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
No comments:
Post a Comment