Week 1 of the SEC and college football season is finally here, which means it’s time to stop talking about what might happen and start putting some actual predictions on the record.
We’ll be making game picks all season long, along with our weekly best bets every Thursday afternoon.
There’s a full slate ahead of us, boys and girls. Let’s get to all 16 SEC games this weekend.
The appetizers
(Thursday) Arkansas-Pine Bluff at Missouri | Missouri -54.5 | O/U 61.5
Missouri 51 Arankas-Pine Bluff 7
(Friday) UTEP at Oklahoma | Oklahoma -41.5 | O/U 51.5
Oklahoma 55 UTEP 10
East Carolina at Alabama | Alabama -27.5 | O/U 52.5
Alabama 38 East Carolina 13
Kent State at South Carolina | South Carolina -35.5 | O/U 54.5
South Carolina 55 Kent State 17
Youngstown State at Kentucky | Kentucky -23.5 | O/U 62.5
Kentucky 41 Youngstown State 20
Tennessee State at Georgia | Georgia -46.5 | O/U 56.5
Georgia 48 Tennessee State 3
Texas State at Texas | Texas -29.5 | O/U 59.5
Texas 44 Texas State 10
Furman at Tennessee | Tennessee -46.5 | O/U 66.5
Tennessee 63 Furman 10
North Alabama at Arkansas | Arkansas -40.5 | O/U 63.5
Arkansas 38 North Alabama 13
Austin Peay at Vanderbilt | Vanderbilt -29.5 | O/U 60.5
Vanderbilt 35 Austin Peay 7
Missouri State at Texas A&M | Texas A&M -40.5 | O/U 53.5
Texas A&M 48 Missouri State 7
UL Monroe at Mississippi State | Mississippi State -28.5 | O/U 54.5
Mississippi State 42 UL Monroe 13
Florida Atlantic at Florida | Florida -26.5 | O/U Florida 59.5
Florida 44 Florida Atlantic 14
The main courses
(Sunday) Louisville vs Ole Miss | Ole Miss -7 | O/U 55.5
Louisville has become the trendy pick for a number of national analysts to not only upset Ole Miss, but potentially crash the College Football Playoff party this December as well. There are weapons on the offense for the Cardinals and head coach Jeff Brohm. Sure, the quarterback position is a question mark with Lincoln Kienholz having thrown just 36 pass attempts in three combined seasons at Ohio State. But, running back Isaac Brown is elite and can give Ole Miss problems.
I don’t think that will be the case in this one though. Ole Miss has to replace five of its top six pass catchers, but that just means it’s time for new faces to emerge as the top targets for Trinidad Chambliss, best quarterback in America. This should be a good one.
Ole Miss 31 Louisville 20
Baylor vs Auburn | Auburn -7.5 | O/U 58.5
The closer we get to this game the more I feel like we may be sleeping a little on Baylor covering the spread. The Alex Golesh era should get off to a good start, but that hook that sportsbooks attached to the touchdown-favorite point spread is a little concerning. DJ Lagway returns against an SEC defense, and that is not a place where he’s thrived in the past. Auburn’s offense has gotten most of the attention this offseason which makes sense considering the track record Golesh has had especially with his familiar face at quarterback, Byrum Brown. However, retaining DJ Durkin as the defensive coordinator was one of the best moves any coach made this entire offseason. The Auburn front-seven is very young but also very underrated. The biggest question for Auburn is whether or not their revamped offensive line full of group of six transfers will hold up against SEC defensive lines. Luckily they don’t have one of those in Week 1.
Auburn 33 Baylor 24
The Game of the Week
Clemson at LSU | LSU -10.5 | O/U 50.5
There have been a boatload of distractions for LSU over the past two weeks. Regardless of what some of the players have said in the media, there’s almost no way the outside noise hasn’t seeped into the walls of the locker room or practice facility. Clemson has to be licking its chops at being in the underdog role and coming to Tiger Stadium without being given a snowball’s chance in hell at upsetting Lane Kiffin and the boys.
Good. Keep licking. Pause.
I don’t know if Lane Kiffin thrives in the chaos as much as people think. I do know that he thrives in opening games though. Kiffin’s teams at Ole Miss won its last five season openers by an average of 47 points per game. Granted this isn’t Furman coming to Baton Rouge, but with everyone wanting to chime in with their thoughts on Kiffin over the last few weeks allow me to do the same. Kiffin is going to put on a show on Saturday night. It won’t quiet his haters entirely because at this point nothing will. But, Saturday night in Tiger Stadium, LSU is going to put the country on notice that this roster is legit, this team is legit, and any thought of this thing failing is rooted in hope not logic.
LSU 31 Clemson 13
