(Vallejo, CA) - Greetings SEC fans from the Golden State. M and I flew out on Thursday to spend some time with my younger son Clayton and his wife Mimi. Clayton is also celebrating a birthday today. They live in Novato, not too far off the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge, in the north San Francisco suburbs. It reminds me of an observation from the late, great Cardinal broadcaster Jack Buck, who observed, "the coldest winter of my life was a summer I spent in San Francisco." Let's put it this way, when we left Houston this afternoon, it was 95 degrees. When we landed in San Francisco about 6.30 this afternoon, it was 63 degrees, with a brisk north wind.
But it is Friday and time to do our SEC predictions for the week. I had a decent first week, but not a great one. We went 12-4. Amazingly, or maybe not so surprising, Alabama and Texas got beat on the road, the Tide especially looked woeful. Kentucky beat Akron which surprised me a bit, and I forget the other one I missed.
On to this week's pics. Remember, these picks are for entertainment purposes only, I don't mess with point spreads or anything like that. We have a couple of very interesting matchups, including our first conference game of the year, and one rivalry dating back to the Civil War is renewed.
San Jose State at Texas - 11a - ABC - I would not want to be a Spartan fan this week. I would imagine Texas is going to take out a week's worth of frustrations on poor San Jose State. All eyes will be on Texas quarterback Arch Manning, who was, shall we say, awful against Ohio State last week. Texas 66, San Jose State 7
Utah State at Texas A&M - 11,45a - SEC - I always love it when A&M, Utah State or New Mexico State play each other. It's Aggie against the Aggies. I think that is kind of cool. Let's go with the Aggies, Texas style. A&M 55, Utah State 14
East Tennessee State at Tennessee - 2.30p - SEC - I would imagine only those who live in the Smokies really care about this game. Tennessee 42, East Tennessee 10
Ole Miss at Kentucky - 2.30p - ABC - What is this? A conference game in the second week? Whose idea was this? I would think the Rebels would win, but the Wildcats were a bit feisty last week. Might be worth watching. Ole Miss 31, Kentucky 24
Austen Peay at Georgia - 2.30p - SEC - C'mon Georgia, seriously? Don't even try and justify this game, plus I'm sure you had to pay them several million. Georgi 66, Austin Peay 0
Kansas at Missouri - 2.30p - ESPN2 - I am really, really looking forward to this game. Growing up in Missouri, regarding sports rivalries, we were taught two things. We don't like the Cubs, but we absolutely hate, despite, have nothing to do with Kansas. The hatred, and that is not a strong enough word goes back to 1854. It was a border war between Kansas, a free-state, and Missouri, a slave-state. Thousands of innocents died. Google John Brown, or Quantrill's Raiders, or Frank and Jesse James. When Missouri bolted for the SEC in 2011, Kansas officials said, "we will never play them again. In anything." Well, hell has apparently frozen over. Missouri 37, Kansas 28
South Florida at Florida - 3.15p - SEC - Gators looked halfway decent last week. The Bulls will not be a pushover. If it weren't for KU-Mizzou, I might have watched this game. Florida 28, South Florida 20
Arkansas State vs. Arkansas (at Little Rock) - 4p - SEC - when the legendary Frank Broyles was Athletic Director at Arkansas he said despite pleas from ASU, he would never play that "other" state school. "we have nothing to gain," Coach Broyles said more than once, "and everything to lose." He was right you know. But here we are, in a new millennium, and Arkansas is playing Arkansas State in football. I never expected to see this. Arkansas 44, Arkansas State 21
South Carolina State at South Carolina - 6p - SEC - I don't see much to write about here, so we will save precious time and space and declare South Carolina the winner. South Carolina 55, South Carolina State 3
Arizona State at Mississippi State - 6.30p - ESPN2 - My favorite non-SEC mascot, the cartoonish, Salvadore Dali look-alike "Sparky" and his Sun Devils invade Starkville. I like rooting for the Bulldogs, but they aren't going to win this game. Arizona State 31, Mississippi State 23
Louisiana Tech at LSU - 6.30p - SEC - Saturday night in Baton Rouge and the Tigers are in town. Seriously, is there anything better? I think not. Well, a bowl of gumbo, some char-broiled oysters and some boudin would be a great place to start. Maybe run over to Cafe du Monde and grab some beignets. LSU 59, Louisiana Tech 14
Ball State at Auburn - 6.30p - ESPU - This is not the week to let Auburn impress you. This is not quite as bad as Georgia having Austin Peay come over and play, but it's close. Auburn 55, Ball State 0
Michigan at Oklahoma - 6.30p - ABC - It would give me great, great pleasure, I mean great pleasure to see Oklahoma beat a team from that "other conference." Oklahoma 35, Michigan 24
Vanderbilt at Virginia Tech - 6.30p - ACC - I root for Alabama and Missouri, I root for LSU and I also root for South Carolina, and sometimes Florida and Mississippi State. But I always, always pull for Vandy. Wonder why that is? Go Commodores! Beat them Hokies! Vandy 41, Virginia Tech 35
Louisiana-Monroe at Alabama - 6.45p - SEC - 2007. 2007. 2007, 2007. 2007. 2007. Am I getting through? 2007. 2007. 2007. Alabama 31, Louisiana-Monroe 21
Ok campers, 15 games, 15 winners. It could happen. Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention earlier, last week I picked Arkansas to defeat Alabama A&M 52-7. Well, what do you know, in Fayetteville last Saturday, Arkansas defeated Alabama A&M 52-7! I'll show myself out.
Be safe, be kind to each other! See you soon.
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