Two Daves Pick The SEC October 30, 2010 Welcome to Two Daves Pick the SEC! With the season now two-thirds over, we enter the home stretch where seasons are made or lost. With their big win over LSU, Auburn leaped to the top spot in the BCS rankings. Dear Boise State, if you want to be considered a real program, why dont you schedule all of your non-conference games against SEC /Big 10/12 teams ? Its one thing to beat a decent team then play a bunch of pansies. Its another to compete against world-class athletes every weekend and be physically challenged beyond comprehension. A strength of schedule in the eighties doesnt help you at all.
Doug says: Well, moving into the final third of the season, the SEC picture is as muddy as ever. Any one of four teams has a real shot to win the East at this point, and the west is loaded with five teams ranked in the top 25. Auburn is the BCS #1, but they still have Alabama looming. Alabama still has LSU and an emerging Mississippi State. LSU still has to deal with Arkansas. Who knows whats going to happen down the stretch. I will say this.Ole Miss and Kentucky deserve a lot of credit for continuing to play hard and be competitive despite their records. Its easy (and fun, of course) to make fun of the Bears after their losses to Jax State and Vanderbilt, but the fact of the matter is theyve played well in losses to Bama and Arkansas. If Houston Nutt would let someone who knows what hes doing call the plays, they might have even won against the Hogs. As for Kentucky, with questionable fan support and injury problems, they continue to be a tough out every week, falling behind early and making frantic late-game comebacks. They took out Carolina, and very nearly took out Auburn. This is what makes the SEC the best football conference in the land. Vanderbilt at Arkansas Dave: I dont know what to expect here. Vanderbilt will play decent one weekend and they lay a goose egg the next. Arkansas can put up offense, but they just do not play well on defense. At least there will be nice weather this weekend so there will not be two long delays due to lightning. Maybe Ryan Mallett can stay healthy as well. Arkansas 38 Vanderbilt 13 Doug: The Commodores rearranged the furniture on their offensive staff this week, moving around responsibilities among the coordinator, QB coach, and offensive line coach. They should be more worried about the defense, because Arkansas is going to score in bunches. I dont know how healthy Ryan Mallett is, but it doesnt matter. Its going to be a long, long day in Northeast Arkansas for the Commodores. But hey, graduation rates came out this week and Vanderbilt led the conference, so cumulatively, the rest of the conference thanks you for pulling up the overall numbers. Every institution adds value to the conference in their own unique way. Sooie 47 Easy 7 Auburn at Mississippi Dave: The Bears of African Descent (BAD) host Cam Newton and Nick Fairley this weekend. Oh yeah, the other 20 starters for Auburn will be there as well, further reducing any chance BAD has to win. We know that Auburn can score a lot of points and BAD cannot defend at all. The BAD are capable of putting a decent offensive showing together, they did so at Arkansas. Then again, Arkansas doesnt play defense either. That Newton guy, the one that accounts for about 70 percent of Auburns offense and whose father didnt want him to be a rented mule, continues to make mind-boggling plays. His 50 yard TD run against LSU was beyond amazing. Barring injury or a meltdown of epic proportion, that play iced the Heisman for Newton. Hey Cecil, does over two-thirds of the offense constitute him being a rented mule? One can only wonder where Auburn would be today if they had done as the media practically demanded and hired Turner Gill as their head coach? All those experts have crawled back into their holes, Gill is showing you what he can do at Kansas. But I digress.. Auburn 31 BAD 24 Doug: Is Cam Newton a legitimate Heisman contender? Does a bear sh** in the Grove? A lot of talking heads are predicting an upset here. The fact is that Ole Miss doesnt completely suck on offense, and they should be able to move the ball on Auburn. But lets be real. Unless Newton gets hurt, Ole Miss historically has problems stopping spread-option offenses, and Auburn will pick up yardage in chunks. War Tigers 38 Care Bears 21 Kentucky at Mississippi State Dave: Mississippi State did all they could to feed UAB a win last weekend. UAB cost themselves the game with numerous dropped passes and a late turnover. Despite their efforts, State became bowl eligible with that win, which marks twice in the last decade. Meanwhile, the Wildcats had hoped to get injured RB Derrick Locke back on the field this weekend. They already have one of the best receivers in the country in Randall Cobb, the cats can put up some points in a hurry. Maybe State was looking past UAB or just had a letdown after winning at the Swamp. This will be a very close game. If state underestimates UK, they lose. Heck, they might lose anyway. If its a physical game, State wins. Should it become a track meet, UK wins. Note to UK: Anthony Dixon is gone, so you dont have to worry about him running for another 250+ on you this year. Mithiiipiii State 31 UK 30 Doug: It feels to me that State has been doing it with smoke and mirrors. Theyve beaten Georgia and Florida, but theyve all been ugly. Theyve been fortunate to play against teams missing key players all year (AJ Green against Georgia, Case Keenum against Houston, Chris Rainey and an injured Jeff Demps against Florida), and they catch a break again this week with Derrick Locke out due to injury. They were extremely flat last week and had to recover from a 4th quarter deficit to beat UAB. An effort like that in this game will get them beat, Locke or no Locke. Kentucky has shown a lot of resilience and they are a better team than their 1-4 conference record indicates. The road team has won the last four meetings in this one, but Sly Croom and his crooked hat are no longer on the sidelines, so I expect that streak to end on Saturday. Seven Wins? 28 Mildcats 24 Florida at Georgia (Jacksonville) Dave: Georgia continues to make huge steps forward, perhaps saving Mark Richts job. Florida had a week off to retool its offense after their loss at home to Mississippi State. I dont see Florida making any major improvements, at least not enough to match the dramatic improvements Jawga has made. The one wildcard here is Chris Rainey. As long as he doesnt dext (death text) anyone, Rainey should be on the field this weekend. Well see .. Jawga 27 UF 23 Doug: The is the Football Game Formerly Known As The Worlds Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party. Maybe we can just rename it as some kind of symbol. Based on past history, that symbol would be a gator with UGA in his mouth. Its just a fact that Florida has owned this series. But guess what.the DAWGS ARE BACK, baby. Just ask any goateed 300 pounder from South Georgia, and hell tell you that, provided you can get him to stop barking long enough to do so. All of the smack talk aside, Georgia has a good QB who will be tormenting SEC defenses for years to come. Theyve got a game-changing player in AJ Green. And theyve got a really crappy defense. Fortunately for them, Florida has a really crappy offense. This game is going to come down to how well Floridas defense plays. As good as Aaron Murray is, hes still a freshman, and Florida has probably the best secondary in the country. I think this is the difference. That, plus the fact that I just cant see Florida losing four in a row. Gators 17 Gator Bait 12 Tennessee at South Carolina Dave: The Volunteers are terrible. They are a really, really bad team. South Carolina is trying to avoid another late-season meltdown and actually win games in the last month of the season. This game is at home, where the Cocks play good football. I think Spurrier has the AKC ready for this one. AKC 34 Tennessee 24 Doug: If football games were only 30 minutes long, Tennessee would be a much better football team. Unfortunately for them, they have to play the second half, and thats where lack of depth, and an inability to make adjustments come into play. Great sign that your coach sucks: Opposing coaches heap praise on your coach about how great of a job hes doing. After last weeks game, Nick Saban gushed about how good Derek Dooley is doing and how terrible a job Kiffykins did the year before. Mississippi State fans understand this phenomenon very well, since they heard coach after coach heaping praise on Sylvester Croom after skull dragging his football team every week. When youre hated, that means youre kicking butt, and nobody hates Derek Dooley right now. Theres always been hatred for the OBC, and its well-earned. He should move a step toward winning the east if his team doesnt lay a stinker in this one like they did against Kentucky. AKC 35 Great Job, Coach 14 -- GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions 2008 National Football Champions | Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us
