Recapping the week that was in SEC football
Kevin Gazzale
Week 1 is in the books and boy was it a doozy. I personally started Week 1 at Rutgers vs UMass and what a way to kick off a new season of college football. My family has held Rutgers season tickets since 2000. Thursday night wasn’t the worst it’s ever been but it was close. Greg Schiano’s time has officially ended in my mind. They need to fire him and pivot to a young up and coming coordinator (I’m looking at you Blake Baker). I fear they will bring in Brian Kelly who was the bane of my CFB existence for the past 4 years. For Rutgers’ sake hopefully all the former LSU brass they have running athletics will know better than to hire Kelly. Rutgers’ appears to be walking into a buzzsaw Friday night travelling to Boston College. BC annually holds their “red bandana game” and this year it falls on a Friday night on the 25th anniversary of 9/11. Everything screams blow out in BC’s favor, however that line opened +3.5 and Rutgers now sits at +3, makes you think what’s up there.
Enough about Rutgers, let’s recap the weekend and go through some picks for Week 2.
Week 1 Recap
We had a great start to the year going 3-1 this week with wins with Alabama, LSU, Louisville. Auburn the lone loser this weekend, they had a few poor turnovers that flipped the game at the wrong times and ultimately Baylor looked better than expected.
Alabama dominated as expected, however if you watched that game ECU was consistently getting solid push up front on defense. Keelon Russell made a lot happen with his legs which covered up a few of the mistakes. But there was often times ECU had multiple defenders in the backfield almost immediately. Ryan Williams changed his name and went no gloves in an attempt to get some positive voodoo to help his frequent drops and it didn’t help at all as he had 2 huge drops. Something to watch moving forward. I’ll talk about it below but now Bama goes to Kentucky laying -10.5 against a bit of an unknown with Kentucky. These are the kinds of games Deboer likes to lose. Having said that, looking ahead to Week 3, Bama is going to beat FSU by 50, especially if they lay an egg this weekend.
LSU came out and absolutely put it to Clemson. The rain delay helped as it gave the greatest fan base in the world an extra two hours to booze up. Clemson just refuses to get with the times, refusing transfer portal guys, lazy hires with Chad Morris as an OC. This looked like a buzzsaw from a mile away and I’m only disappointed I didn’t lay more. Big test in week 3 at Ole Miss, this team and of course the coach just look like they have the swagger and juice of the LSU teams I was raised on 2010-2014.
Louisville looked dead in the water early with sub par QB play but it was almost like after halftime they realized that the Ole Miss secondary is trash and just started chucking it all over the field. Ole Miss admittedly came back and just did the same thing however Ole Miss had zero run game once Lacy went out and it wasn’t that great even with him in there. The defense got progressively worse as the game went on and it makes you think if Pete Golding can handle being the HC and DC. We’ll find out in 2 weeks.
Let’s get into Week 2.
Week 2 Picks
Kentucky +10.5, really just betting on the unknown here and taking Deboer in a classic road spot against an inferior opponent. He loves to lose these games. I think Kentucky can do enough on defense against a new offense that is still working out the kinks. The stadium will obviously be jumping. I think this one is close throughout.
Kansas +6, Missouri first road game with a new offense, nonexistent running game and a QB that historically likes to turn the ball over. They travel to Kansas in a rivalry game, I’ll take the point.
Georgia Tech +13, Similar vibe as my first two picks. New QB in his first road start going up against a team that disappointed in their first game. Now they get added rest and prep in a gotta have it spot. I think they keep it close.
Utah -12.5, this spot is just almost impossible for Arkansas, road night game in Utah is tough enough. Travelling the week after a disappointing showing vs North Alabama. I think Utah gets on them early and doesn’t let up.
Texas -1, biggest game of the weekend and this just has the look and feel of the classic Texas win that gets everyone crowning them as the best team in the country until they suffer a loss they shouldn’t have a few weeks later. In my mind Ryan Day’s teams lose these games on the road when they’re not playing somewhere in the Midwest. Texas knows they need this game because if they lose at home the margin for error moving forward is razor thin.
Non-SEC Lagniappe
Boise St/Syracuse ML Parlay +111 – Boise coming home against a Memphis team playing their 3rd game and 2nd cross country travel. Syracuse at home against a Cal team that has to travel across the country and just didn’t look any good in Week 1.
Season Record: 3-1, +1.9u.
Good luck if you’re tailing, Geaux Tigers always!
