Mr. CFB Pick Six: Week 14
Looks like your humble picker is stumbling down the stretch.
After a couple of 3-3 weeks, last Saturday I was looking forward to a 4-2 or 5-1. I was feeling good.
Nope. The carnage:
**--I knew Alabama was going to beat Auburn. The Tide is too good. But cover 24 ½ in a rivalry game? Surely not.
That final, in case you missed it: Alabama 42, Auburn 13. It could have been worse.
**--With the way the Ole Miss offense was playing, the Lane Train was surely going to cover 9 ½ against struggling Mississippi State.
Nope. Ole Miss 31, the Fighting Mike Leaches 24.
**--Brothers and sisters, this one kills me. I picked No. 5 Texas A&M to cover 13 ½ against LSU. The Aggies won by 13, 20-7.
**--Vanderbilt had been playing better when the Commodores went to Missouri. I picked Mizzou to win but not cover the 14 ½. Vanderbilt, minus coach Derek Mason, did not show up, losing 41-0.
So we went 2-4 and that puts us at 35-37 OTS with three Saturdays left to play.
It has to get better, right?
On to the picks.
The game: Texas A&M (6-1) at Auburn (5-3) (plus 6.5), Noon, ESPN.
The winner: Auburn.
The score: Auburn 27, Texas A&M 24.
The skinny: Texas A&M has been getting a lot of love the past two weeks as the Aggies have been No. 5 in the CFP rankings included in a number of playoff scenarios. The offense, particularly quarterback Kellen Mond (11 of 34, 105 yards), struggled last week in beating LSU 20-7.
Auburn got embarrassed last week by Alabama and will be in bounce back mode. Texas A&M has the better team but I just get the sense that the Tigers will pull off the upset and win straight up.
The game: Arkansas (3-5) (plus 2.5) at Missouri (4-3), Noon, SEC Network.
The winner: Missouri.
The score: Missouri 27, Arkansas 24.
The skinny: A battle between two guys (Sam Pittman, Eli Drinkwitz) who are in contention for SEC Coach of the Year. Missouri, behind redshirt freshman quarterback Connor Bazelak and running back Larry Rountree, has won four of its last five. The Tigers are 5-1 in games started by Bazelak. Rountree had 160 yards last week against Vanderbilt in a 41-0 win. Missouri wins a close one at home.
The game: Florida (7-1) at Tennessee (2-5) (plus 17.5), 3:30 p.m., CBS
The winner: Florida.
The score: Florida 38, Tennessee 17.
The skinny: With a win Florida clinches a berth in the SEC championship game on Dec. 19. But understand that the Gators want to do more than win against the Vols in Knoxville. They want to make a statement. Behind the passing of quarterback Kyle Trask, a serious Heisman Trophy contender, the Gators are looking to field one of the very best offenses in school history. Florida is averaging 7.41 yards per play, which is slightly ahead of the 1995 unit quarterbacked by Danny Wuerffel and coached by Steve Spurrier. Tennessee has lost five straight games since an 0-2 start.
The game: South Carolina (3-6) (plus 11.5) at Kentucky (2-7), SEC Network
The winner: Kentucky.
The score: Kentucky 34, South Carolina 20.
The skinny: Mercifully, these teams get to close out what has been a difficult season for them both. Kentucky will say goodbye to 18 seniors, including quarterback Terry Wilson and running back A.J. Rose. Mark Stoops is going for his 48th win as the head coach at Kentucky, which was be No. 2 on the school’s all-time list (Bear Bryant won 60 games at Kentucky). South Carolina will end its season with Mike Bobo as the interim head coach.
The game: Alabama (8-0) at LSU (3-4) (plus 28.5), 8 p.m., CBS
The winner: Alabama.
The score: Alabama 51, LSU 10.
The skinny: Alabama is going to gleefully take LSU to the woodshed and here’s why: Last season LSU beat Alabama in Tuscaloosa 46-41 on the way to a national championship. After the game LSU Coach Ed Orgeron seen on a recording in the lockerroom hurling expletives about Alabama. Coach Nick Saban says he doesn’t use revenge as a motivator. But his players just might. That’s code for saying that this game is going to be very, very ugly.
The game: BYU (9-0) at Coastal Carolina (9-0) (plus 10.5), 5:30 p.m., ESPNU.
The winner: BYU.
The score: BYU 35, Coastal Carolina 24.
The skinny: This game, and it the way it was put together, is the most 2020 thing we have had in this season like no other. No. 18 Coastal Carolina was supposed to be playing Liberty in this slot but the Flames came down with COVID issues and could not make the trip to Conway, S.C. On Wednesday the call was made to BYU, which was idle this week, and the game was put together. One other thing: ESPN's College Game Day will be there to record it all for posterity. As for the game, No. 13 BYU is doing this to try to provide more data points for the College Football Playoff selection committee and maybe play its way into a New Year's Six bowl. This will also be a very good quarterback matchup in BYU's Zach Wilson and Coastal Carolina's Grayson McCall.