These picks are for entertainment purposes only. If you were to actually use them for gambling, you need help and are possibly Rick Neuheisel. Home team in CAPS.
Alabama 45 VANDY 37
FLORIDA 49 Troy 6
GEORGIA 28 South Carolina 17
KENTUCKY 37 Kent St. 14
Missouri 19 MISSISSIPPI 17
Southern Miss 27 TENNESSEE 21
Miss St. 16 Tulane 14
AUBURN 31 South Florida 13
LSU 30 Va Tech 20
I suppose you can talk about the baseball game too. I hardly see the point at this stage. Also, new poll.
“We didn’t have Andruw in there hitting into his usually rally-killing DP.”
Fianlly someone says it.
Would the Braves still have won with Andruw Jones in the line-up on Wednesday?
I started a ‘college pick’em’ group on Yahoo, if anyone is interested in joining. Starts with week 2.
Group is: BravesFans
Password: delenda
Group ID# 35412
I don’t think McDowell is more than an average pitching coach, but I don’t assign him much of the blame for Mike Hampton, Mike Gonzalez, Lance Cormier, and Chuck James going down or Bob Wickman reverting to the merely ok form he showed for several years prior to being traded to the Braves. Certainly Roger failed to get the most out of Kyle Davies ultimately resulting in Kyle being traded and he hasn’t shown much if any ability to get good results from pitchers who weren’t already good. If the Braves wanted to scapegoat him and find a new pitching coach, I would be fine with that. The pitching problems have more to do with bad luck and gambles by Shuerholz that didn’t pan out though.
Mac,
How do you see Missouri only winning by 2 points? I’ll be there and hope you’re right but I’m expecting more like 20.
I still remember last year.
Mac,
Hello from Portland, Oregon.
Only you can get my weekend off to such a happy start, smartly picking my Dawgs over South Carolina, Bama to drop 45 on Vandy (sorry Stu!) And the best part is having the Vols drop to 0-2 and lose to So. Miss.
That would be awesome.
And again, thank god for football helping us all mover on from a wildly disheartening 2007 Braves season.
Mizzou had trouble with Illinois, and Illinois sucks. And it’s an Ole Miss home game.
I second that thought Ron. I dont think Mazzone would have had much better luck with this group either. I seem to remember one of the things that Mazzone so unique was the side session programs he instituted. If McDowell had Glavine, Maddux, Millwood and some of the others we had, I dont think anyone would be calling for his head.
Wow, Tennessee going down. I really hope not. I’d rather them be 1-1 when they play Florida. Beating a 1-1 team is much better than an 0-2 team, ya know? 🙂 Love ya Smitty…
There is an approximately 0% chance Bama scores 45 on us.
Arizona Diamondbacks sign Bob Wickman.
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/diamondbacks/articles/0907dbwickman-ON.html
I think Ole Miss will beat Missouri and unfortunately UT will beat USM. I see the Bama score as 34-23 Bama, with Bama scoring a late td to pull away. I think it will be a good game – my favorite SEC teams are as follows:
1. Bama
2. Anyone who plays Tennessee
3. Georgia
4. Vandy
5. Auburn
I know Auburn seems a little high, but I think Tuberville has built a solid program. I really appreciate how he disciplines his players.
1. Vandy
2. Tennessee
3. Georgia
4-11. No particular order
12. LSU
maybe he’ll complain there about pitching in non-save games also, dont think he’ll be closing any
I don’t see my college listed on there. Shame Shame. OU 49 Miami 10
Also!
PETEORR University 21 CHRISWOODHEAD State 3
Stu, actually my score is sort of a compliment. (My skill with compliments is foremost in my noted success with the ladies, I’m sure.)
Read that recap I wrote last year again. Bama put up 341 yards on Vandy last year despite a running back whose legs had gone, Chris “The Human Turnstile” Capps at right tackle, a quarterback in his second career start, and Mike Gump calling the plays and making the substitutions. They blew three scoring opportunities with two fumbles deep in Vandy territory and the worst fake kick ever attempted.
The best player on the field won’t be Nickson or Bennett or Hall, or one of the defensive standouts like Goff or Castille. It’s going to be Andre Smith, by a wide margin. And he’s going to be going up against a defensive end he outweighs by nearly a hundred pounds. Alabama, if it gets any sort of sizeable lead, is going to pound the ball behind Smith, and it will be very hard for the Vandy defensive line to stop it.
The way I see the game… Back-and-forth in the first half, Vandy coming out with a 20-17 lead Bennett and Hall each having a big day. Bama takes the ball down the field and makes it 24-20, then gets a quick stop or turnover and turns it into seven quick points, 31-20. Vandy comes back with a long drive to cut it back to 31-27, but Alabama answers with a big play in the return game and makes it 38-27.
Vandy puts up another long drive, but can only get a field goal, 38-30. Bama then does what I talked about before, 13 plays, 11 runs, 10 of them to the left side. Jimmy Johns atones for his two fumbles last year (which turned out to derail the season because Shula wouldn’t give him the ball after that, even though Darby was done), pounding it in from three yards out. Vandy scrambles back and gets the TD to cut it to eight, but Alabama recovers the onside kick and Grant runs out the clock.
Err, I should probably have looked at the actual topic to the post. Correction! Where’s the Big 12 picks at then?
You can make them if you want, Mikey.
Keep sipping the kool-aid, Mac. Smith’s very good, but he’s not better than Bennett by a wide margin.
And I don’t doubt that Bama will pound the ball if they get a sizeable lead—I just don’t think they’ll get a sizeable lead.
Also, I expect scoring to be way up because of the new kick and clock rules. (Or rather, reinstatement of the old clock rules.) Average starting field position won’t be five yards further up, but more like ten, and there should be lots of long returns.
Your opinion of Alabama’s offensive abilities is greatly overinflated.
I will admit that kick coverage has me more worried than anything else for this game.
Bennett’s very good, but Smith is significantly better especially if you take into account that LT is the second-most important position on the field. In a related note, I think it’s a lot more likely that Saban has some tricks up his sleeve to slow Bennett down (not stop him — I see eight catches, 134 yards, two touchdowns) than Bobby Johnson has some way to minimize the impact of a future first-round NFL draft choice on a 250 pound defensive end.
Those little fast linemen can work against the passing game, but it won’t work against a big, physical offensive line in the running game. Trust me, I’ve seen it time after time from the other side.
MIAMI 10 @ OU 49
NEBRASKA 13 @ Wake Forest 10
FRESNO STATE 3 @ Texas A&M 24
MISSOURI 21 @ Mississippi 14
NORTHERN IOWA 10 @ Iowa State 20
RICE 24 @ Baylor 30
SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA 3 @ Kansas 27
TCU 28 @ Texas 31 (TEXAS SUCKS!)
UTEP 20 @ Texas Tech 21
FLORIDA ATLANTIC 14 @ Oklahoma State 28
SAN JOSE STATE 3 @ Kansas State 30
COLORADO 28 @ Arizona State 10
Those are my projected big 12 pics.
And I don’t think I’m overestimating Alabama’s offense. There was a lot of offensive talent here already (Shula was an offensive coach, and he did a good job recruiting that side of the ball). Consensus coming in was that Alabama had a good quarterback, good receivers (no Bennett, but Hall’s not a bad substitute, and more depth) and a good offensive line, perhaps the best in the conference if right tackle was solved, which I think it has been. The only question mark was running back, and I just have a feeling that Terry Grant’s the answer to that.
We shall see, my friend.
BTW, we don’t need a big game from Earl to win.
One addition… Vandy probably will try to spread the field a lot, play three and four receivers and let Nickson freelance. I think this is a mistake. Alabama’s secondary is much stronger than its front seven, Castille is much better in a nickel or dime package (where he’s playing rover) than in one-on-one coverage as a cornerback, and Alabama’s DLs are almost as undersized as Vandy’s.
Bet you you do. Heck, he was most of your offense against Richmond. (Meanwhile, Alabama only threw to Hall five times, all short, against WCU.) Last year your offense was basically Nickson throwing to Bennett, and Nickson scrambling.
Dude, we were very vanilla against Richmond–we were just padding Earl’s stats and trying to give the appearance that that’s our plan going forward. I hope the Bama coaches are as gullible as you appear to be.
Also, it’s common knowledge that your secondary is your strength—don’t think our coaches don’t know that.
And last year Nickson was starting his second ever game. He’s hardly the same player you saw then. I guess I took for granted that you paid more attention to Vandy than the average SEC fan, but it’s clear that you don’t know much about the team at all.
Should be interesting, at the very least, to see how everything plays out tomorrow afternoon.
Football sucks! Go Braves! David Halberstam would write a book about the epic comeback we’re about to undertake if he were still alive!
I’m talking about the whole season, Stu. Bennett had about half your receiving yards (and what, four times the second-place guy?) and Nickson was your leading rusher.
Throw that bastard out!
Oh, yeah. Baseball. Go team!
For those who still care, Smoltz is just filthy tonight.
Play for 15 seconds! Stand around for 45 seconds! Take 4 hours to play “60 minutes” of football! Have the whole contest center around the need to show commercials!
@36
The real Braves fans still care.
Pretty sure you can care about both. Football is certainly more exciting than the Braves right now, though.
I’m sorry, I was exposed to very bad Braves baseball at a young age but was never able to build up that much of a tolerance.
Oh, yeah, Willie, get yourself thrown out stealing third! You know you want to!
That was a nice home run. Too bad it didn’t come against the Mets, when it still mattered. Yes, I’m bitter.
3 games left with the Mets on the schedule. We play better in front of fans that give a flip so we’ll sweep’em there.
Anyway, as usual of late I don’t have the energy to write a late recap. So, morning again. See you then.
Well, college football sucks. I like the Falcons, but I can’t imagine they’ll be any good this season.
Go Braves.
loving college football…………even though i get frustrated rooting for hopeless underdogs ( navy at the moment). kinda like rooting for the braves these days.,,,,,GO NOLES……………………see what i mean??
I’d love to go to an untelevised NFL game. That might be nice. It’s pathetic to me that they change the game for TV. I do still pull for the Falcons but I can only watch the games if I’ve got people to watch it with.
Our luck is regressing to the mean!
I can’t believe there’s another OU fan here.
Still, I’d be shocked if Nebraska only scores 13 and even more shocked if UT and TCU combine for 59. UT’s offense was brutal last week. 49-10 sounds great though.
Set ’em up and knock’em down Smoltz.
Let’s go State!
Shhh!
Thank God Chip Caray is not calling this game.
Smoltz to the National League: WE AIN’T GOIN’ OUT LIKE THAT BITCHES!
Uhhhh, Chip is calling this game with the inestimable Pete Van Wieren. Where is Skip Caray?
I just wish Chipper had gone for the triple in the first.
david15,
Whats that supposed to mean “another OU fan”?
I’m actually a student there!
-Mikey
I gotta point out that he’s over 90 pitches.
e6
If he fields it cleanly, that’s an out.
pawn to queen 6
Two more innings….
over 90 pitches? well… bobby’ll pull him out soon enough, right? heh heh.
Smoltz over 100 pitches now through seven.
The Washington Nationals are bad.
Why am I not surprised that Ronnie Belliard’s favorite food is “anything from McDonald’s”?
The supersized physique?
Oh, well. Bedtime for me.
crap
geez.
Damn you Belliard.
Now, how long do you leave him in since the no-no is over?
the bright side…..4 of the 5 teams ahead of us in the wild card are losing or have lost.
Cox pulls him instantly. Why? Oh yeah, his pitch count was over the big, scary arbitrary number of 100.
The dim side…there are 5 teams ahead of us in the WC race.
Here is my Chip Caray impression:
“How many times do you see a closer brought in an a non save situation and he just doesn’t have it?”
It’s the only move there, Dan. No need to risk injury for no good reason.
What happened to the old tradition of not mentioning no-hitters or perfect games until they’re either complete of broken up? Chip Caray is the worst offender (mentioning them in usually the third inning), but Don Sutton, Skip Caray, Mark Bowman and, to a lesser extent, Sciambi and Simpson tonight all couldn’t shut up about it.
I’m with Cox on pulling Smoltz–there’s a 7 run lead. For what it’s worth–maybe not much–Boog and Simpson say Smoltz looks gassed. My gripe is that Cox didn’t save Moylan for a closer game.
Phillies losing, second place still possible!
Yeah, I thought Smoltz was visibly tired.
FWIW, you’re only not supposed to talk to the guy who’s pitching about the no hitter. It’s kind of a fun thing to not talk about it at all but not really a big deal.
re 2nd place or the WC or whatever … just win baby
It’s not likely the Braves will catch up in either race but they just have to do their part and hope the other teams falter.
What just happened? I had flipped to another channel for a few minutes.
A rent-a-cop got injured trying to tackle a fan that ran onto the field.
Just showed a replay. The guy’s up–he seems ok.
Now Chip is advocating that the rent-a-cop get a free swing at the guy he hurt himself trying to tackle. What a bum.
Using Soriano in a blowout … sigh
I’m out of here–good night to all.
5 errors and 2 hits…
Not a bad night to be a Nationals fan.
From the Braves official site, reporting numbers from sportsclubstats.com:
“Entering Friday’s series opener against the Nationals, their analysis indicated the Braves have a 3.1 percent chance to be playing in October.
But through their formulations, they also projected the Braves have a 79.9 percent chance to advance to the playoffs with a 17-5 finish. If they can somehow manage to win 18 of their final 22 games, that chance jumps to 94.3 percent.”
As Lloyd Christmas once said:
“SO YOU’RE SAYING THERE’S A CHANCE!”
Just for grins – say we cut it to 5 1/2, then sweep the Mets…
Then the Phillies win the division? _
Just for grins, maybe we ought to have a bit of a poll on what the Braves will do over the next 21 games.
My bet: a fearsome 11-10 (3-6 in one run games). I could add more, but enough with all the gory details.
…agreed.
The Gnats blow more chunks than the Braves. 😛 Surely, they have more chunks to blow tomorrow.
I guess I’m where Mac is on the Braves. I still think they’d have a chance if they wouldn’t have the tendency to choke when it matters most. I’m not going to get my hopes up.
That being said, I still think there’s a pretty good chance of either San Diego or Arizona faltering during the stretch. We’re now 5 games out of 1st for the WC and only 2-1/2 games out of 2nd. That deficit can be made up pretty easily if only SD or AZ slide. I still give the Dodgers the best chance to win the WC.
I’m just taking it one game at a time. No one will be putting much pressure on the Braves tomorrow because they’ll all be watching college football tomorrow. 😛
Virginia Tech is gonna win by a million.
Hm, 4.5 back on the wild card. Why not?
timo,
Yep. Why not? It’s improbable, but not impossible.
Smoltz, you are flippen BEAST! Please dont ever retire
What did you guys think of San Diegoe starting Peavy on 2 days rest? He got hammered!
http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/7202598
For a split second, the strong-armed Francoeur actually thought of throwing to first in hopes of getting Belliard. “That would have been pretty cool,” the outfielder said, but he had no chance of pulling it off
Belliard’s hit came on Smoltz’s 109th – and final – pitch of the night. While everyone in the infield came up to congratulate the right-hander, manager Bobby Cox waddled to the mound to make a change.
“I told Bobby, ‘As soon as I give up a hit, I’m done,”‘ the pitcher said.
Don’t try telling Smoltz that he’s never pitched a no-hitter, though. He still bitterly remembers a ’96 game at San Diego, in which Ryan Klesko dropped a fly ball at the wall in the seventh inning and Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn was credited with a double.
That was the lone hit Smoltz allowed in eight innings, and he’s convinced to this day that he would have finished off the ultimate pitching masterpiece if the scorer had ruled differently.
“I don’t care what the books say,” Smoltz said. “If you ask me if I’ve pitched a no-hitter, that was it.”
Bobby waddles to the mound, brilliant!
Kevin, why would they consider doing that? Young has been getting lit up also. Is Bobby managing over there?
when did he pitch on two days rest
It’s not impossible for VT to win by a million?
Um, yes it is.
And I can’t read. Sorry, Sam.
Wryn’s Wrynners:
Oklahoma by 9 over Miami
Alabama by 12 over Vandy
Oregon by 2 over Michigan
Georgia by 6 over S. Carolina (game I am most concerned about losing)
Missouri by 4 over Ole Miss
Tennessee by 14 over USM
Miss State by 17 over Tulane
Texas by 23 over TCU
Auburn by 10 over USF
LSU by 20 over Va Tech
Also, Troy keeps it close against Florida for a half like they do everyone else, but runs out of steam late.
anyone’s takes on the big non conference games
Michigan vs Oregon
N Dame vs Penn St
Okalahoma vs Miami
I bet Michigan comes out today to make a statement. I see them thumping Oregon, once again showing us that the Pac 10 is a garbage conference.
Big game for Sly Croom today also, State vs Tulane. If they lose today look for another 2 or 3 win season and he might be shown the door.
If Carr loses, is he fired?
Wryn, didnt see your post. Surprised that you picked Bama
new thread
I was at the Miami/OU game. The weather here is so dumb. However, I almost got the scoreline right!