I’m going to be a little more brief this week as I’ve been beset by COVID the last two weeks. I contracted it last Monday, a week ago, and got “Rebound COVID” this past Monday. Hadn’t been a real blast. But I’ll give you what I’ve got this week.
Interesting first week as Miami, Notre Dame and USC came away with huge victories over Florida, Texas A&M and LSU respectively. Love what I saw out of those three teams. And I really loved what I saw out of my Vanderbilt Commodores. They made last week a lot more bearable with an impressive performance in an overtime victory over Virginia Tech at FirstBank Stadium in Nashvegas. Clark Lea said something very interesting in the spring when everyone was kicking and screaming about the NIL and the transfer portal. Coach Lea said he embraced it. He brought in some solid transfers, including quarterback Diego Pavia from New Mexico State, along with the Lobos head coach, Jerry Kill, to be the special assistant to the head coach, and the Lobos offensive coordinator, Tim Beck. The results from the first game were spectacular. SI’s Pat Forde put out his top 12 teams for the playoff based solely on the first weekend’s results and not including teams that played FCS opponents and Vanderbilt was in there along with TCU! Pretty fun. I like the out of the box thinking. He didn’t even have Alabama or Oregon in his top 12. He did have Georgia number one, so there was thought put into this 12 team representation. Nice to have a little fun with the sport, when people get so serious about it at times. Forde has Georgia one, Penn State two, Miami three and TCU four. Notre Dame is five, USC is 6, Georgia Tech is 7, Vanderbilt is 8, Ohio State is 9, Texas is 10, LSU is 11 and UNLV, as the group of five champion, is No.12. I don’t agree with every pick, but it’s nice that he mixes it up some. I like Georgia one, Texas two, Notre Dame three, and USC at 4. I’ll save the rest for next week’s column. I just don’t know what to make of Alabama. Kalen DeBoar doesn’t bring nearly the same intensity to the sideline that Nick Saban brought. There are great individual players, but the chemistry needs to come together if this team wants to be successful and make the playoff. That’s the goal, making the playoff. Because once you do that, you’ve got a shot. Auburn had a big victory, but Alabama A&M? Are you kiddin’ me, Hugh? Maybe we’ll find out more about Alabama and Auburn when South Florida visits Tuscaloosa and Cal comes to Auburn on Saturday. Onto this week’s predictions.
Last Week
SU- 12-5, 71%
ATS- 12-5, 71%
All games are Saturday and all times are central.
South Florida @ No.4 Alabama
Bryant-Denny
6 PM
ESPN
Tess, Jess, Katie
Crimson Tide by 31
The Crimson Tide is a work in progress.
Alabama 31, South Florida 14
Cal @Auburn
Jordan-Hare
2:30 PM
ESPN2
Dave Flemming, Brock Osweiler, Stormy Buonantony
Tigers by 13 1/2
Auburn could be 5-0 when it travels to Georgia on Saturday, October 5th. Good luck in Sanford Stadium.
Auburn 31, Cal 10
No.3 Texas @No.10 Michigan
Michigan Stadium, Ann Arbor
11 AM
FOX
Gus, Joel, Jenny
Texas by 7 1/2
I’ll take Hook’em in the Big House.
Texas 24, Michigan 14
No.1 Georgia 63, Tennessee Tech 3
1 PM, ESPN+
Georgia by 54 1/2
Kentucky 24, South Carolina 21
Kroger Field, Lexington
2:30 PM
ABC
Wildcats by 10
Taking the home team, barely.
No.14 Tennessee 31, No.24 NC State 28
Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte
6:30 PM
ABC
UT by 10
Like the Vols to just squeak by in what is essentially a road game, though there will be a lot of orange there.
No. 16 Oklahoma State 34, Arkansas 24
Boone Pickens Stadium, Stillwater, OK.
11 AM
ABC
OK State by 8
Like the Pokes at home
Ole Miss 56, Middle Tennessee 3
Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, Oxford
3:15 PM
SEC Network
Black Bears by 41 1/2
Nice scheduling, Lane. First Furman then this? Welcome back to the SEC, Derek Mason. I’m sure a lot of the coaches are sorry you left.
No. 18 Oklahoma 35, Houston 31
Memorial Stadium, Norman
6:45 PM
SEC Network
Sonner by 29
Not sure that Brent Venables is the answer at OU, particularly in the SEC. I’ll keep my options open on him though. Need more intel.
Arizona State 31, Mississippi State 24
Mountain American Stadium, Tempe, AZ.
9:30 PM
ESPN
Sun Devils by 5 1/2
Like the home team here. Might be a late night at my house, although I haven’t been able to make it past 9 lately.
Vanderbilt 44, Alcorn State 3
FirstBank Stadium, Vegas
6:30 PM
ESPNU
VU by 31
Like Coach Lea and the Dores to keep the momentum going.
NFL Predictions
AFC Championship Game
Chiefs 34, Texans 31
NFC Championship Game
Lions 31, Eagles 30
Super Bowl 59, LIX
Sunday, February 9th, 2025
Caesars Superdome, N’Awlins
5:30 PM
FOX
Kevin, Tom Terrific, EA, Tom Rinaldi
Do you dare pick against The Most Valuable Bundler and the Chiefs? The guy’s an unstoppable force, maybe the most phenomenal athlete to ever play quarterback in the National Football League. Actually, there’s no maybe about it. It’s a debate now if he’ll be the greatest player to ever play in the National Football League. He’s won three Lombardis and Brady won 7, so he can’t stake that claim yet. But Mahomes is just 28, about to be 29 on Tuesday, September 17th, so he’s got a lot of his career ahead of him if he stays healthy.
The regular season opens tonight in KC with the Chiefs hosting the Baltimore Ravens in an AFC Championship Game rematch, which the Chiefs won in Baltimore last January. Give me Lamar and the Ravens to upset the three point favorite Chiefs, which will air on NBC at 7:20. I do like the Chiefs to be in New Orleans though. They lost to Detroit in the opening game last year on Thursday Night Football and still look what happened.
But a three-peat in sports is rare. The last team to do it was the late Kobe Bryant-led LA Lakers from 2000-2002, and before that, the Yankees from 1998-2000. It just doesn’t happen much.
I’ll take the great Jared Goff, former Alabama star running back Jahmyr Gibbs and their stellar coach Dan Campbell to take the Lombardi Trophy back home to the Motor City for the first time ever. Man, Detroit could use this. They’ve had a lot of misery in sports, but this team is for real.
Lions 30, Chiefs 27
MVP: Jared Goff
US Open Finals Predictions
Men’s, Sunday, 1 PM, ESPN
Jannik Sinner over Taylor Fritz 6-4, 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (8-6)
Men’s Champion: the 23 year old from Innichen, Italy, Jannik. My wife will be happy with this pick.
Women’s Final, Saturday, 3 PM ESPN
I’ll take the 23 year old from New Yawk by way of the University of Virginia.
Emma Navarro over Karolina Muchova (Czech) 4-6, 7-6 (7-5) 7-5