June 10, 2008:  Tha Carter III is released, selling more than a million copies in its first week of release

June 11, 2008:  Random high school kid in Georgia logs on to hip hop message board.  Posts the following message:

Carter III is the worst album EVA.  Lil' Wayne is nothing but hype.  He LUV hyping himself up and all dat...but he can't rap.

November 28, 2008:  Multiple media outlets report that the University of Tennessee hired Lane Kiffin as the new head football coach.

November 29, 2008: Random high school kid in Georgia logs on to Bulldogs messge board.  Posts the following message:

Lane is the worst hire EVA.  What a joke, yo!  haha.  How many games did he win in Oakland?  LMAO.  Vols got stuck with another LUZER coach.  See ya in October, Lane.  haha.

Continue reading this post »

Kyle and gang,

This weekend I am on your team.  Disregard anything I may have written prior to this fanpost about the Georgia Bulldogs.  Mere jest.   

In reality, your beloved Dawgs are a fabulously wealthy man's Tennessee, Arkansas, and LSU all rolled into one (think, Mark Cuban version).  As such, they will succeed where the aforementioned programs have fallen short.  They will beat the gators.  And I will be smiling for days -- possibly weeks -- just because that is how much I hate Urban Meyer.

So go forth young dawgs.  May you deliver the crisp right cross that lands squarely on the chin of the formidable but weary heavyweight champion.  May the champ go tumbling to the canvas like a tree struck by lightning.  And may I then get all schadenfreudey and watch every second of the post-game press conference, rubbing my hands together in evil delight.

KB

 As of right now, Spurrier is the SEC's best spread-coverer (ATS == Against The Spread).  I would not have guessed this.  But they covered the spread in both of their losses, so it makes sense.

*The difference in the number of games is because I am only counting games against Division I-A schools.

Here are the against-the-spread numbers for the BCS and SEC champions in the BCS era.

What jumps out at me about these numbers are just how good the 2008 Florida and 2005 Texas teams really were.  It is really tough to consistently cover two and three touchdown spreads, but these teams did it.  Same goes for USC and LSU in 2003.  Really impressive.

And now on to current events.

This week's picks (home team in caps):

Georgia +16 over Florida

Miss. St. +3.5 over KENTUCKY

TENNESSEE -6 over Spurrier

Tulane +36 over LSU

AUBURN +4.5 over Ole Miss

Georgia Tech  -12 over VANDY

ARKANSAS -38 over Eastern Michigan.

My alarm clock is going off.  It is 6:00am.  I guess this means that I should be waking up.  But I don't want to wake up.  I can't wake up right now.  Too tired -- need more sleepy.  Besides, I'm sure my cell phone alarm is set for 7:00.  I am pretty sure I remembered to set it last night.  Yeah, I'll just sleep for another hour.

::reaches up and turns alarm clock off::

I wake up momentarily feeling surprisingly refreshed.  This is not a good sign.  I glance over at the alarm and see it 9:18.  Crap!  I didn't set my cell phone alarm.  Shoot! I'm gonna be late for work.  Fudge!  I was already late once this week, but was able to stealthily sneak into my office unnoticed.  No way that happens twice in a week.  Dagnabbit!  I suck at work and in life.  Why didn't I remember to set that cell phone alarm?

Hold on for a second.  What day is it?  I went out last night.  Last night was Friday night.  IT IS SATURDAY! 

Without further adieu or clever lead-in (this should have been posted two days ago...technical difficulties) here are my SEC week 7 picks.  Last week I went 5-2 against the spread.  And actually 6-1 if take into account that my Georgia pick was clearly just a reverse jinx pick.  Yall didn't know that my Georgia pick was a reverse jinx pick? Okay, okay, I will have to settle for 5-2.

Home team in CAPS:

Georgia (-7.5) over VANDY

Big bounce back for Georgia.  They aren't as bad you think.  Too much talent to be *that* bad.  And Vanderbilt is TERRIBLE at the game of football.

Mississippi State (-4.5) over MTSU

Why am I not confident about this pick?  I seriously seriously considered going the other way.

Arkansas (+24.5) over FLORIDA

Vegas appears to be giving Florida an additional 7 points each week based solely on brand name recognition.  The fact of the matter is that Florida is simply not the offensive juggernaut that they were last year.  Percy Harvin now plays for a different team.  This doesn't mean that Florida isn't very good.  But 24.5 is a hefty hefty line for an SEC game not involving Kentucky or Vanderbilt.  Remember when Florida was favored by 30 over Tennessee?  I didn't write about it...but I took Tennessee.  I mean, I would have taken Tennessee if gambling were legal.

UAB (+22) over OLE MISS (Mississippi is at home.  Writing out UAB would be silly)

This is a close one.  In fact, all of these spreads this week are close calls.  None of them are "free money" picks, so to speak.  Ole Miss could show some life and put a good ole fashioned whuppin on UAB.  And maybe that will happen.   If the spread here were 17 or 18 I would probably go the other way.  A 3+ TD spread, though, is a rather substantial spread.  I don't think Ole Miss has quite shown that they are deserving of substantial spreads.

AUBURN (-13.5) over Kentucky

This is the week where Kentucky implodes.  I just have a hunch.

ALABAMA (-17) over Spurrier

This is a lot of points against a South Carolina team that certainly isn't terrible.  Here is my logic: Bama covered a 16 point spread against Kentucky on the road.  South Carolina showed that they aren't much better than Kentucky.  Thus, Alabama should cover a 17 point spread against Spurrier at home.  Can't really toss a QED at the end of that last sentence, but this is gambling, right?

Good luck!