Who you got?
We got undefeated Georgia, ranked No. 12, playing at twice-defeated Ole Miss, ranked No. 23. And, Ole Miss has been bet up to a 7-point favorite after opening at 2. Obviously, someone has been looking at the schedules. The Ole Miss losses are to Florida State and Alabama. Georgia’s last two victories have been by 2 over Nicholls State and 1 over Missouri. Georgia will start an 18-year-old quarterback, Ole Miss a 22-year-old. Ole Miss is at home.
So: Ole Miss 31, Georgia 27.
Mississippi State, 1-2 after a comeback fell short at LSU, plays 1-2 UMass at Foxboro. The Bulldogs are 22-point favorites on the road. To be honest, I’m not sure given the Bulldogs’ quarterback situation I’d make State a 22-point favorite over anybody currently, even a team called the Minutemen. I like State to win but I would not give the points. State 27, Massachusetts 14.
Southern Miss opens conference play at UTEP. It’s a long road trip, a tough place to play. The 2-1 Golden Eagles are an 11.5-point favorite over the 1-2 Miners, who rank last in the nation in turnover differential. It’s a game USM should win and possibly win handily, if they don’t let UTEP, which has created one turnover all season, create a bunch in this one. USM 34, UTEP 20.
Texas A & M, playing at home, is a 6-point pick over Arkansas in a battle of unbeaten SEC Western Division teams. This week’s upset special: Arkansas 28, Texas A & M 26.
LSU is a 3-point pick at Auburn. That seems about right. LSU 20, Auburn 17.
Tennessee, at home, is a 5-point choice over the Florida Gators. Both teams are unbeaten, yet neither has been particularly impressive. A shaky nod to the home team here: Tennessee 27, Florida 26.
Vanderbilt is a 7.5 point underdog at Western Kentucky, where Jeff Brohm is doing a fabulous coaching job. WKU’s lone loss is to Alabama. I like Western, 27-20.
Wait! Is this right? Kentucky is favored over South Carolina? Why? South Carolina 24-20.
Elsewhere:
Grambling 31, Alcorn 20.
Arkansas-Pine Bluff 27, Jackson State 24.
Prairie View 27, MVSU 21.
Rick Cleveland is Mississippi Today’s sports columnist. Read his previous columns and his Sports Daily blog.
Republish this article
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
- Look for the "Republish This Story" button underneath each story. To republish online, simply click the button, copy the html code and paste into your Content Management System (CMS).
- Editorial cartoons and photo essays are not included under the Creative Commons license and therefore do not have the "Republish This Story" button option. To learn more about our cartoon syndication services, click here.
- You can’t edit our stories, except to reflect relative changes in time, location and editorial style.
- You can’t sell or syndicate our stories.
- Any web site our stories appear on must include a contact for your organization.
- If you share our stories on social media, please tag us in your posts using @MSTODAYnews on Facebook and @MSTODAYnews on Twitter.
- You have to credit Mississippi Today. We prefer “Author Name, Mississippi Today” in the byline. If you’re not able to add the byline, please include a line at the top of the story that reads: “This story was originally published by Mississippi Today” and include our website, mississippitoday.org.
- You can’t edit our stories, except to reflect relative changes in time, location and editorial style.
- You cannot republish our editorial cartoons, photographs, illustrations or graphics without specific permission (contact our managing editor Kayleigh Skinner for more information). To learn more about our cartoon syndication services, click here.
- Our stories may appear on pages with ads, but not ads specifically sold against our stories.
- You can’t sell or syndicate our stories.
- You can only publish select stories individually — not as a collection.
- Any web site our stories appear on must include a contact for your organization.
- If you share our stories on social media, please tag us in your posts using @MSTODAYnews on Facebook and @MSTODAYnews on Twitter.