Kev’s Weekly Thoughts On Thi...

There’s nothing better than college football in the month of October. It’s cooling off, especially at night and the weather is fair. In some northern states it’s getting downright cold. The Deep South is starting to experience sweater weather, but maybe not quite yet. The dog days of September spent sweating among the screaming student body on one side and the band on the other side are over. As long as you’re not running for your life during hurricane season in Florida (and all parts east coast) it’s a great time of year to be a football fan and just about every sane football fan in America is loving it, including myself!!

If you’re an SEC football fan like I am October means huge rivalries, huge match ups in stadiums all across the football meccas of the American South. Forget Boston, forget Iowa and don’t even consider California. The South is where it’s at. As usual this past weekend, only the second weekend in October, did not disappoint. Let’s take a quick review and don’t worry, we’ll give some love to northern and west coast teams. 

Alabama continues to run hot and cold after the departure of coach Nick Saban. After losing to Vanderbilt a week ago they just managed to squeeze by a tough South Carolina squad much to the relief of a Tuscaloosa home crowd. It might take a year or two to reach the dominant power house level that they seemed to enjoy since the dawn of time but it would seem to me that The Tide have their work cut out for them. 

Texas and Georgia are the obvious choices to lead the SEC into the playoffs. Even a blinde man can see it. I would find it hard for anyone to overlook the Long Horns and to be honest the game of the year for many SEC followers is going to be the Texas vs. Bulldog matchup this Saturday. Frankly I like Texas in this one just on defense alone. Georgia giving up 31 points to a hapless Mississippi State team this past weekend does not make me believe they can go the distance against a Texas squad that’s already chewed up half the top 10 teams. As usual all eyes are on the SEC going into the next few weeks so don’t count out Ol’Miss, Texas A&M, Tennessee and LSU. Remember, a 12 team playoff creates a lot of opportunities for one and two loss teams.

No one likes to see Ohio State loose more then I do(notice I left out the “The”). For a team the seems to talk more trash then a hurricane clean up garbage man on a 6 beer rant, The Buckeyes sure seem to get their asses handed to them during the big games. They can talk all they want but teams like Penn State, Michigan and The Oregon Ducks I can assure you are going to have something to say about it. I’ve never liked a load mouth and if you wander thru the sports bars in my part of town you see more of the red and grey flags of surrender and mouthy drunks then anyone. This is Florida right? If we want to drink beer and talk trash we Floridians have our own loosing teams in Gainsville and Tallahassee. Ohio State’s loss to Oregon showed me two important facts. First, Ryan Day and Ohio Stare are the most overrated team in America. Secondly, Dillion Gabriel is my top pick to win the Heisman after Oregon finishes second in the National Collegiate Championship Game to Texas. Heck The Ducks might even win the whole thing! 

When it comes to my college football picks I still remain a slow and steady 50 percent. I win some, I loose some. Each week I’m reminded why Casinos and sports books get richer and I get slightly poorer. My new strategy you ask? I pray alot, I invoke some voodoo shamans, and I never bet more then I can afford which is getting to be less and less each week. Regardless of it all I’ll soldier on and hope that Penn State can do the Gig Ten proud and that The Hurricanes can live live up to their name, figuratively of course, and bring home an exciting title match up! Play on I Say!!

Kev

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