Friday, October 16, 2009

SEC Predictions Week 7

After another subpar week of picking games, we all had identical (4-3) records last week, even with Jay making his glorious prediction of the Arkansas upset special. Michael McCoy retains the overall lead with an overall mark of (39-9) while Jay Skipworth and Eddie McCoy pull up the rear tied at (36-12) each. Hopefully things will improve for us and the Auburn Tigers this week. On with the picks:

Michael McCoy Pick's:
Georgia at Vanderbilt - Georgia
Mississippi State at MTSU - Mississippi State
Arkansas at Florida - Florida
UAB at Ole Miss - Ole Miss
South Carolina at Alabama - Alabama

Kentucky at Auburn:
All things must pass, and so it was with Auburn last week in Fayetteville. We all knew this was a flawed team that may have been punching a little bit above its weight the first five games, but the wheels came off in the first half and Auburn didn't recover until it was too late. All is not lost, though. This is still a team with holes (defense, kick-off coverage), but the offense is still good and this team is still good enough to win a few more games yet. Last week just showed that if the offense comes out flat, the defense won't always be there to pick them up, though they held in there for a little while before the dam busted. For whatever reason, Auburn just wasn't quite ready to play last week, but the performance may prove to be a blessing in disguise. I think the lesson was learned that this team can't take any week off and they better come ready to play every Saturday. I think they'll do that this weekend against Kentucky. Kentucky is a team coming off three tough losses, but more imporantly, they're a team dealing with a number of injuries on offense and defense, the latest victim being QB Mike Hartline, meaning an inexperienced QB will be taking the reigns of the offense this weekend, perhaps even a true freshman. In Derrick Locke and Randall Cobb, however, Kentucky has two of the better all-purpose threats in the SEC. If Auburn doesn't do a better job in tackling, these two can hurt us, especially in the return game. On offense, Gus and the boys should be able to move the ball against the Wildcats and I expect a sharp, focused effort this week on offense. I think Kentucky will still rattle our nerves a little bit with Cobb and Locke, whether on offense or special teams, but I think Kentucky will be too one dimensional on offense to mount a serious challenge to even our thin defense. On offense, things may not move seamless at first given that Kentucky has hung tough the last couple of weeks early on, but I think eventually we will begin to wear them out with the run the way we did with Mississippi State earlier in the season. I'll say Auburn 35, Kentucky 17.

Jay Skipworth's Picks:
Georgia at Vanderbilt - Georgia
Mississippi State at MTSU - Mississippi State
Arkansas at Florida - Florida
UAB at Ole Miss - Ole Miss
South Carolina at Alabama - Alabama

Kentucky at Auburn:
Auburn got blistered in the early morning sun by Arkansas last week as the Hogs exploited a porous and thin defense for tons of yards and points. Kentucky has played teams tough this year but turnover problems have cost them in several games. The Wildcats will have to go this week (and maybe the rest of the year) without QB Mike Hartline which tips the scales more to Auburn’s favor. At this point, Auburn’s best defense is to keep the offense clicking and moving the ball with the precision displayed in the first five games of the season. The game at home and the loss of Hartline for Kentucky gives an edge to the Tigers who need to get back on track with this win. Auburn 27, Kentucky 13.

As always, you can check out a more detailed pick by pick preview at Jay's BC Column linked below:

http://blogcritics.org/sports/article/sec-week-seven-previews-and-picks/

Eddie McCoy's Picks:
Georgia at Vanderbilt - Georgia
Mississippi State at MTSU - Mississippi State
Arkansas at Florida - Florida
UAB at Ole Miss - Ole Miss
South Carolina at Alabama - Alabama

Kentucky at Auburn:
Auburn will find out what kind of team it has now that it has to deal with the loss to Arkansas. I believe the Auburn Tigers will build upon the loss and bounce back with a victory against Kentucky. Kentucky has the X factor on offense in that it lost it's starting QB last week and Auburn is having to guess about how they are planning on replacing him and what changes will be made for Kentucky on that side of the ball. I still think Auburn defense will struggle and give up points but I believe the offense will come out and try to just play its game instead of letting Kentucky dictate what it will do. I like Auburn in a high scoring game; Auburn 44, Kentucky 35.

War Eagle and let us know your predictions in the comment section.

3 comments:

scottatl said...

This game is huge, We have to have this if we are to win 8 or possibly 9 games. If not, 6 wins may be in our future.

E-Bro said...

Yeah Scott, and I like that it is huge. I certainly wish we had beaten Arkansas, but if we did, this would have been a huge trap game. But I think the loss came at a good time (well, there's never a good time for a loss, but I think you know what I mean) for us and we'll be all the more focused for this game and the ones to come.

scottatl said...

My thoughts are if we can win 2 of the next three you can get ready to call the season a success (furman win assumed) UGA will depend on how they are playing at the time as they still have a lot more talented roaster than us.

I knew going in to the Arky game it would be tough. It reminded me of the CTT days...early game + arky = loss. And call me crazy but with their style of play I think we have a better shot against LSU than Arkansas.

Bottom line is we have to start getting players in who will stay in school.