Thursday, Aug. 28
7:30 p.m.—Vanderbilt at Miami (OH)
Miami (OH) has a promising starting quarterback in Clay Belton, and its defense is anchored by three linebackers on the Dick Butkus watch list. Vanderbilt quarterback Mackenzi Adams should be shaky at best, especially with the offseason loss of wideout Earl Bennett to the NFL.
8:00 p.m.—North Carolina State at South Carolina
The South Carolina offense will have a solid game, and the South Carolina defense will stiffle the unexciting North Carolina State offense.
Saturday, Aug. 30
12:30 p.m.—Georgia Southern at No. 1 Georgia
Georgia Southern is good, but Georgia is better.
12:30 p.m.—Hawaii at No. 5 Florida
Hawaii has fallen off quite a bit from a season ago. Even so, we all saw what happened in the Warriors' Sugar Bowl matchup with Georgia.
5:00 p.m.—Appalachian State at No. 7 LSU
- B/R Ticket Guide
As much as I hate to say it, LSU is going to be too much for Appalachian State to handle. In my opinion, coach Lloyd Carr took the game way too lightly last year with Michigan and had the Wolverines wholly unprepared. Les Miles is not going to let that happen.
6:45 p.m.—Mississippi State at Louisiana Tech
Louisiana Tech be a middle-tier WAC team this year. Mississippi State will just put better players on the field and win off athleticism (if that's possible to say with MSU).
7:00 p.m.—Louisiana-Monroe at No. 10 Auburn
Auburn's going to have a strong team this year, especially in the front-seven of the defense. I don't think they're going to pull an Alabama. Louisiana-Monroe won't run through Auburn like butter like they did with Alabama.
7:00 p.m.—Western Illinois at Arkansas
I don't even know why this game is being played.
7:00 p.m.—Memphis at Mississippi
This should be a close matchup, but I think that Ole Miss' running game will ultimately be the difference. Memphis could potentially make this an upset game. This is one pick I am uncertain of.
8:00 p.m.—No. 24 Alabama at No. 9 Clemson
Alabama will win this game for two reasons: Clemson is overrated and Alabama is underrated. I believe that Julio Jones will be this year's Michael Crabtree. Watching the Alabama scrimmages, he is simply the best player on the field as a freshman.
Sunday, Aug. 31
3:30 p.m.—Kentucky at Louisville
Kentucky will beat a struggling Louisville team. Louisville's defense was atrocious last year and might continue a similar trend this season. Maybe it will line up correctly this year.
Monday, Sept. 1
8:00 p.m.—No. 18 Tennessee at UCLA
The Vols will head into California once again and get their asses handed to them. UCLA should be a middle-tier Pac-10 team this year, but, then again, so was California last year.
comments (23) write a comment »
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3 months ago
First of all, last year's game was close. UT had a chance to get in within one score if not for a great goal line stand by Cal. Also, do you even know the QB for UCLA in the game? A third string QB beating the Vols? doubtful, but it is a possibility. Getting their asses handed to them? No chance. Also, the fact that you would put asses into a story shows your lack of journalistic integrity. I dont know how in the world you are a senior writer unless you have written so many stories that it bumped you up because you have nothing better to do than talk about your bitterness towards the SEC.
3 months ago
Thomas, unless I misread somewhere along the way you have every team winning except for Vandy and Tennessee, the two bookend games. I think it is simply hilarious how you added in the "but then again so was California last year" phrase at the end! That simply made my day! Good Ole Rocky Flop, You'll Never be Home Sweet Home to Me.
And you are exactly right about Julio Jones. Did you catch that stiff arm he put on Bama's Rashad Johnson who is suppossed to be All-SEC? If he can do that as a true freshman, just think of what lies ahead of him and what he will do to lesser DBs!
Even though I think you will probably come back around and bash my Crimson Tide somewhere down the road, I'm glad to see you back around here Thomas.
from 3 months ago
yea that was quite a play
and yeah there will probably be some bama bashing down the road too...be prepared
3 months ago
QB Mitchell isn't playing football any longer...
from 3 months ago
thank you for pointing out my incompetence
3 months ago
I'm worried about Alabama. They are going to be pretty awful if the best player on their team is a freshman wide receiver.
from 3 months ago
Actually Nick, it says a lot more about the freshmen than it does the rest of the team.
Thanks for the worry, but there is no need.
from 3 months ago
agree chad
3 months ago
I am a big USC fan and strong supporter of the PAC 10 but there is NO way UCLA beats UT. Another match up that favors the SEC is UG over ASU. ASU is overrated along with UCLA. The strongest teams in the PAC 10 are USC (of course), Oregon and suprisingly enough Arizona. I don't think the PAC 10 is very strong this season but doesn't mean that USC wouldn't beat the best of the SEC.
3 months ago
Umm...UCLA has both veteran QBS out, and the go-to-guy, Kevin Craft, is a JUCO transfer who stepped foot on campus two days before the Spring Game.
UCLA has no O-line, and seventeen of their twenty five players who are gone from last year's 6-7 team were starters. UCLA's running game is non-existent due to the O-line woes. Craft is seemingly averaging two INTs per practice.
Just how does a team returning 3 (Olson is not starting until at least mid October) total starters on offense and 4 on defense beat a division champ returning 14 players?
from 3 months ago
I'm glad you said all that, Lisa. Saved me from having to make the same post. :-)
from 3 months ago
a 6-7 team losing that many seniors can only be better eh?
from 3 months ago
says the USC fan
3 months ago
What six year old gave you these predictions?
from 3 months ago
my younger brother
from 3 months ago
oh, ok....fair enough
3 months ago
When Cal beat UT last year, they were the team that was worthy of a top-10 ranking (maybe not #2, but that's a different story). Also, even as Cal fan, we didn't exactly kick their butts (45-31 i think the score was).
UCLA is a decent team when their QB's are healthy, but they never are. UT will easily beat UCLA, although an upset would be nice for the Pac-10.
Do you think ASU can hang with Georgia for 3 quarters?
from 3 months ago
i think they will hang all 4...the question is will ga?
3 months ago
Handled that well. Good stuff.
3 months ago
I think GoBears is the first Cal fan to call last year's Cal win against UT a win instead of a blow out. I really hope the PAC 10 has a strong out of conference record b/c I hate fans calling the PAC 10 light. If the PAC 10 is so light why is it that KSU was the last out of conference team (not counting Bowl loses b/c USC lost to Utah and Texas) to beat USC whereas the PAC 10 teams has beaten USC 4 times within the past two years? USC has beaten the Big Ten, SEC West, Big 12 and ACC champs during the Coach Carroll era. People joked about Stanford beating USC but USC destroyed Illinois, a team that beat OSU at the Horseshoe.
from 3 months ago
amen
from 3 months ago
the reason more pac 10 teams beat usc then out of conference opponents is because when you play in conference then it is almost always like a rivalry.
from 3 months ago
thats a good reason jordan??
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