If we’d just have taken the two close upset picks on our board last week – Florida/South Florida and Mississippi State/Arizona State – the Predictions Dept. would have been off to a hot start. Instead, we’ve gotten off to only a solid beginning to the 2025 season, but there’s always room for improvement. This week, Georgia’s game against Tennessee is the headliner, but the contest in Baton Rouge between the Gators and LSU could wind up being the most entertaining.\
Last Week’s Record: 12-3 (80.0%)
Season’s Record: 26-5 (83.9%)
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ARKANSAS at MISSISSIPPI
Neither team has really looked as good as they could have, but Ole Miss at least got through its conference opener against Kentucky last week. Arkansas has some concerns on defense and a general talent gap that must be made up, but recruiting is for the future; Arkansas has to find some answers now. Ole Miss probably found itself in a closer battle against the Wildcats last week than the Rebels expected, and like Arkansas, there are still some questions on defense, while it would be helpful for the offense to get out to a quicker start. In essence, these two teams are very much alike in the way they’re playing out games so far, but the Rebels have far more talent and also have the home field. Now it’s up to Lane Kiffin to not out-think himself like he tends to do sometimes against opponents like this.
Ole Miss 34
Arkansas 17
WISCONSIN at ALABAMA
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SOUTH ALABAMA at AUBURN
South Alabama played things way too close in an opening win over Morgan State, and was thought to be cannon fodder for Tulane last week. But the Jaguars lost by only two points, 33-31, and Auburn is now probably looking at this game with an eye on the Florida-South Florida result from a week ago. Auburn managed to get the passing offense started up a bit against Ball State, but it’s hard to take much else away from that game due to how bad Ball State is. If Major Applewhite could somehow upset Hugh Freeze here, the fallout would make that of the Bulls-Gators upset look like child’s play.
Auburn 37
South Alabama 21
FLORIDA at LOUISIANA STATE
Neither team looked very good in Week 2, but LSU came away with a win over Louisiana Tech and you can ask Billy Napier how much he’d like to trade places with Brian Kelly because of that. South Florida is probably better than Florida fans think, but the calls for Napier’s job have gotten louder and louder ever since South Florida hit a last-second field goal, and if Florida folds up here, Napier may not make it to Sunday morning as Florida’s coach. LSU needs to get its offense in gear, but the defense has looked impressive in both games. An upset win for Florida may be the only thing that saves their coach.
LSU 24
Florida 20
GEORGIA at TENNESSEE
Tennessee’s offense gets the headlines, but we haven’t been impressed with the Volunteer defense up to this point, and while Georgia’s offense is not what it has been in recent years, the Bulldogs still have NFL talent all over that side of the ball and bring some semblance of balance to the proceedings. In addition, the Georgia defense is being rebuilt back to elite status; the only question is whether it’s there yet. As crazy as it sounds, Georgia also has to avoid looking ahead to its next game against Alabama, even as the Volunteers are old SEC East rivals and, at this point, probably pose a greater threat to Georgia’s championship hopes than Alabama does. All logic says take Tennessee, but we like the upset here.
Georgia 27
Tennessee 23
EASTERN MICHIGAN at KENTUCKY
The loss to Ole Miss last week was disappointing for Kentucky, but the Wildcats fought well in the game and may be setting up for a better season than most expected in the preseason. As for Eastern Michigan, the clock may be running out on Chris Creighton, who is one of the best coaches – if not the best – in EMU history, but it’s never been easy to win in Ypsilanti and the current landscape of the sport isn’t making things easier. Eastern Michigan has two losses, one to Texas State and the other to Long Island U. Neither of those teams are in Kentucky’s area code – and Texas State hung 52 points on the Eagles. This one could get ugly.
Kentucky 48
E. Michigan 7
ALCORN STATE at MISSISSIPPI STATE
The Bulldogs got a big-time win over ranked Arizona State last week, holding on for a four-point win. This one won’t be nearly as close unless the Bulldogs simply refuse to prepare. It’s a good week for the Bulldogs to work on a still-nonexistent running game and also try to get its own run defense in order. Otherwise, this is a walkover.
Mississippi St. 55
Alcorn State 14
LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE at MISSOURI
The Ragin’ Cajuns are coming off an easy win over McNeese State, but they also somehow found a way to lose to Rice in the opener, 14-12. Louisiana runs the ball well but hasn’t been able to throw it so far, and Missouri is far too good to fall in an upset to an unbalanced, undermanned team. Missouri had to come back to beat Kansas on Saturday, and the Tigers need to start playing better defense. This game should be a good tune-up opportunity.
Missouri 40
Louisiana 10
OKLAHOMA at TEMPLE
Somehow, Oklahoma got a home game from Michigan – go look up how rare that is for an SEC team to pull off – and then has to go on the road the next week to Philadelphia to face Temple. The Owls have won big twice to start the season, but the games were against UMass, one of the worst teams in FBS, and Howard University. In other words, we have no way of knowing what the Owls are going to play like when tested, because they haven’t been so far. Oklahoma seems to have figured out that throwing the football is a good thing in modern college football, and QB John Mateer is getting all-SEC attention now from those who decide such things at year’s end. If we knew a little bit more about how Temple is put together, we might be inclined to pick this one closer than expected. Oklahoma has done a poor job of handling the ebb and flow of a season for a few years now.
Oklahoma 38
Temple 17
VANDERBILT at SOUTH CAROLINA
We’re all going to find out together how good the Gamecocks are or aren’t this week; South Carolina has a potentially premier quarterback in LaNorris Sellers, but Saturday was two weeks in a row that South Carolina won in spite of its offense and not because of it. In addition, the defense has so many transfer additions throughout that we aren’t sure what’s going to happen when the real (SEC) bullets start flying. Vanderbilt got down early to Virginia Tech – who South Carolina beat in its opener, 24-11 – then pulled far away from the Hokies in a game played in Blacksburg. So far, Vandy has looked like the better team across its two games. Could the Commodores pull this one off, too? If it were in Nashville, we’d pick it.
South Carolina 23
Vanderbilt 20
TEXAS-EL PASO at TEXAS
UTEP lost its opener to Utah State but rebounded to beat FCS UT-Martin last week by a decent score. The Longhorns need to work out their offensive woes, as the San Jose State defense put up much more of a fight than expected. Both the running game and the passing game need work, and UTEP is just the kind of opponent the Longhorns need to face as they mount a charge back from the doldrums they currently find themselves in.
Texas 45
UTEP 13
TEXAS A&M at NOTRE DAME
The Fighting Irish have played just one game, an opening loss to Miami. With too small a sample size to rely on, we have to take a look at what Texas A&M brings to the table. A defensive line that many questioned in the preseason appears to still be a problem for the Aggies, who have given up more points than expected so far and haven’t stopped the run well. We’re still not sure whether to be buyers or sellers of the A&M program in 2025, and we’re also still not sure what to make of Mike Elko has a head coach. Notre Dame didn’t run the ball well in the Miami loss. We’ll see who comes out on top of that battle this time. Bet the home-field advantage for now.
Notre Dame 27
Texas A&M 21
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