RIP your bank account if you decided to bet with any of us or did the ever popular (and typically correct) #FadeImport. Our resident dart-thrower (or so he says) was an astounding 7-3. Even the Commentariat could only go 5-5 with the power of shared brainpower. Christian and Cole, which sounds like a mid-2000s WWE tag team, were next best at 4-6 while Tom, VU 04, and myself all went 3-7. If you add us up, the staff went a brutal 24-36.

There were actually 11 games on the docket last week, but Tennessee and Pittsburgh pushed with THEM winning by a TD in OT. Since they were the first to score, they had to kick the PAT and converted. The real daggers were our Dores floundering due to points off turnovers, Alabama letting Texas stay close, Auburn not blowing out San Jose State, Kentucky covering and beating Florida outright, and Kent State only losing by 30 instead of 33. Those 5 games saw the staff go 6-24. We actually did well on Arkansas (4 correct), App State (4), and Moo State (5).

This week, we are all putting our money where are hearts are with the Dores. Georgia is the only other unanimous pick. Akron and the 47.5 points also got all but Tom to go against THEM. BYU, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, and Georgia Tech also got 4 to 2 splits. The other 5 matchups got split evenly.

Personally, I think the Vanderbilt and Texas A&M lines are too reactionary to last week. I really do not understand how UTSA is only an 11-point underdog to the Texas team that took Bama to the wire, and I think having Oklahoma as 11.5-point favorites over a Nebraska team who fired their head coach after losing to App State is silly even if you consider Frost’s removal as addition by subtraction. I refuse to trust Auburn and hate expecting teams to cover huge spreads (Alabama and Tennessee) even if they are fully capable of doing so. Moo State also seems to not be getting any respect for two commanding wins. Florida and Georgia seem like they will be in the mood to rack up style points. But what do I know? As my usher Garvin (he’s freaking awesome and in year 40 working Vanderbilt athletic events!) said at the game last weekend, “I’ll never bet on football. That ball doesn’t bounce straight.”

The Rules

1. Normally, the picks are for all SEC games with one dealer’s choice where I get to choose another game to make us pick. With two new teams set to join in “2025” (Who wants to bet that timeline holds up?), Texas and Oklahoma will have all of their games picked, too.
2. The picks will be made AGAINST THE SPREAD. Too many games are easy to pick heads up. Also, this will serve as a PSA for why you should not get into sports gambling, which is especially important with sports gambling being legal in Tennessee now.
3. The lines will be taken from Oddshark’s consensus spread some time Monday, so they may not match what is listed at the time this article is published.

The Standings

The Picks

GAME	Patrick	Cole	Tom	VU04	CDA	Import
Vanderbilt (+1.5) @ NIU
Penn State (-3) @ Auburn
Georgia (-24.5) @ South Carolina
Ole Miss (-16) @ Georgia Tech
Louisiana-Monroe (+49) @ Alabama
Mississippi State (-2) @ LSU
Akron (+47.5) @ Tennessee
South Florida (+24.5) @ Florida
Miami (+5.5) @ Texas A&M
Oklahoma (-11.5) @ Nebraska
UTSA (+11) @ Texas
BYU (+3.5) @ Oregon