Week 1 was kind to everyone. The worst results were Cole and VU 04 going 7-8, so nobody did terrible. Tom, CDA, and Import (!) got the opposite result at 8-7. The Commentariat Consensus went 9-6. That goon DoreonthePlains/PatrickSawyer went 10-5. The staff was 48-42. If the staff had a majority pick card, it would have gone 9-6, just like The Commentariat Consensus. The big hits were on Vanderbilt (left heads up instead of the late-posted spread that was around -20.5 for the Dores), Kentucky, Alabama, and South Carolina. We unanimously whiffed on Florida State (+3) who beat LSU outright and Texas to cover a 37 point spread on ULM. Only Tom called Missouri ripping the doors off LA Tech.

The percentages look pretty funny over such a small sample size. The Commentariat is at 68.18% while I am at 63.64%. Everyone else is within 5% of the middle. Even Import at 45.54% is only 4 games off my lead in the staff race and 5 games off the Nerd Conglomerate organized by Parlagi.

Week 2 presents a pretty compelling slate. Tennessee (-7) at Pitt and Kentucky (+4.5) at Florida are the tightest SEC games with the Dealer’s Choice of Baylor (+3) at BYU also projecting to be very tight. Alabama (-20.5) at Texas has intrigue based on name brand. Wake Forest (originally -8.5 but...see below) at Vanderbilt and South Carolina (+7.5) at Arkansas present opportunities to really blow open preseason expectations on a few teams based on how they go.

The staff is only unanimous on Alabama to throttle Texas at DKR Memorial Stadium. All but one of us have taken Vanderbilt, Oklahoma, and Mississippi State. We even had a discussion about re-picking the Wake-Vanderbilt game based on the news Sam Hartman is expected to start and the corresponding line jump resetting Vanderbilt as 13-point underdogs. None of us wanted to change the pick, and Tom doubled down (thanks to doubles of some fruity drinks in Cancun) on saying the Dores win outright.

Two of us stepped out on a limb for Kentucky, Texas A&M, Kansas State, South Carolina, and San Jose State. The scary part for me is the first two games are me and Import. Import and CDA pair up for the former Fightin’ Bill Snyders. Import and Cole are in on the Spartans keeping it somewhat close to Auburn Tigers. Are we sensing a trend in who stands out from the crowd and often gets thumped for it? Check out the full pick lists below.

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
Wake Forest (-8.5) @ Vanderbilt
San Jose State (+22.5) @ Auburn
Alabama (-20.5) @ Texas
South Carolina (+7.5) @ Arkansas
Missouri (+8.5) @ Kansas State
Appalachian State (+17) @ Texas A&M
Tennessee (-7) @ Pitt
Kentucky (+4.5) @ Florida
Mississippi State (-10.5) @ Arizona
Kent State (+32) @ Oklahoma
Baylor (+3) @ BYU