I would like to say the staff was intentionally scary bad for Halloween. Instead, it looks like we all only dressed up as people who know ball. Clearly, we do not. The best 2 performances were myself and the Commentariat at 4-4. It took all 19 (or however many voted last week) in one trench coat to match me. Andrew and Christian were close behind at 3-5 while Tom and Cole were not just pumpkins but 3 week old rotting pumpkins at 2-6. How has someone not gotten onto a hot streak and run off with this year’s contest? The best record is 45-50 (47.4%). Overall, the staff is 210-265 (44.2%), which also exactly matches the Commentariat total record’s winning percentage. Yikes.

The biggest problems last week were Oklahoma losing to Kansas after being unanimously picked to win by 10+ points, Utah getting quacked by Oregon, and Vanderbilt’s offense puking harder than a frat boy in the Grove for an evening kickoff. No games resulted in 4 or 5 staffers getting the game right. In fact, the minority was right in 5 of 8 contests.

With that in mind, the 3 games below that are picked unanimously along with another trio picked 4 to 1. I will not endorse fading the staff because it would be the week we NAIL it if I do. This “contest” has been almost as painful to watch as the actual football.

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 2024, 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	DotP	Cole	Tom	VU04	CDA
Auburn (-12) @ Vanderbilt
Texas A&M (+3) @ Ole Miss
UConn (+35) @ Tennessee
Jacksonville State (+15) @ South Carolina
Arkansas (+6) @ Florida
Missouri (+15.5) @ Georgia
Kentucky (-3.5) @ Mississippi State
LSU (+3) @ Alabama
Oklahoma(-6) @ Oklahoma State
Kansas State (+4) @ Texas
Washington (-3) @ USC