Bad Gambling Advice: Week 2

Last week: 5-5 ATS, 5-5 totals; season to date: 5-6 ATS, 6-5 totals

A perfect bad gambling advice week: not bad enough to fade, not good enough to actually win you money. Literally just paying your bookie the vig if you followed this advice.

This week: a few FCS and G5 beatdowns, but also some actual interesting games!

Vanderbilt at Wake Forest (10:00 AM CT, ACC Network): Yes, it’s a brunch game. Vanderbilt has started 2-0 but hasn’t looked particularly impressive against Hawaii and Alabama A&M; Wake Forest... beat Elon last week. This week is where we find out some things about both.

Score prediction: (will be revealed in Saturday Predictions tomorrow)

Picks: Wake Forest -10, Over 56.5

Ball State at Georgia (11:00 AM CT, SEC Network): Georgia sleepwalked through a casual 48-7 win over UT-Martin last week. Georgia can probably cover the spread here if they want. They probably aren’t terribly interested in running it up on Ball State.

Score prediction: Georgia 41, Ball State 0

Picks: Ball State +42.5, Under 53

Eastern Kentucky at Kentucky (2:00 PM CT, SEC Network+): FBS-on-FCS crime; no line.

Ole Miss at Tulane (2:30 PM CT, ESPN2): Look, I just want to point out here that Lane Kiffin referred to having Tulane on the schedule as being like having a ninth SEC game. This is fundamentally correct in that Tulane is, in fact, an SEC school. This is fundamentally wrong in that Ole Miss plays Georgia Tech next week and Lane Kiffin does not properly recognize Georgia Tech as an SEC school, or perhaps this is truly next-level and he is not counting their game with Texas A&M as a conference game.

Score prediction: Tulane 37, Ole Miss 35

Picks: Tulane +7.5, Over 67

Texas A&M at Miami (2:30 PM CT, ABC): One of those games where, were I betting actual money on this, I would stay the hell away from it because while I think Texas A&M is good enough to cover the spread, this is also a weird spot and they could also lose to Miami. For purposes of this article, though, I have to make a pick, and...

Score prediction: Texas A&M 31, Miami 24

Picks: Texas A&M -4, Over 51

Kent State at Arkansas (3:00 PM CT, SEC Network): The gist of it: Kent State is ranked 133rd of 133 FBS teams in SP+. Pick accordingly.

Score prediction: Arkansas 59, Kent State 14

Picks: Arkansas -38, Over 58

Austin Peay at Tennessee (4:00 PM CT, SEC Network+): No line.

SMU at Oklahoma (5:00 PM CT, ESPN+): Do you believe in Oklahoma, or do you think last week’s 73-0 result was the result of Butch Jones Arkansas State being a dumpster fire? There’s probably some element of the latter but I definitely also believe the former.

Score prediction: Oklahoma 49, SMU 21

Picks: Oklahoma -16, Over 68.5

Texas at Alabama (6:00 PM CT, ESPN): Another “I wouldn’t touch this with a 20-foot pole were it not for the premise of this column,” because Texas could win outright or get blown out and neither result would really surprise me.

Score prediction: Texas 28, Alabama 24

Picks: Texas +7, Under 54

Middle Tennessee at Missouri (6:00 PM CT, SEC Network+): This game is going to be terrible. Bet the under, definitely.

Score prediction: Missouri 28, Middle Tennessee 14

Picks: Middle Tennessee +21, Under 47.5

Arizona at Mississippi State (6:30 PM CT, SEC Network): This should be fun. Another possible upset special, though I think this is more of the “Mississippi State wins but doesn’t cover” variety than an outright win for the visiting Wildcats.

Score prediction: Mississippi State 31, Arizona 26

Picks: Arizona +9, Under 60

Grambling at LSU; McNeese at Florida; Furman at South Carolina (6:30 PM CT, SEC Network+ except that Florida is on ESPNU for some reason): Nope, I don’t care about these.

Auburn at Cal (9:30 PM CT, ESPN): Unrelated thought: how mad do you think it makes UC Berkeley that a freaking Auburn grad is the CEO of Apple? As far as this actual game goes, never discount that Auburn is playing a game that kicks off at 9:30 PM Central.

Score prediction: Cal 31, Auburn 22

Picks: Cal +6.5, Under 54.5