Week Two SEC Predictions

Week one of the SEC slate is in the books and we went 8-2 against a very easy crop of games (missed on UGA and LSU games). This week is another slow week but there are some interesting match-ups with the marquee games being Georgia/South Carolina, Miss St/Auburn and Alabama/Penn State. Here are my predictions for week two:

Central Michigan (1-0) at Kentucky (1-0) , noon EST, ESPNU

Kentucky looked awful last week against Western Kentucky. I would expect Kentucky to look better this week but I’m not expecting them to blow doors. Central Michigan is still a team trying to find their way and I don’t see them breaking through this week. Kentucky wins another squeaker.

Kentucky 21 Central Michigan 13

Mississippi State (1-0) at Auburn (1-0), 12:21 EST, SEC Network/ESPN3

Auburn came so close to losing to Utah State last week and Miss State destroyed Memphis. The one chance Auburn has in this game is to ride Gus Malzahn to victory and outscore the Bulldogs because I just don’t see Auburn’s young defense stopping Chris Relf and Vick Ballard.

Mississippi State 35 Auburn 27

Alabama (1-0) at Penn State (1-0), 3:30 EST, ABC

Penn State looked impressive last week but they played Indiana State (who got dropped by a horrible Cincinnati team 40-7 last year). Last year Bama rolled 24-3, this year I think it’s a similar score. Look for Bama to play A.J. McCarron a little bit more this week and I think that will help them stabilize the offense a bit.

Alabama 27 Penn State 10

Cincinnati (1-0) at Tennessee (1-0), 3:30 EST, ESPN2

This is a really intriguing game. You have two teams that are sort of at a cross-roads of their early season. Both teams looked really good last week in dispatching lesser opponents. This week will tell if these two teams are on the road to improvement this year or are resigned to having a year like they did in 2010. Tennessee should be able to exploit the Bearcats defense but they might struggle with stopping Zach Collaros and the Cincinnati offense. I like Tennessee in a close one but the higher the score gets the more I swing over to the Bearcats pulling a mild upset.

Tennessee 31 Cincinnati 27

South Carolina (1-0) at Georgia (0-1), 4:30 EST, ESPN

This game is the subject of our weekly “Big Game” Preview. So go here to check out my analysis and prediction.

Southern Illinois (1-0) at Ole Miss (0-1), 6PM EST, ESPN3

Ole Miss should have beat BYU. It’s not that they were the better team but they did control the score board for the majority of the game. Should Ole Miss be on “upset alert” after their loss to Jacksonville State last year? I think Ole Miss finds an offense and wins this one going away.

Ole Miss 31 Southern Illinois 10

New Mexico (0-1) at Arkansas (1-0), 7PM EST, ESPNU

Arkansas and Bobby Petrino always bring in some patsies before the tougher part of their schedule. This year they have the ultimate patsy in New Mexico. Arkansas wins this one in a bully beatdown.

Arkansas 45 New Mexico 10

UAB (0-0) at Florida (1-0), 7PM EST, ESPN3

It’s a good thing UAB had their off week last week so they could prepare for Florida. Oh, what’s that? They had all off-season to prepare? UAB was off last week for some unknown mind-boggling reason instead of using that time to get some game experience and get ready for Florida. Florida took the field last week against an FAU team that is not supposed to be any good but Florida passed it’s test with flying colors. I’m not sure who picked the Arky/NM game over this one for TV but they picked wrong. This is a much more intriguging match-up if just to see if Florida can play as well as they did last week and if they could be real this year. It should be noted that FAU beat UAB last year by 11. I know it’s not 2010 but I don’t see this one being too close.

Florida 35 UAB 7

UConn (1-0) at Vanderbilt (1-0), 7:30 EST, ESPN3

Here you have the Big East Champion from last year against the perennial worst team in the SEC. Sound like a no-brainer, right? Not so fast, UConn lost a bunch of talent off of last years team and also lost their coach and Vandy brings in a new coach this year. The spread on this game is Vandy by 2. Both teams had easy games last week and won easily. So far I’ve got the SEC winning every non-conference game they are in this week and I think they will slip up somewhere and outside of Tennessee/Cincy this is the most likely spot. UConn wins in an ugly, ugly game.

UConn 17 Vanderbilt 13

Northwestern St (1-0) at LSU (1-0), 8PM EST

Could LSU have a let-down after their big win over Oregon? Yes they could but not a big enough one to lose this game. LSU rolls, Les eats grass in celebration.

LSU 38 Northwestern St 6