Southern Football Predictions

ATHENS - Dean Legge makes his weekly picks for the 23 schools in the South.

1. Auburn – Best in the South – LSU game is huge…

2. LSU – Win this week, and win the West

3. Florida – Gators looked smooth Saturday – can not afford a loss to Vols this weekend…

4. Georgia – Dawgs’ shut out of Cocks was impressive – now Georgia waits for Tennessee to come to Athens…

5. Tennessee – A virtual must-win for Vols this weekend …

6. Florida State – Troy State is a solid program, but they should not be pushing the Noles to the brink. How bad in the FSU offense anyway?

7. Miami – This week’s game looks like a loss…

8. Virginia Tech – Have not played a real team yet…

9. Alabama – Tide did not look good last week…

10. Clemson – Another September loss – not a surprise. Tigers need to get it together. Their game with FSU is their ACC season…

11. Georgia Tech – Jackets play a couple of nobodies before their season starts back. Could one nobody (Troy State) give them trouble?

12. Arkansas – New quarterback explains the result from last week. This week the Hogs need to put Vandy away early…

13. Maryland – Turtles stand no chance if West Virginia shows up at all…

14 South Carolina – This is the spot where southern football drops off significantly this season. You would figure Blake Mitchell would be working on how to score more points. Instead he was working on getting bond…

15. Ole Miss – Shutout against Missouri – terrible…

16. North Carolina – Should kill Furman…

17. Virginia – Very sketchy showing against Wyoming…

18. Vanderbilt – Played Bama hard, but did not win – that’s just not good enough…

19. Kentucky – Hey, at least they won…

20. Wake Forest – At least they beat Duke - barely…

21. Mississippi State – Still have not scored…

22. Duke – still pretty bad…

23. NC State – Worse than Duke and Mississippi State, and that’s really bad…

This week’s games:

NOTE: these are last Sunday’s lines; some may have moved

Maryland (+15) at West Virginia

Winner straight up – West Virginia

Winner with points – West Virginia

Comment – Maryland becomes Turtle Soup Thursday night…

-------------

Wake Forest (-5) at UConn

Winner straight up – Wake Forest

Winner with points – Wake Forest

Comment – Amazingly Wake is favored on the road – take them…

-------------

Duke (+35) at Virginia Tech

Winner straight up – Virginia Tech

Winner with points – Duke

Comment – Even Duke can score ten points, and that will be too much for the turkeys to cover…

-------------

Arkansas (-6) at Vanderbilt

Winner straight up – Arkansas

Winner with points – Arkansas

Comment – Hogs are a touchdown better…

-------------

UAB (+17.5) at Georgia

Winner straight up – Georgia

Winner with points – UAB

Comment – Dawgs are still working out the kinks on offense…

-------------

Troy State (+18) at Georgia Tech

Winner straight up – Georgia Tech

Winner with points – Troy State

Comment – Hey, I know is supposed to be TROY (like that matters)…

-------------

Western Michigan (+8.5) at Virginia

Winner straight up – Virginia

Winner with points – Western Michigan

Comment – Virginia could not cover against a team from near Canada last week. I am supposed to take them against another team from close to Canada?

-------------

Miami (+4.5) at Louisville

Winner straight up – Louisville

Winner with points – Miami

Comment – Canes lose a difficult one…

-------------

LSU (+3) at Auburn

Winner straight up – Auburn

Winner with points – Auburn

Comment –

Winner wins the West – the Tigers are a little bit better (Ha!)…

-------------

Ole Miss (+3.5) at Kentucky

Winner straight up – Ole Miss

Winner with points – Ole Miss

Comment – What a coaching matchup. I can’t wait to seem them scheme in this non-televised thriller…

-------------

Tulane (+11) at Mississippi State

Winner straight up – Mississippi State

Winner with points – Tulane

Comment – Mississippi State should never be favored…

-------------

Wofford (NL) at South Carolina

Winner straight up – South Carolina

Winner with points – No Line

Comment – Carolina fans chanted “Smelley… Smelley… Smelley…” – they are right, their team’s offense just plain stinks…

-------------

Louisiana-Monroe (+24.5) at Alabama

Winner straight up – Alabama

Winner with points – Louisiana-Monroe

Comment – That’s a half a point too much…

-------------

NC State (-2.5) at Southern Miss

Winner straight up – Southern Miss

Winner with points – Southern Miss

Comment – Wow, State is not good…

-------------

Furman at North Carolina

Winner straight up – North Carolina

Winner with points – No Line

Comment – This one looks like a blockbuster…

-------------

Clemson (+4) at Florida State

Winner straight up – Florida State

Winner with points – Clemson

Comment – Clemson will lose, its September, but they will go down in a close one (don’t be shocked if the Tigers win. They are not scared of FSU)…

-------------

Florida (-3.5) at Tennessee

Winner straight up – Florida

Winner with points – Florida

Comment – Gators seem better…

-------------

-------------

LOCK OF THE WEEK

-------------

-------------

Maryland (+15) at West Virginia

Winner with points – West Virginia

Comment – If the same WVU team shows up that did in the Sugar Bowl then Maryland could lose by five touchdowns…

-------------

-------------

Year – Lock of the week: 2 of 2 or 100% - Listen, it’s not the Lock of the Week for nothin’. Ok?

Year – Straight up: 34 out of 38 or 89% - Thanks Clemson and NC State!

Year – Points: 23 of 29 or 79% - Enter chest thumping here…