Harvard Yard Picks

SEC West Game of the Week

Ole Miss (4-4) vs. Auburn (4-4)

With Alabama and LSU taking on patsies in the run up to the annual bloodletting in that increasingly vitriolic rivalry, the bowl elimination game between Ole Miss and Auburn becomes the biggest game in the West. This is a game Ole Miss can lose and still get to a bowl game, but Auburn needs this victory in the worst way. The Tigers are unlikely to stay within 21 points of their final two opponents, Georgia and Alabama, leaving Tennessee Martin as their only victory. That spells out a losing season for Auburn, unless they can defeat the Fighting Nut-Nuts of Ole Miss.

How likely is it that Auburn’s vaunted offense will go into Oxford and accomplish much of anything? Lotteries have better odds. Jabba the Nutt has a team with an offensive, a big plus when facing Auburn. Ole Miss has things like a quarterback and a running back. They even have an offensive line, and offensive specialists sometimes referred to as “wide receivers.” Granted, these are advanced football concepts, and it is remarkable that Houston Nutt has managed to produce them in a single season while Tommy Tubberville flails in the dark.

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Mmm...bacon!

South Carolina vs. LSU; Kentucky vs. Arkansas; Mississippi State vs. Tennessee

Smokey’s Game of the Week

South Carolina (5-2, 2-2) vs. LSU (4-1, 2-1)

In the land of the pines, this is what we call a helmet-gear matchup. Darth Visor and The Hat in a head covering death match. One coach is an offensive genius, a man who took Duke to levels it hadn’t seen since Wallace Wade and transformed Florida from a team in the basement of the SEC to a national powerhouse. Steve Spurrier looks to do the same at South Carolina, a relatively dormant program despite a traditionally deep talent pool in its home state. The other field general is a mentally unsound, football dilettante who fell bassackwards into a talent rich powerhouse that by all rights should have been the first team to win three straight national championships. Instead, Les Miles has presided over the slow deterioration of the LSU program, despite continued recruiting success and the dumb luckiest (emphasizing dumb) National Championship since the NCAA (never) started keeping records. This is a classic match up between talent and coaching. Spurrier has what Bryant had: he can take your’ens and beat his’ens and then take his’ens and beat your’ens. Les Miles suffers from lack of blood flow to the brain caused by the tightness of his two size too small hat, but has an overall talent advantage.  Still, you can never over-estimate Les Miles…when it comes to stupid.

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