Smokey’s Week 10 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.
All kidding aside, Auburn is in trouble. The defense has never been as good as people claimed, and it has repeatedly allowed opponents to score points in critical situations. As bizarre as it may seem, it is possible that Ole Miss represents the most complete team Auburn has faced to this point. The Yard remains convinced that LSU is a paper tiger, and West Virginia would only have a successful season if it could play teams as bad as Auburn every week. We would normally engage in a little match-up handicapping at this point, but frankly why? While it is close on some aspects of the defense, we are confident in asserting that Ole Miss is better at every single position, across the board. The experts have this one pegged as a close game. We disagree.
Ole Miss 27 Auburn 10
Arkansas (3-5) vs. Tulsa (8-0)
Undefeated Tulsa rolls into Arkansas intent on continuing the Nut-Nut Karmic Retribution tour that is this year for Arkansas. After losing to the Nut-Nut, Gus Malzahn returns to Arkansas, number 1, 600 yards a game offense in tow. Malzahn just happens to be the man that broke the camel’s back for the Nut-Nut. Arkansas fans were so enamored with the high school whiz that they engaged in a suicidal jihad when Nutt insisted on using the so-so talant of Darren McFadden Malzahn’s first year, rather than pulling an Auburn and trying to force a system on players not prepared for it. This game is absolutely critical to Arkansas’s bowl hopes, as they must win 3 off the last 4 games, including battles against South Carolina and LSU. In other words, lose this one, and stay at home for the holidays.
This game comes down to Arkansas’s defense. Tulsa has shown an inability to stop the run. Or the pass for that matter. Arkansas can run the ball with the best of them, and will move the ball on Tulsa. If the Arkansas defense can step up, the piggies could win this one. Sadly, that is unlikely. So it becomes a “who scores last” contest. In that kind of game, the passing team invariably wins.
Tulsa 35 Arkansas 31
Miss. St. (3-5) vs. Kentucky (5-3)
I will keep this short. Kentucky looked bad last week. Miss. St. looks bad every week.
Kentucky 28 Miss. St. 14