RIP SEC

After multiple trips to Rose Bowls,season openers in Texas,and other Big Ten stadiums all I've wanted to see is the Badgers win a big game that I traveled to. I did not expect Saturday to be the day, but I got one hell of a surprise. I did not think Wisconsin would beat LSU, who is stacked at just about every position except QB. Now I didn't think it was going to be a blowout (overheard an LSU fan say they'd win 42-0). I did think we'd cover but I didn't think we would realistically have a shot to win the game. I'm glad I was dead wrong. The Badgers dominated at Lambeau, if it weren't for 3 bad turnovers the score would've been at least 20-nothing. Now all of a sudden the Badgers are in the top 10.

Next up the Badgers have what should be a couple of warm-up games before beginning their brutal Big Ten stretch. The offense did move the ball fairly well on Saturday. They'll need to get better at avoiding turnovers and scoring in the red zone, these next two weeks should help Bart Houston get a little more comfortable with the offense, hopefully we'll see a few big plays and shots downfield once in a while. The defense looked awesome. Leonard Fournette had a couple big plays, but nobody is gonna completely shut him down and holding him to 138 yards is pretty damn good considering he was their entire offense. Losing Chris Orr for the season is gonna hurt but Ryan Connelly, who I had never heard of before Saturday, made some great plays and within a few weeks TJ Edwards should be back. 

As for the rest of the country-the SEC is currently on life support, being held up by Alabama. Saban completely dominated USC, leaving no doubt who the current #1 should be. As for the rest of the conference? Texas A&M and Georgia had decent wins, but after that it goes downhill. East favorite Tennessee needed OT to beat Appalachian State, Arkansas only beat Louisiana Tech by 1 point, Ole Miss was looking good until they blew a 22 point lead against Florida State,Florida struggled with UMass and Mississippi State lost at home to South Alabama. I didn't even mention a few other losses by the bottom of the conference. 

Game of the week goes to Texas-Notre Dame. I didn't feel like moving at all on Sunday night. One gameday weekend had my body feeling like I had been through a week of two-a-days. This game kept me awake. It had everything you could want and more. Two big name teams, lots of lead changes, and crazy plays. I can't remember the last time I've seen an extra point blocked and returned for two to tie the game. The good thing about college football-there's plenty more of these games to come. 

On to this week's picks- I went 3-1 last week (4-1 if you include my Bones Guarantee). I guess I should've given Nebraska a little more respect.

Kentucky (+17) at Florida-this is the 2:30 CBS game. Kentucky lost to Southern Miss to open the year, and Florida only beat UMass, one of the worst teams in the country by 17. The last couple of years this has been a really close game, Kentucky covers 17 easily.

Appalachian State (-2) vs Old Dominion-I don't know much about Old Dominion, but Appalachian State should have beaten Tennessee last week. Even though the SEC is on its deathbed, it still is several levels above the likes of Old Dominion. App State wins this one at home.

South Carolina vs Mississippi State Under 45-I watched most of the South Carolina-Vandy game-the Gamecocks have no offense. The Bulldogs don't have Dak Prescott anymore, they only could put up 20 against South Alabama. Most of the time I would agree with Big Cat over at Barstool that life's too short to bet the under-this game is an exception.

Washington State (+11) at Boise State-I know Wazzu lost to an FCS team last week. Guess what? They did the same thing to start last year. I still believe in the Cougars this year. This one will be a shootout, even if they can't get a win on the blue turf they'll keep it close.

Bones Guarantee of the Week (Pick I like but is definitely gonna be wrong)
Ohio (+3) at Kansas- There's no way Kansas hits the over for their win total in week 2, right?

That's it for this week, not a great slate of games compared to last week but you never know what's gonna happen. The primetime ABC game is Virginia Tech-Tennessee playing in a NASCAR stadium, could be interesting. Also I know the NFL kicks off this week, I was just too lazy to write anything about it. My apologies to those depending on my advice to win them money on Sunday.