PIG'S PICKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For those of you out there who know me you know how incredibly intelligent I am. One of my many talents is the ability to win you money picking college football games.

You might be asking yourself "If you are so smart why don't you bet and make a bunch of money for yourself?" Good question and the answer is simple....my wife won't let me, and I do what she says.

Anyway lets look at this weeks SEC games, you listen to Pig's Picks and write in next week and let me know how much money I made you. If you lose then betting is a sin and you should stop anyway.


SEC SLATE:

# 2 Alabama vs. Kentucky Line: Alabama by 15.5 points

Alabama will win the game but will not play their best coming off their huge win last week and 15.5 is a lot of points to cover against a somewhat good SEC team. The Tide wins, but take the Fightin' Rich Brooks' to cover. The more important questions in this game are 1. Where will I park? 2. How nice is the new Houndstooth?

PIGS PICK: Kentucky to cover

# 12 Florida at Arkansas Line: Florida by 24 1/2

That is a ton of points to give up. Florida just dropped a stunner to Ole Miss at home. Arkansas is brutal. Just brutal. This is not a good recipe. Sure Florida has to travel a long way for the game but it should not matter. Florida rolls over the hapless Hogs.

PIG'S PICK: Florida

# 13 Auburn at # 19 Vandy Line: Auburn by 4

Lot of questions here. Why is Auburn's offense so bad? Is this Vandy team for real? Is College Gameday really in Nashville? Why is College Gameday coming to Nashville the one time I won't be here? Will all 7 Vandy fans show up at 9am for Gameday? Could I play QB for Auburn? Anyway back to the game. When Tommy Tuberville called me this week for clothing advice I told him to ditch the spread and run the ball like a man. I also told him to stick to his current wardrobe and wear 45 layers and just pick random colors. He will listen for at least a week. I say Auburn wins the game but its CLOOOOOOOSE! My Magic 8 Ball tells me a late FG gives awwwwwwwwwburn the win.

PIG'S PICK: VANDY to cover

South Carolina at Ole Miss Line: Ole Miss by 2 1/2

Can Tuscaloosa native and Gamecock quarterback Chris Smelley outplay Ole Miss QB Jevan Sneed in Oxford? No. My inside sources (ESPN) tell me freshman QB Stephen Garcia will not start but get plenty of time to try to get South Carolina their first SEC win since 1947. No but seriously the Gamecocks have lost 6 SEC games in a row.

PIG'S PICK: OLE MISS

Game Six Preview: Kentucky

The 2nd ranked and undefeated Alabama Crimson Tide football team welcomes another undefeated foe this weekend as the Kentucky Wildcats come to Tuscaloosa.

Kentucky (4-0), who probably has not received enough attention five weeks into the year, began the season with a surprising 27-2 win at Louisville in front of a national television audience in impressive fashion. Since then Kentucky has feasted on a directional school buffet with wins over Nofolk St., Middle Tennessee St., and Western Kentucky (this is the reason you have not heard much about UK this year).


Although they have not played a tough schedule thus far, UK has shown they can be a good team. Also a concern is a possible mental letdown from Alabama coming off a gigantic win last weekend at # 3 Georgia. Anytime you win a game that big and move to # 2 in the nation the risk of letting success go to your head is always there. Kentucky Head Coach Rich Brooks does not think that will happen.

"All I know is we've got to play them and what they've done the week before isn't a significant factor," Brooks said of Alabama. "The fact is they are the No. 2 team in the nation, they are undefeated and the closest game they've had is Tulane and they probably weren't as interested in that game as the others. Alabama has made a statement and is on a mission. We know Coach Saban is very good at keeping his team focused."

You are right Coach Brooks, it does seem Coach Saban is very good at that. As we were all celebrating the win last weekend Nick Saban was on every TV channel in America talking about how bad we played in the 2nd half. While he did finally admit he was very happy with the win you could tell Saban would make sure Alabama would be ready to go for this game.

Enough on that, now to some notes on Kentucky....

-First-year starter Mike Hartline has thrown for 633 yards this season and three touchdowns in his last two contests as he continues to improve.

"I am about as pleased as I can be for what he has done in his first four starts," Brooks said about Hartline. "He is throwing the ball more consistently than I felt he would."

A key to winning this game is stopping Hartline and his favorite target Dicky Lyons (have to respect a grown man who goes by Dicky). Our boy Dicky has 25 receptions, 189 yards, and a touchdown in the year.

Anyway you do not care about all this and I will not bore you with what Alabama can and can't do (cover punts and kickoffs) because if you are reading this you already know those things.

Bottom line: Alabama wins the game, but does not cover. Final score: 'Bama 24-14.

Is Anyone Really Legit?

As we navigate through the 2008 college football season, one thing is for certain, after a team is defeated by Alabama they suddenly lose their reputation as a upper echelon football team.

Prior to Alabama's victory over Clemson in the Georgia Dome, the Tigers were seen by many analysts and fans throughout the country to be a national title contender, but after the Tide had their way with the on the field turf in Atlanta they were simply another "sad" excuse for another over hyped Clemson team.

Then you have the meeting "between the hedges" in Athens this past weekend. My question is where were the skeptics of Georgia before the game? All Alabama fans heard throughout the week prior to the game was, "Georgia's skill people are just to much to overcome for the Tide."

Good call on that, skeptics.

Georgia's vaunted running back, Knowshon Moreno, had 34 yards on nine carries. While Matthew Stafford was knocked to the ground so often by the Tide's defense he was unable ,to participate in the post game press conference due to headaches.

Even Georgia Coach Mark Rict has to search for a "silver lining".

"Let's talk about the game, or at least let's talk about the second half," said Richt, whose team trailed 31-0 at halftime. "We won 30-10. We dominated them in the second half."

I guess he's a "glass half full" kind of guy. The only problem is the other half of the glass spilled in his lap. Sometimes it seems people have real difficulty giving somebody, or in this case some team, their just deserves.

Somebody Needs a Pick-Me-Up!

Monday's Roll Tide News

Below is a link detailing today's activities in the world of Alabama football given to you by our boy Ian Rapoport of the Birmingham News.

MONDAY'S RAP SHEET

While you never want to see injuries during the middle of SEC play, the tender hamstring of WR Mike McCoy will allow Alabama to build some depth at the position with Nikita Stover, Will Oakley, and B.J. Scott likely getting more looks if McCoy can not go Saturday against Kentucky.

BAMA In the National Title Game...Would I Lie to You?

I took a gander at ESPN.com's latest bowl projections on Sunday night and found something interesting....us in the BCS Title Game against the Oklahoma Sooners or Missouri Tigers. While nobody has yet to identify what exactly a Sooner is, it would be awesome to play them, or anybody else, in the title game.

Are we getting ahead of ourselves??? Absolutely, but after the last few years of mediocrity all this positive national attention has me feeling like Terrence Cody walking into a Golden Corral....amazing.

Here is the link:

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/bowlprojection?season=2008&week=5

Stafford Needs Some BC Powder

Just moments after his offense was undressed by the 'Bama defense, Georgia Quarterback Matthew Stafford, refused to
participate in the post game press conference due to extreme headaches.

"(Director of Sports Medicine) Ron (Courson) does not think it was a concussion, but (Stafford's) head was knocked around pretty good," Richt said. "There was no loss of consciousness or thought process or anything like that, he was fine in that regard."

True this is no laughing matter, but it is sort of funny. You see Georgia, you aren't in Tempe anymore, nor or we Hawaii.

Alabama is winning by dominating competitors in the trenches. Not only are the "Big Uglies" dominating defensive lines, but they are dominating the previous number one rush defense in the country.

This Alabama team still has a LONG way to go, but shows more signs for the 'Bama nation to be excited than we have seen in the last fifteen years.

# 8 BAMA LIGHTS UP # 3 DAWGS IN ATHENS

All week we heard about the vaunted "blackout" at Sanford Stadium in Athens, GA Saturday night. When the game started it looked like the the # 3 Georgia Bulldogs had "blacked-out".

# 8 Alabama (5-0, 2-0) dominated from the first play and scored on its first five possessions to take a 31-0 lead into halftime, answering any lingering questions if this Crimson Tide team is legit.

Nick Saban had Alabama ready to play in a hostile environment for the second week in a row and completely out-coached Georgia's Mark Richt.

It was really the same ole story we have seen all year as the Tide just flat beat the other team up on both sides of the ball. Our offensive line dominated a Dawg defense that came into the match up # 1 in the country against the run, and our defense had Georgia QB Matthew Stafford running for his life all night and made Heisman contender Knowshon Moreno irrelevant in the outcome.


I will not bore you with stats or how it got a little hairy in the 2nd half (pun intended) after Georgia got within 14 points. The bottom line is Alabama answered the Georgia run, went on the road in the SEC against the # 3 team in America and beat the tar out of them...when is the last time we can say that happened?

After Alabama opened the season with a huge win against then # 9 Clemson the story was not how good Alabama looked, but how bad Clemson did, it will be the exact opposite this week. The story is not what happened to Georgia but how much better Alabama was then the 'Dawgs in their own backyard.


Alabama now will be in the national championship conversation, for at least a week. Alabama has another big test as undefeated Kentucky comes to Tuscaloosa this Saturday, but we can worry about that in a few days. Today is just about enjoying Alabama being one the premier teams in America again.