Friday Mornings Around 9:15 I jump on our sister station Fox Sports Radio to pick this weeks biggest games with local sports legend Teddy Heffner We have to pick against the spread. Those are the point spreads Teddy found earlier in the week so the current spread is irrelevant for our contest. Now if you'd like to pick your 7 and see if you do better than me, you could win a Mathias Sandwich Tailgate Special. You just text your picks to 803-315 3292 to be entered. You don't need to explain your picks like I do below.
This weeks games
Ole Miss -9.5 at South Carolina 3:30 ESPN
I explained my reasons for taking the Gamecocks in this in a pretty extensive post yesterday. You can see that here.
Clemson -14.5 at Florida State 7 PM ESPN
The state of South Carolina will be locked into ESPN as at the conclusion of Gamecocks the network segues right into what has been the biggest game annually for the ACC the past decade or so. Not so much this year. FL State was throttled last week 42-14 by powerhouse (of the 1980's) SMU. Clemson waltzes into this contest a 2 TD favorite to presumably humiliate the Seminoles on the field that Bobby Bowden built. The only good news for FSU fans is your starting QB is out. Redshirt freshman quarterback Brock Glenn is set to start for the Seminoles after DJ Uiagalelei suffered a hand injury FSU leads the all-time series against Clemson, with a 21-15 record, including last seasons win 31-24. Despite being stacked with athletes this years FSU demonstrates how important a QB is to both sides of the ball. You obviously score less, but with a poor offense your defense is constantly trotting out and becomes exhausted meaning you give up more points as well. Clemson couldn't get their QB going in game 1 and they too were humiliated 34-3. Cade Klubnik has gotten back on track and over the past 3 games posted 159 points! I expect similar results Saturday night. Tigers to win!
Mizzou -2 at TX A&M Noon ABC
Ton of questions about both of these teams who had some preseason hype. A&M drops the opener to Notre Dame who hasn't looked so great since then. They beat Arkansas at Florida but no one is impressed so far. Mizzou barely won their last 2 games squeaking past Boston College by 6 at home and going to double OT against Vandy. Even the computer is having problems with this one! It simulates a game 20,000 times and this one has Mizzou winning only 51% of the time. And the average margin of win was 1 point! I'm taking the home underdog Aggies here.
Pitt -2.5 at UNC Noon ESPN 2
The other Noon game seems to be pretty tight as well featuring another home underdog. Both teams suck at pass defense ranked 93rd and 94th. UNC doesn't seem to be in a position to take advantage of that glaring problem as their pass offense is 49th but Pitt is with the 7th ranked passing unit. We're probably watching the swan song of a legend in Mack Brown who is 2.5 years older than Steve Spurrier was when he retired in October of the 2015 season. Could Mack follow that plan? We'll see how his team responds this week, but so far they haven't done much. They won 19-17 to start the season against an unimpressive Golden Gophers squad and then beat Charlotte and NC Central. They had planned 4 cupcakes to start the season but then got blown out by James Madison and last week gave up a 20-0 lead with 6 minutes left in the 3rd to lose 21-20. If they don't rally here in front of a home crowd that might mean bye bye before the face Georgia Tech next week. I expect Pitt to stomp on their hearts and win pretty big.
Duke -7 at GA Tech 8PM ESPN
Duke rolls their perfect record into the ramblin wreck this week. Tech impressed the CFB world taking down FSU week 1 but that win seems a lot less impressive now. Manny Diaz is trying to revive his coaching career at Duke after being fired in 2021 at Miami, and a win this week will probably have the Blue Devils ranked for the first time this year. When Mike Elko got them ranked last year he bolted for the A&M job. The last time Duke was ranked was 1 week (week 5) of the 2018 season so to have a new coach get them ranked would be huge for the program. It won't be that easy as Duke depends on a good pass rush ranked 8th in the nation with 17 sacks. However the Yellow Jackets are one of only three teams in the nation to not allow a sack all year! Also GA Tech is coming off a bye week. But the stat that jumped off the page to me was Duke is #1 in the country in blocked punts. 9 blocks in 5 games! They have also blocked 3 kicks! Special teams for the win. I'll take Duke on the road.
Miami -10 at Cal 10:30 PM ESPN
This is the weird world that conference realignment has brought us to. ACC fans will be up past midnight to see the conclusion of this game. But I don't expect many to stick around that long. The California O Line is horrible. UC Davis had six TFLs and one sack, Auburn eight TFLs and two sacks, San Diego State had seven TFLs and six sacks and Florida State had 12 TFLs and seven sacks. Miami is already top 10 in the nation in tackles for loss. Their D will completely dominate this game. Miami offense is also best in the country when it comes to passing. With an average of 392 YPG they will let the air out of this crowd early. They're also top in the nation in scoring at 49 points per game. The hardest part of this game will be the travel. Miami wins big
Central Florida -2.5 at Florida 7:45 SEC Network
Wow how the Gators have fallen! Underdogs at home to UCF! Florida was the 2nd-best team in college football at home for three decades 1990-2020, behind only Alabama. Under Billy Napier they're 5-6 against power conference foes and 3 of those wins came 2 years ago in Napier's first year. And UCF was thrashed last week at home by Coach Prime and CO State 48-21. Gus Malzahn is scheming against the Florida run d. UCF QB KJ Jefferson, is a quality runner and has 3 running back's in RJ Harvey, Peny Boone and Myles Montgomery, each of whom average at least 6.4 yards per rush.Last year when KJ was the Arkansas QB they got their only SEC win in the swamp. I think Florida and Graham Mertz will get some points but UCF will get more. I'm taking the Knights 35-28.
Tiebreaker: Rocket Sander rushes + yards + Juice Wells catches + receiving yards. Teddy has come up with an insane tiebreaker. I add all 4 numbers up and get 190
CLEMSON, SOUTH CAROLINA - SEPTEMBER 28: Head Coach Dabo Swinney of the Clemson Tigers greets fans after a football game against the Stanford Cardinal at Memorial Stadium on September 28, 2024 in Clemson, South Carolina. (Photo by David Jensen/Getty Images)Photo: David Jensen / Getty Images Sport / Getty Images