By Brian Harbach

South Carolina at Vanderbilt
Thursday, September 4th
Background: The first SEC game of the year will take place in Nashville tonight, Vandy looked good on offense in their opener; South Carolina did not. Although the offenses were opposites in week one, this game should come down to defense in a pretty low scoring ball game.
What’s Going Good: Chris Nickson of Vanderbilt lit up the Miami (OH) defense last week with over 160 rushing yards. It looks like Bobby Johnson picked the right man to lead his offense in 2008.
What’s Looking Bad: The South Carolina quarterback position is still to be determined. This week’s starter Chris Smelley played well in the 4th quarter last week, but against a broken NC State Defense. It will very interesting to see how Smelley plays tonight against a fresh and fired up defense.
Bottom Line: Vandy will be very motivated in their home opener and they do have an outside shot at a bowl game if they can win tonight, but South Carolina’s defense will be too much and the Gamecock offense will do just enough.
Predicted Score
South Carolina 20
Vanderbilt 14

Southern Miss at Auburn
Saturday, September 6th
Background: Southern Miss takes another shot at beating an SEC team, something they have not done since beaten Alabama in 2000. The Auburn passing game looked terrible last week, but the running game looked impressive.
What’s Going Good: The Auburn running game ran for over 320 yards last week against Louisiana Monroe and everyone got in on the action from Kodi Burns to true freshmen Eric Smith. Tristan Davis returning this week is not a good sign for a Southern Miss defense that gave up over 250 rushing yards last week.
What’s Looking Bad: Auburn quarterbacks combined to throw 13-27 passes for 85 yards in the season opener, Chris Todd will get the start this week with a hurt Kodi Burns maybe getting in for a series or two.
Bottom Line: Auburn is much better than Southern Miss and the Tiger defense was nasty last week, this game will look a lot like last weeks with the run game leading Auburn to victory.
Predicted Score
Southern Miss 13
Auburn 31

Tulane at Alabama
Saturday, September 6th
Background: Alabama played almost a perfect game knocking off previous top 10 Clemson in the Georgia dome last weekend, now they head back to Tuscaloosa to play in front of their home crowd.
What’s Going Good: What isn’t going good for Bama this week? The young players looked great, the defense looked physical and they look very well coached after the first week.
What’s Looking Bad: The only negative after such a huge win is the possibility of a let down. This doesn’t seem likely, but there is no way they will be as fired up to play Tulane as they were for Clemson.
Bottom Line: Alabama is just a better team than Tulane, Saban gets the Tide focused and they win this game easily.
Predicted Score
Tulane 10
Alabama 41

Central Michigan at Georgia
Saturday, September 6th
Background:
Central Michigan brings in a pretty experienced quarterback in Dan LeFevour, but they have always struggled against top competition. UGA will be pretty upset after falling in the polls after winning their first game of the year.
What’s Going Good: The Georgia offense led by Matthew Stafford looked very good last week and so did their young receivers. AJ Green looked like an upperclassmen in his first game as true freshmen and should only get better as the season progresses.
What’s Looking Bad: Another Bulldog is out for the year, senior defensive tackle Jeff Owens hurt his knee in the Georgia Southern game last week and while UGA has great depth, losing starters is never a good thing.
Bottom Line: An angry UGA team will be looking to prove something the next 2 weeks before their big game at Arizona State; Saturday the Bulldogs make a big statement.
Predicted Score Central Michigan 10
Georgia 49

Norfolk State at Kentucky
Saturday, September 6th
Background: Kentucky opens at home after routing in state rival Louisville on the road last weekend in an ugly game played Sunday afternoon. The only points Kentucky gave up was a safety to the rival Cardinals.
What’s Going Good: The Kentucky defense looked great last weekend, forcing turnovers and keeping the Louisville offense from scoring any points.
What’s Looking Bad: 210 total yards of offense, are you kidding me? Kentucky needs to adjust this quickly if they want to try and get back into the bowl picture.
Bottom Line: Kentucky should handle lower level Norfolk State with little trouble, this should be a great game for the offense to get into a groove after last week’s struggles.
Predicted Score
Norfolk State 6
Kentucky 42

Ole Miss at Wake Forest
Saturday, September 6th
Background: ACC fans must be pretty nervous about this one; the new best of the ACC has to take on another middle of the road SEC team. Another SEC win over the ACC could knock the entire conference out of the BCS
What’s Going Good: Jevan Snead hit some big passes last week, but he needs to get his completion percentage up a little. He should have time to throw the ball this weekend, he just needs to be more accurate.
What’s Looking Bad: The Ole Miss defense minus their two best players gave up a lot of yards to Memphis, the Wake Forest offense is hard to defend and very unpredictable. It will be assignment defense this weekend and the young Rebels better be prepared for it.
Bottom Line: Strike while the iron is hot and go with the SEC over the ACC. The ACC needs this game to earn some respectability nationally, but Ole Miss has the athletes to run with the Demon Deacons. This game will be Jevan Snead’s coming out party.
Predicted Score
Ole Miss 27
Wake Forest 24

Miami at Florida
Saturday, September 6th
Background: Five years ago this game would have been talked about as much as Ohio State/USC is being discussed. Oh how the mighty have fallen…the Gators are dominating the state of Florida while Miami is playing catch up.
What’s Going Good: It looks like Tim Tebow will not be as big a part of the Florida offense as he was last year. Of course he is what makes the Gator offense go, but after the first week Tebow was able to rely on other running back and he only threw the ball 14 times. A lesser used Tebow means a healthier Tebow for Urban Meyer and that is good for the Gators.
What’s Looking Bad: 13 penalties for 90 yards in the season opener tells me this team was not very disciplined to start the year. Florida needs to clean that up quick before it becomes an issue in bigger games.
Bottom Line: The Gators playing a huge rival, in the swamp, at night, should make for a pretty great atmosphere. Percy Harvin and Brandon Spikes returning is an even bigger deal for the Gators as they beat da U.
Predicted Score
Miami 17
Florida 31

SE Louisiana at MSU
Saturday, September 6th
Background: Mississippi State returns home after a difficult loss to start their 2008 season, the Bulldogs need a strong showing this week after losing to Louisiana Tech last weekend.
What’s Going Good: The return of Derek Pegues should help the MSU defense and special teams. Coming back from a one game suspension could not happen at a better time because the team needs him badly.
What’s Looking Bad: The Bulldogs turned the ball over 5 times in their loss at LA Tech, three of those were interceptions by Wesley Carroll. The MSU offense does not have a game-breaker and won’t win games if they fall behind in the turnover battle.
Bottom Line: State should have no problem winning this game, but they need to be dominant to prove to their fans last week was just a bad dream. Another poor performance will not be good with Auburn coming to town next weekend.
Predicted Score
SE Louisiana 12
MSU 38

LA Monroe at Arkansas
Saturday, September 6th
Background: For the second week in a row Louisiana Monroe takes on an SEC team, last week they lost to Auburn 34-0. Arkansas didn’t look like a world beater in their close win last week, but teams improve the most between game 1 and game 2.
What’s Going Good: Did you know that Casey Dick has more 300 yd passing games than Matthew Stafford? Well, you do now. Arkansas struggled last week against a lower level team, but Dick proved he can do more than hand the ball off.
What’s Looking Bad: 76 rushing yards against a 1AA school is very surprising and not what we expect from Arkansas. We don’t expect Casey Dick to throw for 300 yards either so maybe this is the new era of Hog football. Either way, Arkansas will need to be more balance if they want to get back to the postseason.
Bottom Line: With Dick’s confidence in throwing the ball at an all time high, he takes the Razorbacks another step in the right direction beating the Warhawks in another barn burner in Fayetteville.
Predicted Score
LA Monroe 17
Arkansas 21

Season Record 9-3

What do you think of the picks? Let me know where I got it wrong, E-mail me Brian Harbach

Y’all Play Nice Week Two, September 3, 2008
The SEC Bachstory, September 1, 2008
SEC Picks Week One, August 28, 2008
Y’all Play Nice, August 28, 2008
The SEC Bachstory, August 25, 2008
Y’all Play Nice, August 21, 2008
The SEC Bachstory, August 18, 2008
Has Spurrier Failed at USC?, August 15, 2008
The SEC Bachstory, August 11, 2008
The SEC Bachstory, August 3, 2008
Harbach's Top 5 SEC Offensive Players by Position, July 27, 2008
Harbach's Top 5 SEC Defensive Players by Position, July 27, 2008
Harbach's Top SEC Games, July 13, 2008
Championship Game Hurts SEC, July 6, 2008
Harbach's 2008 SEC Preview, June 30, 2008
Let's Get This Started, June 9, 2008