ANDY’S PICKS: A game that might not make folks happy

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas will beat former coach Bobby Petrino’s team Saturday.

The Bears just don’t have enough players to hang in with the Razorbacks for four quarters and come out on top. Sorry, but that’s playing the normal path.

The guess is this game is not going to make the coaches, players or fans happy with how it looks because all too often the speed and depth of the SEC causes some of these top teams to relax and not adapt to a slower team.

No matter how hard coaches try to instill respect, the players know exactly who they are playing. They get a littel over-confident and the result is you have a game that gets a little entertaining much later than anybody originally expected.

We could go into a million different analyses of this matchup, but the bottom line is Missouri State can’t win unless the Hogs help them. That could be in the form of penalties, turnovers or lack of interest.

All of that is why this game may be a little higher-scoring that some will like but you can expect the Bears to try and take advantage of the game of musical chairs going on in the Hogs’ secondary.

All of that makes this one much closer than anyone really wants.

Hogs 48, Missouri State 41

SEC Picks for Week 3

These early-season picks let folks like Pete Morgan pile up some wins that occasionally over-inflate their records, pull a rabbit out of the hat and some team falls apart, then you have a mess of upsets and everything blows up. Like last season.

But not right now.

(1) Georgia (-25) at South Carolin: If the Gamecocks had consistent problems with Arkansas’ pass rush, what’s going to happen against the best team in college football? Bulldogs 42, Gamecocks 14.

Youngstown State at (9) Kentucky (NL): This one won’t really be close. Kentucky went to the Swamp last week and came away with a win over a Florida team that just might have been a little cocky. Wildcats 41, Youngstown State 7.

Abilene Christian at Missouri (NL): Another one that probably won’t be close and Missouri should get at least one win as Eli Drinkwitz is struggling to get some wins or he’s going to be on the hot seat in Columbia. Tigers 31, Abilene Christian 6.

(20) Ole Miss (-17) at Georgia Tech: There might be just a few too many points being laid by some in this spread, but we’ll know a little more about Ole Miss’ quarterback situation this weekend. Ole Miss 34, Georgia Tech 21.

(22) Penn State (-2.5) at Auburn: This may be a strong nail in Bryan Harsin’s tenure, the Tigers have to come away with a win … any win. But the problems at quarterback might just be too much to overcome. Nittany Lions 28, Auburn 24.

Vanderbilt at Northern Illinois (-2.5): The Commodores go on the road into one of the toughest places on the road in college football that nobody really knows about. Northern Illinois 24, Vanderbilt 21.

Louisiana-Monroe at (2) Alabama (-49.5): This game was the worst in Nick Saban’s first year back in 2007 and you can bet he hasn’t forgotten, plus a win over Texas last week everybody thinks has the Crimson Tide coming back to the field. I’m just laughing because we’ve seen this movie before. Crimson Tide 56, Warhawks 6.

Mississippi State (-3) at LSU: If LSU doesn’t win this game, we’ll know the Tigers are the program that is on the downhil slide much more than Alabama. Mississippi State historically has blown this game when they should win easily, but maybe not this year. Bulldogs 28, LSU 27.

Akron at (15) Tennessee (-47.5): Expect to hear Rocky Top a lot in this one and it won’t be close. Vols 63, Arkron 13.

South Florida @ Florida (-24): After tripping and falling flat on their face against Kentucky last week, Billy Napier got the Gators’ attention in a quality loss. That probably won’t happen this week. Gators 35, South Florida 10.

(13) Miami at (24) Texas A&M (-6.5): If the Aggies can’t get a win here, the big matchup with Arkansas next Saturday at AT&T Stadium sort of loses a lot of the buildup people were trying to get for it. Next week won’t be the Top 10 matchup a lot of folks hoped for, but it may be shaping up as a landmine for the Hogs. Hurricanes 24, Aggies 21.