Colorado State should be another easy win for Hogs

Arkansas goes for a second win to start the Chad Morris Era on Saturday night in Colorado against Colorado State in a game that shouldn’t be one by halftime.

Again.

Last week, the Razorbacks didn’t exactly stumble out of the gate against FCS opponent Eastern Illinois, but they didn’t really break at full stride.

The guess here is that won’t happen this week. The Rams, coached by former Georgia quarterback Mike Bobo, have a secondary that gives up big plays in bunches so you wouldn’t think they would force the Hogs to throw.

That didn’t work well for Eastern Illinois last week.

If things hold true to form, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Colorado State start off by making Arkansas prove they can run the ball against a normal front.

To tell you the truth, I’d kinda like to see how that works myself. Last week’s game may or may not have created more questions than we had about the offensive line coming into the game. Because there often was everybody but the cheerleaders in the box it’s hard to tell.

Shoot, it wouldn’t surprise me if the Rams drop six or seven to stop the passing until the running game proves it can consistently get first downs. Then we’ll find out if offensive coordinator Joe Craddock has the patience to just run the ball until they show they can stop it.

My guess is they should be able to do that against this team, which isn’t very good.

The Hogs come into the game as a 14-point favorite, but I think that’s a little low. That line is probably based on a lack of money coming in on the Hogs because folks have the same questions I do.

This one is more than a two-touchdown game just based on the talent differential.

Arkansas 51, Colorado State 21

In other games around the SEC, there is only two conference matchups. We’ll go ahead and knock out Vanderbilt over Nevada, Ole Miss over Southern Illinois, Tennessee over East Tennessee State, LSU over Southeast Louisiana, Missouri over Wyoming and Auburn will likely beat Alabama State to a bloody pulp.

Our record last week was 12-1 and I didn’t count on LSU playing a team that was going to just lay down like Miami did.

-8 Mississippi State at Kansas State

We’ll have a better read on the Bulldogs and first-year coach Joe Moorhead after this game, which is usually the type game that trips up Mississippi State.

The Wildcats aren’t expected to be very good, but Bill Snyder hasn’t lasted as long as he has without pulling bigger upsets over higher-ranked teams than this.

I’m not ready to step up and pick K-State to pull an upset, but it’s going to be closer than the betting spread.

Mississippi State 28, Kansas State 24

-10 Georgia at South Carolina

We find out if the Gamecocks are for real in this game with Deebo Samuel at full strength.

They probably are better than what a lot of people think, but that doesn’t mean they’re ready to step up and knock off the Bulldogs.

South Carolina may keep it closer than folks think, but don’t look for them to pull out a straight-up win.

Georgia 31, South Carolina 28

Arkansas State at -36 Alabama

Okay Red Wolves’ fans, you don’t have to win this game to make a huge statement. Quite frankly, if ASU keeps it inside four touchdowns it’ll be a big time win, although you might be hard-pressed to get anybody in Jonesboro to agree.

The Crimson Tide could — and I’ll admit this is a ridiculously wild prediction to even discuss — be one of the best teams in modern-day football.

The worst thing in the world for ASU was Nick Saban getting ticked off in last week’s 51-14 beatdown of Louisville.

You can bet Alabama will be razor-sharp focused on this one and probably won’t let off the gas until the clock runs out.

Alabama 63, Arkansas State 7

Clemson -12 at Texas A&M

I actually had an Aggie send me a message this week they were going to pull the biggest upset of the season this week against Clemson.

Whether he was sober or not is not known beyond a shadow of doubt. But there is no doubt a large number of Aggies feel the same way.

And that’s part of why Jimbo Fisher is not going to ever be able to pull A&M to the level of an Alabama or, more to the point, even Clemson.

They sure won’t do it two weeks into his first season.

Clemson 42, Texas A&M 14

Kentucky at -13½ Florida

It’s been over 30 years since the Wildcats have beaten the Gators. I wasn’t even 30 years old and don’t even remember noticing the score, which actually says more about the state of Florida football than Kentucky.

In the following years, in fact, the Wildcats have lost by one score just six times and three of those have come in the last four seasons.

And, again, that says more about Florida football than Kentucky.

With Dan Mullen now directing the Gators they looked more organized offensively last week in their opener than they have in the last several years.

Florida 35, Kentucky 14