Week One 2015 SEC Pick of the Week.

 

 

 

No. 3 Alabama (-10) over No. 20 Wisconsin

I realize that picking Alabama isn’t really going out on a limb or even newsworthy, but it’s the beginning of the season and nearly all SEC teams are using this week as extra practice sessions by scheduling far lesser opponents. Therefore, a ranked out of conference match up makes the decision rather easy.

Even though the Crimson Tide will debut a new quarterback or two. Who will get the start against Wisconsin (and the rest of the season for that matter) is still up in the air as of this writing. Your guess is as good as mine on who will beat out who for the nod. It appears to be coming down to Jake Coker, Cooper Bateman or Alec Morris, but I’m sure head coach Nick Saban has more of an idea on who it’s going to be.

With that being said, Alabama is still more likely than not to be the Alabama we’ve all come to know. Unless Wisconsin comes out of the starting gate really strong, I expect Alabama to handle business.

The Crimson Tide might find the SEC West a little tougher this year, but that’s for another day. As long as they’re secondary holds up, the offensive line sorts its self out and a go-to wide receiver emerges, they’ll be just fine.

As for the Badgers, they could very easily win 10 or 11 games and qualify for the Playoffs, but to do that they’ll have to replace Melvin Gordon (easier said than done) and get more consistency out of quarterback Joel Stave.

Alabama isn’t the team for all that. The Crimson Tide are favored by 10 and I see them covering.

 

Upset Alert:

South Carolina (-2.5) vs. North Carolina

The trendy upset pick so far in Las Vegas has the Gamecocks going from a -3 1/2 favorite at open to around a -2.5 favorite as of this writing. I’m sure some of that has to do with the questions surrounding Gamecocks’ starting quarterback Conner Mitch.

The newly appointed leader of the Gamecocks has thrown six passes in his career and he’s even gotten former South Carolina quarterbacks to urge patience among the Gamecock faithful.

And remember last season’s opener? South Carolina had a big time game against Texas A&M, at home even, and promptly got blown out. Can head coach Steve Spurrier get the team ready in what could possibly be his last season in Columbia?

 

Texas A&M (-3) vs. No. 15 Arizona State

It isn’t too often that you see a ranked team beginning the season as an underdog but that’s what we’ve got here.

The game is being played in Houston at NRG Stadium and while that’s technically a neutral site, let’s not kid ourselves. There will be many more Aggie fans in and around the stadium on gameday than there will be Sun Devils.

According to some reports, A&M quarterback Kyle Allen is probable, which means he’ll play and he’ll probably play pretty good. This should be a high scoring affair and whoever has the ball last could come out on top.

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