Pick of the Week: No. 10 Georgia (-20) vs. Vanderbilt, 3:30pm ET CBS.

The Georgia Bulldogs’ offense is rolling and the Vanderbilt Commodores are not. It’s pretty much as simple as that.

The Commodores were the only SEC team to lose last week (LSU’s game against McNeese State was canceled due to weather) and while they didn’t lose badly according to the scoreboard, they lost to a Western Kentucky team that has problems all over the field. It was definitely a game they should have won.

Meanwhile, the Bulldogs ran through UL Monroe both literally and figuratively. Running backs Nick Chubb and Keith Marshall combined for 193 yards and four touchdowns on twenty-six carries as quarterback Greyson Lambert knifed through the Warhawks’ defense for almost 150 yards and a couple of touchdowns.

If the Commodores have any chance to upset the Bulldogs in Nashville – yes, the game is in at Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tennessee but teams like Florida, Georgia, LSU and Tennessee use Nashville as a home game on the road because their respective fans travel so well – they’re going to have to rely on sophomore running back Ralph Webb.

Webb rushed for 70 yards on 18 carries last week against the Hilltoppers but he’ll need more against a Georgia defense that allowed just 45 yards rushing in their week one win.

If there is a weakness with the Georgia defense, it’s in the secondary but that’s more than likely to matter later on in the year.

And with the Commodore offensive line saying they’d rather have Webb than Chubb, it’s game on in Nashville. Expect the Bulldogs to win big.

 

Upset Alert: Florida (-20.5) vs. ECU, 7:00pm ET ESPN2

In a rematch of the Birmingham Bowl from last year, the Pirates of ECU travel to The Swamp in Gainesville, Florida to take on a rejuvenated Gators squad under first-year head coach Jim McElwain.

Do I honestly see an upset here? No. But with other SEC teams continuing with their cupcake portion of their schedule or playing a higher ranked team (hello, Tennessee) this game is about it.

That Birmingham Bowl last January, which was won by the Gators 28-20, could provide the Pirates with some confidence and maybe a fast start, but I don’t know how long that could last.

The Swamp is a different animal than anything Birmingham has to offer and the Gators’ biggest question mark over the last half-decade or so has seemingly been finally answered.

Speaking of that…

 

Trending up: Florida Gators’ quarterbacks

Ever since Tim Tebow left Gainesville the Gators have struggled to find a replacement. Among others, John Brantley and Jeff Driskel have given it a shot at quarterback with largely disappointing results.

Enter Treon Harris and Will Grier. Both members of former head coach Will Muschamp’s final recruiting class, the sophomore Harris and redshirt Grier played extremely well in the opener against New Mexico State last week.

The duo combined for over 380 yards passing and four touchdowns with only seven incompletions. Grier would also add a rushing touchdown to increase their combined touchdown total to five.

Sure it was against one of the worst FBS teams out there in New Mexico State, especially on defense, but any improvement like that has to be noticed.

 

Trending down: Tennessee’s defense

I’m not sure what it means for the rest of the season, but it surely can’t be good to give up 426 yards and two touchdowns through the air to a Bowling Green squad that had no business making a game out of it for almost three quarters in Knoxville last week.

Was it just youth, the fact that their position coach was suspended for the game due to a NCAA violation or something else?

Whatever the reason was, they better figure it out in a hurry because the Oklahoma Sooners will be in town this weekend and the Sooners have bigger goals in mind aside from a victory in Knoxville.

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