Once again, it’s time to get this party started.

For those who have been here before, welcome back. You know what to expect.

For those of you who are new, welcome to the SEC Pick of the Week column here at The Saturday Edge. In this space, all season long, we’ll cover the pick of the week, chosen by yours truly, along with an upset pick, a game to keep an eye on and some trends – both good and bad.

Also, for those keeping score, we’ll start this year with an overall record of 25-15 ATS since 2015.

As for week one, well, here we go…

Wait, two quick things: 1) Somehow, this was all written in reverse order. 2) Can I go against the SEC in a SEC pick? Is that legal?

Oh, one more notation: Against the SEC, hmm, foreshadowing alert?

SEC Pick of the Week: Tennessee vs. No. 17 West Virginia (-10) in Charlotte, NC at 3:30pm ET on CBS.

For those of you who have read this column for the past couple of years, you know very well that I’ve devopled a few rules – that I break constantly, it seems – that I try to follow. Well, we’re going to follow them this year. No question about it.

Having said that, here’s rule number one (again): Never, ever take – bet on – Tennessee.

As much as it pains me to root for Will Grier, I just have to. Remember the last time he played against the Vols? Man, that was awesome. Plus, I really like David Stills at wide receiver.

If the Mountineers defense holds, this could be a rout. And I mean that.

West Virginia could win 9-10 games this year, easily. Tennessee on the other hand, might win five.

Take the Mountaineers and the points.

Upset alert: No. 9 Auburn (-2) vs. No. 6 Washington in Atlanta, GA at 3:30pm ET on ABC.

Again, maybe it’s just me, but why is everyone so high on the Huskies? Is it because I’m a SEC guy – not a homer, but yeah okay, I pull for the conference, albeit rooting for Georgia and Tennessee is tough.

Oh! That reminds me…

First fun fact of the season: The 1998 BCS National Championship Game which pitted FSU against Tennessee, yeah, toughest game I’ve ever watched. EVER. I’ll never publicly say who I rooted for, though I will admit to this: as a 14-year old in my father’s bowl betting pool I picked FSU. Cost me first-place and roughly $700. He was pissed. Said I should never go against the SEC. Lesson learned.

(For those interested, yes, I did redeem myself a few times and won the pool a couple of times.)

Anyway, back to Auburn. I like Auburn enough, but with so many people, including Vegas, as high on the Huskies as they are it leads me to believe that I’m missing something.

Am I?

Keep an eye on: No. 25 LSU (+3.5) vs. No. 8 Miami in Arlington, TX at 7:30pm ET on ABC.

As I’ve said a few times on Twitter and in a previous piece here at Saturday Edge, I’m not high – or bullish, if that’s the term you want to use – on the Tigers this year. At all.

I see things going very badly.

To put it another way: in my opinion, the chances things go badly is a lot higher than the chances that things don’t.

And it all begins against the Hurricanes in week one. I think Joe Burrow is a fine quarterback and all, but Mark Richt has Miami going places. At least that’s the impression that I’m getting.

But this is LSU and I’ll venture to say that there will be twice as many LSU fans at AT&T stadium than Miami fans, so at least they’ve got that.

Trending up/trending down:

I had this section planned out and written for two weeks and then erased it all shortly before publication.

We’ll get to this section beginning with next week.

It’s college football time y’all!