For the third time in four weeks, your Anchor of Gold Staff (and Beloved Staff Alumni) got more than half of the picks against the spread right. The 38-34 mark for Week 3 games just edged out the Week 2 performance of 41-37 (52.78% vs 52.56%). The best news was that no one sucked this week. The worst was Cole at a respectable but still failing 5-7. Christian, Andrew, the Commentariat, and I all did just well enough to barely lose out on the vig at dead even 6-6. Tom managed a bit better at 7-5, and Import
again rocked out at 8-4.
Last week’s problems mostly stemmed from Georgia only winning by 3 as 3.5-point favorites over Tennessee with only Tom picking the evil oranges. Ole Miss letting Arkansas stay within 8.5 points tripped up everyone except Import. Somehow, I was the only one that saw Miami shellacking USF coming. Also, Texas A&M covering 6.5, much less winning outright, was only foreseen by Christian and I.
Week 4 is a shorter slate with Alabama, Kentucky, Georgia, and Texas A&M all on early byes while LSU faces FCS SE Louisiana. There are also 2 SEC-SEC matchups but no games against the P4. Ole Miss does face former SEC member Tulane. Only 4 of the 10 games have spreads within one score, and I am being generous counting 2 7.5-point spreads. Just as many games are 3+ TD spreads. Tennessee and Texas are favored by 39.5 and 41.5 points, respectively. I am sure weird things will happen that derail the staff’s early season successes.
The Rules
- Normally, the picks are for all SEC games with one dealer’s choice where I get to choose another game to make us pick.
- The picks will be made AGAINST THE SPREAD. Too many games are easy to pick heads up. Also, this will serve as a PSA for why you should not get into sports gambling, which is especially important with sports gambling being legal in Tennessee now.
- The lines will be taken from FanDuel, who SB Nation has partnered with this season, some time Monday, so they may not match what is listed at the time this article is published. I may also use a backup for FBS-FCS matchups if the line is available elsewhere when I get the spreads.
The Standings
| WRITER | SEASON | WEEK 3 | |||
| W | L | W | L | ||
| Import | 26 | 17 | 8 | 4 | |
| VU 04 | 25 | 18 | 6 | 6 | |
| Commentariat | 23 | 20 | 6 | 6 | |
| Tom | 19 | 24 | 7 | 5 | |
| CDA | 19 | 24 | 6 | 6 | |
| Patrick | 19 | 24 | 6 | 6 | |
| Cole | 19 | 24 | 5 | 7 | |
The Picks
| GAME | DotP | Cole | Tom | VU04 | CDA | Import |
| Georgia State (+26.5) @ Vanderbilt |
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| Auburn (+6.5) @ Oklahoma |
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| Arkansas (-7.5) @ Memphis |
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| UAB (+20.5) @ Tennessee |
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| Tulane (+12.5) @ Ole Miss |
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| NIU (+22.5) @ Mississippi State |
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| South Carolina (+12.5) @ Missouri |
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| Florida (+7.5) @ Miami |
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| Sam Houston (+41.5) @ Texas |
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| Texas Tech (+3.5) @ Utah |
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