ESPN College Football

Posted by ESPN.com's Chris Low

Well, I’m 29-6 (.828) on the season and was 7-1 last week. It’s a record that looks good, but I’ll be the first to admit that I’m missing the big games.

I blew it on South Carolina’s 16-10 win over Ole Miss last Thursday. A lot of people around the country were picking the Gamecocks in the upset, but I couldn’t pull the trigger.

Having grown up in the state of South Carolina, I’ve just gotten so accustomed to the Gamecocks not winning those games that I couldn’t make myself pick them. And little did I know that the Rebels were going to pull a no-show in their first real game of the 2009 season.

To quote every coach breathing these days, it is what it is, which brings us to this week’s picks:

South Carolina 38, South Carolina State 13: The Head Ball Coach has spent all week talking about how good South Carolina State is, even though he doesn’t know any of the players’ names. “We’re not a team that tries to learn all the names of the players we play against,” he explained. He just knows the FCS Bulldogs look good on tape. That may be, but the Gamecocks have come too far to lose one like this. They have a great chance to be 5-1 going into that Alabama game on Oct. 17.

Georgia Tech 30, Mississippi State 17: The No. 25-ranked Yellow Jackets are coming off their most complete performance of the season in a 24-7 win over North Carolina, while the Bulldogs are trying to put a bitter 30-26 loss to No. 4-ranked LSU behind them. This is an improved Mississippi State football team under Dan Mullen, but taking on a second straight nationally ranked foe is too tall a task for the Bulldogs, especially going up against the Yellow Jackets’ triple-option offense.

Arkansas 38, Texas A&M 28: This is what you call a teeter game for the Hogs, because they’re teetering right now coming off back-to-back losses. A third straight loss, and they’re no longer teetering. They’re in a full-fledged freefall. The Aggies (3-0) have scored at least 38 points in their first three games, so this has a chance to be one of those games where the team that has the ball last wins. Arkansas is better than their performance the past two weeks would suggest, so look for the Hogs to take out a little frustration against one of their old rivals from the Southwest Conference.

Alabama 28, Kentucky 7: Even though Kentucky played Alabama within a field goal a year ago in Tuscaloosa, the Wildcats simply haven’t proven that they’re good enough on offense or disciplined enough across the board to beat a team the caliber of Alabama this season. Turnovers and mistakes have haunted the Wildcats. They turned the ball over on three straight possessions in the win over Louisville and then got off to a horrid start last week in the loss to Florida. Playing like that against the Crimson Tide is a recipe for a two- or three-touchdown loss.

Ole Miss 20, Vanderbilt 14: The Rebels still have nightmares of the six turnovers they lost last season in the 23-17 home loss to the Commodores. If Ole Miss is for real, this is a game Houston Nutt’s club will find a way to win after last week’s disappointing loss at South Carolina. Nothing is ever easy against Vanderbilt, though, and the Commodores will certainly come after Jevan Snead. They just haven’t shown they can score enough points to pull out the win.

Auburn 24, Tennessee 14: The Vols have been a difficult team to read this season. They looked average at best in the UCLA loss and lackluster win over Ohio last week, but played Florida straight up in a hard-fought loss in the Swamp. Going on the road for the first time won’t be easy for Auburn, which has played a pretty soft schedule to this point. But the Vols are so banged up in key spots, namely at middle linebacker and on the offensive line, that the Tigers should be able to capitalize and go to 5-0 on the season. Based on what we’ve seen so far, Tennessee is going to have a hard time scoring 20-plus points against anybody in the SEC.

Georgia 28, LSU 21: These two teams combined for 90 points last season, and remember that two of Georgia’s touchdowns came on interception returns. Neither defense has played great this season. Both have had some key plays and some key stops, but the talent on both defenses is better than what they’ve shown to this point. LSU needs to find a way to revive its running game after being stopped in its tracks last week. But, then, Georgia hasn’t exactly stopped anybody’s passing game this season. The difference will be A.J. Green, who’s red hot. The Bulldogs are finding ways to get him the ball, and he’s delivering.