Cap’n Ken’s Homespun Wisdom

So before the games actually start today, how about some predictions? No. 2 LSU is hosting the Blue Raiders of MTSU in a pillow game between Virginia Tech and South Carolina. MTSU put up 42 points on No. 9 Louisville last week, so they have a powerful offense. Or Louisville”s defense is just that weak - the Blue Raiders only managed 14 points against Florida Atlantic in their opener.

I”m tempted to call this a scare game that gets closer than it should. But I”m going with the as-expected outcome.

LSU 41 - 10

Elsewhere in the SEC:

No. 3 Florida hosts No. 24 Tennessee. The Gators have looked strong on both sides of the ball, and Tennessee has yet to show they can stop anybody on defense. Florida 38 - 31

No. 16 Arkansas at Alabama. Trickeration by Arkansas vs. Nick Saban”s defensive brain. Alabama has looked solid enough on offense, but neither team has faced much of a test yet. Alabama 17 - 16

South Carolina State at No. 23 South Carolina. Spurrier”s scrimmage before the trip to Baton Rouge. South Carolina 38 - 10

Western Carolina at No. 24 Georgia. Angry, angry dawgs. Georgia 45 - 7

No. 9 Louisville at Kentucky. The team that”s all offense and no defense vs. the team that”s mostly offense with a little defense. Kentucky 70 - 66

Mississippi State at Auburn. The Tigers enter SEC play with an unimpressive win over Kansas State and a loss to South Florida. Their hopes to stay relevant in the conference start here. Auburn 20 - 13

Ole Miss at Vanderbilt. I like the “Dores here. Vandy 27 - 15

Once again, too late and not enough time to do things justice. But here we go: Polls don”t matter right now, and being No. 2 is just as good as being No. 1. So I don”t care that the coaches didn”t move LSU to No. 1 ahead of USC, but I”d like to understand the logic for not doing so.

LSU”s steamrolling of Virginia Tech was among the most dominating Top 10 smackdown in recent memory. In every aspect of the game, LSU simply destroyed the Hokies - then ranked No. 9 in the polls. The Tigers were scary impressive while No. 1 USC had the weekend off.

An objective viewer would see that a team that is 2-0 averaging 46.5 points a game scored and 3.5 given up against a weak in-conference team on the road and a Top 10 team at home is more deserving of the No. 1 ranking than a 1-0 team that only beat a weak second-tier conference team at home 38-10. But it doesn”t matter. Long way to go in this season.

However, the display LSU put on last Saturday takes us from potential for greatness to an expectation of it. Unless Virginia Tech turns out to be Michigan in Hokie clothing, Leslie clearly has the talent and the gameplan to go through our favorable schedule unscathed.

We”ll know more about Arkansas and Alabama come Saturday, but clearly Auburn is beatable and only Florida has shown any signs of being on LSU”s level, albeit against Western Kentucky and Troy. The wildcard is South Carolina, who beat a Georgia team that seemed strong in their opener. The Cocks won”t be tested this week before coming down to Baton Rouge Sept. 22.

Elsewhere in the SEC:

- I blew the Auburn and Georgia picks thanks to those squads blowing their opportunities to win games that were within reach. The coming weeks will tell if these were bad outings by good teams or a sign of things to come.

- I also blew the Mississippi State / Tulane pick. Way to go, Sylvester.

For the week: 6 - 3

For the season: 16 - 4

So week 2 … it”s late; I”m tired, so mostly quick picks here. No. 2 LSU, of course, has the marquee matchup against No. 9 Virginia Tech Saturday night. If ESPN has any time to show the game between tributes and vignettes on the Va. Tech shootings and Hurricane Katrina, here”s what I expect to see:

- The Va. Tech offensive line looked really weak against East Carolina. Yes, East Carolina. Look for LSU”s defensive line to dominate. The QB for Va. Tech - who is not particularly good - will need to play well for the Hokies to have a chance to score points.

- Neither LSU or Va. Tech showed much on offense in their first games, so the question is what will we see out of the teams this week. I do believe LSU was holding back, and I expect the Tigers to be more successful than the Hokies on the offensive side of the ball.

So, in the end, I see two good defenses and two questionable offenses. And I think LSU has a better chance of pulling together an effective offense.

LSU 20 - 13

Elsewhere in the SEC:

Troy at No. 3 Florida: More of the same from last week. Florida 52 - 10

South Carolina at No. 12 Georgia: The Bulldogs opened much stronger last week; Carolina has question marks from week 1 suspensions. Georgia 31 - 17

South Florida at No. 13 Auburn: A somewhat chic upset pick, but I don”t buy it. Auburn 28 - 15

Southern Mississippi at No. 24 Tennessee: Vols will not be happy after the Cal loss. Tennessee 45 - 14

Alabama at Vanderbilt: Fonzie”s SEC opener. Alabama 31 - 20

Missouri at Ole Miss: Missouri 28 - 17

Kent State at Kentucky: Kentucky 42 - 15

Mississippi State at Tulane: Tulane 14 - 10

Just a tad late on this one (look for the Week 2 preview later today). Trying to think back to a week ago Thursday, the LSU / MSU game played out pretty much as I expected. The LSU offense sputtered and seemed to have trouble adjusting to the new schemes and new guys on the O-line, and I do hold out hope that Crowton was saving the good stuff for this week”s game against Virginia Tech.

On defense, absolutely no complaints about the Tigers. Not that it was a tough game, but the results were pleasing.

I had picked this as a 24-10 game, and I think the math works out that if you take a 24-10 game and add six interceptions and a fumble, you get 45-0.

Elsewhere in the SEC:

I blew the Tennessee / Cal pick, as I stupidly thought the Vols might be able to stop the Bears on at least one drive. Stupid me.

Georgia took care of Oklahoma State, and in more impressive fashion than I had predicted. Auburn had to come from behind to beat Kansas State, but that always seemed like the outcome for that game. And all of my other picks were right, with the biggest surprise being Alabama throwing 52 points up on their patsy.

So in week one, Tennessee stumbles but no other real surprises. Indications are that Georgia is good and Florida still has an offense. We”ll learn a lot more this weekend.

For the week: 10 - 1

For the season: 10 - 1