Reload and Fire!

Today isn't Friday and here we are, making the short week shorter by picking a Thursday night game.  Away we go...

Following an opening weekend that brought us zip zero zilch nada (other than angst), there is a bit of reluctance to load 'em up for week two. 

Begone, uncertainty, foil of the weak!  It's time to gitterdone.

Auburn -2 @ Mississippi State ****
Thursday, 6:30 p.m. ESPN

Here is a startling photo of two airplanes apparently humping
at Columbus Air Force Base, near Starkville, Mississississetc

It's the SEC opener for both of these teams, and it's the second of three games in which Mississippi faces off against the Tigers-- (1) Memphis last week (2) Auburn this week and (3) LSU next week, Tigers all.  It was the Bulldogs in a 49-7 romp over Memphis (C-USA) last week.  It will not be so much fun in Starkville this week, when a very talented Auburn team comes calling.  Auburn beat Arkansas State (Sunbelt) 52-26 in its opener last week.  Auburn has a little more of everything, and that makes this 2 point spread pretty attractive.  I think it should be more, but it is, after all, Starkville.

Texas Tech @ New Mexico+25 ***
Saturday 7:00 p.m. MTN
Tommy Tuberville rolled into Lubbock with the challenge of making the ghost of Mike Leach go away.  He took a step in that direction last week by topping in state rival SMU and June Jones 35-27.  New Mexico was roadkill in their opener at Oregon, trailing 59-0 at halftime and rallying to lose 72-0, holding the second and third team Ducks to 13 points in the second half. So the Lobos are going to lose this week, the big question is "by how much".  Can they hold the spread under 25?  Yup.  They'll lose by 24.  TT 45, NM 21.


LSU-10 @ Vanderbilt **
Saturday, 6:00 p.m. ESPNU
Nineteenth ranked LSU (home of the Fighting Anagram) heads up the pike a little bit to Nashville to visit the Commodores, who will be playing their second consecutive home game.  Vandy opened against Northwestern last week and  came up short, losing 23-21, thanks in part to some stupid penalties.  They're pretty average in most parts of the game, and they played very inspired (in the second half) against NU.  LSU started out its season by beating a pretty good North Carolina team, 30-24.  Vandy's hungry to break a home losing streak, but LSU has too much talent.  I have a counter argument with respect to this game that is an all or nothing proposition: Vandy either fails to cover (the likely scenario and the one where the money goes) or...wins this game outright.  I think it's LSU 30, Vanderbilt 17. 

Hawaii @ Army Under 52  *
Saturday 11:00 a.m. CBSC
Hawaii was supposed to get crushed by USC last week at home.  Instead, the Rainbows put up 36 points on the allegedly strong USC defense.  Too bad for them they gave up 49.  The Army beat Eastern Michigan (MAC) 31-27 and debuted their new QB, a transfer from Air Force (who had to give up a year of eligibility to transfer; seems wrong to lose a year transferring between service academies).  At first blush, this would seem to be a recipe for a scoring jamboree.  I think it's going the other way.  Hawaii is traveling from the middle of the Pacific to the edge of the Atlantic, and it's not going to be nearly as hospitable as their lovely lanai on the island.  Army isn't going to give up 36.  Neither will Army march on the end zone as frequently as they did against Eastern Michigan.  Pregame ceremonies will commemorate the 9/11 attack on New York and the Pentagon, putting up a little more distraction.  Army is favored by 2, which calculates to 27-25.  I think it's going to be a little under that,  24-23, Hawaii the winner, though that part doesn't matter.  Just so it stays under 52.