NCAAF - SEC Bets - Week 4

9/19/2024

Like usual, there were a lot of storylines that came out of Week 3 in the SEC. In the early window on Saturday, #4 Alabama trounced Wisconsin in Madison, #16 LSU went to South Carolina and stole a victory in crunch time, and #6 Missouri survived against #24 Boston College

In the two other SEC vs. SEC matchups, Texas A&M took down Florida with a backup quarterback, and #1 Georgia narrowly escaped Lexington with a win in a surprisingly close game against Kentucky.

The remaining SEC teams took care of business against mid-major teams for the most part, with just two exceptions. Georgia State scored a late touchdown to take down Vanderbilt, and Toledo demolished Mississippi State in Starkville, 41-17. Arkansas did battle with UAB, but held on for the win in that one.

On the opposite end of the spectrum were Tennessee, Texas, and Ole Miss. The Vols built a 65-0 lead at halftime on Kent State, though just outscored them 6-0 in the second half. The Longhorns routed UTSA 56-7, but did so with Arch Manning for most of the game after Quinn Ewers exited in the second quarter with an abdominal injury. Manning certainly impressed in his action, however. Finally, Ole Miss stifled Wake Forest in a 40-6 road victory. They dominated so badly that the Demon Deacons have already pulled out of their planned rematch next season. The Rebels' defense has allowed just 9 points through three games this year.

Here are BSSR's official SEC rankings after Week 3:

Here's the BSSR Expert Leaderboard:

And here's the Guest Picker Leaderboard:

We might want to be a little worried about the threat that artificial intelligence poses to us humans, as Grok performed very well last week and currently sits atop each category. We'll see if any of our future guest pickers this season are able to claim the top spot for the human race by the end of the year.

This week's guest picker is Connor Wilson, a man who recently set the local youth basketball circuit on fire. As a point guard on multiple championship winning teams under the Wilson/Watson coaching duo, he averaged 16 points, 2 rebounds, and 1 assist per game over his career. Clips of his deep shooting range have amassed hundreds of views on Facebook. He is also well known for his appearance in "Connor's Crusades," a long-running series on YouTube and Twitch where he attempts to beat famed streamer SwatsonYT in Madden, and now, College Football 25. With a lifetime record of 1-384 against his former coach, he has made it his life mission to earn his 2nd all time win against SwatsonYT.

You can check out SwatsonYT's thrilling College Football 25 content here:
https://www.youtube.com/@ThaMotherHen

We're advancing further into the teeth of the SEC season, as four of the ten games this week are conference matchups. Beginning next week, we'll be getting almost exclusively SEC vs. SEC games.

The biggest matchup this week is #6 Tennessee at #15 Oklahoma. College Gameday will be in Norman for Oklahoma's first ever SEC game, and as Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel returns to his alma mater for what should be an epic showdown of high powered offense versus stout defense. Arkansas and Auburn will face off in a semi-rivalry game, and Vanderbilt travels to Missouri to try to bounce back from their bad loss last week. Florida and Mississippi State will also clash in Starkville, and I think the loser of that game should be relegated to the ACC.

As always, you can tail the following consensus picks and keep rolling that cash over from week to week as you tune in to the BSSR SEC Betting Challenge.

Florida at Mississippi State (FLA -6.0, O/U 58.5)