Down the Line: The SEC East Week One
I jumped the gun a little at the end of last week. While I will leave the original UT ‘Down the Line’ article up, here is the newer (and easier to view) DtL article with each SEC East and West teams in their own post. If you can see ways to improve this format, please use the contact form at the top of the blog.
For top shelf stats and insights that you will find no where else, visit Bodog.com!
8/28 @ Columbia, SC 8pm
Steve Spurrier 163-56-2; 4th year. Gamecocks were 6-6 last season.
Tom O’Brien 80-52; 2nd year. The Wolfpack were 5-7 last season.
SC Odds Info last two years:
Straight Up @ Home: 7-7
vs Non-Conf: 8-1
ATS Home Favorite: 4-2; 0-4 vs NC State with last meeting in 1999.
NC State:
Straight Up Away: 2-8
vs Non-Conf: 3-3
ATS Away Dog: 4-5; 37-51-6 vs SEC. This is the 1st away opener in 13 years.
The Line: South Carolina is favored by 11.5 points. Have the Gamecocks found a running game this season?
South Carolina 22
NC State 17
8/30 @ Gainesville 12:30
Urban Meyer 70-16; 4th year. Gators were 9-4 last season.
Greg McMackin 0-0; 1st year. Hawaii was 12-1 last season.
UF Odds Info last two years:
Straight Up @ Home: 13-1
vs Non-Conf: 9-1
ATS Home Favorite: 8-3-1; 5-0 vs WAC teams.
Hawaii:
Straight Up Away: 8-2
vs Non-Conf: 8-3
ATS Away Dog: 2-0; 3-7 vs SEC and 1-7 in road openers.
The Line: Florida is favored by 34.5 points. Look for Florida to begin this season with a bang, but covering the spread in game one has not been Florida’s cup of tea the last 5 years.
Gators 45
Hawaii 13.
8/30 @ Athens, GA
Mark Richt 72-19; 8th year; Bulldogs were 11-2 last season.
Chris Hatcher, HC Ga Southern
Georgia Odds Info the last two years:
Straight up at home: 11-3
vs Non-Conf: 10-0
ATS Home Favorite: 5-5-2; last home opener, UGA favored by 6 and beat Ok State 35-14.
No line on this game, but Georgia semi-struggled with the smaller in-state school in 2004 winning 48-28. Look for Moreno, Moreno and more Moreno to try and roll this one up early.
UGA 55
Ga Southern 21
8/31 @ Louisville 3:30pm
Rich Brooks 116-144-4; 6th year at Kentucky. The Wildcats were 8-5 last season.
Steve Kragthorpe 35-28; 2nd year at U of L. Louisville was 6-6 last season.
Kentucky Odds info the last two years:
Straight Up Away: 3-6
vs Non-Conf: 9-1
ATS Away Dog: 3-4
U of L:
Straight Up Home: 10-2
vs Non-Conf: 9-2
ATS Home Favorite: 6-5
The Line: Louisville is favored by 4 in this game. That is an extremely tight spread considering UK has an unexpected QB starting the season. All of the history points to a Louisville win.
Kentucky 16
U of L 20
9/1 @ UCLA 5pm
Phillip Fulmer: 147-45; 17th year at UT. UT was 10-4 last season.
Rick Neuheisel: 66-30; 1st year at UCLA. UCLA was 6-7 last season.
Tennessee Odds the last two years:
Straight Up Away: 6-4
vs Non-Conf: 8-2
ATS Road Favorite: 5-1
UCLA:
Straight Up Home: 10-3
vs Non-Conf: 3-5
ATS Home Dog: 5-0
The Line: UT is a 7 point favorite in this game.
Notes: UT’s last road opener resulted in a 31-45 loss to Cal. UCLA’s last home opener was a 27-17 win vs BYU (UCLA was a 7 point dog). Bruins are 9-1 in home openers / 4-1 vs BCS teams. UT is 12-2 in season openers with both losses while visiting PAC 10 teams.
Look for the new look UT offense to struggle early, the defense to perform well and pulls away in the fourth quarter to break the PAC 10 lock on this team.
UT 24
UCLA 14
8/28 @ Oxford, Oh 7pm
Bobby Johnson: 20-50; 7th year at Vandy. Vandy was 5-7 last season.
Shane Montgomery: 15-21; 4th year at Miami, Oh. Miami was 6-7 last season.
Vandy Odds the last two years:
Straight Up Away: 3-7
vs Non-Conf: 6-2
ATS Road Dog: 5-3
Miami, Oh:
Straight Up Home: 4-6
vs Non-Conf: 1-8
ATS Home Favorite: 1-3-1
The Line: Miami is a 3 point favorite in this game.
Vandy 17
Miami 20
Final OT
All stats were obtained piece meal from the following sites: PhilSteele.com, ESPN, BoDog.com, et al. Images are © the respective universities and MGHelmets.com
