SEC Football: Week 3 picks, predictions and lots of Dogs

The Rest of the SEC Football Field

No. 18 Kansas State Wildcats (-3.5) at Vanderbilt Commodores
7:30 pm – Vanderbilt Stadium, Nashville, Tn.

This is the immovable object of Vanderbilt’s defense meeting the irresistible force of Kansas State’s offense, and boy is it going to be ugly in the trenches.

Vandy may have what is the second best defense in the league after Alabama, and they do it with a pure team concept. How they fare against Jesse Ertz and the high-flying Wildcats could be a tell-tale sign of just how good the ‘Dores are.

The difference maker in this game will probably be Kansas State defensive end Reggie Walker, who will make sure the Vandy offense spends very little time on the field.

Take the Wildcats to cover this one.

Ole Miss Rebels (-3.5) at Cal Golden Bears
10:30 pm – Memorial Stadium, Berkeley, Ca. 

Both teams are 2-0, both seem to be able to score with some degree of ease, and neither seems to be particularly great at defense. Cal already shocked UNC this season, and with everything happening in Oxford combined with the history of SEC teams headed to the left coast, give the edge to the Bears.

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Cal beats the spread and wins the game.

Kentucky Wildcats at South Carolina Gamecocks (-6)
7:30 pm – Williams-Brice Stadium, Columbia, Sc.

The Gamecocks may be the surprise team in the SEC so far this season with their 76 total points scored in the first two games.

Is that you, Muschamp? Or a pod?

Meanwhile, Kentucky has looked anything but formidable in their first two squeaker wins over Eastern Kentucky and Southern Miss, and rumor has it Mark Stoops has been searching online for some asbestos trouser liners.

Take South Carolina and the points. Gamecocks cover.

Purdue Boilermakers at Missouri Tigers (-7)
4:00 pm – Memorial Stadium, Columbia, Mo.

The Missouri Tigers may be a tough team to handicap this season. They racked up 72 points and quarterback Drew Lock set school records in the opening week rout of Missouri State, but then only managed 13 points and coughed the ball up three times against the Gamecocks.

Purdue, on the other hand, won their opener handily against Ohio, and then almost pulled of a huge upset against No. 16 Louisville and Heisman hopeful Lamar Jackson.

The Boilermakers are better than oddsmakers give them credit for. If they can hang with the Cardinals, they can hang with Mizzou.

Tigers most likely win the game, but take Purdue to cover 7 points.