Week 4: Sunshine State of Mind

By Kyle Magin

Between the 'Noles and Gators, FLA is comin' back in a big way in college football. Not that any of us missed them, but still, something does seem right when the state has a few highly competitive teams in action. And it's beautiful there, to wit:

(38 seconds in). Inappropriate. Inappropriate.

The South and SEC in particular looks like the class of college football again this year unless the folks in Eugene, Norman or hell, I'll say it, South Bend can get their acts together. Let's go clog our arteries on a little southern fried.

Clemson @ Florida State -14

FSU, for lack of a better term, is shitting on its opponents and moving on like a grazing buffalo. They've given up 3 points all season. They're averaging more than 50. Granted, they've played some slop competition, but it takes a lot for a football team to dominate in such a manner every week. Clemson has looked slightly less dominating in rushing to its 3-0 record, but only slightly. QB Tajh Boyd is averaging almost 300 passing yards per game but has had *some* problems under pressure. The key for Clemson will be to establish its rushing game to open things up for Boyd agains the Noles, but Tallahassee will be unforgiving Saturday.

LSU -21 @ Auburn

This game is eminently winnable for LSU. Tigers QB Zach Mettenberger is a revelation—averaging 12.6-plus yards per completion and completing more than 72 percent of his throws. His game complements the LSU rushing attack well, keeping teams from totally packing the box against RB Kenny Hilliard and his six rushing touchdowns. Auburn is comparatively a mess, and QB Kiehl Frazier is getting no support from his rush game. The defense in atrocious—allowing more third down conversions, yards per rush, time of possession and giving up red zone TDs 54 percent of the time. 

Florida Atlantic @ Alabama -49.5

One sentence because I'm lazy and 'Bama is that good: 100 percent of the time the Tide gets inside the 20 yard line, they score; opponents have done that once this season.

Kentucky @ Florida -24

Florida's defense looks so good, and the offense has been surprisingly effective, completing 70-plus percent of its passes and scoring at an 89 percent clip in the red zone on its way to a 3-0 record. The Jeff Driskell-Jacoby Brissett snap sharing plan at QB is complementing the rush game well, which is all they need it to do. Kentucky, on the other hand, is a one-trick pony. If things don't work through the air, the 1-2 Wildcats don't work. Receiver La'Rod King needs to continue to rack up YAC like it's going out to style.