Week 8 SEC Picks and College Football Best Bets
By Evan Ertel
Week 8 is here and that means it’s time to make some SEC picks and college football best bets. Here’s what we picked this week:
What a slate. Our beloved Mississippi State Bulldogs are featured in the only game of unranked teams that we picked this week, but at least it’s a Noon game so we can get it out of the way early. For our Week 8 picks, we have four SEC games, three high-stakes top-25 matchups, and of course, our weekend Best Bets.
Last week was not great. The group sided fully with the heavy favorites and lost big time. Have we learned our lesson? Probably not. Ryan Strickland still sits atop the standings with the lone winning record on the season at a 16-15-2 mark; last week really put a dent in his record. Myself in second, two games below .500, and then the rest of the pack with records they’re probably okay with me not publishing in this post.
Let’s dive in!
Week 8 College Football Picks and Best Bets
Mississippi State @ Arkansas (-6) (U/O 48.5)
Evan Ertel: Negative thoughts are the only thing this game is bringing me, currently. The only silver lining is that it will get us one step closer to finding out who is going to be the Head Coach in 2024 because it’s almost certainly not Zach Arnett. The Hogs may run for a mile on Saturday. Arkansas -6
Justin Strawn: Does anyone really know how this game is going to go? Both teams have been bad, and the winning coach has an outside chance to keep his job and the losing coach has a really tough slate to do so. I’m still looking for rays of optimism with the Bulldogs, so I’ll say this is the game where the defense at least shows a pulse and slows the Razorbacks down just enough to at least cover. Mississippi State: +6
Ethan Lee: This game scares me for a number of reasons and I’m very concerned about it. Arkansas is on a dreadful five-game losing streak, but Arkansas has a stout run defense (133.3 rushing yards per game and 3.7 yards per carry) and the Bulldogs seem like they want to run the ball a lot. The Razorbacks lost by a combined six points against Alabama and LSU. Against those same teams, Mississippi State lost by a combined 50 points. I know that doesn’t necessarily equate to whatever outcome happens here and I sure hope I’m wrong about this, but I think the Bulldogs struggle on the road and lose by more points than anyone here will be happy about. Arkansas -6
Andrew Miller: I’m gonna push back on Arkansas having a stout run defense. They’ve surrendered at least 177 yards in four-straight games. The concern for State in that department is their health at RB right now, although assuming Mike Wright plays significant snaps, that could make up for that. My biggest concern for State is how they protect whoever is at QB against a strong Hog pass rush, and how well they contain KJ Jefferson. I’m not particularly confident in picking this one. I think the Hogs win, but I can’t trust them to cover a TD spread. Mississippi State +6
Ryan Strickland: I just do not believe in this Mississippi State coaching staff at all at this point. Arkansas is on a terrible losing streak but State’s defense is just dreadful and one of the worst ones we’ve ever seen. I do not trust them to contain Arkansas and do not trust the State offense to be consistent enough to outweigh the bad defense on the road, especially with Rogers rumored to still be hurt and possibly out this week and Woody Marks potentially not 100% as well. Arkansas -6
John King: I’ll be honest, I have no idea how to feel about either of these teams. I halfway expect this game to be a high-scoring, scoring back-and-forth affair though, and for that reason, six points seems like a big number. The difference will probably be closer to a field goal. Mississippi State +6