COLUMN: Al has chance to make up some ground

By By Austin Bishop / EMG regional sports director
Oct. 9, 2004
My buddy Al Brown is struggling.
In our battle of the football picks this year, he is two games behind me four weeks into the season.
And it's not really because I'm burning up the gridiron with my selections. Going into this weekend's college football games I have selected 14 correctly, but alas, have been wrong five times. That's a winning percentage of .737, but quite frankly, it's not good enough.
Al is at 12-7. Last week I chose to let us pick seven games, in an effort to give him a shot at catching up, but when it was all said and done we picked all seven games exactly the same way and we both went 5-2 (We missed the wins by Auburn and South Carolina).
This week we are picking just four games, but Al and I went different ways on a pair of them. So after this week we could be tied, still be two games apart or I could have good Ol' Al in a death grip with a four-game lead.
Pull up your chairs and take a look at how we seem them.
Ole Miss
at South Carolina
South Carolina is better than I thought. The Rebels are not.
Al put it plain and simple. "Poor Rebels," he says.
The game is in Columbia, but it really wouldn't matter where it was, Ole Miss is having too much trouble with the likes of Arkansas State to do any damage to the Gamecocks.
THE PICKS: Al say South Carolina romps big to the tune of 34-10. I'm not so sure it's going to be that big, but I do give South Carolina a 27-16 win in this one. The Rebels can kick a ton of field goals you know.
Tennessee
at Georgia
Tennessee did not do well against Auburn last week. But then again, a whole lot of folks may not do well against the Tigers this season.
Georgia finally found some offense in a convincing win over LSU. Some say Georgia is one of the best three teams in the country. I'm not sure about that, but I do know they are pretty doggone good.
While Al thinks Georgia is better than Tennessee, it seems to run a little deeper for the big man with the big voice. "I still continue to loathe the Vols," says Al.
For me, I really don't loathe any team, but I do like to get my picks right.
THE PICKS: Al says Georgia wins 28-13, I go with the Bulldogs 34-17.
LSU at
Florida
Finally Al and I disagree on one.
He picks LSU to win in a "mild upset."
I just don't think LSU is as good as we previously thought and I think Florida is much better. This game is in Gainesville which gives the Gators an edge.
LSU does have a lot to prove going into this game and the Tigers need a win to stay in the thick of the SEC West race. The Gators are also looking for a division title, trying to outgun Georgia for the SEC East title.
THE PICKS: Al picks LSU 42-38. Man that's a lot of points scored. I'm going with Florida in this one by the score of 28-24 and I think one of LSU's touchdowns will come after the game has been decided.
UAB at
Mississippi State
Ten years ago most Mississippi State fans probably didn't know what UAB stood for. But then again, 10 weeks again many of them probably didn't know Maine had a football team.
For those who don't know, UAB is the University of Alabama at Birmingham and let me explain it very clearly The Blazers have a decent football team.
UAB beat Memphis 35-28 earlier this season and also has wins over Baylor (56-14) and Cincinnati (30-17). The only loss was 34-7 to Florida State.
Mississippi State may very well thump UAB upside the football noggin, but I just don't think it will happen.
What Al says may very well tell the story.
Did you ever think that you would c.