I myself am a Big XII man, through and through. I went to school at Texas Tech, which has allowed me to develop a seething hatred for A&M (brainwashed), UT (arrogant) and OU (hicks). Personal preferences aside though, I’m an avid fan of the sport. And I’m thrilled that Jeremy has asked me to contribute to the site.

Before we begin, I’d like to take this moment to formally thank Jack for agreeing to take the Big East, as I would rather smack myself in the nuts with a ball-peen hammer than watch one second of Big East football.

Let’s get to some predictions, shall we?

ACC

Boston College at No. 5 Virginia Tech
At the time, most people assumed that Virginia Tech’s opening week loss to Alabama exposed them as frauds. Now the pendulum is starting to swing the other way after their wins over Nebraska and Miami and people are retroactively impressed that they hung around with such a dominant Alabama team. I don’t know, I think they fall somewhere in the middle. Virginia Tech is a two touchdown favorite, and they should win the game, but BC will keep it close.

Southern at North Carolina
Yikes. North Carolina’s offense has been putrid these last few weeks. Either this game will end 16-9 or UNC will go all big nuts on lowly Southern and try to rack up 500 yards of offense to make themselves feel better.

Indiana at Virginia
Geh, do I have to pick this game? Indiana looked respectable in a close loss to Michigan. Virginia beat the previously-overrated-now-accurately-rated Tarheels. I’ll take Virginia, but only because they’re at home.

Duke at North Carolina State
I think NC State is sneaky good this year, despite their recent bed-sh*tting against Wake and opening season loss to the Gamec*cks. Duke is still Duke for the time being. NC State wins this game by four touchdowns.

Maryland at Wake Forest
Egads, these ACC matchups are painful. These two teams have been battling all season for the title of “who can disappoint their fans more.” Maryland’s marquee win is over Clemson and Wake’s is over Stanford. Seriously. Way to go, ACC. I’ll take Wake here because I think Maryland is actually worse than their 2-3 record would lead you to believe.

Florida A&M at No. 11 Miami (FL)
Miami will win this game by 40 points. Let’s not waste anymore time on it.

No. 22 Georgia Tech at Florida State
This is actually a pretty intriguing match-up, since Florida State has the team speed to slow down Georgia Tech’s weirdly productive triple option offense. Although, times are tough in Tallahassee right now, and Bobby Bowden’s got a full-blown student mutiny on his hands. I’ll take Georgia Tech in this one.

SEC

No. 17 Auburn at Arkansas
Now we’re talking! I was actually in Fayetteville last weekend for a wedding, and I can tell you, their fans are insane. I heard them “call the hogs” in person. At a wedding reception. I like Arkansas to win this game and end all of the premature “how good is Auburn?” talk.

Vanderbilt at Army
Yikes. Uhh…I’ll take Vandy, but I don’t feel confident about it. Moving on…

Georgia at Tennessee
Can Lane Kiffin please stop being such a jackhole? Look, coach, I get it. There’s no such thing as bad publicity and you need to draw as much attention to the school (and yourself) as you can. Still, you’ve been straddling that fine line between “provocative” and “galling” for awhile now. Chill out. Georgia wins by 3.

Houston at Mississippi State
I hated that UH was beaten last week by UTEP, and thus, exposed as complete and total frauds. After they beat my Red Raiders, I’d hoped they could run the table and bring a little positive attention to the program. I remember going to UH games as a kid and watching Heisman-winning quarterback Andre Ware (seriously) sling touchdowns all over the Astrodome. Such is life. Mississippi State wins.

No. 3 Alabama at No. 20 Mississippi
This is a pretty intriguing match-up when you consider that Ole Miss was once the number four team in the country. Do they rebound and shock Alabama at home or does the stench of that top ten ranking haunt them until the bitter end? I choose the latter. Alabama rolls.

Kentucky at No. 25 South Carolina
Kentucky stinks this year. I’ll take the Fighting Spurriers.

No. 1 Florida at No. 4 LSU
This is the game of the week, obviously, although I don’t think anyone truly believes LSU is the #4 team in the country. Which makes this a strange game – if Tebow doesn’t play, a win for LSU not only doesn’t necessarily legitimize them, it also probably doesn’t impact the Gators that much. A strange game calls for a strange prediction. If Tebow plays, LSU wins based on the fact that their crowd will be going bonkers for the entire sixty minutes. If Tebow doesn’t play, Florida wins, based on the inevitable disappointment of the home crowd and time-munching, yard-crunching running game of Florida.

Pac 10
I have to be honest, beyond USC, I don’t know much about the Pac 10. Every year they produce a bunch of okay teams and maybe a surprisingly good team, but it’s hard to distinguish from one year to the next who that will be. Kindly take these picks with a grain of salt, west coasters.

No. 13 Oregon at UCLA
At first glance, it appears that Oregon is getting better every week. Since that opening week debacle against Boise State, they’ve squeaked by Purdue, handled an overrated Utah team, murdered Cal then stomped Washington State. They’re still too erratic for my liking. UCLA will win and I’m making this my Guaranteed (non-binding) Upset Lock of the Week.

Arizona State at Washington State
Haven’t heard much from Dennis Erickson’s crew this year. But Washington State is one of the worst teams in the country. Take the Sun Devils.

Stanford at Oregon State
Stanford has been competitive this year and Oregon State seems to have taken a step back. I like Stanford.

Arizona at Washington
Remember what I said in the intro about indistinguishable Pac 10 teams? Exhibits A and B. Uhh…I guess I think Arizona is gonna win?

Big XII South game of the week

No. 15 Oklahoma State at Texas A&M
Well, it appears Dez Bryant is out after misleading the NCAA about some interaction he had with an ex-NFL player (who probably committed the egregious crime of buying him a sandwich or something). This may rattle the Cowboys a little. As much as it pains me, I’m gonna take A&M in the upset.