My Week One 2013 Picks And Viewer Guide

Okay, you degenerates have been sending emails and Tweets wanting to know my weekly game picks against the spread.

So here they are.

In general I’ll give these picks to you on Thursday morning, but since the big games start on Thursday this week — and because I’ll be on live television on Fox Sports 1 tomorrow afternoon at kickoff — I’m going to give them to you a day in advance.

I’m also going to give you my handy viewing guide for college football games every week as well in the same column.

Again, my picks and the viewer guide will be on Thursday all year long.

But before I try and make you guys some money how about we all make fun of Alabama fans.  

Every week all season long I pick five SEC games against the spread. This week since every team is playing you’re either lucky or unlucky, I’m giving you eight games. 

Last year our results were spectacular — 44-21 against the number. 

This year?

We’ll see. 

Here we go: 

North Carolina +12.5 at South Carolina

Here’s the deal, Jadeveon Clowney doesn’t play offense. 

More seriously, North Carolina has a lot of talent. I think South Carolina wins, but only pulling away late. My final? 31-21 Cocks. 

Vanderbilt +3.5 vs. Ole Miss

This is one of the best games of the weekend, I rate it a complete toss-up. 

What do you do when you think the game’s a complete toss-up and the home team is a 3.5 point dog?

You take the home team and the points. 

Toledo +23.5 at Florida

Florida’s top offensive performers have been sick or injured. The defense loses quite a bit. Toledo’s offense returns a ton. Remember last year’s game against Bowling Green? The Gators will pull away late, but not enough to cover. 

Mississippi State +12.5 vs. Oklahoma State

I’ll admit it, I’m still a Dan Mullen believer. 

Especially when he isn’t playing against a team from the SEC West. 

Alabama -20 vs. Virginia Tech

You know what happens when you give Nick Saban over a month to prepare for an opponent. 

Pain. 

Lots of it. 

It’s a rout by halftime.

Western Kentucky +4.5 vs. Kentucky

Last year Western Kentucky beat Kentucky on the road. The year before that they should have beaten Kentucky in Nashville. 

Here’s the deal, Western’s just better than Kentucky. 

Georgia -1.5 vs. Clemson

My actual prediction on this game? 38-35 Georgia. 

Aaron Murray will be the truth this year and be incredibly clutch in big games. 

Really, I believe this. 

LSU -4.5 vs. TCU

LSU has put up some of its best performances in early season kickoff games. 

Les Miles keeps it going. 

Now for my Saturday viewer guide. 

This year unlike the past eight years, I won’t be on the road for games. Instead I’ll be in studio at Fox watching games all day in front of our bank of 12 televisions. Yeah, I know, rough life. I’ll be watching pretty much every game all day — and Outkick the Coverage will be live on Saturday updating the top stories, pictures, videos and whatnot that you guys pass along to us, so please continue to do so.  

So here’s my Saturday games I’ll be watching in order of my primary focus:

1. Start with us, our show on FS1, Fox College Football Saturday, will air from 9-11 ct every Saturday morning.

I mean, really, can you honestly think of a better face to start your weekend with than me?

Okay, scratch that.

But we’ll have Stanford head coach David Shaw in studio with us.

Which should be awesome.

Most of y’all don’t know Shaw that well. I’m hopeful you’ll have a better sense for what he’s like by the time we’re done with the show.  

2. Toledo at Florida 11:21 ct SEC Network 

I took Toledo to cover. Florida will win this game, but I don’t think the Gator offense will be in strong form without their top running back. Plus, Toledo’s offense is legit. 

Toledo +23.5 looks like a really good bet to me. 

3. Rice at Texas A&M 12 ct ESPN

Will Manziel play or won’t he play? The bet here has always been that he’ll play, but I honestly can’t wait to see how much he’s improved at quarterback. Is Rice a fair test of Manziel’s improvement? Of course not. Does anything that Manziel does on the field prior to Alabama really matter in how we’ll judge him? Nope. 

4. Mississippi State vs. Oklahoma State 2:30 ct ABC

Boy, can you imagine the column I could write if the tenth best team in the SEC beat the presumptive favorite in the Big 12?

I’m starting to wonder whether Bob Stoops intentionally threw Mike Gundy under the bus here.

5. Nicholls State at Oregon at 3 ct on FS1

Okay, just to see how long it takes Oregon to score. 

Also to see if Mark Helfrich has any cool signs on the sideline. 

6. Alabama vs. Virginia Tech 4:30 ESPN

Alabama’s offense is going to be deadly. 

I really think this game is going to be over by halftime. 

We’ll see. 

7. Kentucky vs. Western Kentucky 6 ct ESPNews

Bobby Petrino can dampen an awful lot of the Mark Stoops enthusiasm in a hurry. 

I like Western to keep it close throughout.

8. Washington State at Auburn 6 ct ESPNU

Gus Malzahn makes his head coaching debut. I’ve never hidden the fact I love Malzahn. In fact, back in 2010 I told Auburn fans they should fire Gene Chizik and promote Malzahn.

Well, here we are.  

Plus, you can see my kickball teammate Dawn Davenport, an Auburn grad, make her SEC sideline debut. 

You’ll love her. 

9. Georgia at Clemson 7 ct ABC

By far the best game of the day. 

And, believe it or not, the first time we’ll have had from Herby and Musburger since they made Katherine Webb a national star. 

10. LSU vs. TCU 8 ct ESPN

There is nothing better than a Les Miles coached team on television. 

I’m all in. 

11. Boise State at Washington 9 ct FS1

This game isn’t getting near as much attention as it should be. 

With all this talk about Louisville being the new Boise, what if Boise is still Boise?

Win this game and Chris Petersen’s crew would only be underdogs in one more game all season, at Fresno State.

…

Look forward to spending all day Saturday with you guys.

Let’s hang on Twitter and at Outkick.