Welcome to week 12 of Pick Six, a weekly column where the RTI team plus a weekly guest picker calls their shots on six games. We’ll do our best to pick the most competitive games each week and will focus heavily on the SEC when possible. Spreads are listed and will occasionally be mentioned in the comments. We’ll keep a running tally of records (straight up, not ATS) throughout the year and compare those to how Vegas fared.
Daniel Lewis led the way with a 5-1 week and he has a firm grasp on the lead for the RTI Cup. Houston and Reed went 4-2 and guest picker Ryan Wooden went 3-3. For the year, Daniel is 43-23, Reed is 40-26, Houston is 38-28, our guest pickers are 39-27 and Vegas favorites are 41-25.
This week’s guest picker is Seth Stokes, cohost of The Swain Event.
South Carolina at Florida (-7) 12 pm SEC Network
Daniel: Florida will run, and then run some more, and then when the Gators are tired of running, they’ll run even more. The Gamecocks are dead last in rushing defense in the conference by a fairly wide margin, and the Gators know how to move the ball on the ground of offense. Florida’s defense will limit SC’s explosive offense and Will Muschamp, dare I say it, will take another step towards saving his job. Hopefully no Gators quit before this game for not being in the starting lineup, though it’ll be a shorter trip back home if they do. Winner: Florida 31-24
Houston: I think Florida has found something that works with Treon Harris at quarterback and an old school rushing attack that just beats opponents down for four quarters. We know that South Carolina can make some big plays on offense, but can they do it consistently against a talented, fast and mean Florida defense that has taken their game to another level in recent weeks? I don’t think so. I think Florida pounds Carolina into submission and pulls away late by forcing Dylan Thompson mistakes Winner: Florida 34-21
Reed: This is a brutal game to pick. South Carolina’s explosive offense faces off against Florida’s stout defense while a one dimensional Gator offense faces a struggling South Carolina “defense.” Don’t look now but Florida is actually playing decent football. Their identity as a run heavy (and pass never) team should work against an absolutely abysmal South Carolina run defense, but things always get weird when Spurrier faces his old school. On paper, Florida should win this one and stay alive in the SEC East. Muschamp is known to wet the bed in big games, but I can’t pick against the team with a significantly better defense. Winner: Gators 27-24
Seth: Before I get into my picks, I want to say thanks to Reed Carringer and the gentleman at Rocky Top Insider for the opportunity to embarrass myself and show my complete ineptitude at properly picking games. With that being said, let’s dive in to these six contests of gridiron prowess!
It’s this year’s edition of the Spurrier Bowl. I swear they should give a visor trophy out to the winner of this game that gets thrown to the ground in celebration. It’s also a battle of two talented but bad football teams that are polar opposites of each other. USCe can move the ball at will against most any team they face but no offense has had much success against the Gators’ top 20 defense. UF’s offense is ’08 Dave Clawson bad but will go against a Sunseri-esque Gamecock defense. That d is SOFT! (That’s what she said!) The Gamecocks are fighting for a bowl while the Gators are fighting for the number one spot in the East. Yep, believe it or not, if things go like I believe they will, UF might just be in Atlanta. I think the Gators defense will beat the Cocks up and the UF running backs will be able to move the ball enough against a D that shrivels like it jumped into a cold bath. Winner: Gators 17-10
