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Today’s Schedule
| Game | Time (ET) | TV/Streaming |
|---|---|---|
| Texas A&M at West Virginia | 12:00 PM | ESPN/WatchESPN |
| Florida at Oklahoma | 2:00 PM | ESPN/WatchESPN |
| LSU at Texas Tech | 2:00 PM | ESPNU/WatchESPN |
| Kansas State at Tennessee | 2:00 PM | ESPN2/WatchESPN |
| Arkansas at Oklahoma State | 4:00 PM | ESPNU/WatchESPN |
| Texas at Georgia | 4:00 PM | ESPN/WatchESPN |
| Iowa State at Vanderbilt | 4:00 PM | ESPN2/WatchESPN |
| Mississippi State at Alabama | 6:00 PM | SEC Network/WatchESPN |
| Auburn at TCU | 6:00 PM | ESPNU/WatchESPN |
| Baylor at Ole Miss | 6:00 PM | ESPN2/WatchESPN |
| Kansas at Kentucky | 6:15 PM | ESPN/WatchESPN |
| South Carolina at Missouri | 8:30 PM | SEC Network/WatchESPN |
In theory, the SEC/Big 12 Challenge is a good idea. In practice, it doesn’t really work that well.
For one, it would work much better as a Bracket Busters-style event, where the matchups are announced a couple of weeks in advance. Instead, matchups set months in advance like Florida-Oklahoma and Texas A&M-West Virginia are a lot less appealing than they sounded at the time (It doesn’t help matters, either, that South Carolina is not participating on the SEC’s end).
Another issue is that ESPN decided to cram three matchups into every window except the early one.
Why not spread things out and play games that tip off later than 6:00 PM ET?
Still, there are some decent matchups outside of the marquee matchup between Kansas and Kentucky. Arkansas-Oklahoma State and Kansas State-Tennessee are twin matchups of bubble teams — okay, the Vols are better described as a fringe bubble team right now, though that could easily change. But really, Mississippi State-Alabama might be a more interesting game than half of the SEC/Big 12 Challenge games -- so really, good work, ESPN.
Odds and Picks
Season to Date: 76-91-1 ATS
With 12 games on the schedule today, I don’t have time for analysis, so we’ll just do the picks.
- Texas A&M at West Virginia (-16)
- Kansas State at Tennessee (-1.5)
- Florida (-1.5) at Oklahoma
- LSU at Texas Tech (-15.5)
- Arkansas (+7) at Oklahoma State
- Texas (+6) at Georgia
- Iowa State at Vanderbilt (+1.5)
- Kansas at Kentucky (-7.5)
- Auburn (+10) at TCU
- Mississippi State (+7.5) at Alabama
- Baylor (-7.5) at Ole Miss
- South Carolina (-10.5) at Missouri