SEC Picks-Week 5

5-Hat Lock Of The Week:  Alabama is clearly the number one team in the land, but lets get real here.  Over the past seven years UF is 7-for-7 as a road dog, with two of those wins coming under Urban Meyer (who was also 3-0 as a road dog while at Utah). I don't like Urban, in fact there is not much that I like about the Gators in general, but damn he can coach, his players can run, and they simply get it done in the SEC. 

Over the last four years UF is 15-2 ats on the road and have only been beaten once by more than 4 pts.  We all know what happened last year in the SEC Championship game, but I believe these Gators have revenge on the brain, and I fear that the Arkansas game might have taken lot out of the Bama guys.  If you think about it, in actuality this game really isn't all that important anyway.  I would argue that last week's game against Arkansas was much more meaningful simply because it was a division game.  The loser of this game is by no means out of it, they will probably just turn around and play each other again in the SEC Championship where it will really count.

Four weeks into the season and already people are writing UF off simply because they haven't looked sharp on offense. Well guess what people, what do you think was going to happen after you lose the greatest college football player in history, a first round offensive lineman, a tight end who is now starting for the Patriots, and your best wideout receiver?  Last week Mallet passed for 360 yds, while the Gators put up 300 yards in the air vs a previously undefeated Kentucky team.  I believe this UF team started to click on offense last week, and Urban finally figured out who he can trust on offense and who has the ability to make plays (see box score for Trey Burton).  Also this team is rested, and UF's D has speed speed speed that Bama hasn't seen yet.  I think Bama will win because of their physicality, but by no means is this going to be a blow out.  I see a low scoring game, with UF having the extra motivation to keep things close: Gators +8

Additional leans (2.5 Hats): UT +16.5, Vandy +7.5, Ole Miss -3, Colorado +5 (I don't care if AJ Green is back, Dawgs are done this year, and the Rocky Mountain altitude isn't going to provide them any favors)