5-at-10: Fab 4 picks, SEC items of interest, odds on UK going 40-0 and Rushmore of brothers

Gang, remember the mailbag.

From the "Talks too much" studios, well, speaking of talking, did you know this week 24 years ago was when we found out Milli Vanilla was a fake. Crazy, right?

Fab 4

OK, now comes a tricky point of the college season as entertainment hunters try to finish strong. (And try to store up a little extra entertainment for the holidays.)

Motivation and pressure become great equalizers on a lot of fronts as goals for specific college programs change - for good and bad.

photo Georgia Bulldogs running back Nick Chubb (27) runs against the Auburn Tigers.

Take Auburn last week. In addition to playing a Georgia team that was focused in an atmosphere that was electric, the Tigers had dropped a heart-breaker the week before and their title hopes took a severe shot. The team that emulates that scenario most this week is Arizona State, which went from being in the mix to being done with last week's loss against Oregon State. (Arizona State is giving 17 points to Washington State... we may need to add that one to the list.)

There also is the emotional ties of rivalry games and teams facing the real chance of trying to save their head coach's job.

The underlying current of internal stress that even numbers-crunching Vegas can't tabulate makes the last two weeks of the college season even more unpredictable.

Which is saying something since all year we have been almost stagnantly predictable. Good week. Bad week. Real good week. Real bad week. You get the idea.

That said, after last week's 2-4 showing that included two more meaningless late-TD covers, we are in line for a good week.

Last week: 2-4 against the spread.

This season: 37-34-1 against the spread.

Since the start of 2011: 248-144-6 against the spread.

UCLA-USC over 61. Rivalry game that has monster implications in the Pac-12 South. USC has a first-round wide out. UCLA has a first-round quarterback. The weather should be perfect. We're expecting a shoot-out.

Utah State minus-13 over San Jose State. Remember when we were talking about late-season motivation. Well, here is a meeting of two teams on opposite sides of the motivation tracks. San Jose State has lost four in a row straight up and against the spread. Utah State has won four in a row and has found a comfortable groove after losing start quarterback Chuckie Keetonin early October.

Tennessee minus-3 over Missouri. We believe these Vols believe and believing can be a galvanizing force. We also believe the Mizzou Tigers have waved a spell on the East with a collection of solidity and good fortune. These Vols have the best collection of playmakers the Tigers have seen since Georgia put a 34-0 whipping on Missouri. And they believe. (And, with the arrival of Josh Dobbs from practice timeout, these Vols are starting to make the rest of believe, too.)

Colorado State minus-21 over New Mexico. Buy the half to help guard against the backdoor cover, but this one feels like a 59-10 whipping. The CSU Rams are rolling in after an off week and are winners of eight straight while averaging 44 points a game in their last three.

Ole Miss minus-3 over Arkansas. Half bought of course. The Rebels have a ton to play for, considering they are winning out and some help - a little help mind you - from being in the Dance. Yes, the Hogs are playing for a bowl bid, but how will they handle a week of back-slapping after getting their first conference win since 2012?

Baylor minus-28 over Oklahoma State. Yes, it's a ton of points. Yes, we'd buy the half to prevent a garbage TD from ruining our perfect 6-0 week. Baylor may score 60. In the first half.

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photo Tennessee quarterback Joshua Dobbs (11) looks for a receiver during his game against Kentucky on Nov. 15, 2014, in Knoxville.

SEC items of interest

1) SEC vs. FCS

In a grudge match-up between age-old foes, the SEC will flex its checkbooks against a collection of overmatched foes. Despite all the reminders from the SEC bosses about "playing them one at a time" and "not looking past anyone" and "we know anyone can beat anybody on any given day," we all know the drill. And the drillings that are on tap when Georgia hosts Charleston Southern, Florida hosts Eastern Kentucky, Alabama hosts Western Carolina and Auburn welcomes Samford. In fact, here's saying that the last week in Athens was spent on the triple option of Georgia Tech, the last week in Gainesville was spent working on trick plays for the FSU defense and that Alabama and Auburn spent more time on next week's Iron Bowl than this week's iron-clad rout.

2) Is the Dobbs show still rolling

Well, another week, another set of Josh Dobbs highlights and another fair round of questions wondering how really bad was he in practice not to get on the field. This week will be Dobbs' toughest test since taking the starting quarterback job and setting records, the SEC East on fire and the Vols course toward the postseason. Missouri still has championship dreams and a defensive line that can really play. But UT has Dobbs, and this is a big game - not some practice.

3) Ole Miss make a case

Ole Miss gained a lot of ground in the national picture last week by not playing. The Rebels are poised as the top-ranked two-loss team in the College Football Playoff committee's view and they need to be impressive this week at Arkansas. Arkansas manhandled LSU last week, but the Rebels are more complete than the Tigers and play better defense. Yes, Ole Miss is banged up and without two all-SEC-caliber players in Denzel Nkemdiche and Laquon Treadwell. Still, here's saying the Rebels handle matters.

4) Mississippi State handle your BID-ness

As of this week, Mississippi State is still in the playoff despite losing last week at Tuscaloosa. We think the Bulldogs are going to have a tough time staying in the realm of four without winning the SEC West, which means they need Auburn to beat Alabama. (Side note: I need someone to give me about $3 million, but I don't see that happening next weekend either. Alas.) But the committee could look favorably on a MSU team that has fared well in "game control," which is some poppycock state/phrase the committee has embraced. (Side note: The word poppycock make me giggle.) We'll see of course, but this much we do know: The committee does not look kindly at heavy favorites that struggle with weaker conference foes. Ask TCU, which fell out of the top four after struggling to beat Kansas last week. So MSU, do not let Vandy hang around if you want to hang around in the top four. Go control the game.

5) Home finale for Will Muschamp

So long Coach Boom, you were a bit curse, a bit unlucky and a bit bad at developing a connection with an offensive coordinator you could work with. So Will Muschamp's final time as the Florida head coach in Swamp will be Saturday against an overmatched Eastern Kentucky. We're not sure how feel about this development. So it goes.

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UK by the numbers

We are still left stunned by Kentucky's stunning stunner over Kansas. Have we mentioned we were stunned?

OK, on Wednesday we said it was like 50-50 on the Wildcats going 40-0. Doing some digging - with some help from RJ Bell, who we emailed yesterday to get the odds on UK running the table - here are the numbers we know on the Wildcats.

In August, UK was on the board at 50-to-1 to go 40-0. That number is now closer to 9-to-2. (Bet $100, win $550.)

As for the Wildcats vs. the Philadelphia 76ers, the worst NBA around, Bell sent that the line would be Kentucky +16 using NBA rules and +10 using college rules.

As for the NCAA title odds, UK is 2-to-1, Arizona is 7-to-1 and Duke and Wisconsin are 10-to-1.

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This and that

photo Halloween costumes

- Today's OH MY G-O-S-H stat: Disney has sold enough Elsa dresses from the blockbuster hit movie "Frozen" to outfit every 4-year-old in North America. And speaking as a parent of a 4-year-old girl in North America, we're good. We already have one, thank you very much.

- According to this map, the most frequented hamburger joint in the greater-Chattanooga area is ... yep, Checkers. We were stunned too. Krystal dominates the south, and McDonald's is noticeably absent from the top spots around the nation.

- Cleveland wide out Josh Gordon is set to return to the field this week after missing 10 games for marijuana. In his time away, Gordon became quite skilled at selling Chevys. As Miles told us in "Uncle Buck" at least he's learning a trade.

- Speaking of learning a trade, former standout offensive lineman Jason Brown walked away from football to become a farmer. Yes, he once signed a $37 million contract and left millions on the table according to his agent to grow sweet potatoes in North Carolina. And he's donating his crop to charity. And of course athletes and farmers make us think of the great exchange between Roy Hobbs and Pop before the big game.

Pop: I didn't care anything about the Series. Win or lose, I would have been satisfied. I'd have walked away from baseball and bought a farm.

Roy: Nothing like a farm. Nothing like being around animals... fixing things. There's nothing like being in the field with the corn and the winter wheat. The greenest stuff you ever saw.

Pop: You know my mother told me I ought to be a farmer.

Roy: My dad wanted me to be a baseball player.

Pop: You're better than anyone I ever had. And you're the best hitter I ever saw.... Suit up.

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Today's question

Yes, we saw the ESPN blog post listing Butch Jones as the No. 4 choice at Michigan behind the Brothers Harbaugh and Les Miles of smiles.

Release the hounds (aka Jomo).

We'll go another direction, and since we mentioned the Harbaugh brothers and as we were scanning birthdays - Robert Kennedy would have been 89 today; Dick Smothers is 75; Duane Allman would have been 68; J.D. Drew is 39; Mike D. is 49, and all of them are part of a pretty successful brother collection - we want the Rushmore of successful brothers.

Whatcha' got - and remember the mailbag.

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