Addictions are funny if you really think about it. It’s been my experience that people get addicted to things they’re really bad at. This is where I come in. Today, I’m going to help the gambling degenerates out there. I don’t want you to stop. I don’t want to make you a better person. I just want you to be a better gambler. This is for the college kid who maxed out his first Capital One card (awwww…..), the guy who lives in his Chevy Malibu but has to stay on the move so the repo man doesn’t take it, and for the n00bs who always wanted to gamble but didn’t know how. There’s something for everyone. It’s so simple, you’ll love it!

Illinois @ Ohio State (-15)

This is the unstoppable force against the immovable object. Illinois has the nation’s 6th best rush offense and tOSU has the nation’s top defense. That might look like a lot of points, but it’s not. You’ve got the Zooker, in Columbus, with Juice Williams at the helm against the #1 team in the country. Now that the Buckeyes have the offense rolling, this is a lock. This is a low risk way to wet your appetite and make you feel like a gangster. I’m giving it a “throw you up against the wall in an alley next to a dumpster” rating - this game’s for everyone, even the kids. Put a dime on the Buckeyes, collect your cash, and you’re gamblin’! It’s so simple.

Alabama @ Mississippi State (+5)

Saban will not be Croomed. I know, Mississippi State is nearly bowl eligible, but take a hard look at them and they’re a picture mediocrity - offense, defense, special teams, and coaching. Gambling is about numbers and the (mildly) important number on this game is 21 — it’s (not even close to) the most points the Bulldogs have scored all season and it’s the least amount of points the Tide have scored. In just his first year, ‘Lil Napolean is already working his dark magic on the Tide. This is a “bat to the knee” game. It’s ugly but you can recover from it. Put half your weekly salary on ‘Bama to cover.

Florida @ South Carolina (+6.5)

What good is genius if you can’t help others understand it? Steve Spurrier is arguably the best offensive mind in college sports but he appears to have come to a point in his life when he’s completely unable to communicate his vision to his players. If you’ve watched the ‘Cocks you know what I’m talking about. A play isn’t brilliant when it’s drawn up; it’s brilliant when it’s been executed on the field. I haven’t seen any brilliance out of South Carolina for weeks. They won early this season playing good defense and scoring however many points they needed to win. All of that appears to be lost now. This team is a fucking mess and the Gators are not the team you want to see at a time like this. If USC can’t figure out that you have to put 10 guys in the box to stop Arkansas, how are they going to stop Tebow? You might think Tebow is out of the Heisman race, after this game, you would be wrong. I’d rate this a solid “two-thumber”. You might get your thumbs broken, but if you want big rewards, you gotta take big risks. Do you want to be a gambler or not? Find the seediest bar you can, ask for a bookie, and put your girlfriend/life partner/roommate’s coffee can cash on Florida.

Auburn @ Georgia (-2)

This talk of Tubs going to A&M will fall on dear ears. Auburn is well aware of what happened last season when Brandon Cox threw 4 pics and they got hammered by Georgia. That’s not going to happen again. Georgia’s running game has looked great the last few weeks when Mark Richt remembered that 1 back is better than 3. Sadly, he’s facing the meanest motherfucking defensive line in all of the land on Saturday. Auburn is a bad match up for the Georgia so be prepared for a piss poor effort from the Dogs between the hedges this week. If you like to watch pretty girls cry, tune in to Athens around mid-point in the 4th quarter where there will be more ugly beautiful than you can imagine. Put a month’s bar tab on Dumbo to beat the Dogs outright. [no catchy rating for this game, apparently.—ed.]

Arkansas @ Tennessee

This game is not for the faint of heart. If you think you know what’s going to happen here, you’d be lying to yourself. These teams are both so inconsistent that it makes their fans physically ill to watch them. With Arkansas, you’ve got the jaw-dropping talent of Darren McFadden who may just win the Heisman based on his 321 yard output last week against South Carolina. Additionally, the Razorbacks have Felix Jones who’s also run for 1,000 yards, on exactly half the carries of McFadden. They may be the best tandem I’ve ever seen… and their team is 2-3 in the conference. This is the story of Houston Nutt. On the other side of the ball you’ve got Philip Fulmer and his band of merry men, who look alternately awesome [see: Georgia game], terrible [see: Florida game], and disinterested [see: Mississippi State game]. If you’re picking this game, you’re not taking the team to win, so much as you’re taking Neyland to be the difference here. Take Tennessee, but before you do, look at the next game, because we’re going with a parlay here.

Arizona State @ UCLA (+7)

Don’t ever bet on a Pac-10 game. Just don’t do it. It will only end in tears and shattered extremities. This is particularly true when you’re talking about a game featuring Karl Dorrell. He’s like an abusive father to Bruins Nation. Beat BYU! Get crushed by Utah. Then in an attempt to get back their love, he treated them to wins over Washington and Oregon State! Then he slipped and broke their heart by losing to Notre Dame. Such is the psychology of the abusive relationship. He then “bought Bruins Nation a new bike” by beating Cal and quickly backed over it in the driveway by losing to Washington State. They cried and he slapped them around for  it by losing to Arizona. UCLA’s remaining 3 games are against ASU, Oregon, and USC. I can promise you he will win one of them, in a last ditch effort to make them love him again… but not this week. The Sun Devils lost for the first time last week in a spirited tussle in Eugene but I think you go with them to cover the 7. This isn’t so much a vote of confidence to Dennis Erickson as it is a vote against Karl Dorrell. Now, here’s the fun part! Take whatever you can afford to lose, double it, and put it on Arizona State and Tennessee to win in a 2 team parlay. This is also cool, because just as the Pac-10 game starts, the SEC game will be ending. For 6 straight hours your heart will be racing. Nutt! Dorrell! Fulmer! Erickson! It will be like the longest game of Russian Roulette ever. Enjoy!

Week’s two’s open thread reminds you that:

1. Your schedule: hyah.
2. Your therapy session: EDSBS Live. Sunday night, 7 p.m. EST to 9 p.m. EST.
3. Win or lose against Georgia, the OBC’s playing through, slowass. FORE!!! CLICK-CLACK!!!

Leave your thoughts below. We’ll talk to you Sunday night.

Steve Spurrier has threatened everything short of taking back that beautiful shiny ring he bought you for the anniversary if you don’t let his recruits into school. Spurrier’s enraged over South Carolina rejecting two of his recruits who met NCAA standards but didn’t pass SC’s internal requirements. (Clemson grads and others, fire away with the academic requirements jokes.)

The Fanhouse jokingly suggests Spurrier might just flee to Duke, which remains a joke and a joke only–it’s cruel to do that to Duke fans, and they’re swimming in cruelty as is. Spurrier’s just prone to threats and drama, and thinks he’s in a position to roll shit downhill rather than take it. It’s gambiting on his part, since he’s in exactly the spot where he wants to be at South Carolina as the savior of the program and perpetual underdog. He’s also got a prior relationship with Andrew Sorensen, the president in Columbia, and is in striking distance of Augusta at all times. This matters more than you can possibly know.

Plus, he’s fascinated with the pigeon control system at Brice-Williams stadium–nay, enthralled.

Al.com deserves Pritzker Prize nomination for the monument they’re building to SEC Media days, blogging and flogging the shit out of the proceedings with a pretty manic pace for journos, what with all the “fact checking” and “not using profanity” they have to do over there.

A few of the highlights, since it is OBC’s day to crow over there. (BTW: the best part about Spurrier coaching South Carolina is the opportunity to anthropomorphize him as a rooster, an animal Spurrier’s always kind of resembled, actually.)

Y’all listen up! Spurrier speaks. Click-clack.

Spurrier: “I thought we had done something when we beat Clemson,” Spurrier said. “But then Kentucky beat them in the bowl game.”

Houston Nutt: “I’m a former quarterback who loves to throw, but you have to do what your players do best,” Nutt said. “If you came to practice, you’d say ‘hmmm, No. 5, you’d better give him the ball. You do what is best with your players to give you the best chance to win.”

Note: Houston Nutt’s offenses have been at the bottom of passing rankings in the SEC for the past two years and over the past five have averaged a finish of 93rd overall in the NCAA’s statistical rankings of offenses. He likes to “pass,” if by “pass” you mean “running.”

Spurrier, obviously buoyed by our ranking of SCar at #6: “”This year the goal is to win the SEC Championship.”

Tuberville, whose team just reported three secondary violations to the NCAA, spoke today, as well as Rich Brooks of Kentucky, who kicked your cat on the way into the conference. We’ll have quotes to follow, especially from Tuberville, who as the poor man’s Spurrier should have some slightly less witty comments with slightly duller zingers built in for conference rivals.