Orley vs. Rick: Here's how we pick 'em

I'll never forget what my daddy told me when I first started picking games for a newspaper more than 40 years ago. "Son," he said. "You were better at picking your nose."

Ace, my dad, had a way with words. So does Orley Hood, already a sports writing legend before he went to the other side of the newsroom way back when. Can't tell you how many times I picked up Orley's column and said, "Dang, I wish I had written that."

"O" and I are going to have some fun picking the games this season. Hope you enjoy.

My picks

Mississippi State 45, Jackson State 7: State simply has more and better athletes. Bigger, faster, stronger. JSU will get a nice paycheck. This would have been a more interesting game in, say, the early 1970s when JSU was churning out NFL players the way the SEC does now.

Ole Miss 31, Central Arkansas 17: Should Central Arkansas win, it would not be as big an upset as Jacksonville State beating Ole Miss in 2010. I would expect the Rebels, playing their first game under a new coach, to be more ready for this one. Ole Miss needs to play well. This is not a sure thing.

Nebraska 24, Southern Miss 17: The betting line — 19.5 at last look — seems far out of line to me. Unless USM has a rash of turnovers I would expect this to be a close game in the fourth quarter. If USM gets good play at the QB position an upset is quite possible.

Orley's

Mississippi State 52, Jackson State 14: Rick's right. This would be more fun if Walter Payton and Robert Brazille were playing for the Tigers. Alas. The fear for JSU's coaches has to be a double-edged brain-blistering psychic bleed-out from playing against SEC athletes on the road with three hours of tens of thousands of cowbells ringing as background music. Hope the money's
worth it for JSU.

Ole Miss 24, Central Arkansas 10: But, hey, who knows? Four years ago could you have pictured such uncertainty confronting an Ole Miss team against a, uh, nobody? Last time I was in the stadium, Alabama's Trent Richardson scored four touchdowns in the time it takes to put mustard on a concession stand hotdog. I haven't gotten over it. Hope the Rebels have.

Southern Miss 24, Nebraska 20: OK. I know. New coach. New quarterback. Yada, yada, yada. Against Nebraska! Mighty Nebraska. Big Red. Yada. But I'd rather risk looking like a dope than pick a Big Ten team over Our People. Besides, you know Ellis Johnson's guys will play like their hair's on fire. Hope that never changes.