RTTs Locks & Keys Week 6: How About Now?

Look, so this is going to be tough. We pretty much knew that. Tough doesn't necessarily preclude a win, but it does mean that everything that goes on in this game needs to break for Tennessee. Georgia's been occasionally benedictory, though.

YOUR WEEK 6 KEYS

• Standard Downs. Yeah, go figure.
• Sneak Way More Drives. How this happens doesn't matter - onside kicks, not punting, forcing turnovers - but Tennessee needs to create a few extra drives at the expense of Georgia having the ball.
• Get Something Deep. Dual meaning here: a couple of accurate deep balls from Justin Worley - yeah, I know, I'd like a pony too - will do wonders to unlock the front seven. On the defensive side of the ball, this means that we need some depth performances from the secondary. Georgia's receiver corps goes to Oregon's depth, so heads up.
• Handle the Edge. This might be asking too much, but that's how it goes sometimes: I think Todd Gurley will be effective but not explosive. I'd rather Gurley does the damage than Keith Marshall, who can hit the edge and haul.
• Get Really Lucky, Somehow. Hope the INT and fumble luck from WKU lasts. Implement the Springfield Mystery Spot. I don't care, but this needs to happen.

WHEN WE LAST LEFT OUR INTREPID PICK SELECTION CREW THEY WERE GETTING UTTERLY SMOKED BY CHRIS:

Chris - 5-0-1 last week, 17-10-3 overall

• Oklahoma @ Notre Dame OVER 48.5 - Tommy Rees, the gift that keeps on giving (to the other team) (until they have a comfortable enough lead that the over's easy).
• LSU (+3) @ Georgia - turns out LSU couldn't win outright, but LSU could take advantage of a line that wasn't 2.5 or 3.5 to give me yet another push.
• Stanford (-9) @ Wazzu - in retrospect, being worried about the backdoor cover here didn't make a ton of sense.
• Cal @ Oregon (-36) - as reliable as David Ferrer against anyone who's not the top 3.
• Miami (-18.5) @ South Florida - an absolutely brash Miami team that doesn't care about anyone else is just fun for football. Learn to accept this.
• MTSU @ BYU UNDER 59 - Sure enough, the BYU under was pretty nice.

KidB - 4-2 last week, 17-13 overall

• Northern Illinois -3.5 over Purdue: There's a very real and very serious chance that NIU is the best team in Illinois.
• South Alabama+20 over Tennessee - turns out when you have Justin Worley attempt 18,000 passes in a half a cover gets a lot easier.
• Duke-13 over Some Guy Named Troy: This guy Troy can apparently hang well enough with that random Other Guy You Kinda Know Named Duke.
• Vanderbilt-20 over UAB: I'm not really sure how you allow 24 points to a team I'd call the Fightin' Trogdors if this post was written in 2005. Plus, three letters in last week's opponent name = the same amount of letters as James Franklin's next coaching job, which is the clunkiest way of saying that James Franklin's totally going to USC y'all.
• Florida-12 over Kentucky: Submission holds are apparently good for 17-point wins.
• Connecticut-1 over Buffalo: Connecticut is indeed -1 head coach after last week, but that's not what the line was, now was it? (This is also probably the Nathan Peterman Biggest Off-Target Lock Of The Season, or it would be if I_S didn't blow Navy/WKU hard.)

I_S - 3-3 last week, 14-16 overall

• Florida -12 over Kentucky. Can we all agree to only pick Florida unders the rest of the season so we can stick to making fun of Florida's offense?
• Miami -18.5 over USF. What would the line between USF and FIU be, other than tears?
• MTSU +24 over BYU. BYU is a better Michigan State.
• Navy/WKU over 58. Both of these teams can score. Neither did.
• San Jose State +9.5 over Utah State. DO NOT QUESTION THE POWER OF CHUCKIE KEETON GLORY TO CHUCKIE KEETON
• Kent State +1.5 over Western Michigan. Yeah, Vegas got drunk. It happens.

WEEK 6 PICKS THAT CAN'T BE BETTER FOR AT LEAST ONE PERSON BUT PROBABLY WON'T BE FOR ANYBODY INVOLVED

It's Getting More Difficult for Chris to Say He Has No Idea What He's Doing

• Texas Tech (-16.5) at Kansas - Kansas is bad at football and hasn't won a conference game against a current Big 12 member since 2009 - a 41-36 win over Iowa State. I'm thinking TTU should be fine here. But then again, my favorite tennis player is Milos Raonic, so what the heck do I know?
• Clemson (-14) at Syracuse - is it ever really okay picking Clemson to cover against a team they're way better than? I mean, it's chalk - and good chalk at that - but ...man, Clemson.
• LSU (-9.5) at Mississippi State - I have a sneaking suspicion Mississippi State is backsliding through no direct fault of their own. I also have my doubts that Chavis won't go full Mustang on this game, but I'm willing to go in for a 10-point road victory.
• Georgia (-10.5) at Tennessee -
• Illinois at Nebraska OVER 60 - Illinois' offense: sneaky good. Nebraska's offense: not half bad. Defense: not in this game at all.
• Louisville (-32) at Temple - Temple is so, so bad you guys.

KidB's "Free Money" Picks

Georgia-10.5 over Tennessee: I don't understand this spread. Georgia is the one of the best teams in the country. The only possible justifications for this line are: (a) this is a letdown game for UGA after the emotional LSU win, (b) Mark Richt has a terrible haircut and is arguably terrible at coaching the game of football, or (3) Tennessee will be rocking smokey grey uniforms, which is worth like three touchdowns. I'm not buying any of the above. UGA should work us over by three touchdowns without breaking a sweat.

FAU+5 over UAB: Upset special, baby! I think the wrong team is favored in this one (but I'll still take the points).

Rice+3 over Tulsa: Alright, STOP, collaborate and listen. Free Money here, so you don't need a pension. The Owls should not be taken lightly. They're gonna steal the road win, and it won't be politely. Trust KidB, y'all, he rarely disappoints. Forget about the home team and take the points. Rice Rice, Baby!

UTEP+2 over Louisiana Tech: Upset special number 3, baby! Go ahead and present an argument that Louisiana Tech is something other than flaming hot garbage. Take as much time as you need.

Ball State+5 over UVA: Upset special number 4, y'all! And, again, just to be crystal clear, I'm definitely still taking the points, but can somebody explain to me why UVA is favored in this game? Because, maybe I'm wrong, but I thought the idea in football was to score more points than your opponent. And if I'm certain of anything in this world, it's that in order to score more points than your opponent, you have to score some points yourself. And let the record reflect, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, that UVA can't even score points in skee-ball, much less football.

Way too tough for UVA. Gotta go with Ball State on this one.

UCF-9 over Memphis: UCF is a juggernaut in the C-USA, er, I mean AAC. Is that sort of like being the best writer on The Bleacher Report? Well, yeah, maybe a little. But if you're a merely mediocre writer for the Bleacher Report -- and Memphis is a merely mediocre team by C-USA, I mean AAC, standards -- than you should just change your name to Rick Reilly and call it an afternoon. And The Fighting Rick Reilly's of Memphis State will lose to UCF on Saturday, and not by a single digit margin.

I_S's "Milos Raonic Quality" Picks

MTSU +7.5 over ECU. Yeah, MTSU isn't very good, which is why I lost with them this week. But ECU just dominated pretty much the only game they care about this season, and I'm not convinced they're focused here.

Nevada +6 over SDSU. Again, I grant that I'm picking a team that isn't very good. But what has San Diego State done? Beaten New Mexico State? Scored 30 points against an Oregon State team that allows 30 to everybody? Not enough to be nearly a touchdown favorite, that's for sure.

UNC +7 over Virginia Tech. Staying on the "teams that aren't very good this year" bandwagon, but noting that Virginia Tech can't score, and teams that can't score often struggle to win by multiple scores.

Rice +3 over Tulsa. I'm really not convinced Tulsa is good at football this year.

North Texas -3 over Tulane. UNT is competitive with the upper middle of the MAC. Tulane is competitive with South Alabama. (That's worse, last week not withstanding).

Illinois/Nebraska over 60. Both of these teams can score just fine. Neither of these teams can defend just fine.