I think I’m cursed.

Last week, I wrote an article called “10 reasons Tennessee is a legitimate threat to win the NCAA Tournament” and lo and behold, the Vols nearly lose … twice! First, it was a 3-point home win against an unranked Alabama team. On Wednesday, they needed overtime to beat a Vanderbilt team that was winless in SEC play by 3 on the road.

Did I have an article about No. 1 Tennessee being upset by the Commodores ready to go before the Vols made an improbable comeback? You know I did!

Anyway, I’m willing to put my superpower to use for my benefit. Want me to write a positive article about your rival team? They’re sure to embarrass themselves almost immediately after I hit the publish button. Get at me!

Here are your questions for this week’s SDS Mailbag:

@Dobbe8:

Oscar nominations are out. Who are your nominees after this year in SEC football?

It is indeed Oscar season, and I have only seen one “Best Picture” nominee — A Star is Born. I didn’t really want to see it, but it turned out to be pretty good! I’ve seen a lot more of the 2018 SEC football season, so I’m probably a little bit more qualified for this question than one about the real Oscars.

Anyway, I put together three categories for this year’s SEC Oscar nominations:

Best picture

Obviously, the best comparison here is the best game or moment from the SEC season. Therefore, here are the four nominees for best picture:

  • Jalen Hurts’ comeback in the SEC Championship Game
  • Texas A&M’s 7-overtime win over LSU
  • Kentucky’s untimed down win over Mizzou (crying emoji)
  • LSU K Cole Tracy’s last-second FG to beat Auburn

Best director

What is a coach? Basically, a director of the team. Here are the nominees for best director:

  • Nick Saban, Alabama
  • Ed Orgeron, LSU
  • Mark Stoops, Kentucky
  • Dan Mullen, Florida

Best actor

Actors are who a director directs, so that makes them the players. This one is probably pretty obvious, but here are four nominees anyway:

  • Tua Tagovailoa, QB, Alabama
  • Josh Allen, LB, Kentucky
  • Trayveon Williams, RB, Texas A&M
  • Quinnen Williams, DL, Alabama

Just for fun, we’ll put these up on the @SDS Twitter account in the coming days, so make sure you follow us to vote on the winner for each category! I’ll list the winners in next week’s Mailbag.

@HReside:

If mascots were sentient beings that could talk, which one would be the rudest?

There are definitely some crazy-looking mascots out there in the SEC, and it would be absolutely terrifying to see them come to life. However, there are three that stand out to me as looking unnecessarily rude:

  1. Hairy Dawg, Georgia — Hairy Dawg looks like he’d be the bro who comes to your house party, drinks all your beer and makes up his own rules at the beer pong table.
  2. Tony the Landshark, Ole Miss — Tony is the newest of the SEC mascots, but he still looks like the creepy guy that no one invited to the party and won’t leave.
  3. Mr. Commodore, Vanderbilt — He looks kind of like Gaston from Beauty and the Beast if he was wearing an old-timey military uniform, and we all know how much of a jerk Gaston was.

I mean, just look at this jerk. Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

Let’s just be thankful that these are not, in fact, sentient beings. Hopefully the people inside the costumes are much nicer than the mascots look.

Robert:

Which is more appalling: The Big Ten’s basketball title drought dating to 2000 or the Pac-12’s one Final Four appearance in the past decade?

Both of these streaks are pretty embarrassing, for sure, with Michigan State claiming the Big Ten’s most recent men’s basketball title back in 2000 and the Pac-12 growing more hapless by the year. Oregon made the Final Four in 2017, but before that, you have to go back to UCLA in 2008 for the conference’s last appearance in the Final Four.

Yes, it’s crazy that the Big Ten hasn’t won a title since 2000, but they’ve at least been all over the Final Four during the past decade, putting eight teams through to that stage of the tournaments and losing four championship games. In 2013, Michigan lost to Louisville, but the Cardinals later had to vacate that title due to NCAA violations. Who knows how that would have played out otherwise?

The clear answer to me on this one is the Pac-12, as you can add insult to injury in this question by noting that you have to go back to the 1996-97 season to find the Pac-12’s last champion (Arizona under Lute Olson). The entire conference is a dumpster fire when it comes to men’s basketball and football these days, even if it’s a powerhouse in many other non-revenue sports, and the incompetence is reaching historic levels.

This year, the Pac-12 might only get one team (one!!!) into the field of 68 NCAA Tournament teams. If that’s the case, commissioner Larry Scott should probably be fired and the whole conference might want to consider disbanding.

Rachel:

If the 10 teams at the top of the first round in the 2019 NFL Draft had to pick only SEC players, how do you think it would go?

This would be Drew Lock’s dream, as it would greatly inflate his draft stock to have teams only able to pick quarterbacks from the SEC. The Oakland Raiders, New York Giants, Jacksonville Jaguars and Denver Broncos would all probably be looking to trade up to take him.

However, we’ll assume no trades, so here’s how I see an all-SEC top 10 shaking out:

  1. Josh Allen, LB, Kentucky — Arizona Cardinals
  2. Quinnen Williams, DL, Alabama — San Francisco 49ers
  3. Jonah Williams, OL, Alabama — New York Jets
  4. Drew Lock, QB, Mizzou — Oakland Raiders
  5. Greedy Williams, DB, LSU — Tampa Bay Buccaneers
  6. Jachai Polite, DL, Florida — New York Giants
  7. Jeffery Simmons, DL, Mississippi State — Jacksonville Jaguars
  8. Devin White, LB, LSU — Detroit Lions
  9. Greg Little, OL, Ole Miss — Buffalo Bills
  10. Jawaan Taylor, OL, Florida — Denver Broncos

That’s actually not a bad top 10, and all of those guys (and a few others) are likely to be first-round picks in April. However, some of these quarterback-needy teams will be happy they have the rest of the college football world to choose from when draft day comes.

Have a question for next week’s SDS Mailbag? Tweet at us using #SDSMailbag or email me at ASpencer@SaturdayDownSouth.com.