We’re feeling a little better back here at the Bold Predictions department. Kentucky over Florida, Raheim Sanders running wild on Carolina, we knew a few things after all. Extra shout-out to ourselves for saying that Sam Hartman would throw for 300 yards and 4 TDs against Vandy when he threw for (checks stats) 300 yards and 4 TDs exactly against Vandy.

Look, it won’t last. We’re in the business of bold predictions. We’re chucking up some 4th-down desperation passes. It was a good week. Week 3 might bomb just as hard. And actually, don’t go back and look at how we thought Bama and A&M would roll. Maybe it wasn’t such a good week.

ANYWAY, Week 3 is time to dial it up again. Here are our usual off-the-wall predictions for the SEC:

Miami downs the Aggies

How quickly we have jumped off the A&M bus. Well, having a broken offense will do that. A&M has enough talent to be at least the 3rd team in the SEC, but they’re about 1 bad half from utter turmoil. That said, this looks like a game that the Aggies lead at halftime, but that Miami rallies late to pull out. Miami is 2nd in the ACC in rushing and 2nd in the ACC in run defense. Considering the struggles of A&M on the ground, that doesn’t bode well for the Aggies. We’ll go with the U, 28-27.

Kentucky is a little sleepy, but Barion Brown helps it wake up

Kentucky comes off a huge win at Florida and has been a little hit-and-miss on offense anyway. Logically, the Wildcats will probably look a lot like they did in the opener, when they stumbled through an awkward 1st half and led by 3 at halftime, only for Brown to open the 2nd half with a 100-yard kick return score and for Kentucky to roll from there. The bet is that he does it again, but this time with a big catch and run. TDs for both Brown and fellow freshman Dane Key help Kentucky emerge from the fog in the 2nd half of a 38-17 win.

UGA’s D outscores Spencer Rattler

There’s nothing too bold about predicting the defense for a team giving up 1.5 points per game to outscore the opposing offense. Particularly when Rattler leads that opposing offense. Week 2 was kind of ideal for Rattler. Once Arkansas took control of the game, he was able to pick apart a conservative Razorbacks defense, and his final totals of 24-for-39 for 376 yards looks like a great game. He won’t get that treatment from Georgia. Georgia rolls, and the UGA defense puts up more points than Rattler does.

Burden goes for 100 yards, 2 scores for Tigers

Missouri had a brutal Week 2, and part of it was exactly 2 touches (1 rush, 1 catch) for all-everything freshman Luther Burden. The 2 things Mizzou can’t have is a horrible season and Burden feeling less than needed. It’s a safe bet that the Tigers try to remedy both at once. Abilene Christian is 2-0, but this isn’t Lamar or Prairie View A&M this week. The Tigers fix things at least for the moment, with Burden picking up 2 scores and 100 yards. Mizzou 49, ACU 7.

QB controvery for the Rebels

Luke Altmyer had his Week 2 effort interrupted by injury, but he’s apparently back for Week 3. The Georgia Tech defense isn’t awful, but this Tech team couldn’t score points on a vacant field without an opposing defense. Jaxson Dart and Altmyer continue playing essentially even in this one, which creates a genuine QB controversy. Who will start going forward? Will Lane Kiffin platoon them? In this game, pencil in 2 TDs for each and a fair number of headaches for Rebels fans moving forward. 35-10, Ole Miss.

Bigsby rushes for 100 yards, Ashford scores 2 TDs … and Auburn loses late

This is a game that could be absolutely brutal. For 2 historically strong programs, it’s more than slightly offensive that they both play offense like a couple of grade school kids if somebody turned up the CPU difficulty level. After a couple of weeks with TJ Finley, Bryan Harsin probably realizes his best chance at victory is riding Auburn’s 6.3 yards per carry and avoiding passers with 4 interceptions in 44 pass attempts on the season. Tank Bigsby, Jarquez Hunter and Robby Ashford off the bench give the Tigers an early lead, but they can’t hold it late. Auburn rushes for more than 200 yards (Bigsby gets 100 and Ashford has 2 rushing scores) and leads for almost the entire game … but Sean Clifford leads Penn State on a game-winning drive that doesn’t do Harsin any favors on the hot seat index. Penn State 27, Auburn 21.

AJ Swann at the helm, Vandy upsets NIU

Why not? The Commodores went through a couple of games of looking good, and then they suddenly looked pretty awful against Wake Forest. But Wake was a horrible matchup for Vandy, particularly with Hartman looking like, well, Hartman. NIU is a 2 1/2-point favorite, but Vandy flips the script with a QB change. Swann, a 4-star freshman, significantly outplayed incumbent starter Mike Wright against Wake, and he’ll get the call this week. Swann might not be quite the running threat that Wright is, but against a better defense, he’s the more prolific passer. He’ll find a way to lead Vandy to the W, 27-20.

Alabama loses to UL-Monroe (not really, they rush for 400 and cruise)

No, entirely kidding. Alabama figures to be in Hulk Smash mode after last week, and it does have some history with UL-Monroe. This feels like a “get back to basics” week for the Tide. Here’s looking for the maligned Alabama offensive line to have a big week, as the Tide rush for 400 yards against a UL-M team that lost to Texas, 52-10, 2 weeks ago. Jase McClellan and Jahmyr Gibbs each hits 100 yards in this one.

LSU upsets State

There was a massive temptation to write off LSU after that brutal Florida State loss, but it’s a long season, particularly for a new head coach. There’s a temptation to forget that a year ago, even as the Ed Orgeron era fell apart, LSU went down to Starkville and beat State, 28-25. That was with a defense that absolutely got grilled by the Mike Leach passing offense, but did enough to hold serve. LSU wins again, with a late defensive turnover being the difference. LSU, 31-28.

Raheim strike again — for 200

If you haven’t noticed, we like Sanders. Arkansas might have a few messages to deliver to former coach Bobby Petrino in this game. It’s safe to say that after Sanders steamrolls the Missouri State secondary a few times, Petrino might feel like he had another alleged motorcycle accident. Call it 200 yards for Raheim, and the Hogs have an easy 49-10 victory.

UT gets ground game right, or is that Wright?

Tennessee has started 2-0, but the Pitt game suggested that the Vols could use a little improvement in the running game. UT had 3.6 yards per carry and rushed for just 91 yards against the Panthers. Look for UT to rush for 300 yards, with Jabari Small and Jaylen Wright each reaching 100 yards on the ground. UT rolls, 52-14.

Richardson runs more and Gators roll

More surprising than Florida’s loss to Kentucky was that Anthony Richardson finished the game with 6 carries for 4 yards. Take out a sack, and Richardson still had 5 actual rushing attempts for 12 yards. That’s just not enough. Billy Napier needs to get a guy who is still a work in progress as a passer on the edge and let him run the ball 10-15 times. The guess here is that he does just that. Richardson rushes for 100 yards, and Florida rolls, 38-10.