Site: Ben Hill Griffin Stadium (Cap. 88,548)
Kickoff: 7 p.m., Saturday
TV/Radio: ESPN
We’re five weeks into the 2015 college football season, and we here at the alligatorSports Brand Picks Column are anticipating Florida’s matchup with the Ole Miss Rebels.
The Gators pulled out a come-from-behind 28-27 win over the Tennessee Volunteers last week, and coach Jim McElwain is looking to become the first UF coach to open his first season with a 5-0 record since Steve Spurrier did it in 1990.
Now the undefeated streak will be tested against a No. 3 Ole Miss team that is a legitimate national championship contender after a victory against then-No. 2 Alabama.
Debating Saturday’s Stanford vs. Arizona game are alligatorSports editor Graham Hall and Alligator managing/online editor Jordan McPherson.
Stanford (-14.5) will win because…
After opening its season with a disappointing loss to Northwestern, the Cardinal have looked like a completely different unit.
Stanford went into Los Angeles and beat then-No. 6 USC handily.
Quarterback Kevin Hogan and running back Barry Sanders Jr. have led an offense that wears opponents down with physicality and aggressiveness.
If Arizona can’t slow down what may be the best team in the Pac-12, Stanford wins with ease.
—Graham Hall
Arizona (+14.5) will cover the spread because...
The Wildcats know how to get the ball in the endzone. While its defense has been putrid this season, Arizona leads the Pac-12 in both scoring offense (48.3 points/game) and total offense (555.5 yards/game).
Running back Nick Wilson will test Stanford's stout run defense and whoever starts at quarterback — starter Anu Solomon is questionable after suffering a concussion against UCLA — will need to make timely plays to keep the Wildcats in contention for the win.
But after being exploited in last weekend's 56-30 beatdown by UCLA, Arizona won't be able to run away with this one.
However, with the offense doing more than holding its own, the Wildcats should have no problem at least covering the spread.
—Jordan McPherson
Now on to the picks!
We have a two-way tie for first this week, both sporting 18-13-1 records.
To start off is Gator Country’s Nick "NCAA violation" de la Torre, who intentionally tried to entice McElwain into accepting a free Dunkin Donuts coffee, knowing it could possibly be an NCAA violation.
We don’t know what your motives were, Nick, but we don’t like you or your coffee handouts.
Tied with Nick is the Palm Beach Post’s Anthony "I love commuting" Chiang, who makes a weekly commute from "Miami" to Gainesville to cover the Gators.
But we don’t sympathize with you, because driving on Interstate-75 at 5 p.m. is more enjoyable than growing up in unincorporated Dade County. It sucks that you had to do both.
In third place with a 17-14-1 mark is the Orlando Sentinel’s Edgar "Sore loser" Thompson, who wouldn’t drop his gripe that Graham Hall wouldn’t change the line in the UF-Tennessee game after the suspensions were announced.
Come on Edgar, it’s just for fun! You were more upset than Chris Harry having to file a story using a dial-up connection.
In fourth place with a 15-16-1 mark is alligatorSports editor Graham "Picks incompetent" Hall who has announced his resignation as picks column commissioner after we all found out he doesn’t understand lines.
Hey Graham, for the sake of this column, can you please have someone teach you about gambling other than 10-21-1 Hack?
Tied with Hall for fourth place is Alligator managing/online editor Jordan "Sleeping on the job" McPherson, who fell asleep at the office on Tuesday night.
Jordan and Butch Jones should hang out, as they are both specialists at sleeping on the job.
In sixth place with a paltry 12-19-1 record is 247Sports.com’s Thomas "Online medical degree" Goldkamp, who has become McElwain’s go-to man when he has an injury to report.
McElwain recently gave Goldkamp a flier to sign up for an online medical degree, and sources tell us Goldkamp’s family might finally be proud of him.
But don't get your hopes up, Thomas.
It seems unlikely.
Coming in at seventh place with a record of 11-20-1 we have alligatorSports assistant editor Luis "check out my package" Torres, who implores anyone he meets to take a peek at the package he made for his TV class.
If you can’t even get 30 likes for your professional page, what makes you think we will watch your incoherent package?
And still in dead-ass-last with a piss poor record of 10-21-1, we have alligatorSports staff writer Graham "Lame Duck" Hack, who supposedly has the worst record through four weeks in Alligator Picks Column history.
This lackluster effort is worse than Tennessee’s fourth quarter performance on Saturday.
