Tusk to Tail: Could you possibly be smarter than a 15-year tailgater?

The members of Tusk to Tail have been following the Hogs nearly all their lives, missing only one game in the past 15 years. Each week, they will be asked to pick the winners of 5 games, and answer one question. Results from last week’s game picks and question are at the end of this report.

The Tusk to Tail crew continues to have more accurate picks than what is a growing number of respondents. However, we think the fans are due for a win.

Give it a shot! (Link here to the webform to make your picks.)

The Games
Arkansas at Rutgers
Colorado State at #1 Alabama
Auburn at #6 LSU
Tennessee at #19 Florida
#24 Arizona State at #5 Stanford

The Question
Who has the most offensive yards for Arkansas this week at Rutgers?
• Alex Collins rushing
• Jonathan Williams rushing
• Arkansas quarterback(s) passing

THE PREDICTIONS
• Sean Casey
Rutgers 35 Arkansas 31
Bama
LSU
Florida
Stanford

I pick Jwill for rushing.  Unfortunately, Arkansas only scores one touchdown and Hocker gets 8 field goals.

• Jack Clark
Rutgers beats the hogs.
Alabama beats Colorado St
LSU whips Auburn
Tennessee has no chance against Florida
My second favorite team, Stanford gets the win

Collins will break 100 yards again.

• Dale Cullins
Wow, toss up.  Hope to see Austin play. If so, Hogs 20 Rutgers 13.
Bama 45-10
LSU 37 AU 13
FL 17  Tenner 14
Stanford 31  ASU 28

I will go with Alex, he seems to have the hot hand and likes to find the corner and I hope the O-Line will be prepared, as Rutgers has a good D-Line.

• Greg Houser
Have to go with the Hogs. At this point Rutgers' QB is still in question. Our boys are bigger than theirs … so Hogs by a TD.
Bama rolls
Auburn's luck ends.
Florida figures it out with this game. Tenner is still licking wounds.
ASU feels good. But feeling good won't help them beat Stanford.

I think Williams gets the most rushing yards. Wonder if Collins can sustain this pace as a Freshman. Derby passing for more than 120 yards would be miraculous from what we've seen. Hope coach has something stashed away!

• Craig May
Arkansas
Alabama
LSU
Florida
Stanford

Alex Collins has a big game with 150 yards rushing.

• David Rice
I picked the Hogs to win this one before the season. May as well stick with it.
Alabama will not need to do much to win this one.
LSU will win, but Auburn is getting better. Just not Death-Valley-at-Night level yet.
Florida wins another ugly one.
Stanford, I guess.  I doubt I am awake to see the end of a game on the opposite coast.

You can pass on Rutgers. Well, maybe not you, but some people can. Let’s hope one of those people plays quarterback for Arkansas. We have to pass for more than 100 yards to win.

• Mark Wagner
Arkansas.  I am such a Homer.
Alabama (duh)
LSU
Florida
Stanford. They won't have the same officiating crew which gave them the game over Wisconsin.

I pick J Williams. Arkansas will be dependent on the ground game, until Allen gets back or Derby suddenly decides he can throw to his receivers instead of behind them. It should be an interesting game since I think both teams will be strength on strength – run offense vs. run defense. But I look for both Collins and Williams to each go over 100 again this week & next week against A&M. (How's that for a prediction?)

• The Guy Who Stole Dale’s Phone
Rutgers. It would be a lot easier to pick this game if either team had played a stronger opponent.
Alabama
Lsu
Florida
Stanford

Sadly, who has the most offensive yards against Rutgers is the toughest question of the week. I think we will leave with our first loss this because I haven't seen anything close to a run/pass balance since game one and I don't expect that to significantly change this game.

• Chris May
Arkansas 23 Rutgers 20 — I'd feel better starting A.J. Burnett at quarterback than A.J Derby, but you gotta go with the hand your dealt. Hogs grind another one out in Piscataway with SEC talent proving to be the difference.
Alabama 45 Colorado St. 3 — The juggernaut rolls on.
LSU 38 Auburn 10 — A statement game for the Bengal Tigers, and a revealing game for War Eagle. With all their Top 10 recruiting classes over the last few years, it's amazing they look so mediocre.
Tennessee 24 Florida 19 — Here's my upset. Will Muschamp is a fraud. And Tennessee's beatdown at the hands of Oregon could happen to a lot of teams.
Stanford 38 Arizona State 30 — My alma mater's ridiculous win over Wisconsin helped Jen Bielema shine even brighter. They have done enough.

Alex Collins rushing. We've never seen a player like this freshman sensation. If Budda can rip off another 150 yards rushing against Rutgers and then abuse Texas A&M's porous defense, doesn't he have to start being mentioned in the Heisman conversation?

• Todd Rudisill
Hogs sneak out of Jersey with a 30-27 win. Hogs open up the offense this week. It's been very vanilla the first two weeks and why shouldn't it be against those opponents. Derby leads us to victory by throwing the ball to our backs which we have yet to see this year.
Bama big. Too ugly to predict a score. Just big.
LSU puts the first of many flat tires to come on the Gus bus. Cajun Tigers 38-17
Florida is not impressive. But neither are the Vols. Gators 21-10
Wow a Pac 10 12 … oh, whatever they call it now "big game" early in the year. Cardinal 35-20

The Will-Coll train keeps a rolling. AC continues to be the engine this week though with 119 yards, which is just a little less than our 145 passing yards.

RESULTS FROM LAST WEEK
The Tusk to Tail crew is more optimistic than the small sampling of Razorback fans who responded to the “Are you smarter than a 15-year tailgater” survey.

Here are how the game predictions compared.
Southern Mississippi vs. Arkansas (Arkansas 24, Samford 3)
T2T: 100% picked an Arkansas win
Survey: 98.4% picked an Arkansas win
Advantage: T2T

Alabama at Texas A&M (Alabama 49, Texas A&M 42)
T2T: 87.5% picked an Alabama win
Survey: 77.7% picked an Alabama win
Advantage: T2T

Tennessee at Oregon (Oregon 59, Tennessee 14)
T2T: 100% picked an Oregon win
Survey: 85.7% picked an Oregon win
Advantage: T2T

Mississippi at Texas (Mississippi 44, Texas 23)
T2T: 37.5% picked a Mississippi win
Survey: 65.07% picked a Mississippi win
Advantage: Survey respondents

Vanderbilt at South Carolina (South Carolina 35, Vanderbilt 25)
T2T: 100% picked a South Carolina win
Survey: 65.07% picked a South Carolina win
Advantage: T2T

For the first three weeks of the season, the Tusk to Tail crew has gone undefeated in the poll.