I have always looked forward to September. The weather starts to cool and, before long, the air feels like “football weather.” Not futbol but football, that great American tradition. School starts and, at the end of the day, young guys are playing “rough and tumble” or whatever throwing a football around. Then Friday nights, Saturday and Sunday afternoons are taken up with watching competitive football by high schools, colleges and professionals. It is my favorite time of year.

That’s surface stuff that I love. But, for me, it’s a little deeper. It is this time of year that I combine my two favorite things; football and mathematics. When I was 14 (1973), I picked up a football magazine that had a score predictor in it. I loved the idea. In fact, I stole some of those ideas and created my own mathematical system for predicting scores. I have done this almost every year since then.

Many times, this pursuit completed with my schooling. All the way through high school, it complemented my education. In college, it sort of got in the way of my studies. (At the undergraduate level, I was lucky because I was attending the University of Georgia, a football factory.) Graduate was much more conflicting. Teaching high school made me way too busy for such pursuits.

But now, I have quit teaching and now work at a 7 to 5 outdoor job. No conflict to get in the way. So here I go predicting scores, and except, for the first time, I am going public with my picks.

I am going to start with college football. But let me be clear about my bias and focus. As a result of being a graduate of the University of Georgia, I am biased in my hat direction. Also, this makes me a big fan of the Southeastern Conference. (I believe it to be the best and most competitive conference in the country.) So my focus will be the SEC and anyone who plays the SEC.

So here are my picks;

Auburn 34, Baylor 21

Ohio State 38, Texas 30

Tennessee 45, Syracuse 23

Mississippi State 30, Southern Miss 24

Kentucky 32, Toledo 21

Georgia 48, Marshall 12

Alabama 43, Florida State 16

Texas A&M 41, UTSA 18

Clemson 49, LSU 30

Ole Miss 38, Georgia State 12

South Carolina 35, Virginia Tech 20

Would I bet on any of these (if I were a betting man)? Probably the over 57.5 on the LSU-Clemson. Maybe (but probably not) give 4 points to LSU or over 47.5 in the Texas-Ohio State game.

Anyway, let’s see how I do.