PREDICTIONS COLUMN: Raiders won't disappoint on homecoming

It was a 100-point weekend Sept. 5-6 if you were partial to the local teams in red.

Madison County put up 44 points last Friday against Winder-Barrow and Georgia rang up 56 the next day on Central Michigan.

Madison County seemed to gain confidence in scoring six touchdowns after taking a week one misstep against Rockdale County (Might Rockdale be a lot better than we thought?).

This Friday’s opponent, Monroe Area, will be faster than last week’s foe, and should gamble on defense.

But the Raiders will have the players to step up and make the big plays in front of the home folks during homecoming.

Madison County gets a much-needed win heading into its big battle next week with Cedar Shoals.

PREDICTION: Madison County 21, Monroe Area 17

The Bulldogs are done with the directional schools — Georgia Southern and Central Michigan.

Good thing Georgia didn’t schedule East Carolina.

Now comes the annual defensive struggle with South Carolina to start the SEC slate. The Dogs didn’t score a touchdown last year, so finding the end zone Saturday would be a start.

Remember Georgia’s 2004 team trailed South Carolina 16-0 before clawing its way back to life.

The test will be the same Saturday, regardless of what South Carolina did against Vanderbilt. The Gamecocks always put forth their best against Georgia and playing in Williams Brice Stadium is more like playing in a snake pit.

Close one to call, but Georgia finds a way oh-so-closely.

PREDICTION: Georgia 20, South Carolina 14

Ohio State is catching way too much flack for sleepwalking its way to a 26-14 win over Ohio last weekend. Obviously, the Buckeyes were looking ahead big time and were minus Beanie Wells.

All the poor mouthing this week will have USC a little overconfident.

The Trojans still win, but not by nearly as much as everyone might think.

PREDICTION: USC 24, Ohio State 21

Other big games:

In a battle for technical school supremacy, Virgina Tech tops Georgia Tech — barely; Michigan outlasts Notre Dame in a game that would be much more compelling if this were 17 years ago; UCLA gives coach Rick Neuheisel his second win by beating BYU and Tampa Bay tops Atlanta in the professional ranks.