LSU’s open date weekend was good for me.

Not only did I enjoy a perfect week 5 of SEC picks at 6-0 to improve to 44-6 on the year (4-2 against the spread to up my mark to 28-22), but my wife Mrs. Mad Dog and I enjoyed two nights with friends in the French Quarter.

Bad Dog Buddy the Wonder Bichon had it a little rougher. Not only did he go 5-1 in his picks to fall to 40-10 four games behind me, but when I got home Sunday he was exhausted.

He ended up at the vet’s office Monday and Tuesday taking IVs.

“Buddy, what happened during last week’s open date that led you to being hospitalized and needing IVs? I asked.

“The University of Texas also had an open date last week,” Buddy explained. “I went to visit Bevo the Longhorn, an old frat buddy of mine. The only problem was Bevo had no air conditioning in his guesthouse. I got dehydrated.”

I’m happy to say Buddy returned home Tuesday afternoon and knocked out all his Week 6 picks in our Wednesday morning front yard visit. He was so energized that it was like he was running a two-minute leg-lifting drill.

It’s just a five-game schedule Saturday, featuring three league games involving three of SEC’s three top 10 nationally rated teams.

Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi State, South Carolina and Texas A&M have open dates.

Here’s Week 6:

Utah State (3-1) at No. 5 LSU (4-0), 11 a.m., Baton Rouge (SEC Network) Betting line: LSU by 27½

Utah State’s tempo is somewhere between Speedy Gonzales and Usain Bolt. Last year, Utah State led the nation in five categories, including scoring drives under one minute with 29. LSU quarterback Joe Burrow and the nation’s highest scoring offense at 57.8 points per game better prepare for another shootout. It’s likely just one of the Tigers’ previously injured defensive starters –outside linebacker and pass rush specialist K’Lavon Chaisson – will be healthy enough to go against the visiting Aggies. It will be interesting to see how many snaps he gets considering LSU starts its run of seven straight SEC games next Saturday against Florida. Also, the spotlight will be on the long-awaited return of sophomore offensive guard Ed Ingram, who will start in his first game back after being suspended for more than a year. This is game that the Tigers have to push through. With an 11 a.m. kickoff, attendance supposedly will be drastically reduced. The Tiger Stadium atmosphere won’t be the same, which benefits Utah State and forces LSU to rely on self-motivation.

My prediction: Sunrise Service Ti-gahs 71, Utah State 31

Buddy: LSU

No. 3 Georgia (4-0, 1-0 SEC East) at Tennessee (1-3, 1-1 SEC East), 6 p.m., Knoxville (ESPN) Betting line: Georgia by 24½

Every week, it gets a little deeper for Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt. Not only is his team already fighting for its life after just four games, but recent news of what he said to a University of Tennessee policeman over the phone following the arrest of linebacker Jeremy Banks shows Pruitt is clueless how to handle his job. During a Sept, 15 traffic stop, campus police discovered Banks didn’t have his driver’s license because it had been suspended. There was also a warrant out for failing to appear in court on a citation for driving with a suspended license from July. Banks called Pruitt and Pruitt asked the officer why Banks was being arrested after he had been pulled over for a traffic stop. The officer told Pruitt that he was obligated to arrest Banks because of the warrant from the state of Tennessee, which Pruitt said he didn’t know about. “This is the silliest s--- I’ve ever seen in my life, Pruitt said. “ I worked at four places and they never had no crap like this except for here. Because the people usually say, ‘Hey, something’s not right here.’” He’s right. The fact that Pruitt somehow was named head coach at Tennessee a year ago is what's not right. He's way in over his head. Georgia will beat the Vols as bad as it desires on Saturday. It all depends if Bulldogs’ coach Kirby Smart will actually turn loose quarterback Jake Fromm.

My prediction: UGA Dawgs 44, Vols-In-Tears 14

Buddy: Georgia

No. 7 Auburn (5-0, 2-0 SEC West) at Florida (5-0, 2-0 SEC East), 2:30 p.m., Gainesville (CBS) Betting line: Auburn by 2½

It seems like these teams should play each other every year, but they don’t as they did once-upon-a-time. The Tigers and Gators played every year from 1927-2002 except 1941 and 1943-44, but this is just the fourth meeting between the two schools since 2002 and the first since 2011 when Auburn won 17-6. The Tigers have won three straight and four of the last five in the series. This game has layers of story lines. Starting QBs Bo Nix of Auburn and Kyle Trask of Florida having just a combined seven college starts, so both teams must rely on stout defenses and solid running games to take pressure off their QBs. Head coaches Gus Malzahn of Auburn and Dan Mullen of Florida are offensive gurus who like to call plays. Florida statistically has a better defense, but Auburn has played a tougher schedule to date with two wins over top 25 teams at a neutral site (27-21 over Oregon in Dallas) and on the road (28-20 at Texas A&M).

My prediction: War Damn Eagle 27, Gainesville Reptiles 23

Buddy: Auburn

Vanderbilt (1-3, 0-2 SEC East) at Ole Miss (2-3, 1-1 SEC West), 6:30 p.m., Oxford (SEC Network) Betting line: Ole Miss by 7½

Do you know who’s sweating this game the most? The lower-tier SEC bowls, especially the Liberty and the Music City, that like to invite an SEC school within driving distance. The Ole Miss program and fanbase are last weekend's 28-point loss at Alabama as a sign of progress. The fact the Rebels scored 31 on the Crimson Tide is viewed as a ray of sunshine beaming through the dark clouds that have hung over the Ole Miss program the last few years. Both the Rebels and the Commodores have offenses ranked in the back third of the league. Also, both attacks are powered by running backs – Vanderbilt’s Ke’Shawn Vaughn (99.5 ypg, four TDs) and Ole Miss’ Scottie Phillips (77.8 ypg, four TDs) – rather than quarterbacks. Ole Miss has won four of the last six games against Vandy, but the Rebs have lost two of the last three to the Commodores. Ole Miss has already lost one home game this season to non-conference foe Cal, so it can’t afford another Vaught-Hemingway flop.

My prediction: Hotty Toddy Rebels 38, Gloria Vanderbilt 28

Buddy: Ole Miss

Elsewhere:

Troy (2-2) at Missouri (3-1), 3 p.m., Columbia (SEC Network) Betting line: Missouri by 24½

My prediction: Other SEC Ti-gahs 45, Extra Ribbed Trojans 21

Buddy: Missouri