Randy Smith: SEC Picks Week Eight

  • Wednesday, October 15, 2014
  • Randy Smith
Randy Smith
Randy Smith


If you had told me back in August that midway through the college football season, Mississippi State would be on top of the polls and Ole Miss would be ranked third, I would have reported you to the "people" as someone who had lost all sanity, and was a danger to all people you encounter. That's how crazy and unpredictable college football has become. Yet.....here we are halfway through the season, and the Bulldogs and Rebels from the Magnolia State, have been the two biggest stories this season so far.
Last week: 6-2
Year to date: 50-12
This week, Auburn, Vanderbilt, and Mississippi State are idle.
Kentucky at LSU: This week provides an big opportunity for the Kentucky Wildcats to get a quality win in the SEC.
They are 2-1 in the league so far with wins over Vanderbilt and an unranked South Carolina squad. Their loss was an overtime loss at Florida who was and still is unranked. The Bengal Tigers are coming off a close win in the "Swamp" over the Gators so this is shaping up as a big contest, though LSU is favored by nine points. That sounds about right.
LSU 30  Kentucky 20.
Missouri at Florida: There is no way that Missouri should have lost by the  34-0 whitewash that Georgia put on them last week. The Bulldogs had everything clicking while the Tigers were totally flat. Another performance by Mizzou like that one and the season is headed south in a hurry. In fact, you might say the same thing for Florida. The loser of this game may be packing it in early. I'm hoping that Gators' Coach Will Muschamp doesn't disappoint his own fans two weeks in a row. I don't believe he will.
Florida 24  Missouri 17.
Georgia at Arkansas: The suspension of running back Todd Gurley is still in force, though he continues to practice with his team. Freshman stand out Nick Chubb filled in quite admirably for Gurley last week as the Bulldogs routed Missouri. Arkansas provides a bigger challenge as the Hogs are coming off a near upset of Alabama. Whether the 'Dawgs have Gurley or not shouldn't matter unless they come out flat and unemotional, which they are prone to do following big emotional wins. (Losing to South Carolina after embarrassing Clemson comes to mind).
Georgia 31  Arkansas 17.  
Texas A&M at Alabama: In the last two weeks, the Aggies have lost to Mississippi State and Ole Miss and they look nothing like the team that completely took South Carolina apart in August. At the same time, Alabama looks nothing like the team that was ranked second just a few weeks ago. In that same two week period, the Tide has been upset 23-16 at Ole Miss, and won 14-13 at Arkansas. Alabama is rated a ten point choice in this one and this week we find out if Nick Saban's crew struggled with Texas A&M the last two seasons, or just Johnny Manziel.
Alabama 38  Texas A&M 31.
Furman at South Carolina: In years past when Furman would visit the Gamecocks I might say Coach Steve Spurrier better be careful. Not this year however. Furman is pretty bad and the Ol' Ball Coach continues to say his team is pretty bad too.  
South Carolina 48  Furman 7.
Tennessee at Ole Miss: The Volunteers are 3-3 overall and halfway to being bowl eligible. Of the final six opponents, only Ole Miss (3rd) and Alabama (7th) are ranked in the top ten. The other four teams (South Carolina, Missouri, Vanderbilt and Kentucky) aren't ranked at all. They must win six to go to a bowl and they need four wins to finish where I predicted they would finish (7-5). The biggest concern all year long has been the young inexperienced offensive line, which will be tested to the max this weekend against the Rebels great defensive front. Remember, in the pre-season I asked all Big Orange faithful to be patient. They have shown great improvement with the youngest team in America in going 3-3. They will be better and they will win a lot of games. Just not this week.
Ole Miss 28  Tennessee 17. 

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Randy Smith has been covering sports on radio, television and print for the past 45 years. After leaving WRCB-TV in 2009, he has written two books, and has continued to free-lance as a play-by-play announcer. He is currently teaching Broadcasting at Coahulla Creek High School near Dalton, Ga.

His career has included a 17-year stretch as host of the Kickoff Call In Show on the University of Tennessee’s prestigious Vol Network. He has been a member of the Vol Network staff for thirty years.

He has done play-by-play on ESPN, ESPN II, CSS, and Fox SportSouth, totaling more than 500 games, and served as a well-known sports anchor on Chattanooga Television for more than a quarter-century.

In 2003, he became the first television broadcaster to be inducted into the Greater Chattanooga Area Sports Hall of Fame. Randy and his wife Shelia reside in Hixson. They have two married children, (Christi and Chris Perry; Davey and Alison Smith.) They have four grandchildren, Coleman, Boone, DellaMae and CoraLee.

To contact Randy: rsmithsports@epbfi.com

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