Randy Smith
The College Football Playoff Poll has teams from the SEC, (Alabama) ACC, (Clemson), Big Ten, (Michigan) and Pac 12, (Washington) and that may not change until a few days following the league championship games in December. Are we really that close to the end of the season? It seems as if we just started playing college football a week or so ago.
Mississippi State at Alabama
Coach Nick Saban's Crimson Tide has proven they know how to win in every possible scenario. Last week, they were heavily tested on the road at LSU and pulled out a hard fought 10-0 win.
On the other hand, Coach Dan Mullen at Mississippi State finds his team playing their best football of the year going into their game this weekend at Tuscaloosa against "Bama. I said last week that the Bulldogs are good for at least one big upset win every season. They got it when they knocked off Texas A&M and catapulted the Aggies out of the College Football Playoff Poll. No matter how well MSU plays this week it won't be enough.
Alabama 37 Mississippi State 13
LSU at Arkansas
The Bengal Tigers gave Alabama all they wanted last week, but some of those same glaring weaknesses came back to bite them. I'm talking about LSU's inability to score points. Arkansas is coming off an impressive 31-10 win over Florida in perhaps the Hogs' best performance of the year, but Arkansas is not Alabama. If LSU suffers any type of letdown at all this week, the Tigers could be in trouble. Coach Bret Bielema's squad has some ground to make up as they started the SEC season 0-4. This one could be a really close contest, and I fear that 10-0 loss to Alabama last week will cost the Tigers.
Arkansas 24 LSU 20
Auburn at Georgia
The south's oldest rivalry continues this week in Athens as Georgia hosts Auburn. The Bulldogs may have a bit of momentum coming in as they knocked off red hot Kentucky last week in Lexington. Georgia has been up and down all season; starting the year 3-0, then losing four of their next five games. They need a win to move closer to bowl eligibility and they have three games left to find those two victories. Auburn struggled and almost lost to Vanderbilt last weekend, and now the injury bug has struck the Tigers. Quarterback Sean White is among the wounded and it will take a monumental effort to get the win. In fact, Georgia is favored in this one. Jacob Eason needs to have a big, big game this week.
Georgia 27 Auburn 24
South Carolina at Florida
The play of true freshman quarterback Jake Bentley at South Carolina has made Will Muschamp look like a really good football coach. The Gamecocks have won three in a row following their last loss to Georgia more than a month ago. USC has a chance to finish their SEC schedule at the .500 mark (4-4) with a win over the Gators, and win or lose at the Swamp you can look for Muschamp's squad to be a player when bowl teams are selected. Florida will once again be without the services of quarterback Luke Del Rio and Austin Appleby gets the call this week from Coach Jim McElwain. Remember, if the Gators lose one more SEC game Tennessee moves back into the front in the SEC East with a win over Kentucky this weekend.
South Carolina 21 Florida 20
Vanderbilt at Missouri
The Commodores have played just about everyone really tough this season, but the Commodores offense is simply awful. They have great special teams and a really good defense, and those two aspects of the game have kept them in a lot of close games this season. Missouri is still winless in SEC play as Coach Barry Odom has had more problems than he ever signed up for when he took the head coaching job last year. Though this game could be really ugly, it will be competitive.
Vanderbilt 17 Missouri 12
Ole Miss at Texas A&M
It will be interesting to see how Texas A&M bounces back from their upset loss at Mississippi State last week. The Aggies were lifeless to say the least as the Bulldogs jumped out to a big lead and held on for the win. Ole Miss has been a big disappointment this season as that once heralded defensive unit has been shredded more than once in 2016. Keep in mind if it is a shoot out, it will become one with someone other than Trevor Knight at quarterback for the Aggies. Knight injured his shoulder last week and will be out the rest of the regular season. That doesn't bode well for Texas A&M.
Ole Miss 30 Texas A&M 34
Kentucky at Tennessee
"They remember what you do in November." That quote was used by both Johnny Majors and Phillip Fulmer at Tennessee as it regards the usually strong finishes to each season for the Volunteers. Tennessee is 6-3 heading into the Vols' final three games of the year. Coach Butch Jones has emphasized this is a three game season now, and if the Big Orange wins out they have a shot at playing in the SEC Championship game.......provided Florida loses at least one more SEC contest. Some good news for the Volunteers as running back Alvin Kamara returns from an injury he suffered a few weeks ago. I honestly feel Tennessee is in a good place right now, following those three straight losses and player defections. What I worry about most however is Kentucky. The Wildcats have the best team they've had in several seasons, and just a week ago were in first place in the SEC East. Running back "Boom Williams" presents quite a challenge for the Vols' defense and with the injuries stacking up on that side of the ball, it's important to get some stops and keep the ball out of his hands. This could be a close one.
Tennessee 31 Kentucky 27
Last week: 5-2
Year to date 62-20
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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.
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 five grandchildren, Coleman, Boone, Mattingly, DellaMae, and CoraLee.