Randy Smith
Last week was a tough one to predict in the SEC. I finished 3-3 and still picked one of the big upsets of the day. (Mississippi State over Texas A&M) This week looks to be even tougher with several really big league contests.
Last week: 3-3
Year to date: 44-10
Louisiana-Monroe at Kentucky: The Wildcats upset of a pretty bad South Carolina squad was totally unexpected. Mike Stoops has gotten Kentucky back ahead of schedule, but when you think about it, what is "back" for Kentucky? They've never been really good in football, except for a few years ago when they went to four straight bowl games. At this point of the season, the 'Cats are only a couple wins away from being bowl eligible, and one of those two wins will come this weekend.
Kentucky 35 ULM 10.
LSU at Florida: Obviously, LSU isn't quite as good as I thought they would be.
After losing at home to Mississippi State, they were totally demolished by Auburn, and now they take their two game SEC losing streak to "The Swamp" to face the Gators. Florida is still not a very good football team, and the quarterback controversy that was developing at Florida has been throttled by the suspension of freshman quarterback Trevon Harris. This game should be close, but the Bengal Tigers will get it done.
LSU 20 Florida 17.
Charleston Southern at Vanderbilt: When I checked, there was no line on this game; that's probably just a handful of people care who wins or loses in this one. Vandy should prevail for the Commodores' second win of the season.
Vanderbilt 27 Charleston Southern 7.
Alabama at Arkansas: Alabama is too good to lose two SEC games in a row. Nick Saban will have the Tide ready when they go to Arkansas to face the Razorbacks. 'Bama is a ten point favorite in the game, and they should win by a bigger margin. Not that Arkansas can't compete with the Tide, but when you factor in the game is coming off a tough loss on the road for Alabama, it makes it much tougher.
Alabama 42 Arkansas 20.
Georgia at Missouri: These two teams seem to be a bit ahead of everybody else in the SEC East. Thus, the winner gets the inside track to the SEC Championship Game. The Bulldogs only hiccup so far this season was the loss a South Carolina in week two. Had they not lost that game, they would be mentioned in the national title conversations along with Auburn, Ole Miss and Mississippi State. They still can be involved, but they need to win out. Missouri is in the same boat, though the Tigers only loss thus far was to lowly Indiana from the Big Ten. This has all the pre-game hype of a super match up. Georgia gets a big win on the road in the SEC.
Georgia 30 Missouri 24.
Ole Miss at Texas A&M: The Rebels shocked the college football world last week with an upset of third ranked Alabama in Oxford. Ole Miss rallied from a 17-10 deficit in the fourth quarter to win 23-17. The Rebs defense has gotten better each week and they will need to really be on their toes this week against Kevin Sumlin's high powered offense. A&M was humiliated last week 48-31 at Mississippi State after winning a close one at Arkansas the week before. Despite the Ole Miss upset of Alabama as well as the Aggies' loss at MSU last week, A&M is a slight favorite in the game.
Texas A&M 33 Ole Miss 30.
Auburn at Mississippi State: The real headliner this week in the SEC takes place in Starkville, Mississippi as the third ranked Bulldogs host top-ranked Auburn. The Tigers were ten point favorites last week at home against LSU and won by a much bigger margin. In other words, the Tigers are on a roll. It hasn't mattered a bit where Mississippi State has played; the Bulldogs have been equally as good on the road and at home. This is turning out to be a special year as well as a surprising year for Coach Dan Mullens' crew in Starkville. However, the unbeaten streak ends this week. The Tigers prevail in a close one.
Auburn 42 Mississippi State 34.
UTC at Tennessee: Only a few of the Mocs' fans remember Chattanooga's win in 1959 in Knoxville. Several UC supporters were put in jail following a big celebration on Sheilds-Watkins field that suddenly turned sour. It got so bad that Knoxville firefighters turned fire hoses on some fans. The Vols were not a very good team that year, but this is a different time. The Mocs certainly are good enough to pull the upset, but U.T. Coach Butch Jones knows that as well as anybody. In the 1950s. there were no scholarship limitations, and both UC and Tennessee were both classified as division one schools. It's really tough for me to pick against Coach Russ Huesman but the Vols are a bit better than the Mocs.
Tennessee 38 UTC 13.
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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