Randy Smith
As we approach the middle of the 2016 college football season, it's time to look back at what has transpired thus far. There are a few surprises, and a lot of teams that have done exactly what we thought they would do; only some of them took much different paths to get there.
The Tennessee Volunteers are 5-1 on the season, which is about where we all thought they'd be when the season started. But I dare say that anyone would have expected them to play so poorly in the first half of each and every game and so fantastic in each game's second half.
Even in defeat this past weekend at Texas A&M it became apparent to me that had they simply cut their turnovers (7) to 3 or 4, they would have easily won the ball game, and they would not have needed overtime. The Volunteer offense absolutely shredded the A&M defense for almost 700 yards but the Aggies won in OT simply because of Tennessee's inability to take care of the football. With top-ranked, powerful Alabama coming to Neyland Stadium this week, it is very clear that mistakes need to be held to a minimum just for the Vols to have a chance of winning. By the way, the Crimson Tide is favored by ten points.
The LSU Tigers could still get to the SEC Championship Game despite firing head coach Les Miles early in the season. The Bengal Tigers smashed Missouri 42-7 in interim coach Ed Orgeron's first game and Hurricane Mathew took care of the Tigers and their opponents, the Florida Gators this past weekend. LSU is not a team that anyone wants to play right now.
Why did the Gators cross the road? because they were too chicken to play LSU that's why. Florida's unwillingness to play the Tigers as Hurricane Mathew caused havoc in the states of Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina last week, seems to be much more about avoiding a loss than it was a true concern for the state's citizens. Miami and Florida State managed to play in Miami Saturday night and Miami is on the coast while Gainesville is in the central part of the state. LSU made every effort to accommodate the Gators in Baton Rouge, the same way they did last year for South Carolina when torrential rains hit Columbia, SC. After several days of nothing happening to rectify the situation, it's also becoming apparent that the SEC has dropped the ball by not forcing LSU and Florida to reschedule the game. Major implications on both the SEC East and SEC West races are on the line in this game, and to protect the integrity of the league, this game must be played.
Have I mentioned that Alabama is very good. In fact the Tide is scary good; perhaps the best team that Nick Saban has had since he came to the Capstone. However, it's not beyond the realm of possibility that 'Bama could still lose two SEC games down the stretch.
Vanderbilt and Kentucky are both still very bad college football teams.
Georgia is not quite as good as we thought, but they are still dangerous, and Jacob Eason is the real deal.
Auburn is getting better and could also have a lot to say about who wins the SEC West.
Ole Miss is very good and so is Texas A&M. Don't count either team out of the SEC West race. When they meet in College Station on November 12th look for an outstanding match-up.
Look for my SEC picks for week seven tomorrow.
It's hard to believe that Tennessee has been the SEC's featured match-up on CBS for four consecutive weeks, as well as being a pick for ESPN's College Game Day broadcast three times in the season's first half.
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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.