Each week during the 2016 college football season I'll offer up my selections and scores for the weekend's biggest games, along with a handful of other key matchups to keep an eye on.
Last year my selections went 104-33 (76 percent) when picking the straight-up winners during the regular season and 74-61-2 (55 percent) against the spread. The past two weeks have been rough here with my Insider picks and have dropped the straight-up record to 44-26 (63 percent) and the ATS record to just 26-41-2 (39 percent). On the Friday ESPN podcast, the record this past week was 2-2 and now stands at 14-13-1.
Here are this week's selections.
Note: Lines from Westgate SuperBook as of Wednesday morning. (+) indicates a pick in which Phil Steele is taking an underdog with the points.
No. 18 Tennessee Volunteers (-13.5) at South Carolina Gamecocks
Saturday, 7:15 p.m. ET, ESPN2
The Volunteers went through the gauntlet of Florida, Georgia, Texas A&M and Alabama and got extremely banged-up, losing their past two games. Fortunately they're coming off a bye and, while not anywhere near full health, they do get some players back, like linebacker Darrin Kirkland Jr. and three offensive linemen who missed most of the Alabama game.