2016 Tennessee Volunteers Football Predictions and Season Win Total Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 8/7/2016

Tennessee was everyone's sleeper team in the SEC coming into last season. With 17 returning starters from 2014's seven-win club the scuttlebutt was that the Volunteers could be poised for their first SEC East title since 2007. The Vols had that - and potentially a trip to the College Football Playoff - within their grasp. But four losses by a touchdown or less, three of which in games where they led by two touchdowns, kept Tennessee outside the Top 25 and the SEC title game.

2016 Georgia Bulldogs Football Predictions and Season Win Total Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 8/7/2016

This season begins a new era of Georgia football. Mark Richt was let go and former Alabama co-defensive coordinator, and Georgia alum, Kirby Smart was brought in to hopefully get the Bulldogs over the hump and competing for national titles. Richt had gone 94-38 over the last 10 years. Apparently that wasn't good enough. So while Smart will enjoy a grace period, the bar is set pretty high.

2016 Auburn Tigers Football Predictions and Season Win Total Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 8/7/2016

Last season I was one of the only handicappers and analysts in the country that wasn't buying into Auburn. They entered the year at No. 6 in the Top 25 and they were the overwhelming media choice to win the SEC. Instead, they needed OT to beat Jacksonville State in Week 2 - as a 47-point favorite - and then flopped their way to a 4-6 close to the campaign and last place in the SEC West. I easily hit with my 'under' play on their season win total.

2016 Texas A&M Aggies Football Predictions and Season Win Total Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 8/7/2016

It's been a rough few months for Kevin Sumlin. It wasn't long ago (2012) that Sumlin was considered one of the hottest coaches in college football. But after back-to-back 8-5 campaigns, and with a dearth of big victories in College Station in front of the home faithful, Sumlin enters this season with enormous pressure. It doesn't help that Sumlin has had a mass quarterback exodus, losing four quarterbacks to transfer over the last 18 months.

2016 Florida Gators Football Predictions and Season Win Total Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 8/7/2016

I was bullish on Florida and Jim McElwain last season, and they didn't let me down, winning the SEC East while working their way up into a Top 10. The Gators came back to reality a bit late in the season, though, getting blown out in their final three games, losing to Florida State, Alabama and Michigan by a combined score of 97-24. Those ugly defeats kind of sapped UF of any momentum coming into this season.

2016 Mississippi State Bulldogs Football Predictions and Season Win Total Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 8/7/2016

The Bulldogs exceeded my wildest expectations - dealing me my first top play college football futures loss this decade - while winning nine games last season. Dak Prescott singlehandedly carried this veteran team to nine victories and a bowl win over N.C. State to cap one of the best careers in Bulldogs history.

2016 Ole Miss Rebels Football Predictions and Season Win Total Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 8/7/2016

Mississippi is coming off one of its best-ever seasons, winning 10 games for just the third time in over 50 years. You would expect that to give the Rebels some positive momentum coming into this season. But a bit of a pall was cast over Ole Miss this offseason after losing three star juniors to the NFL and enduring the draft night controversy surrounding Laremy Tunsil, with allegations of NCAA violations.

2016 Arkansas Razorbacks Football Predictions and Season Win Total Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 8/7/2016

Bret Bielema has increased Arkansas' win total from three to seven to eight in the past several seasons. That includes improving their conference record from 0-8 in his first year to 5-3 last season. But now the Razorbacks may be at a bit of a crossroad. They are an afterthought in the SEC West this season, picked sixth by several media outlets in the seven-team division.

2016 South Carolina Gamecocks Football Predictions and Season Win Total Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 8/7/2016

No one can say enough good things about what Steve Spurrier was able to build and accomplish at South Carolina. In the 60 years between the end of World War II and Steve Spurrier's hiring in 2005, South Carolina went to 10 bowl games. In the 11 years that Spurrier was in Columbia he guided the Gamecocks to nine. But Spurrier ditched USC last year during the season, damning the Gamecocks to an ugly 3-9 year and casting a lot of questions on the future of this program.

2016 Missouri Tigers Football Predictions and Season Win Total Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 8/7/2016

Missouri proved that they belong with the big boys by winning back-to-back SEC East titles in 2013 and 2014. But things went off the rails for the plucky Tigers last season, both on the field and off, and the end result was a bowl-less season and then the retirement of longtime coach Gary Pinkel.

2016 Kentucky Wildcats Football Predictions and Season Win Total Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 8/7/2016

I felt like Kentucky was one of the bigger disappointments in the Southeast last year. They got off to a 4-1 start, with the lone loss a heartbreaker against Florida. But they lost another tight game at home to middling Auburn before getting blown out three straight games against Miss State, Tennessee and Georgia (combined score: 121-40). Kentucky blew a game at Vanderbilt and then choked away a 24-7 lead, at home, against rival Louisville in the final game of the season. When the dust settled Kentucky had gone just 3-9 against the spread.

2016 Vanderbilt Commodores Football Predictions and Season Win Total Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 8/7/2016

Derek Mason enters his third year at the helm and has endured a slow, tortuous rebuilding phase at Vanderbilt. Now it's time to show some results at a school that went to a bowl game in each of his predecessor's three seasons in Nashville.

2016 Michigan Wolverines Football Predictions and Season Win Total Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 8/4/2016

Jim Harbaugh was hailed as a football Messiah two years ago when it was announced that he was taking over at his alma mater. But even the most optimistic of Wolverine fan would have to admit that expecting Michigan compete for a National Championship in Year 2 would be a little rash. Yet here they are, entering the fall as one of the odds-on favorites to win it all.

2016 Ohio State Buckeyes Football Predictions and Season Win Total Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 8/4/2016

Urban Meyer has gone an amazing 50-4 in his four years in Columbus. He's won one national title and, frankly, I have a hard time thinking that they weren't one of the top four teams in college football last year. But this season will be Meyer's toughest test yet as Ohio State is set to field one of the least experienced teams in the nation just one year after boasting one of the most experienced (with 12 NFL draft picks).

2016 Wisconsin Badgers Football Predictions and Season Win Total Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 8/4/2016

Paul Chryst's second year at Wisconsin at least threatens to bring some stability to a place that's seen more coaching turnover than one would expect from a top-tier football team. Make no mistake: Wisconsin is one of the best programs in the country. They have gone 98-35 over the last 10 years and are an outstanding 50-18 so far this decade. And they've done that despite the fact that Chryst is the fourth head coach they've had in just over four years.

2016 Nebraska Cornhuskers Football Predictions and Season Win Total Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 8/4/2016

A lot of people are still shaking their heads at Nebraska's left field hiring of Mike Riley. And to say that his first season at the helm didn't go well is an understatement as Nebraska suffered just its second losing season in the last 10 years and, remarkably, just its third losing year in over 50 years!

2016 Michigan State Spartans Football Predictions and Season Win Total Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 8/4/2016

The Spartans have been ruling the roost in the Big Ten, going 24-2 straight up in conference play over the last three seasons while winning two league titles. However, Mark Dantonio enters this fall with his least experienced team in years. And it couldn't come at a worse time. Ohio State and Michigan are stacked and rising just when it looked like Michigan State had passed them as the powerhouse program in the league.

2016 Penn State Nittany Lions Football Predictions and Season Win Total Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 8/4/2016

I have a feeling that all of those Penn State fans that trashed Christian Hackenberg the past two seasons are going to feel a slight tinge of regret this fall. Penn State was lucky that Hackenberg honored his commitment and helped shepherd this program through the ugly post-sanctions years. But he skipped his senior season right at the time when Penn State has just about everything else to vault themselves back into the top tier of the Big Ten.

2016 Northwestern Wildcats Football Predictions and Season Win Total Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 8/4/2016

Every few years or so Pat Fitzgerald's squad explodes for 10 wins seemingly out of nowhere. Last season was the year. The Wildcats were able to tiptoe through a soft schedule and turn it into a solid campaign, which ended with an unceremonious thrashing at the hands of Tennessee in the Outback Bowl.

2016 Minnesota Golden Gophers Football Predictions and Season Win Total Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 8/4/2016

Tracy Claeys enters his second season as the head coach in Minnesota on more solid footing. Claeys took over for Jerry Kill midseason after Kill's health issues finally forced him to step down. Claeys (barely) succeeded in guiding the Gophers to a bowl win last year - getting an exemption despite going 5-7 in the regular season - and he will look to get Minnesota back to the postseason for the fifth straight year.