Georgia is the best, LSU one of the worst: Week 3 SEC Ranking
It was a weird week in the SEC. The Big 12 actually had some pretty good, low-scoring games, while the SEC was a scorefest of legendary proportions.
Alabama and Ole Miss was 63-48, Missouri beat LSU 45-41, Texas A&M beat Florida 41-38, Auburn beat Arkansas 30-28, Georgia humiliated Tennessee 44-21, South Carolina smashed Vanderbilt 41-7 and the weirdest game was at Lexington, where Kentucky beat Mississippi State 24-2.
Let’s not get this wrong – it was a humbling day for losers and winners.
Here are our ranks for the SEC this week.
1. Georgia (3-0). It wasn’t pretty in the first half, but Georgia’s half-time adjustments were exceptional, and there was nothing that Tennessee could do about it. Georgia put up 431 yards, and Stetson Bennett’s looking like the quarterback that will make D’Wan Mathis put his name in the transfer window by the end of the season.
2. Alabama (3-0): OK, so the defense was terrible on Saturday night at Ole Miss. Dylan Moses did nothing for his draft stock, and the blaming of Ole Miss stealing signs sounded like a little child whingeing. It was spectacularly bad form. On the other side of the ball, the offense looks unstoppable. Mind you, they haven’t played any good defense yet. Can’t wait for Georgia next week.
3. Texas A&M (2-1): This was a great performance from Kellen Mond, who had 338 yards and 3 TDs in what Aggies fans will hope will be a statement game for his future. The secondary still is poor (Kyle Trask had 310 yards and 4 TDs), but this might be the second-best team in the SEC West. And potentially, we could see them favored in all of their next games, making them a sneaky play-off bet (Note: This is Texas A&M, so good things probably won’t happen).
4. Florida (2-1): Cruel as a last-second loss may be, Florida’s defense in the second half deserved it. Todd Grantham had yet another poor game as defensive coordinator, getting aggressive when it wasn’t needed, and failing to stack the box against the run, when it was obvious that A&M’s runners were running roughshod.
5. Auburn (2-1): This is the luckiest win of Gus Malzahn’s career. They got a field goal that should never have been given because they would have turned the ball over in the drive (thanks to a botched spike play from Bo Nix. The SEC Officiating gods tried to put out a statement about it but it turned out to be almost as shambolic as the refs themselves). Seth Williams and Anthony Schwartz are still excellent weapons for the Tigers, though.
6. Tennessee (2-1): The Vols and Auburn are pretty interchangeable at the 5 and 6 position, but Auburn wins in because Bo Nix was less awful than Jarrett Guarantano last week. The much-vaunted Tennessee offensive line was rinsed by Georgia over and over again.
7. Ole Miss (1-2): Come for the offense, leave for the defense. Lane Kiffin’s the best offensive play-caller in the SEC and his explanation of why the team DIDN’T steal Alabama’s signs was spot-on: “FYI when u go as fast as we do we call our play first. Stealing signals wouldn’t help us at all because we are snapping the ball why they were still trying to just line up”, he tweeted.
8. Kentucky (1-2): Mark Stoops had all of the answers for The Air Raid on Saturday, got KJ Costello benched, and caused six Cowbell interceptions as they forced Mike Leach to chase the game – a ruse that ultimately failed.
9. Arkansas (1-2): The Hogs’ defense is utterly legit, and the offense is utterly not. Feliepe Franks is definitely improving, and we can see a couple more wins this season, but the offense will have to improve.
10. South Carolina (1-2): The Gamecocks got over a lot of foibles by beating the hell out of Vanderbilt. The Commodores had no answer for Carolina’s rushing attack, which starred Kevin Harris, who ran for 171 yards and 2 TDs. But then again, Vanderbilt has little answer for everything these days.
11. Missouri (1-2): The stunning 44-41 upset of LSU actually should have been more. Missouri’s plucky band of second-team wide receivers looked like NFL players against an embarrassingly bad LSU secondary, but on the other side of the ball, Missouri made four goal-line plays when it mattered. Sadly for Mizzou, they won’t get the chance for a quick, successful follow-up because of COVID-19.
12. Mississippi State (1-2): Wow, that Mike Leach has been worked out quickly, hasn’t he?
13. LSU (1-2): This LSU team could legitimately finish 3-7 this year. The Tigers have no secondary, no tackling efforts, and as fun as the offense is to watch, the defense would make any LSU fan worth is while puke up his jambalaya. This is Ed Orgeron’s year of reckoning. If he gets it right, he should fire Bo Pelini. He’s already said in a press conference today: “I’d rather play one defense and get it right.” Right now LSU’s football is not
14. Vanderbilt (0-3): The only reason why they aren’t going to lose against Missouri on Saturday is that COVID-19 postponed the game first.