SEC Rankings: The SEC West is a head ****
People talk about the Big Ten East as being the ‘crazy conference’, with Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State all battling it out for supremacy. The first leg of that is already done, with Ohio State proving that having NFL-talent wide receivers and a stout defense will tend to win more big ballgames than lose them when they beat Penn State 20-12 in a game that wasn’t that close.
But the SEC West, dear Lord, could be even worse.
Here’s why (if LSU beats Alabama): LSU beats Alabama who beat Ole Miss who beat LSU who beat Alabama.
In other words, a 3-way tie at the top.
All three teams don’t look like losing again anytime soon….yet Alabama play LSU the week after next.
The scenario is brain-melting, because all three teams could come out with a loss in the division – against each other – and then it gets stupid.
It could well come down to Ole Miss scheduling Tulane for 2023 and 2025, rather than 2022 and 2023. Alabama got Texas and LSU got Florida State…and both of them lost.
So here are my rankings:
- Georgia (7-0): No Brock Bowers, but Kirby Smart’s group has had a week to recharge their batteries before they play Florida. Expect Oscar Delp to be the next tight end sensation, or Georgia to go a bit more smash-mouth than usual.
- Alabama (7-1): The Crimson Tide found themselves down 13 points to the Tennessee Volunteers, and then beat the living daylights out of the Vols in a staggering second-half performance. Jalen Milroe is continuing to improve week-by-week, and if this carries on, it’s not hard to see Alabama as SEC Champions and the sole representative in the Play-Off.
- LSU (6-1): OH MY GOD, WE KNOW OLE MISS BEAT LSU A FEW WEEKS AGO. But right now, LSU’s playing great. And can we start accelerating the Jayden Daniels-for-Heisman conversation, please?
- Ole Miss (6-1): Ole Miss beat Auburn 28-21 last Saturday when the week before LSU had eviscerated Auburn 48-18. If that’s a common opponent, then that’s why they are below the Tigers in our standings (which mean little).
- Missouri (7-1): The Tigers should be 8-0. Let that sink in. They pumped South Carolina with good defense and a strong rushing game – something that we hadn’t often seen this year.
- Texas A&M (4-3): The season might be over for the Aggies, but they could have a massive say in how the SEC West finishes with games against Ole Miss and LSU. Sadly, they are both on the road.
- Florida (5-2): Utterly unpredictable, so much fun. We’ll see if Graham Mertz’ resurrection will continue to flourish against Georgia….but probably not. The Gators are still far behind the Dawgs talent-wise.
- Tennessee (5-2): Tennessee’s loss to Alabama was more about ‘Bama’s second-half adjustments than Tennessee playing any worse. Still, an unpredictable quarterback does not maketh for an extremely happy fanbase.
- Kentucky (5-2): A middling program with a middling quarterback playing for an offense that is screwed if the great running back is stopped from running. The defense ain’t great, either.
- South Carolina (2-5): South Carolina’s actually better than the 2-5 record suggests, but as goes the old adage: “Your record’s your record”. They need an offensive line coach. Now.
- Mississippi State (4-3): The victory over Arkansas lived up the hype that the game got from us. To make this short, Mississippi State ain’t gonna win very much without Will Rogers as QB. Mike Wright may have been up to it against Arkansas, but that’s because, er, Arkansas.
- Auburn (2-4): Dayum that offense is bad.
- Vanderbilt (2-6): It wouldn’t be a surprise to see Vanderbilt finish without a SEC win this year. But at least they would be joined at the bottom by Arkansas.
- Arkansas (2-6): Arkansas have had a nasty schedule up to now. They also are piss-poor (If you can’t beat a bad Mississippi State team without their starting quarterback, then…). Both statements are true.