Week 5 Rankings: Alabama’s back at No.1 in the SEC
At the end of the season, we’ll be talking about great games. If the Alabama v Georgia game isn’t in your Top 2, you’re probably wrong.
They played out a crazy, wonderful, game-of-two-halves classic that was finished with a crazy-brilliant touchdown by a kid who happens to be the 17-year old cousin of one Serena Williams
Anyway, here are our rankings after Week 5 of the SEC season.
1. Alabama: Calen DeBoer’s gonna win games he should have lost (see last season v Oregon and Texas) and lose games he should have won. His clock management will be questionable. But through all of this, he will be bloody entertaining to watch. It’s gonna be some ride, Alabama fans.
2. Tennessee: The only obvious fault with this Tennessee team is that they haven’t played Georgia or Alabama yet. This team is making people think about 1998.
3. Texas: A pretty ordinary performance against a really, really bad Mississippi State team. The most interesting thing will be to see the oncoming QB battle between Quin Ewers and Arch Manning. And yes, it’s going to happen. Probably when Texas and Oklahoma play each other.
4. Georgia: That game for Georgia was straight out of the Mark Richt books. Terrible, then an incredible comeback followed by heartbreaking loss. The Bulldogs is still a fantastic team, but Carson Beck probably blew his Heisman chances that night.
5= Oklahoma: The Oklahoma victory at Auburn may be seen as being a wonderful victory, but let’s be honest, they were awful until they were gifted an Pick-6 with 4 minutes to go.
5=. Missouri: Luther Burden and Theo Wease are incredible wide receivers, but the near-chokejob against Vanderbilt has many thinking that despite it’s pretty-easy schedule, the Tigers are paper tigers.
7. LSU: Some LSU fans got excited about the win over South Alabama because of the Jaguars’ last two offensive outputs, but the thrashing was meant to happen…and it did. Frankly, it covers up nothing. LSU aren’t a good side this year. They should have lost to South Carolina. They haven’t been great all esason long. It’s a worry.
8. Kentucky: Kentucky’s gonna bore you to death. Sometimes, they’ll do really badly against not-great teams (like South Carolina), and sometimes they’ll nearly-score huge upsets (Georgia) or score huge upsets (Ole Miss, last week). But you know what you’re getting. And it’s not exciting.
9. South Carolina: The Gamecocks were one horrific call away from beating LSU. The Gamecocks are a more-than-serviceable team right now. This may of course go to the crapper in the next few weeks when the schedule gets horrible, but right now, they are more-than-serviceable.
10. Ole Miss: Had the second-biggest kick in the teeth in the AP Top 25 after the horrendous loss against Kentucky, but the fact is this: The Rebels were TERRIBLE against Kentucky because they faced a team that did the basics well defensively, and they didn’t have a Plan B. If you wonder why they are so low in our view, here’s this deal: Ole Miss’ first outing against a good team….was a failure. At home.
11. Texas A&M: Marcel Reed may be the answer for Texas A&M. So might the fact that they suddenly look competent this short season under Mike Elko than they did under Jimbo Fisher in the last season or two.
12. Arkansas: Sam Pittman’s going to be gainfully employed in 2025, but it’s going to be particularly fun. Taylen Green’s is an exciting prospect for the Hogs…but he’s just a prospect.
13. Vanderbilt: WE’RE STILL BUZZING ABOUT THE MISSOURI GAME! THERE IS HOPE IN NASHVILLE!
14. Auburn: Hugh Freeze has gone from blaming his quarterbacks to the previous administration for the latest, galling defeats. Anyone missing Gus Malzahn? We are!
15. Florida: Thank God for Mississippi State, who Florida recently beat.
16. Mississippi State: MSU showed some battle against Texas in Austin – something we thought they wouldn’t have after getting pumped by Toledo and losing unceremoniously against the Gators, but this is still the SEC’s worst team.