Texas is on top, but Vandy continues to rise

1. Texas (6-0): The Texas – Oklahoma game was ESPN’s showpiece game this week, and it wasn’t close. Texas wasn’t good in the first half of the game, but they got better as the time went on and eviscerated a hapless Sooners team. As much fun as I’ve made of them, this team is great all over the park. The big test will next week against some team called Georgia.

2. Texas A&M (5-1): Smashed Bye Week into the ground, but reason they’ve vaulted Georgia is the evidence of the week before, when there was no playing with their food against Missouri.

3. Georgia (5-1): Don’t imprison Kirby Smart for pushing that Mississippi State player, get him investigated by the NCAA for the fact that there have been seven arrests in 2024 – two of them extremely serious – and multiple others for being idiots with cars. Oh, and Georgia’s still very good, though.

4. LSU (5-1): The Tigers shut Ole Miss down to just 20 points in their overtime victory in Death Valley – including just 3 in overtime. They exposed a poor Ole Miss offensive line, drilling Jaxson Dart for six sacks. Is LSU great? Nope. But they might just be play-off good.

5. Ole Miss (5-2): With that loss at LSU, Ole Miss’ dreams of a play-off place are over, unless all hell breaks loose in front of them. Lane Kiffin was once again exposed for not having a Plan ‘B’ in a game that LSU was always going to try and ugly up.

6. Arkansas (4-2): Here’s a team that is far better than it actually is. The loss to a putrid Oklahoma State side is by far and away their worst loss of the year (and they shouldn’t have lost it), the loss against Texas A&M was an ugly loss in an ugly game, but the Tennessee win was fantastic. Play-off? No. Bowl game? Absolutely? Sam Pittman for 2025? Yep. Sorry, Bobby Petrino.

7. Tennessee (5-1): Home game. Against Florida. What a game it’s gonna, be right? Oh wait….No. They were down 3-0 at half-time, but it really should have been 13 or even 20. Nico’s gone downhill since the evisceration of NC State, looking human again. The Alabama game ain’t gonna be huge anymore.

8. Vanderbilt (4-2): An appalling loss to Georgia State and now two straight SEC victories including wins over Alabama, on the road against Kentucky? This Vandy team is weird….but fun weird.

9. Alabama (5-1): The Crimson Tide hasn’t been good since the first half of the Georgia game. In this South Carolina game, they were very fortunate to get away with the win. The Tennessee game on Saturday looms large for the Tide.

10. Missouri (5-1): The smashing of a piss-poor UMass team does nothing to convince us that they aren’t, erm, paper tigers.

11. = Oklahoma (4-2): Defense good for a half against Texas, offense bad for the whole season. This is hard work.

11. = South Carolina (3-3): The most infuriating team in the SEC. Should have beaten LSU and Alabmaa. Didn’t show up against Ole Miss. And you can tell the Gamecock fans aren’t happy, either.

13. Kentucky (3-3): Boring team with boring wins and boring losses. Urgh. Today was a boring loss.

14. Florida (3-3): I thought UF would get shellacked against Tennessee, but the Gators played out of their minds, and Tennessee couldn’t do anything. But this is why Billy Napier’s going to lose his job about: The indiscipline and the errors. There were shocking penalties. A stupid fumble on the 1-yard line. Urgh. Are the Gators better than their record suggests? Probably. Will Billy Napier keep his job? Nope.

15. Auburn (2-4): Auburn fans are planting escorts as we speak….

16.Mississippi State (1-5): They closed the gap on Auburn with their 10-point defeat at Georgia, but they still are awful.