With this last regular season power poll, I’m going to repeat something I did last year and include the net conference per game yardage numbers for each team. There should be a rough correlation between the net numbers and won-loss records.
- LSU (12-0, 8-0) [+167.1 ypg]. First, the Tigers won the Arkansas game. Then Les Miles won the postgame.
- Alabama (11-1, 7-1) [+233.5 ypg]. Nice of Nick Saban to recognize LSU as “probably” the best team in the country, don’t you think?
- Arkansas (10-2, 6-2)[+37.9 ypg]. It’s tempting to drop the Hogs behind Georgia, but I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt from the schedule.
- Georgia (10-2, 7-1)[+155.0 ypg]. The gaudy net yardage number suggests the Dawgs deserve more credit for their record than they’re getting.
- South Carolina (10-2, 6-2)[+82.3 ypg]. Spurrier’s happy with that tenth win, but it’s the Auburn loss that’s going to stick with him in the offseason.
- Auburn (7-5, 4-4) [-93.9 ypg]. At first glance, you might argue they overachieved, but the reality is that the Tigers started off decently and faded badly.
- Florida (6-6, 3-5) [-39.0 ypg]. Speaking of starting off decently and fading badly, the Gators’ offense scored more than one touchdown in only one of its last six conference games.
- Vanderbilt (6-6, 2-6) [-28.5 ypg]. Vanderbilt improved its net yards per conference game by more than 200 yards from last season. It’s too bad James Franklin lets his antics get in the way of the great coaching job he’s done this year.
- Mississippi State (6-6, 2-6)[-61.2 ypg]. I think it’s safe to say the bloom has worn off the Dan Mullen rose a bit.
- Kentucky (5-7, 2-6)[-182.8 ypg]. Will Matt Roark be the SEC offensive player of the week?
- Tennessee (5-7, 1-7)[-97.5 ypg]. An ugly loss to Kentucky caps the Vols’ first back-to-back losing seasons since 1911.
- Mississippi (2-10,0-8)[-174.2 ypg]. Is Ole Miss still in the league?
Was the SEC weaker this season? Not exactly. A better way to describe the conference would be to say that it was less balanced than last year. Only five schools had positive net yardage numbers in SEC play, compared to eight in 2010. No school was as bad as Vanderbilt was a year ago, but three schools posted better net yardage numbers than the top rate last year (and Alabama more than doubled it).
Get The Picture 
Didn’t you love watching Saban make his case for the national title game? Apparently Bama won the LSU game, there was just that small issue about the scoreboard where LSU had more points in overtime.
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I’m surprised that Gameday isn’t going to be in Tuscaloosa this week. They could set up outside of Saban’s office. Could the WWL be pushing any harder for a rematch? Isn’t is awesome that Bama could finish 3rd in the SEC (if we pull off the biggest miracle since Jesus’ Resurrection by winning Saturday), but will probably play for the national championship. We all know they are going to claim a piece of it regardless so I guess I shouldn’t be upset.
Also, I love how ESPN says we backed into the SECCG…last I checked USCe didn’t play LSU or Bama either. I’m going to stop now. Ugh.
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Did LSU back into the SEC West slot in the SECCG? After all the Bayou Bengals didn’t have to play UGA or South Carolina.
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Given that Auburn should be 5-7, you could argue that they overachieved…or that they got lucky. Whichever you prefer.
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I don’t get the Arky rating, but it is just an opinion so I can’t fault it. My reason for believing UGA should be higher is that the Hogs were blown out by both of the top 2 teams in the conference, not really competitive. With UGA, who knows? Arkansas had an impressive win against SC, and that is it. Recall that UGA manhandled SC too, in a loss. That was one weird series of miscues but who was the clear better team that night? Arkansas had to come from behind and win close games against Vandy, A&M, and had an unimpressive win over Ole Miss. Not knocking them as a decent team, but I feel they got elevated due to the media hype about how great the West was this year. Conceding how good LSU is, and Bama probably is, isn’t this a little overplayed? MSU, AU, and Ole Miss were pretty weak, and the Arkansas defense is pretty questionable. Just an opinion as well, but I would take the Dawgs over Arkansas based on what I have seen. You cannot ignore that conference net yardage number (at least that is what PS says.)
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I hope you’re not trying to equate the two.
I will say that if Georgia shows well against LSU on Saturday, that will cause me to revisit my thinking (assuming, of course, Georgia wins its bowl game).
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My point was that Arkansas, despite all the “west is better” headlines, only had one impressive win over a quality team and that was SC. While I don’t equate the two, the way we put 42 up on SC demonstrates that is within our range as well. Our “unforced errors” of handing them 24 gift points show we belong in that discussion. And no one has blown us out (yet). Arky struggled with middling teams as did we. At this point I have to say UGA gets the slight edge based on the body of work of the first 12 games. Again, just an opinion.
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Good argument if you’re a Dawg. And we all are.
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Good point: we are all Dawgs.
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And you two HCs are doing more than anyone to insure our future success in the East! Bravo lads.
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