The SEC West rearranged itself up last weekend. Some things were bound to happen as we had four division members squaring off against each other, but that doesn’t fully explain the damage Alabama and Auburn did to themselves… not to mention Bert’s bad day against Texas Tech.
- Mississippi. Sure, going +5 in turnover margin can’t hurt. And neither do freak plays that result in 66-yard touchdown passes. But the impressive thing about Ole Miss’ win in Tuscaloosa was its ability to take a punch in a hostile environment and maintain composure.
- Georgia. Okay, we’ve had the “bring your C game and win” moment. We’ve had the “when Georgia is on, it looks like one of the best teams in the country” moment. All that’s left to find out is whether there’s gonna be a “WTF, Georgia?” moment.
- Alabama. A Saban-coached team ran 100 offensive plays in a regulation game. Wrap your mind around that for a second.
- Texas A&M. A nothing special game against Nevada and that win against Arizona State takes a little luster off the shine, so there’s some downward drift to the Aggies’ standing. But with six straight conference games on the agenda, it’s a trend that can certainly be reversed.
- LSU. Leonard Fournette and the defense are special. The rest of the team, not so much. Plus, it’s probably wise not to read too much into a win over Auburn right now.
- Mississippi State. The loss to LSU doesn’t look so bad now, but this team still makes too many mistakes for its own good, especially with the next two games being on the road against divisional opponents.
- Tennessee. It’s meteor game time!
- Florida. This Gator team looks like it could beat Georgia Southern.
- Missouri. The schedule has been kind, which has been a key to the Tigers’ 3-0 start. But, boy, that offense looks bad.
- Kentucky. Death, taxes and losing to Florida.
- Auburn. Damn, I didn’t expect there to be a race to see who would be the most overpaid coach in the SEC West this early in the season.
- Arkansas. Bert, karma. Karma, Bert.
- Vanderbilt. Smoking Austin Peay? Derek Mason will take it, thank you very much.
- South Carolina. At least Vanderbilt has a defense.
Get The Picture 
I understand having to put Ole Miss above Alabama, but I don’t agree with it.
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Why not? Bama got whipped. Coker is a pretty bad QB. Bama could end up with 4 sec losses this year. I knew Ole Kiffy would be Sabans downfall.
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“Why not?”
I’m not saying Ole Miss is or isn’t better than Bama. But you have to at least acknowledge that there are legitimate reasons that the final score of that game wasn’t indicative of which team was actually better. Bammer fumbled deep in their own territory twice and the play that will almost certainly be the flukiest play of the year happened as well. Those three plays led to 17 points. Bama also had just a tick over 500 yds of offense. It’s not as if Ole Miss laid the wood to Bama. Bama actually out gained Ole Miss as well.
Again, I’m not saying either team is or isn’t better. But saying a team got whipped who actually outgained the other team isn’t even close to an accurate description.
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The better team doesn’t turn the ball over 5 times
The short field prevented Ole Miss from piling up even more yards
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Don’t let those free 65 yds stand in your way…
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I will. Ole miss isn’t better than Bama. 5 turnovers….5 turnovers is a season’s worth, for Bama, in one game and they still had a shot. Ole miss is good but…
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“The best team does not always win it is the team that plays the best.”
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I agree that Bama is the overall better team, but while 5 turnovers is a lot, it’s not like Bama hasn’t been something of a turnover machine lately. They turned it over 2 times or more in seven games last year (including 4 once and 3 a couple of other times), and they’ve done it in two out of three this season.
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It’s not always the best team that wins the game in baseball,football or hockey. It’s the team that comes the best prepared and plays the best game. Same thing with fighting. It’s not always the best fighter. It’s the fighter that will fight the best fight that will win. Ole Miss was the winner and that is the only thing they look at and why Alabama is not in the top 10 today.
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In my book, games count. Bama found a way to cough the ball up over and over…great teams don’t do that.
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I basically agree with your SEC power poll for this week Senator except I think you have Georgia too high based on the competition it has played–one cupcake and the bottom two teams in the SEC. So Bama lost by a TD to the team you say is the best team in the conference. All that means is Ole Miss is ahead of Bama. If Ole Miss is number 1 Bama probably should be number2. Also, LSU should be ahead of the Dawgs at this point based on the strength of the teams played so far.
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I agree with you about LSU, Mayor, but think the Dawgs are above Ole Miss. While it’s true that they had some luck over Bama, they also were missing one of their best players. Also I see that player as being OM’s downfall this year after the smoke clears just a little. The coincidence of a bunch of good players suddenly becoming part of the highest ranked class ever at OM hasn’t fully played out around the edges, but will. And it won’t be good.
Of course you are speaking of power here, not eligibility, but OM pulled a dirty in many minds and may have to forfeit games. That’s a power siphon to me.
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I think Vandy would beat AU. His rankings look fine to me. Amazing to see how many see the Carolina blowout as no big deal after reading here over and over last week how they had our number.
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The 3rd worst possible outcome happened on saturday. We blew out USC.
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Four teams ranked below Kentucky, and 3 of them not named Vanderbilt. Somebody is getting fired.
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LSU has quite a bit more than Fournette and a Defense. I saw more playmakers all over the field for them than I can remember. Harris looks decent too. That’s a squad that is only getting better as the year rolls on.
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Harris threw for, what, 74 yards? He didn’t screw up, which may be all LSU needed against Auburn. Let’s wait and see how he does against a competent defense.
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They are a work still in progress, Senator, and that D ain’t bad like was predicted when Chivas left. Both their D and O can get better in the upcoming games.
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I agree and expect I’ll move them up accordingly.
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Also of note, other running backs not named Fournette rushed for 183 yds. (6.31 yds/carry). But pointing that out has zero to do with me being a Nick Chubb fan.
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“This Gator team looks like it could beat Georgia Southern.”
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I wouldn’t bet on that.
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LSU should be #3 TAM #4
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We have beaten the two worst teams in the conference, one soundly and one adequately. We are healthy and look focused. I think we are better than last year’s squad and very talented. But will we hold up to an angry Alabama team? I’m not sure, but it should be a good barometer for us, and the Tennessee game may be a lot more important in the long run anyway.
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You seem to have forgotten about AU. Bwaaaaaaaaaa!
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The way this season’s going, they all are Dawgrated as we go through the schedule, so our rankings won’t go up as we whip those “powers” established by media only early in the season. The weaker they look, the weaker our schedule wins look to the Choose Four Committee.
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Apparently to many a Georgia game is only big if they lose.
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Exactly
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How in the hell are Auburn and Missouri ranked in the top 25? Did they run out of teams to rank or something?
Oh, and still not convinced about Ole Miss. One thing for sure, though. We now know where Gus’ rabbits foot went.
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Seems about right to me. I would probably flip Bama and UGA at this point as well as LSU and TAMU.
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I think Arky deserves the bottom slot. Just sayin’
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After reviewing, I agree, AU at 13 too. Or just leave AU out.
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In all fairness, Ole Miss cannot be above UGA, won’t get into the reasoning other than UGA deserves the top spot until proven otherwise.
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Well, gosh, color me convinced.
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Hah. Be gentle Bluto.
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You are selling your Dawgs short. I’d flip flop them with Ole Miss. And I’d probably flip-flop LSU/Texas A&M. I might even be inclined to move LSU ahead of my Tide.
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