Week 7 of SEC football was truly a doozy folks and really shook up the Power Rankings. A certain team south of Knoxville played chutes and ladders and rode a chute way down the list.
Check out who fell and rose in this week’s SEC Power Rankings:
1. Alabama: The Crimson machine handed out another throttling this past weekend, taking down the Vols in dominating fashion. The Tide ran up, down, and around Tennessee and were one point shy of hanging the old half hundred mark. It’s safe to say the search for how to bring down Robert Chicken is still in full swing and I’m not sure anyone will be able to do it. Nevertheless, the Aggies of Texas A&M will roll into Tuscaloosa this week to help the search party and maybe bring an end to the reign of the Tide.
2. Texas A&M: The Aggies got the week off after their double-overtime thriller against the Vols two weeks ago, but the rest from the bye week will not get to last as they travel to Alabama to face the top ranked Tide in a top-10 show down. Although, as it stands, Alabama looks like it cannot be stopped. TAMU, however, does have secret weapon Trevor Knight who beat Alabama when he was the starter at Oklahoma. I’m sure the Aggies will hoping for more of that magic to make an appearance. Though, there is one thing I’m sure TAMU doesn’t want to repeat from that Oklahoma-Bama matchup and that’s having an angry woman Alabama fan attack a few of their unexpecting fans.
3. Arkansas: The Razorbacks have made it to their favorite part of the season with their best record since 2011. At 5-2 (1-2 SEC) Arkansas is on track to have its best season since the mysterious motorcycle crash of 2012. After beating Ole Miss 34-30, Arkansas is starting to show that it can play with the big boys and hold its own amongst the top of the SEC. This week they’ll travel to Jordan-Hare for what I predicted would turn out to be a top-25 matchup. The Tigers are coming off a bye week well rested and ready to take on their Western Divisional rival.
4. Tennessee: A depleted and dejected group of individuals are heading into the most needed bye week for the program maybe ever. The Vols took their second L of the season this past week to the mighty Kings of College Football Crimson Tide to the tune of 49-10. The Vols showed signs of life in the first half but were just outmanned, out-coached, and out-talented in this one. Hopefully after this week of rest and much needed healing Tennessee will have some of its playmakers back as the Vols travel to Columbia to take on the Gamecocks.
5. Auburn: After a somewhat shaky start to their season, the Tigers have found an identity and are finally beating teams the way we all knew they could. Auburn is coming off a bye this week following a solid win over Mississippi State, and is all set to take on the Razorbacks at home. This top-25 clash has may be one of the better games to watch this week. You have to remember last year when Arkansas was just fighting for their lives this game went into four overtimes and Arkansas came out on top. That’s right folks, Arkansas won the shootout vs Auburn. I wouldn’t expect as high of a scoring game this year but I will say keep an eye on this Western Divisional brawl.
6. LSU: The Tigers played Southern Mississippi this past week, and as you can all imagine, just physically outmatched the Golden Eagles in about every phase of the game. LSU is still riding a wave of confidence brought in by interim head coach Ed Orgeron, and hopes to keep it up as they take on their first legitimate test since his appointment, Ole Miss. The Bayou Bengals and Rebel Bears will face off at 9 pm in Death Valley, so Coach O will have a rowdy and ready to go crowd to help him as he tries to get a staple win over his former school.
7. Ole Miss: The Rebels lost another close one this past Saturday to their Western Divisional rival Arkansas. That drops them to 3-3 (1-2 SEC) on the season heading into another big game this weekend against the LSU Tigers. If a night game in Death Valley was all they were up against they’d be worried, but add in the fact that this LSU team and Ed Orgeron are still in the newlywed phase, and ole Reverend Freeze oughta be shaking in his boots over in Oxford. The Rebel Bears have slowly dropped further and further in the rankings so far this year and I wouldn’t be surprised if it keeps happening after this year.
8. Florida: It physically pains me to move the Gators up a spot when they still have only played one good opponent and lost 38-28, but Georgia had to go and lose to Vandy so here we are. The Gators glided through Mizzou this past weekend 40-14. I will say it may be a little easier to beat a pretty bad team when you get an extra week of rest and preparation for them. Although, the good news from Gainesville is the Cowardly Crocs have finally rescheduled their game with LSU for November 19th so mark your calendars folks. Next week may or may not be Florida’s second legitimate test of the season as they face an extremely up and down Georgia team.
9. Kentucky: The Wildcats are coming off a bye week and are all set to play Mississippi State at home. Before the bye week, the Ferocious Felines took down the Commodores in a game I would say was less than boring, but that lackluster victory spring boards them up to No. 9 this week. Kentucky gets to benefit from Vanderbilt’s success from this past weekend. Since Kentucky is the only team in this bottom pack with a win over the Dores, they are now, in the eyes of the SEC, considered better than Georgia and in my eyes better than the last five teams.
10. Vanderbilt: Vandy makes the biggest jump this week after taking down the Bulldogs of Georgia this past Saturday. The 17-16 victory was sealed up when Vanderbilt stopped Georgia on a fourth-and-1 play late in the fourth quarter. The Commodore defense continues to show they are the strength of the team, and can put them in a position to win in all their games. The Dores are now 3-4 with cupcake Tennessee State coming up next this weekend. The rest of Vanderbilt’s schedule is pretty tough after that, three of the last four games of their season are against teams currently ranked in the top 25.
11. Georgia: Oh how the mighty have fallen. If you had told Bulldog fans last year if they get rid of Mark Richt the next year with the same squad that went 10-3 would start the season off 4-3 with a loss to Vandy do you think they hang on to the guy? Who knows, all I know is the start of the Kirby Smart era in Athens has very eerie resemblance to the Derek Dooley start at Tennessee. I will give credit where credit is due though, this loss hinges more on OC Jim Chaney. Chaney, instead of using one of his three or four 5-star running backs, on a 4th and 1 play to either keep the Bulldogs alive or seal the win for Vandy, ran a pitch out play to the short side of the field with a wide receiver. Chaney this one is on you old buddy.
12. South Carolina: The Gamecocks are coming off a bye week, and Just as I predicted, they were able to handle that one with ease. They have another cupcake this week as South Carolina welcomes in UMass to Columbia. The Gamecocks should be able to handle UMass pretty easily, as the Minutemen only have 1 win on the year. We’ll look deeper into South Carolina next week as they get ready to take on Tennessee at home.
13. Missouri: The Tigers took another pounding this week, this time it was at the hands of the Florida Gators. The Gators got an unexpected bye week before this game, and add in the fact that they’re more talented overall than Missouri and you get the perfect storm for a 40-14 slaughtering. Missouri has an out-of-conference opponent this week that no team can overlook in MTSU. The Blue Raiders are a fairly talented, well-coached football team. Missouri cannot afford to be looking ahead to its next conference game against Kentucky.
14. Mississippi State: Well they had their few years of 9+ wins, and now it’s back to the bottom of the Bulldogs of Mississippi State. As it sits they are currently 2-4 overall the latest of their losses coming from the fighting Dan Smiths from BYU. A 28-21 OT battle between these two ended with BYU fans storming the field late Saturday night. Dan Mullen looks to get back in the win column this week against a Kentucky team that has shown signs of life a couple of times this season. The only good note about this upcoming game is it’s a 7:30 kickoff, meaning most of the fans won’t remember who won or not.
