Tennessee Chomped, Tigers beat Tigers: Week 4 SEC Rankings

It wasn’t a good week for Jeff Driskel. He saw his season end with a broken fibula against Tennessee…..which he broke while throwing a Pick 6. That capped what has been a fairly awful start to the year.

But the good news for the Gators is that they bounced back with replacement QB Tyler Murphy, and the Gators chomped Tennessee, who looked dreadful offensively AND defensively.

Oh, and LSU beat Auburn in rainy Death Valley. And Arkansas embarrassed the SEC by losing at Rutgers.

Anyway, here are our power rankings after Week 4:

1) LSU: The LSU Tigers are STILL No.1 in our rankings, because of their first half performance against Auburn. The game, while interesting as LSU lost concentration and Gus Malzahn’s hurry-up offense began to cause John Chavis some worries, was always in the hand of the Mike Tigers. The most disappointing bit about the night was the fact that so many LSU fans left at half-time to get away from the rain. Jeez, and there was me thinking that it never rained in Tiger Stadium. Seriously though, Jeremy Hill’s getting back to his best. That should worry Georgia who, you know, don’t have a running defense.

2) Alabama: Sorry, but we’re not convinced that being 17-6 up against the mighty Colorado State until the fourth quarter is really that great. Listen, we know that Alabama’s probably going to win a National Title this year, but there are problems with this all over the place at the moment. But when it clicks, God help us all.

3) Georgia: A report from my buddy who was at the 45-21 win over North Texas: “UGA gave up two special teams touchdowns and won by 24. The defense played okay, and the offense was dominating after they settled down and remembered that they were playing in a football game. It was a typical “look ahead” performance. Murray had 70% passing with 400 yards and 3 touchdowns. Gurley had about 90 yards and a TD. I think 9 different players caught a pass. All in all, there were two serious concentration lapses that resulted in 14 points (99 yard kick return and a blocked punt on a bad snap – which appears to be a real problem – for a TD). Should’ve been 45 – 7. I’m not really happy with the performance, but it’s a typical let down game before a big opponent.” So in other words, we’re pretty good on just about everything except special teams.

4) Texas A&M: Did what they were meant to do against a weak SMU side: Beat the crap out of ’em. Johnny Manziel had around 300 yards of total offense and 3 TDs. And an INT. I was perhaps more impressed that the A&M ‘D’ only gave up 13 points, bearing in mind how weak they are. Still, doing your job puts you up the rankings in our power rankings.

5)  Florida: After a weak start, the Gators found another gear and dealt with Tennessee 31-17. Tyler Murphy might just have more for this offense than Jeff Driskel. Controversial? Perhaps. But with the love the kid’s getting in Gainseville after the UT’s victory, you would have thought this was the second coming of Tim Tebow. By the way, the ‘D’ is still awesome, by the way.

6) South Carolina: No punishment for a week off. The defensive line probably needs a week off. You know, to spend some time in the gym and learn how to not get gassed with a high-octane offense.

7) Ole Miss: By damn!! The biggest non-SEC news is from the Rebs’ No.1 tackler Denzel Nkemdiche, who thinks he might be back for the showdown with Alabama. Good news if that’s true.

8) Auburn: Quick lesson for the future: The Auburn/Ole Miss game is going to be FUN, y’all. Bet on the ‘over’ for points. Auburn fans were rightly proud of the way the Tigers hung in there against LSU despite going down 21-0 early, and our vision of the way Gus Malzahan’s offense will click in the latter end of 2013 and in 2014 should make SEC rivals very worried indeed. It was exhausting to watch. And a lot of fun. On the other side, they don’t seem to be able to stop the run one jot.

9) Missouri: After the longest time of giving the Tigers crap, we’re going to give Mizzou some credit now. We thought that Indiana would be a trap for the Tigers, but they were 28-14 up at half-time en route to a convincing 45-28 victory. James Franklin’s 328 yards, 2 TD, 2 INT performance was good…..Dorial Green-Beckham’s 105 yard, 1 TD performance was better. If the offense continues its confident form in SEC play, Missouri could give their SEC East competitors a scare.

10) Vanderbilt: Really struggled to beat U-Mass.  Jonathan Krause came into his own and had 105 yards receiving (Jordan Matthews had 76), so he might well be a viable No.2. We still struggle to believe that they haven’t taken a step backwards this year. On the other side, their ‘D’ limited Mass to under 250 yards total offense…which is what you’d expect from a SEC school.

11) Mississippi State: Rebounded nicely from the horror show of Auburn to drop 60 on Troy. We still think they are better than Arkansas.

12) Arkansas: Arkansas had the Rutgers game. They could have painted Times Square Hog Red on Saturday night. They were 24-14 and coasting. And then in the fourth quarter, the unimaginable happened (you know, unless you watched the Hogs at all in 2012). Rutgers reeled off two late TDs, and the upset. Oh, and all the talk of Alex Collins? He managed 63 yards. That’s what we call ‘Karma’.

13) Tennessee: Tennessee is so bad that every day, they thank The Lord Football Jesus for Kentucky. And here’s what Vols fans have got to look forward to in 2014: Their offensive line will all leave for the NFL. Urghh.

14) Kentucky: Can’t wait for the ‘Air Raid’ offense to play Tennessee in The Battle To Avoid Zero. Coming to you on Thanksgiving Weekend, folks.