Alabama, Georgia rule the roost: SEC Team Rankings After Week 3
Right, now we’re a quarter of a way through the season (sniff, sniff), we’re going to start our SEC rankings.
There’s no surprise who’s going to be No.1 and No.14, but in between…..(we apologise in advance)…
- Alabama (3-0): While the most annoying thing about Alabama might well be the team’s head coach and his Napoleonic tendencies, the Tide’s way of evolving from a slow-moving ‘three yards and a cloud of dust’ offense to something that moves at such speed that Usain Bolt’s struggling to keep with it is awesome to watch. Although the opposition is hardly vaunted, the way the Tide managed to shut up a high-octane Ole Miss offense was highly impressive.
- Georgia (3-0): The game that stood out for me that Georgia could well win the SEC Championship was this year, when the Dawgs absolutely dusted South Carolina at home. The Dawgs don’t even seem to hitting the heights of their talents, and yet they are looking really, really good.
- LSU (3-0): Two Top 10 wins, both away from Baton Rouge. That’s pretty impressive for a team that was meant to be firing their head coach mid-season. Although we’re not entirely convinced of the Tigers’ offensive qualities (Joe Burrow is hardly the finished article), the defense is awesome.
- Mississippi State (3-0): Joe Moorhead’s a damned good coach, and it’s helped with the on-field talent he’s got on the field. Nick Fitzgerald is gradually getting back to pre-Ole Miss 2017 levels, and the defense is sharp, too. This team could be scary in the SEC pack.
- Auburn (2-1): A great coaching win against Washington and a coaching brain-fart against LSU making Gus Malzahn one of the most eyebrow-raising coaches in the SEC – again. Auburn itself is a run-stopping machine, but we don’t trust the secondary. On offense, it needs to be quicker. And we know Jarrett Stidham can play with that speed, too.
- Texas A&M (2-1): The Aggies narrowly lost at home to Clemson and played their butt off. They’ve been unexpectedly strong in the first year of Jimbo Fisher’s reign. We don’t know how that will measure up with Alabama – but it might be pretty interesting.
- Kentucky (3-0): Stunning at might seem to have Kentucky so high, they went to Florida and won the match-up for the first time in 31 years. Benny Snell is a workhorse and Terry Wilson makes up for his unpredictable arm with great legs. This might be one of the more underrated team in the SEC East.
- Vanderbilt (2-1): I’m increasingly high on the Commodores because not only should they have beaten Notre Dame last week, but Kyle Shurmur’s an increasingly assured quarterback, and Derek Mason’s decision not to have anything to do with the offense seems to have paid off. By the evidence of that Notre Dame game, these guys could be pretty good.
- South Carolina (1-1): Georgia and Hurricane Florence have beaten the Gamecocks two straight, and it’s not been nice in either match-up. Jake Bentley is a serviceable QB and Deebo Samuel is an awesome wide receiver, but has one of the most talked-about underdog in the country actually pretty ordinary?
- Missouri (3-0): The offense is fantastic, and the defense isn’t great. As shown by the narrow win against Purdue (where the defense didn’t look great), Derek Dooley needs to use TE Albert Okwuegbunam and his RBs more, or Emmanuel Hall will simply get double-teamed and that’s going to frustrate Drew Lock. How Missouri will measure up in the SEC will start when Georgia rolls in. We’re not anticipating it to be other than ugly.
- Florida (2-1): Florida’s loss at home to Kentucky doesn’t make me excited about this season, and Malik Davis’ injury won’t help the RB corps, either. If Dan Mullen is truly the QB whisperer, then ‘the whispered’ Feleipe Franks is having a pretty strong start.
- Ole Miss (2-1): The offense was awesome to watch until it got hit by the Alabama freight train. But what will happen in future games if there’s a 3-and-out and Ole Miss have to defend? They’ll get crucified. DC Wesley McGriff has told the press that he has accepted responsibility for the team’s loss. So why doesn’t Matt Luke take some responsibility and fire the guy?
- Tennessee (2-1): After the (predictable) West Virginia loss, Jeremy Pruitt’s given UT some hope in Knoxville, but we’ll have some sort of idea whether they are actually any good against Florida on Saturday.
- Arkansas (1-2): Here’s what we don’t understand: Chad Morris is one of the best offensive minds in the country. That’s well-known. So why hand over the whole offensive reigns to Craddock. If I’m Morris, I take over the QB coach responsibility or even more Craddock down to QBs and WRs, and move myself to OC. Desperate times, desperate measures. But right now, this team is bad, bad, bad.