State of the SEC – Week 6
What was already a crazy SEC season just became insane after this weekend’s games. October is off to a great beginning. PHOTO: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
Now that the SEC season is off and running at full steam, we here at All For Tennessee have decided to do a new weekly article recapping the state of the SEC after every weekend to give our readers a better sense of what the conference as a whole looks like.
First of all, here are the updated SEC standings after week 6:
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We’ll begin at the new epicenter of college football, the state of Mississippi.
Both Ole Miss and Mississippi State earned program-defining wins this weekend, with the Rebels taking down No. 3 Alabama 23-17 and the Bulldogs controlling No. 6 Texas A&M in a 48-31 victory. Both wins were good enough to vault the two teams to a co-No. 3 ranking in the newest AP Poll.
This weekend was the weekend of upsets (as illustrated above), and nobody in the SEC was invulnerable to the upset bug. South Carolina, a team once favored to win the East, was sideswiped by Kentucky in a 45-38 shocker in Commonwealth Stadium in Lexington, KY.
After jumping out to a 38-24 lead with 11:45 left in the game, the Gamecocks figured a win was in the bag. Kentucky, however, used a stellar performance from Jojo Kemp to draw even with 2:46 remaining. On South Carolina’s ensuing possession, Kentucky lineman Alvin Dupree batted Dylan Thompson’s pass in the air, caught it, and returned it 6 yards for the game-winning score.
And just like that, the SEC East became an even bigger mess than it already was.
Speaking of the East, how about that Tennessee-Florida showdown?
The Gators rode backup QB Teon Harris in the 4th quarter to score 10 unanswered points to escape Knoxville with a 10-9 victory, their 10th straight over the Vols. A loss Saturday would likely have put a big nail in the coffin not only for their hopes of winning the East, but also in the job security of embattled head coach Will Muschamp.
The loss for the Vols was the second consecutive heart-breaker to start the SEC season for them, as they fell to Georgia 35-32 the previous week.
Auburn and Georgia both cruised to easy victories over LSU and Vanderbilt, respectively, and that sums up the results of this weekend’s match-ups.
Analysis
The newest AP Poll has 7 SEC teams in the top 25, including 6 in the top 15 and 3 in the top 4 of the poll. Here are the ranked SEC teams going into week 7:
2. Auburn
3. Mississippi State – Ole Miss
7. Alabama
13. Georgia
14. Texas A&M
23. Missouri
Interestingly, Arkansas received 14 votes, and Kentucky only received 4 despite the Wildcats having more overall wins and a better overall SEC record. LSU and South Carolina were the other SEC teams to receive votes in the AP Poll.
If anyone has a crystal ball, you would be extremely helpful right about now. The SEC as a whole is a complete mess with the East being anyone’s game and with three West teams tied for first with unblemished records. If things stand pat as they are now (which is unlikely given the season so far), the East could come down to the winner of the Georgia vs. Missouri game this upcoming weekend on October 11.
The West, however, likely won’t be decided until the very end of the season with the Ole Miss-Mississippi State and Auburn-Alabama games not slated until November 29. The East could still likely take just as long to sort out, as every team not named Vanderbilt is conceivably still in the race.
One thing is for certain: 2014 is going to be one crazy ride in the SEC.