Ranking the SEC (after Week 8)

Well it’s time to start these again, I guess. As always, I wait until after the 8th week of the season so that we have a good grasp on where most teams are by this point in the season. Of course there are teams like Alabama and Mississippi State who still haven’t really played anybody too tough, but we can at least start a little educated guessing. As far as Auburn is concerned, well… you’ll see. It hurts bad. Real bad.

1. Alabama – They are here because they’ve had absolutely zero trouble beating anybody this year. Like I said in the intro, that’s due to them playing nobody. That won’t change this week, as they take on the “we haven’t played anybody either” Mississippi State Bulldogs.

2. Florida – They definitely have the best resume, and you can’t argue with what they’ve done, but I still don’t think they are too, too great. They beat overhyped LSU and South Carolina at home and Tennessee and Texas A&M on the road. Don’t get me wrong, they are good, but I’m not completely sold yet. The fact that I have them at #2 shows what I think of the rest of the conference.

3. LSU – The defense isn’t as great as it normally has been, and the offense is ALMOST as stagnant as Auburn’s. Yes, I said that. You score 24 points against the same defense that Louisiana Tech scored 57 on and you’re stagnant. You score 10 points on Auburn (2 of the total 12 were from a safety), and you have problems. They aren’t what we expected, but then again, they still win. Hate you, Les.

4. South Carolina – My new favorite team to want to see lose due to overhype lost again this week, but dang it, the teams below just aren’t good enough too knock them down anymore.

5. Georgia – Georgia should probably be lower given that they all sold us a bag of lies about having a good defense. Their offense is the only thing keeping them in games.

6. Texas A&M – Somehow I had completely forgotten that the Aggies’ loss to LSU was only their second of the season. I knew they had played well, but I thought they had lost a few more. They have great offense, but not so great defense. So let me turn my LSU argument around on them. If you give up 24 points to LSU’s offense, you might need some work. Oh, and please nobody say “Johnny Football” to or around me ever again. Seriously.

7. Mississippi State – Undefeated Mississippi State’s two signature wins this season are against Tennessee and… Auburn. Give me a break. If you don’t beat Alabama this weekend, I hope you lose by a hundred.

8. Tennessee – For some reason I still think Tennessee might be okay. I don’t know why. Tyler Bray has a nice arm, but that’s about all they have. I have nothing against Derek Dooley and I hope they keep him around.

9. Arkansas – I’m not just saying this because they beat Auburn, but I do think Arkansas has turned the corner. They blew out Kentucky in a game that was called off in the 3rd quarter, and they have two winnable games the next two weeks. Like Auburn’s season, each win is kind of all for naught at this point, but if they just ignore John L., the talent they have on offense should be good enough by itself to win a few games.

10. Ole Miss –  The Rebels are definitely better than we expected, but as I’ve said before, if you can execute the spread well, you can fool a lot of people into thinking that.

11. Vanderbilt – Vanderbilt is not good. They are just typical Vandy. Keep that in mind when you look at the rest of the list.

12. Missouri – The new Tigers may be a lot better if their quarterback, James Franklin, could stay healthy. When he’s out, they are a completely different and inept team. They are not ready for the SEC.

13. Auburn – This hurts bad because I know the team is not that bad. When I say that, I mean that the guys on the team are good football players, probably better players than most of the guys on the 3-4 teams above them by a longshot. Some of them are national champions. But what they are being told to do in certain situations and the current aura around them just keeps the whole thing spiraling into a big black pit of despair. If we’re judging based on on the field performance, I have to say that Auburn is only better than Kentucky.

14. Kentucky – Yeah, they barely lost to a defenseless Georgia last week, but as far as the rest of the season goes, they have been awful. Worse than Auburn. That’s why they are here.

If you’d like to, go ahead and put your rankings in the comments below. We can all call each other stupid. It will be fun.