Week 4 SEC Power Rankings: Something to Talk About
Each week we rank the 14 teams (for now) that occupy our favorite football conference in the whole wide world. This week, we’re talking about people.
Week three shook up a lot of what we thought we knew about the conference, to the point that we don’t feel comfortable putting a paragraph of definitive words together about each team. Instead let’s laugh just a little too loud, stand just a little too close and stare just a little too long at the most important people at every school in the SEC this week.
14. All The Small Things at Vanderbilt
Literally last week, we opened the Vanderbilt entry in these power rankings by saying “When you’re a team like Vanderbilt trying to make a bowl game, the margin for error essentially doesn’t exist in nonconference games.” Well, that margin went way into the negative last weekend against UNLV when the Commodores missed a potential 33-yard game-winning field goal and then inexplicably called a timeout that allowed the Rebels to drive down the field and hit their own kick.
For the most part Clark Lea has inspired a lot of confidence in his rebuild on West End, but the little mistakes that have added up to two consecutive losses are at least a little bit alarming. Maybe he needs to take a page out of the Deion Sanders playbook and put a larger emphasis on the details.
13. Former Mississippi State Head Coach Mike Leach
I don’t want this to be a bummer, but Leach’s shadow is going to loom large over the program all year. Transitioning from his Air Raid offense into a more standard attack is just going to take some time to provide results, even in the transfer portal era. The Bulldogs have a free pass this year against the conference giants like LSU, but do still have enough talent to go bowling.
12. Former South Carolina Head Coach Steve Spurrier
I’m sorry, but there’s absolutely nothing to be learned from South Carolina getting out to a hot start and scaring Georgia before ultimately falling short. Since the Head Ball Coach roamed the sidelines in Columbia, that’s something Carolina has been able to do no matter the relative quality of either team. The Gamecocks still have an opportunity to meet the raised expectations we had in the preseason, but merely providing fodder for Kirby Smart’s latest viral halftime speech (and a clean one at that) isn’t convincing anyone here.
11. The Yellow Flags of Fayetteville
It’s not like anything has gone horribly awry this year for Arkansas, but we also haven’t seen everything clicking at the same time either. Teams like the Hogs that exist in the middle class of the SEC tend to only truly challenge the elites in one of two ways: (1) Having an explosive playmaker to level the field — see: Manziel, Johnny and Garcia, Stephen — or (2) Never beating themselves. While quarterback KJ Jefferson still might be a (1), we can write off (2) after a 15 penalty performance against BYU including 4(!) on the game-ending drive that saw the Hogs come up just short of tying the game.
10. Texas A&M Offensive Coordinator Bobby Petrino
We still have no idea who is really calling the plays for the Aggies, and not in a Lane Kiffin just trolling Nick Saban way of not knowing but we actually don’t know who has the keys to the offense here. If Miami is actually good, the week two loss looks pretty defensible and a run to the conference title game is still possible. And hey, at least Petrino has a history of moving quickly in Atlanta!
9. The Calibration of the Hand Cannon That Has Been Surgically Attached to Joe Milton’s Right Shoulder
Tennessee still has the ability to beat someone like Georgia by four touchdowns if Milton is firing correctly on the right day. But the Volunteers also run the risk of nights like Saturday in the Swamp where the offense just can’t sustain any drives because he’s not connecting on the short and intermediate passes. The talent is there in Knoxville, but this just won’t be as consistent a team as we’ve seen the last few years.
8. Florida Offensive Tackle Micah Mazzccua’s Hands
I mean, come on, we just need to set this video to the Street Fighter music and take the rest of the day off to enjoy it.
Halftime: Week 3 Picks
This year, we’re picking every game an SEC team plays and keeping track. No spreads, just straight-up picks to see how well we know ball. So far, we’re 31-9 on the year.
Kentucky survives a sloppy game against Vanderbilt
Auburn can’t quite get the offense going against the Texas A&M defense
Ole Miss sees sparks fly and beats Alabama
Tennessee does hit a few big throws and overpowers UTSA
LSU continues to fine-tune the offense and comfortably beats Arkansas
Florida keeps the good vibes going against a bad Charlotte team
Missouri reads too many headlines about last week’s upset and gets shocked by Memphis
Georgia finally looks like the No. 1 team in the country against Trent Dilfer’s UAB
South Carolina wins a thriller over Mississippi State
7. Kentucky Running Back Ray Davis
The best player on last year’s Vanderbilt team, Davis hasn’t missed a beat since moving to Lexington. Averaging 7.2 yards per carry, he’s the main reason why slow starts from the rest of the offense haven’t cost the Wildcats yet. Any leap from Kentucky in a messy year for the SEC East is going to start with Davis.
6. Missouri Kicker Harrison Mevis
I tend to be pretty hyperbolic when it comes to special teams, but even a reasonable person would agree that this might be the best kick in the last 20 years of college football.
5. The Auburn Running Back “Situation”
Transfer quarterback Payton Thorne leads the Tigers in rushing this year. If Auburn is going to survive the next four games (A&M, Georgia, LSU, Ole Miss), that cannot still be the case by the time we get to November.
4. The Alabama Quarterback “Situation”
You can’t convince me that Nick Saban didn’t intentionally send out his two ill-fated backup quarterbacks in a horrendous 17-3 win over South Florida just to get Alabama fans to shut up for a week about if Jalen Milroe should really be the starter. Now, he’s got to prove Saban (and the equally knowledgeable about football person writing this column) right in an enormous matchup with Ole Miss on Saturday.
3. LSU Linebacker/Attack Drone Harold Perkins
The Tigers finally relented from the offseason plan to move Perkins to an off-ball role and let him get back to what he does best: chasing quarterbacks with absolutely no regard for his or their safety. With upcoming opponents still trying to sort out their offensive lines (looking directly at you, Alabama) this could be the change that decides the SEC West.
2. Ole Miss Head Coach Lane Kiffin’s Ability to Get Under Nick Saban’s Skin
What an absolute masterclass by Lane this week. Calling a Sunday press conference out of the blue then casually dropping some supremely pointed analysis that Alabama DC Kevin Steele isn’t actually calling defensive plays for the Tide, almost solely to make Saban have to answer questions about it in his own pressers all week. And on top of that, the man most Alabama fans blame for their own defense “woes” the past few years is the man calling defensive plays for Kififn’s Rebels. Just beautiful.
1. Georgia Offensive Coordinator Mike Bobo
Ready? All together now: RUN THE DANG BALL, BOBO!