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Every Friday, we rank the SEC and Pac-12 teams in one power poll. The order of the SEC teams is based on the Week 4 SDS SEC Power Poll.
For those of you who didn’t stay awake until 2 a.m. ET on Thursday night (Friday morning), UCLA finally won a game by more than a touchdown. On the road against No. 15 Arizona State.
Brett Hundley (elbow) didn’t play like an injured quarterback, while the Sun Devils missed starting QB Taylor Kelly. The Bruins still have weaknesses — ASU gained 626 yards of offense in the loss — but we keep hearing how bad/overrated UCLA is, and the team keeps winning.
The Bruins have a chance to get to 5-0 next week before hosting Oregon in a possible Pac-12 Championship preview.
We downgraded the Ducks below Auburn this week because a fairly close win at Kansas State is more impressive than a close win at Washington State, while UCLA moves up a spot to the Top 5 of the combined SEC/Pac-12 power rankings.
The Pac-12 is starting to show its strength of depth with five of the top 11, but the SEC still claims six of the top eight.
PLAYOFF BOUND
College football is a fickle sport. But year after year, week after week, these three teams are near the top nationally. There’s a strong chance two of the three make the College Football Playoff field, and in any combination.
1. Alabama
2. Auburn
3. Oregon
DRAWING NATIONAL INTEREST
If you’re an SEC or Pac-12 team, enter October undefeated and you’re automatically on the national radar every time you play. A&M may have a tough matchup with Arkansas, but Mississippi State (off) and UCLA already have secured that status, while Ole Miss is a three-touchdown favorite.
4. Texas A&M
5. UCLA
6. Ole Miss
7. Mississippi State
WORKING THROUGH THE FIELD, NASCAR STYLE
These teams feel like they have faster cars than the traffic now in front of them, but a bad pit stop or a blown tire has relegated them to the pack. The margin for error is gone. Are the teams really good enough to catch and pass the rest of the best?
8. Georgia
9. USC
10. Stanford
WINDOW DRESSING
These are the programs that make the SEC and Pac-12 look so good. No, they’re not winning anything on a national level this year — not unless South Carolina shocks Steve Spurrier, wins the East and then wins the SEC Championship game against Alabama or Auburn. But the LSUs and Arizona States of the world are why these conferences get credit for depth.
11. Washington
12. LSU
13. South Carolina
14. Arizona
15. Arizona State
LOGIC TWISTERS
These four teams are good enough to play even with, say, Auburn or Alabama for a while, but they’re flawed enough to get run off the field as well. So from week to week, they’ll be unpredictable. Missouri’s trip to South Carolina is a good example of this. Can anyone say with confidence exactly how the Tigers will perform?
16. Utah
17. Arkansas
18. Florida
19. Missouri
DEFENSIVE FAN BASES
We’re actually pretty good. No, I swear. Did you see how closely we played Oklahoma (Tennessee, even though the final wasn’t close), Oregon (Washington State) and Florida (Kentucky)? Just watch. We’re going to a bowl game this year. You’ll see.
20. Oregon State
21. Tennessee
22. Washington State
23. Cal
24. Kentucky
WE BEAT UMASS
The Commodores flip into the Top 25 here courtesy of a solid effort against South Carolina, while Colorado slips on the heels of a less-than-stellar performance in a home win against Hawaii. This may be overly kind to Vandy, a three-score underdog at Kentucky. But these two teams should vie for the basement all year.
25. Vanderbilt
26. Colorado
An itinerant journalist, Christopher has moved between states 11 times in seven years. Formally an injury-prone Division I 800-meter specialist, he now wanders the Rockies in search of high peaks.
