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Every Wednesday, we rank the SEC and Big 12 teams in one power poll. The order of the SEC teams is based on the Week 9 SDS SEC Power Poll.
Ardent SEC fans, especially Auburn and Ole Miss supporters, aren’t pleased with the Big 12 right now. Amid loud cries of SEC bias, College GameDay chose to visit Morgantown, W.Va., for the TCU-West Virginia game Saturday rather than return to Oxford, Miss.
The Horned Frogs need to win to stay with Baylor and Kansas State in the conference race, while a West Virginia win helps Alabama.
If TCU puts up another ridiculous offensive total — after scoring 82 points last week — Gary Patterson’s bunch may break up the SEC cartel, with either the Rebels or the Tigers falling. But for now, the SEC’s fifth-best ranks above the Big 12’s best.
Given that the Big 12 and Pac-12 each have arguments as the second-best conferences in college football, that’s a strong statement for the most hated conference in America.
FLORIDA STATE AND OREGON, WE SEE YOU
Georgia ranked just 11th in the first College Football Playoff committee poll. But all five of these SEC teams have a legitimate chance to represent the SEC in the national semifinals. Florida State and Oregon are the only outside invaders right now according to the committee’s top six.
1. Mississippi State
2. Alabama
3. Auburn
4. Georgia
5. Ole Miss
THE CHASE PACK
Right now there’s a neat clean break between the SEC’s best five teams and the Big 12’s best three. TCU ranks seventh, according to the CFP committee, but assuming the Big 12 champion has just one loss, that team should get a tournament bid. The Big 12’s best should beat each other up as much more more than the SEC and Pac-12.
6. Baylor
7. TCU
8. Kansas State
HUGE HEADACHE FOR CONTENDERS
Forgive me if you’re too far removed from your childhood to remember freeze tag. The way we played, anyway, once you got tagged you still could reach out from a fixed position and tag others. That’s where these three teams sit right now. Each of these two-loss teams is capable of pulling off what LSU did Saturday, clipping No. 3 Ole Miss. If you’re a big-time program in contention for the playoff, you hate seeing these teams on your schedule right now.
9. LSU
10. Oklahoma
11. West Virginia
THROWN INTO THE OCEAN WITH AN ANKLE WEIGHT
The Aggies and Cowboys, darlings through the first couple weeks of the season, are sinking fast, and it will be difficult for them to resurrect the season. A&M still must face Auburn and LSU, while Oklahoma State has Kansas State, Baylor and Oklahoma. Are we looking at five or six losses for each team?
12. Texas A&M
13. Oklahoma State
THAT ESCALATED QUICKLY
The Wildcats (5-1 start) and Razorbacks (overtime loss to No. 6 Texas A&M, one-point loss to No. 7 Alabama) looked like strongish teams capable of exceeding preseason expectations by a wide margin. Kentucky has lost consecutive games by 38 and 14 points, while Arkansas is threatening 20 consecutive SEC losses by the end of the season.
14. Kentucky
15. Arkansas
THE COIN FLIPS
Each of these teams has a razor-thin margin for error this season. Generate a positive turnover margin and make some plays in special teams, like Mizzou did against Florida, and these programs will win. Allow a late-game touchdown drive, as South Carolina did at home in a one-point loss to Missouri, and the result won’t be positive. This isn’t to say every game for these three programs will feature a close margin. Rather, these teams are difficult to predict in 2014, capable of beating Top 15 programs and capable of losing to some outside the Top 50.
16. Missouri
17. South Carolina
18. Texas
FOOL’S GOLD
The Gators (offensive coordinator Kurt Roper, improved health) and Vols (a plethora of talented recruits, the second year for Butch Jones) each gave fans hope for improvement before the season. Kliff Kingsbury lagged in the second half of last year at Texas Tech, but taken as a whole, his first season — followed by a contract extension — gave the Red Raiders hope as well. And an early upset of Iowa gave Cyclones fans reason to believe. But so far that’s been fool’s gold.
19. Florida
20. Tennessee
21. Texas Tech
22. Iowa State
WINNING A CONFERENCE GAME WOULD BE SHOCKING
The Commodores have three shots left, including No. 1 Mississippi State. In other words, Vandy must either take advantage of a wounded Florida Gators team or knock off a Tennessee squad still in the incubator. More likely, coach Derek Mason’s first season ends without an SEC win. Kansas has a home game against Iowa State the second weekend of November in addition to four games against ranked Big 12 opponents.
23. Vanderbilt
24. Kansas
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.
