SEC Power Poll Ballot: Week One
by T Kyle King on Sep 7, 2009 10:21 PM EDT
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My trek home from Oklahoma this morning began at 4:30 a.m. central time, so I am a bit worn down and the Dawg Sports community has done an admirable job of continuing the conversation in my absence, so I will not keep you long this evening. It would be remiss of me, though, not to echo the sentiments of several conscientious commenters and send my best wishes to Trinton Sturdivant after he was lost to injury for the second straight season. Feel better soon, big guy.
The time has come to begin compiling my various ballots for the week, starting with the autumn’s inaugural SEC Power Poll. Please note that this is a power poll, and, as such, it can (and will) diverge from my BlogPoll ballot. Please also note that, at this juncture, it’s hard to tell what’s what and who’s who, given the suspect nature of the opposition most SEC teams have faced. If you think you’ve spotted an inconsistency, you probably have.
That said, here is where the Southeastern Conference’s twelve member institutions stand at the present moment:
1. Alabama Crimson Tide: No team in the league looked better against a tougher opponent than the Red Elephants, led by Brodie Parker McElroy. (I know that’s not his name, but it might as well be.) It was a slugfest, as expected, but ‘Bama closed the deal.
2. Florida Gators: Admittedly, the Sunshine State Saurians didn’t cover the astronomical spread, but they otherwise did what they were expected to do against an embarrassingly overmatched team.
3. Mississippi Rebels: Although Ole Miss took a little while to get going, the Rebs went on the road to tangle with a Memphis outfit that ordinarily gives them fits and came out with a comfortable win.
4. South Carolina Gamecocks: The Palmetto State Poultry fielded an anemic offense but a stout defense. The contestants’ aversion to scoring in last Thursday’s contest should not obscure the fact that the Big Chickens once again look solid on the side of the ball that wins championships . . . well, at programs other than theirs, at any rate.
5. Tennessee Volunteers: I hate rewarding the fact that Big Orange starter Jonathan Crompton was still in the game in the fourth quarter after the home team had built up a 42-7 lead, especially since you know, I know, and the American people know that Lane Kiffin only did that to build up the reserve of goodwill upon which he will have to draw after the Gators grind the Vols into a fine orange powder. Nevertheless, Western Kentucky is a Division I-A outfit, however marginally, so Tennessee has to get credit. Dang it.
6. LSU Tigers: The Bayou Bengals really had no business being tied with the Washington Huskies inside the final two minutes of the opening half, but the game was on the road against a Pac-10 team. The fact that Louisiana State could be ranked in the top half of the league after trailing in total yards (478-321) and in first downs (25-17) attests to the weakness of the opposition the SEC encountered on opening weekend.
7. Auburn Tigers: Like the Western Division’s other set of Tigers, the Plainsmen were snarled 10-10 late in the second quarter, but Auburn managed to pull away in the end from a Louisiana Tech outfit that upset another SEC bottom-feeder last year.
8. Kentucky Wildcats: A 42-0 win over a MAC team is still a 42-0 win. It’s better than the sad sacks the next three clowns beat, at any rate.
9. Vanderbilt Commodores: The goose egg landed Vandy ahead of the next couple of teams. The Division I-AA opponent dropped the ‘Dores behind Kentucky.
10. Arkansas Razorbacks: Because the Hogs gave up ten points, they couldn’t overcome the Commies, but I’m thinking Missouri State tops Jackson State.
11. Mississippi St. Bulldogs: MSU beat Jackson State. If you think I can’t very well justify torpedoing the other teams that played Division I-AA opposition while rewarding the Gators, I’m going to fall back on the faith that Florida is just plain better than Arkansas and Mississippi State. Does anyone want to quarrel with that contention?
12. Georgia: Eleven SEC teams are 1-0. One SEC team is 0-1. That team finishes last, since there is no credible strength of schedule assessment to be performed at this juncture.
That’s how it looks to me, but your mileage may vary. Please feel free to let me know where and how much in the comments below. The draft of my BlogPoll ballot should be coming your way tomorrow.
Go ‘Dawgs!
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From a programmatic perspective,
and not just a ’we need a win" viewpoint, I honestly, truly do not understand what Florida gained from playing someone like Charleston Southern. What could CS-whatever have offered them that would be worth the effort? Money? Pleasure? A favor from the Pope for Urban?
I really want to know what they were thinking, and how they are different today, in any possible measurable way other than the record, from Friday night.
Prudence
I respect the boldness (not to say rashness) of those programs that dive into the deep end right away, but when I look around at the carnage of opening weekend, I’d rather be prudent. For a team that’s going to flatten the patsy no matter what, it’s basically a pre-season game – a way to knock off the rust, exorcise the jitters and make sure everything is working right without the risk of blowing your season by the first half-time. All kinds of screwy things can happen when a team hits the field for real for the first time… that a big reason the NFL has a pre-season.
Now, I’d rather we did it against a I-A team, but if you’re really a heavy-weight, the difference between a AA opponent and a designated little-5 tomato-can is cosmetic. The calculation might be different for a team that actually needs to scoop up every win it can to get bowl eligible… but I think we can agree that doesn’t apply to any team in the current top 15.
But what rust has been knocked off
—when the patsy is so far in the patsy-hole that you don’t notice the bump running over them? I’m not saying play a top 10 team on the road…but I am saying, Why waste the time? At least if you play a MILDLY challenging team you may actually get enough friction to learn something.
It’s like shooting baskets by yourself, no?
I tend to agree that a livelier opponent would be of more use (so long as they’re not too lively – a middling Sun Belt team would be ideal), but plenty of very highly paid and regarded coaching staffs apparently disagree with us… bums. :)
I don’t agree that the exercise is pointless, however – pre-season matchups in other sports are often just as lop-sided, so there’s clearly some advantage to tuning up even with hopelessly inferior live opposition.
What is that advantage?
Personally, I haven’t seen it. No team of the Mark Richt era has done appreciably well after opening with Georgia Southern or its equivalent.
The simple fact is that, for any team in the top 15, playing its own scout team is more challenging than playing Charleston Southern.
Go 'Dawgs!
Oops, posted before I completed.
I have long maintained that UGA cannot live with prosperity, beginning in the Dooley years. I seem to recall that, if UGA receives the opening kickoff and marches methodically down the field for a touchdown on the opening drive, more often than not we end up losing the game. This seems to be true only if we receive the opening kickoff and does not hold true if we kickoff, hold the other guys, and then take a punt and begin an easy touchdown drive. After the opening drive Saturday, I reminded Betty of this oft stated belief, and the rest is history. It does not seem to matter who the UGA head coach is or whom we are playing. I much prefer to kick off or have to punt or settle for a field goal after receiving the opening kickoff. It’s like the players think “this is going to be easy” and then squat.
Freshman experience
We played just about everyone – including all the freshmen. Charleston Southern’s taleny may not be much better than the scout team, but when Tennessee rolls into town in a couple weeks, all those freshmen will have seen action in 2 live games.
It’s surely nerve-wracking to run out in front of 90k+ fans who have read all year about how you’re the second coming of _____________ (fill in the blank with appropriate player), so the earlier they get to do it, play and get mistakes out of their system – the better.
I would prefer to play a better team – but I can’t say that playing an early inferior opponent yields nothing more than the paycheck of having an extra home game….
Yeah keep telling yourself that.
You guys are kings of the hill, no one denies. How about acting like it and playing OOC teams your own size for a change? LAME.
Lame?
Maybe if Joe Cox had gotten to play a lesser opponent in his first career start, then he might have a little confidence heading into the USC game, instead of wondering how long it will be before he will get yanked.
BTW, there are very few OOC teams our “own size” in the nation. So do we need to go schedule Texas and Ohio State so that you will be satisfied that we are adequately tested? Nah. I think we’ll just continue to play as we do. It’s worked pretty well for us so far.
We played horribly...
And the Offense stunk….and Bobo was clearly on something.
And you’re right that there is no possibility of doing a strength of schedule assessment at this point, so I can’t blame you for putting Georgia at #12.
However, if we’d played Charleston Southern, Jackson State, or Western Carolina…we’d still have scored 40+ too.
Believe me when I say I’m not making excuses. But if Mississippi State had played Oklahoma State, the score would have been a good deal worse than 24-10.
Behold, this year's College Gameday Sign:
"Joe Cox -- He circumcises ANGELS!"
What We Learned Saturday
Having just read David Hale’s very depressing assessment of the Okie State game—and more importantly, of the Georgia coaching staff’s visible disarray—I can’t argue with your placement of the Dawgs. I do not agree with the belief of some Dawg fans that this is an indictment of the scheduling of Okie State: the staff had many months to prepare for this game and this season, and if they don’t have their act together, an early cupcake wouldn’t have long disguised it.
And that remains the primary rationale for any optimism about our season: most of our remaining opponents went into the season with as many question marks as we had. Some of ours were answered negatively at Okie State; most of theirs have yet to be seriously tested. If we can win ugly against South Cackalacki on Saturday, we still have a decent chance to win ugly versus a goodly number of teams down the road.
Case in point: the Bayou Bengals. As they showed late Saturday night, their immensely talented defensive unit can disappear, just like they did last year.
Minor quibble...
… but I would put Kentucky above Auburn. Auburn struggled with a WAC team that’s in the middle-third of its conference, and who they were expected to handily defeat, if not necessarily dominate. Kentucky (KY) was expected to defeat Miami (OH), but they thoroughly dominated and destroyed the Redhawks, who are in the MAC.
Of course, the WAC has Boise State, but once you get past the smurfs from Idaho, none of the WAC teams are demonstrably better than their counterparts from the MAC… say, this year’s version of Toledo, Central Michigan, or Buffalo.
Power rankings???
Your an idiot! Arkansas is one of the best teams in the SEC and will beat Georgia like a drum in two weeks. Did you even watch the game? They hit a 54 yard field goal and got one other score after 2 15 yard penalties gave them the ball inside our 20.
Of course I didn't watch the game
Who on earth would watch (or televise) Arkansas-Missouri State except a fan of one of the two teams?
Am I to believe that you think long field goals shouldn’t count and that yards gained by penalties aren’t “real” yards?
Finally, since your handle is PetrinoFan, does that mean you’ll be switching team allegiances when he bolts for his next gig? It must be tough having to buy new team apparel partway through a season. . . .
Go 'Dawgs!
Kyle,
I’m just making sure you didn’t think I had changed my handle to PetrinoFan.
I’m going to let you guys get thru USCe this weekend, and then the real discussions can commence. In the meantime, know that our offense looked SHARP this past weekend, despite the fact that we kept it very vanilla. The defense is a different story. It’s hard to gauge much of anything when the opponent is Missouri State, but I did see some bad mixed in with some good. Special teams were just atrocious, excluding the KO return for TD to start the game. That has to be shored-up if we want to beat you guys.
And Kyle, my offer still stands… wish you’d make the trip out to Fayetteville for game. I know you won’t because, afterall, you just went to Stillwater, but thought I’d throw out there one more time. Let’s make a deal: if Petrino leaves before the Dawgs return to Fayetteville, you’re off the hook. If he’s still the Arkansas coach the next time the Dawgs come out, you come with them.
Deal?
Don't worry, Sue E. Pig
I knew it wasn’t you.
You make an intriguing offer. It had been my intention to make Fayetteville the twelfth out of twelve stops on my lifelong SEC road tour, with Starkville coming next to last, for the sole purpose of finishing out the set. I have a long way to go yet—-I’ve been to games in Athens (obviously), Columbia, and Oxford, but my other road trips have been to Atlanta, Clemson, and Jacksonville—-but, since I’m pretty sure Bobby Petrino won’t be there (or anywhere) for the long haul, I’ll take that bet.
Go 'Dawgs!
Oh Yeah
…..and if by saying “one of the best teams in the SEC” you mean that Arky is the 4th best team in the SEC west, then yeah, you’re probably right.
As an Atlanta Falcons fan and season ticket holder – I despise that yellow-bellied, quitting coward you call “Coach.”
Petrino Math
T Kyle, apparently you failed to rank Arkansas a sufficient number of spots ahead of UGA. Merely ranking the pigs ahead of the Dawgs was too little to appease our angry visitor.
On the other hand, I must say that getting to subtract inconvenient penalties (and the points scored as a result) and not counting long field goals or other bizzare scoring plays (such as any run by a team with superman at quartback or any play from a scheme called “the option”) has a certain appeal. 2008 could have been a different year…
Now that I think about it, it must be a lot of fun to be Petrino and totally ignore the rules that bind the rubes of the world.
Pushpin hall of fame post goes to
rebelcraig in this thread. I have laughed for a couple of hours. What I think many are overlooking is that it was Okla State’s DEFENSE against whom the Dawg’s offense stunk it up. They may be improved, but they are certainly not an SEC caliber defense no matter what the television talking heads say. For Pete’s sake, they are a Big 12 defense__a conference where NO ONE other than the real school in Oklahoma plays defense except for maybe Texas on occasion.
Big 12 defenses may get a bad rap
Leading up to last year’s BCS game, I was confident that we would roll it up on OU’s defense. In actuality, they played us better than any other defense we faced all year – including Alabama. Maybe the extra planning time is a factor? OU in the BCS game and OSU last week both played way better on defense than I thought possible.
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