SEC Power Poll (Week Eleven): Rankings Pending Outcome of NCAA Investigation

by T Kyle King on Nov 14, 2010 9:35 PM EST in Football

My SEC Power Poll ballot gets easier to compile each week, particularly since it mostly flows down in "undefeated team X beat once-beaten team Y, which beat twice-beaten team Z" fashion. Here, then, is the short course on how the Southeastern Conference stacks up at this juncture:

1. Auburn Tigers (11-0): Yeah, I think they’re a bunch of dirty rotten cheaters, but I’m ranking teams in the SEC Power Poll, not picking Miss Congeniality. The Plainsmen are putting the proposition that defense wins championships to the test.

2. LSU Tigers (9-1): I continue to be astonished by the fact that the Bayou Bengals have won nine games (and counting) under the guidance of a man whose whole coaching philosophy appears to have been cribbed from Curtis Armstrong’s character in "Risky Business."

3. Alabama Crimson Tide (8-2): I can process the idea of Nick Saban getting outcoached by Steve Spurrier. I can even rationalize the idea of Nick Saban getting outcoached by Les Miles. If, however, I am asked to assimilate the idea of Nick Saban getting outcoached by Gene Chizik, my head may explode.

4. Arkansas Razorbacks (8-2): Geographic happenstance is all that prevented the Hogs from winning the SEC East.

5. South Carolina Gamecocks (7-3): I have to admit that I didn’t see that coming. In my defense, though, "a South Carolina squad apparently entering its annual November swoon soundly defeating an ostensibly resurgent Florida team in Gainesville with the division title on the line" is unprecedented on, like, eleven different levels.

6. Mississippi St. Bulldogs (7-3): If you’re taking the SAT, and you get the analogy "George O’Leary : Ralph Friedgen :: Urban Meyer : ________," the correct answer is "Dan Mullen." Coach Mullen is the conference coach of the year, and it isn’t a close call.

7. Florida Gators (6-4): I still can’t believe we lost to these guys. Honestly, losing to this year’s Sunshine State Saurians at a neutral site was only marginally more embarrassing than losing to the Colorado Buffaloes on the road.

8. Georgia Bulldogs (5-6): This is the best six-loss team in America. The last time the Red and Black lost six games in a single season (in 1996), the Classic City Canines followed it up with a double-digit victory total the following fall. Count on that happening again.

9. Kentucky Wildcats (6-5): Joker Phillips’s outfit looked solid against the Music City Mariners, just in time for basketball season.

10. Tennessee Volunteers (4-6): Vince Dooley won six regular-season games in his first season at Georgia in 1964, and he followed that up with a bowl victory. Like father, like son.

11. Mississippi Rebels (4-6): Imagine how bad Ole Miss would be without Jeremiah Masoli.

12. Vanderbilt Commodores (2-8): Robbie Caldwell’s club is Miss Congeniality.

Before anyone asks, yes, as soon as the NCAA declares Cam Newton retroactively ineligible and forces Auburn to vacate all its wins, I’m going to drop the Tigers to No. 12 and bump everyone else up a notch, but, until then, I feel pretty good about those rankings. Naturally, though, I welcome your feedback in the comments.

Go ‘Dawgs!

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FYI, I'm working on the "on notice" post for this week....

… but it’ll be later tonight before it’s done. I had to just step away for a while so numbers 2-8 wouldn’t all be “Nick Fairley.”

by vineyarddawg on Nov 14, 2010 10:00 PM EST reply actions

I agree, also, re: the Florida loss.

Qualitatively, it was probably the worst loss to Florida in Mark Richt’s tenure at Georgia.

(I hate Florida.)

by vineyarddawg on Nov 14, 2010 10:05 PM EST up reply actions

Just came by to say good game

against the dirtiest program in America. Much, much closer than the score indicated, obviously. That said, both Dogs and Dawgs have shown how to defend Newton (other than pre-emptive societal defense, such as incarceration); contain the edges against Dyer/McCalebb, spy the big guy. As yours was the first 3-4 he saw this year, and as the Teagelplainsmen struggled for a half, I have faith we can wreck the dream season founded on foul play, both on and off the field.

I’ve never hated Auburn nearly as much as Tennessee; this Auburn team, however, has elevated me into the rarified air of TKK Auburn-hate.

Auburna delenda est

"Orators are most vehement when their cause is weak" Marcus Tullius Cicero

by Stuck in the Plains on Nov 14, 2010 10:12 PM EST reply actions

Out of curiosity...

Why should we count on double-digit wins for the Bulldogs next fall?

I think many of the same reasons could have been said about this team in the offseason.

by LDH on Nov 14, 2010 10:26 PM EST reply actions

Yeah, I never got that, which is why I predicted an 0-2 SEC start all offseason.

New quarterback + new defensive system + front-loaded conference schedule = 10-win season? I never got that logic.

Next year, Aaron Murray will be experienced as a quarterback and the defense will have adjusted to the system. Yes, we lose a lot; most teams do. Having Murray back and a defense familiar with the system will make all the difference in the world. Remember: every loss has been close on the field, even if a couple of them got away from us on the scoreboard. I feel very upbeat about the future.

Go 'Dawgs!

by T Kyle King on Nov 15, 2010 8:40 AM EST up reply actions

Fairley should be suspended one game

for intentionally spearing Aaron Murray. That was just totally disgraceful.

As a football fan, It’s been fun watching Cam Newton and Gus Malzahn’s offense, content in my faith as a Carolina fan that Newton will be playing on Sundays next fall. But, Chizik has rubbed me the wrong way since early in the season when he declared the OT win over Clemson was a “God thing” rather than one his LB spearing CU QB Kyle Parker in the back while he was defenseless, and seriously injuring him.

Now, having watched the UGA-Auburn game, Im convinced Fairley was trying to injure Murray … not only on the spearing (for which he should at a minimum be suspended at least a half) but also on the shot to Murray’s knees later in the 4th. I do NOT buy that Fariley was blocked into Murray … he had beaten your Guard, and even if he was being blocked down, Fairley has the pure athletic ability to have avoided a helmet-to-knee contact after he clearly saw Murray had thrown the ball. He was using the fact he was “blocked” to get a cheap shot – no matter what Grandpa Verne or Gary Danielson said.

The only thing I can take away from what I saw is that Fairley was coached to hurt Murray, or the Auburn coaches didn’t care that Fairley was trying to injure Murray. Either way looks bad … all the way up to Gene Chizik.

I’ve got no reason to love the Dawgs (actually, you’re the SEC team I want to beat the most every year, and even now I want to [cleanly] beat the snot out of you guys next year between the hedges) but I thought the UGA players were entirely justified in their reaction I was proud of how they rallied around Murray.

I also think that if the league doesnt do something about it, then it’ll be left to the players to protect their own. Guys like Aaron Murray are too valuable to the league to be left unprotected like that; with Mallet and Newton leaving, he will be the best returinng QB.

They wore garnet helmets.

by tryptic67 on Nov 15, 2010 8:16 AM EST reply actions

Thanks, tryptic67.

You nailed it with this: “The only thing I can take away from what I saw is that Fairley was coached to hurt Murray, or the Auburn coaches didn’t care that Fairley was trying to injure Murray.”

Good luck in Atlanta.

Go 'Dawgs!

by T Kyle King on Nov 15, 2010 8:42 AM EST up reply actions