Week Seven SEC Power Poll Ballot: The Middle is Clear, at Any Rate
by T Kyle King on Oct 17, 2011 8:25 AM EDT
in SEC Football
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PrintI’m really going to be glad when November 5 gets here, so we can quit guessing which team is the best in the SEC country. Until then, this is how the conference appears to have sorted itself out to me:
1. Alabama Crimson Tide (7-0 overall, 4-0 SEC): Choosing between Alabama and Louisiana State is like choosing a president in an election in which both parties nominated someone really good. You know, if it ever happened.
2. LSU Tigers (7-0, 4-0): Tennessee could’ve used 13 men on defense the whole game, and it wouldn’t have mattered.
3. Arkansas Razorbacks (5-1, 1-1): On a weekend on which no one except the top two looked good, the Hogs helped themselves by having an open date.
4. South Carolina Gamecocks (6-1, 4-1): On a weekend on which no team in the SEC East played well on the road, survival and advancement were all that mattered, but how huge will the loss of Marcus Lattimore prove to be?
5. Auburn Tigers (5-2, 3-1): I love the fact that the clash between offensive geniuses Gus Malzahn and Charlie Weis produced a final score that looked like it came from the ALCS.
6. Georgia Bulldogs (5-2, 4-1): I promise you I did everything humanly possible to avoid ranking the Red and Black this high.
7. Florida Gators (4-3, 2-3): I’m begging you to give me a reason to bump them up a notch during the open date. Seriously, anybody. Hello? Hello? Is this thing on?
8. Vanderbilt Commodores (3-3, 1-3): It could’ve been worse. Erk Russell would’ve head-butted James Franklin straight to the ground, and he’d’ve come up looking like Gus Fring in his "Breaking Bad" death scene.
9. Tennessee Volunteers (3-3, 0-3): Really, you could pretty much throw these last four in a sack and pull them out in any order. I’m listing the Big Orange first among the worst because I don’t want to get an ugly phone call from Barbara Dooley.
10. Mississippi St. Bulldogs (3-4, 0-4): They may be the best team ever to start 0-4 in SEC play.
11. Kentucky Wildcats (2-4, 0-3): Big Blue dodged the cellar with a shrewdly-scheduled bye week, which allowed the rest of us to forget how bad they are. (Incidentally, a football open date the week of Midnight Madness? We see what you did there, Kentucky!)
12. Mississippi Rebels (2-4, 0-3): This team is the real reason Quentin Compson killed himself.
As always, your feedback is welcome in the comments below.
Go ‘Dawgs!
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As a huge Faulkner fan
the Quentin line was gold jerry, gold!
You know what a consultant is, don't you? A consultant is a guy that knows 100 different sex positions but doesn't know a woman.
-Erk Russell
by Dawg in Beaumont on Oct 17, 2011 8:48 AM EDT reply actions
Florida: better wins, better quality losses.
We’ve lost to #5-ish Boise State and USC. They’ve lost to #1(a) and #1(b) and an Auburn squad that beat the USC squad that beat us. They beat our common opponent by a wider margin. Don’t tempt fate, man.
by first and thom on Oct 17, 2011 10:01 AM EDT reply actions
True...
And while we’re at it…
Since this is a power poll, I don’t understand the logic of ranking Auburn BEHIND South Carolina.
First, Auburn beat South Carolina, even the Gamecocks had Lattimore and the Sweet Prince.
Second, Auburn just beat Florida worse than South Carolina beat MSU.
Third, since I assume we’re not resume ranking (Auburn has only lost to Arky and Clemson, but quality losses), how can you argue South Carolina would beat Auburn today, when, once again, Auburn already beat South Carolina in Columbia, and South Carolina is now without Lattimore?
None of the above really matters, but sometimes I get confused at what the Power Poll is supposed to be.
"Don't go ninja'n nobody that don't need ninja'n!" ~ Kung Fu Hillbilly.
In Football Oustiders type stats,
which are more predictive of actual results than are more traditional “simple” stats like points and yards by themselves, Auburn is ranked in the 50s. They are an absurdly lucky team. We are deep enough into the season now that we should be able to just say that and rank them accordingly without angering some resume-ranking gods. In my humblest opinion, of course.
Thanks, Xon.
Fair points, Jman781. I was largely grouping teams by record, then subdividing within those records—-e.g., judging undefeated against undefeated, once-beaten against once-beaten, and twice-beaten against twice-beaten—-but you make a valid argument, given the result of the Auburn-South Carolina game and what has happened to the Gamecocks since.
Go 'Dawgs!
Thanks...
Ultimately, I only care where one team is on the Power Poll, and I hope to see that team near the top when it’s all said and done.
(Hint: said team does NOT wear garnet, cardinal, crimson, maroon, orange, blue, gold, or purple.)
"Don't go ninja'n nobody that don't need ninja'n!" ~ Kung Fu Hillbilly.
I still think
Kentucky is the worst team in the SEC this season. Luckily Kentucky still plays Ole Miss, MSU, and Tenn so that we can sort out who deserves the bottom rung.
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