Welcome back for another edition of The SEC Is Awesome Theory.
The title reads ‘Week 8 Update’ above, however I was very tempted to swap the lone ‘8’ for an ‘80%’ in honor of the AWESOME-est conference in the land achieving 80% population in the AP Top 25 – JUST AS THIS COLUMN PREDICTED (via a different path). We’ve got some terrific awesomeness to go over, so let’s dispense with the pleasantries and get down to business.
The AWESOME Games
(10) Georgia 45 / (NR) Arkansas 32 – Hats off to the Bulldogs. They marched into Fayetteville Little Rock and did what the [now] 4th best team in the country couldn’t do. That’s right, their WRs and RBs scored five times as many touchdowns against the [UPSTART] last-place Hogs as Alabama did a week ago. FIVE TIMES. As a bonus, they didn’t even require an overtime period to do it! Yes, I’m looking at you, [now] unranked Taxas A&M. Arkansas has yet to win a conference game.
(3) Ole Miss 34 / (NR) Tennessee 3 – Not much to note here. The 3rd ranked team in the country scored 34 unanswered against the 6th place team in the SEC East. They looked solid, as expected. Though they were close on a couple of occasions, Rocky Top has yet to win a conference game.
(7) Alabama 59 / (21) Texas A&M 0 – After taking heat for two weeks following a loss to Ole Miss and a close game with UPSTART Arkansas, the Tide absolutely crushed 1st-Week-of-Season-Heisman-Favorite Kenny Football and the Aggies. Remember, just four weeks ago, Texas A&M held FIRM as the 6th BEST team in the nation according to the AP Top 25, fresh off of their OT victory over UPSTART Arkansas in Week 5. I questioned the validity of their ranking, noting the Aggies’ bizarre rank-swap with the Gamecocks after the season’s first game. It didn’t make sense then and now we can confirm that the move was, at best, overly ambitious. They backed into the 6th slot after victories over SMU, Lamar and Rice before the Fayetteville Miracle and have now lost THREE straight games on their way to being the 6th best awesome team in the SEC West.
(NR) LSU 41 / (NR) Kentucky 3 – Normally, you wouldn’t think we’d need to cover a game between two 2-loss, unranked teams in this column. But the Theory reached WAY down into its bag of tricks this week and made this game relevant. LSU limped into a home game with the Wildcats after escaping The Swamp with a last second field goal to squeak by the TRAIN WRECK that is the University of Florida football team. They had dropped the two games previous to that against Mississippi State and Auburn. Kentucky entered Death Valley with two SEC wins to their name and only one loss on the season. They’d beaten last-place Vandy and (cough) unranked South Carolina. Their one SEC loss? A triple OT soul-crusher to the Florida Gators. So how could a home win by LSU factor into the national landscape? Please read on…
The AWESOME Results
I just don’t get it.
We’ve been spoon-fed by the media that Arkansas was supposed to be AWESOME, their only issue being the unfortunate fact that they have to be the least awesome team in the mighty SEC West. They have been constantly mentioned as a QUALITY SEC opponent when it came to close victories by Texas A&M (maintained their position at #6 after requiring OT) and Alabama (maintained their position at #7 after winning by one point). Heck, the vast majority of Gameday panelists even picked them to beat Georgia, the 10th ranked team in the country! An yet…and yet…a Gurley-less Bulldog squad marched in and absolutely dominated the Razorbacks. So was Georgia just really so much better than everyone was giving them credit for? Did they fall victim to the SEC’s own Theory by making the mistake of being from the wrong division? Or maybe, just maybe Arkansas was really just a last-place team in a division just like any other division in any other conference in the country.
If so, that would mean that the minuscule victories over Arkansas by the Tide and the Aggies just aren’t quite as QUALITY as we were told they were. And if that’s the case, then the sweetheart ranking deal that both teams enjoyed after flirting with another loss sure makes what happened to FSU in Week 7 a bit curious. Need a refresher? No problem. That was the week that Mississippi State JUMPED from #3 to #1 even though #1 FSU had remained undefeated that week by beating lower-tier conference foe Syracuse by 18 points. Must be nice to stay right where you are when you barely beat a last place team in your conference. It WOULD HAVE BEEN nice to have remained right where you were when beating a conference opponent by more than two and a half touchdowns. Unfortunately, you can only expect that kind of nicety if you have an SEC patch on your jersey.
As luck would have it, both the Baylor Bears and the Fighting Irish fell off of the list of undefeated teams this past Saturday. Notre Dame played a great game against the Seminoles and statistically dominated the 2nd place team in the country for a majority of the game. Amazingly, they were rewarded with 50% of the drop suffered by both Alabama and Auburn following their first losses – though the Tide were surely the most fortunate of the bunch as their loss was NOT to a Top 5 team. But hey, they’re Alabama! And what better week to cut the Irish some slack than the week in which the AP could leapfrog two of the one-loss SEC-west darlings into the Top 5. That’s right, as we all know by now, Alabama and Auburn are now your 4th and 5th best teams in the country, complimenting their Mississippi brethren in the highest echelon. Auburn was idle and Bama squashed Texas A&M, so they clearly earned it.
Alabama is now the 4th best team in the country. They’ve only beaten one ranked opponent and didn’t accomplish this until this past Saturday when they whooped on Texas A&M, who is now unranked and has three losses. Ole Miss is right ahead of them, having been propelled into their position by wins over that same lackluster Alabama team and their mutual stomping victim, the Aggies. Auburn returns to the Top 5 without playing a game but with two wins over ranked opponents – albeit one of which was LSU at home. Impressively, they did handle Kansas State earlier in the season and the Wildcats dispatched Oklahoma in a great game on Saturday. FSU held steady at #2 after beating an impressive Top 5 Notre Dame team. So they were set to leapfrog the idle Mississippi State Bulldogs for the #1 spot.
Only they didn’t.
That’s right. Mississippi State can replace FSU as the #1 team when THEY beat a Top 5 team and FSU defeats a conference opponent by two and a half scores. But FSU CAN’T replace an idle Bulldog team when they beat a Top 5 team. It just doesn’t make sense – unless you recall the rules of the Theory, folks. The SEC is AWESOME.
But what about that LSU game? Why did we talk about that again? Oh, you know…with each new week, unranked teams that have upset wins over ranked teams or show a true trend in performance are given their shot in the poll when ranked teams inevitably lose. For instance, West Virginia SHOT all the way to #22 when they romped all over the undefeated and #4 ranked Baylor Bears, 41-27. We could get into a discussion about the #14 initial ranking for Mississippi State when they beat a one-loss and #8 ranked LSU team in Week 4, but let’s just hit the THEORY button and keep going! Yes, there was another team that jumped into the Top 25 for their chance at some greatness following a huge, epic win. You may think that it was the 6-1 Minnesota squad, who beat Big 10 rival Purdue to remain undefeated in conference play and post up as the #1 team in their division. You’d be wrong! You might then think it was the Blue Devils from Duke, another 6-1 team who are now tied for 1st place in their ACC division and have one win against a Top 25 team. You’d be wrong again. How about 6-1 Colorado State or even the 6-2 team from Louisville? Nope.
No, creeping into the #24 spot is the 5th place team in the SEC-west, LSU. If you recall, they beat Kentucky. And if we look ahead…hey, look at that! LSU faces #3 Ole Miss this week and ESPN COLLEGE GAMEDAY will be there. Coincidence? Luck? You don’t need either when you have the THEORY.
Here’s your update on the SEC awesomeness migration within the AP echelons:
Preseason
#1 – #5: 1 SEC Team
#6 – #10: 2 SEC Teams
#11 – #15: 2 SEC Teams
#16 – #20: 1 SEC Team
#21 – #25: 2 SEC Teams
Last Week
#1 – #5: 2 SEC Teams (-1)
#6 – #10: 3 SEC Team (+2)
#11 – #15: 0 SEC Teams (-2)
#16 – #20: 0 SEC Team (-)
#21 – #25: 1 SEC Team (-)
This Week
#1 – #5: 4 SEC Teams (+1)
#6 – #10: 1 SEC Team (-2)
#11 – #15: 0 SEC Teams (-)
#16 – #20: 0 SEC Team (-)
#21 – #25: 1 SEC Team (-)
Games to Watch This Week:
(1) Mississippi State vs (NR) Kentucky – Can’t wait to see how the #1 team in the country performs here. All teams are allowed letdowns and challenging weeks, but the SEC Theory demands that extra credit be given to SEC teams when they play SEC teams, regardless of their rank, standing or just overall performance. If the Bulldogs roll, their vice grip upon the #1 slot will tighten even more. Should they struggle, expect nothing to change because Kentucky is no Syracuse, you fools!
(3) Ole Miss vs (24) LSU – LSU’s only win over a ranked team was against Wisconsin in the first game of the season. Ole Miss’ only victory against ranked teams came against the sinusoidal Tide and the fraudulent Aggies. Even though I would love to see and rage against the inevitable rank-jumping for LSU should the Mad Hatter pull another miracle out of rear-end, I’m not sure I could take the stress. The game is IN Death Valley, though, a traditionally tough place to play. Basically, it’s time for Ole Miss to prove it’s legitimate – at least, we could say that if LSU was itself legit. Oh wait, they’re in the bottom half of the SEC-west, you say? Fortunately that equals AWESOME, so the Rebels are perfectly hedged against a fall in the rankings as nothing preserves a SEC team’s top ranking like a close win over another SEC opponent who should really be unranked, for all intents and purposes.
(4) Alabama vs (NR) Tennessee – Bama is not as good as everyone would have you believe. Remember, they lost to the only ranked team they played (at the time of the game) before Saturday’s further exposure of the hapless Ags. It will also be fun to see how tough Tennessee is made out to be by CBS and the gang, despite their 3-4 record. Regardless, a close victory by the Tide will undoubtedly be treated with the same tenderness as their escape from Hog Heaven.
(5) Auburn vs (NR) South Carolina – this one may prove interesting. In case you forgot, the Gamecocks have fallen apart this season after serving as the Week 1 conduit for Kenny Football & Company. The damage was done before they fell to Kentucky (new UPSTART?!) and then to MIZZOU. But Spurrier is sneaky and may provide a challenge for Auburn who still have a lot to prove.
No real DOOMSDAY scenarios to play out here.The 80% Top 5 should be maintained if all games proceed as expected, but don’t be surprised if Ole Miss threatens to leapfrog the idle Seminoles with a convincing win over LSU. LSU is, after all, the 24th ranked team in the country but more importantly – the 5th ranked team in the AWESOME SEC-west.
See you next week!
- The SEC is AWESOME Theory – WEEK 13 Update - November 28, 2014
- The SEC is AWESOME Theory – WEEK 12 Update - November 22, 2014
- The SEC is AWESOME Theory – WEEK 11 Update - November 13, 2014
JD
I love this series of articles and hope it never ends.
Tom
What an Awesome Article! Keep ’em coming.
HawkND
These SEC articles are a must read. If only Fowler and the boys would read these articles. LOL. Keep them coming!
KyNDfan
You should see the look on UK fans faces when I tell them SEC success has nothing to do with them. They ride those coat tails for all they’re worth.
@irishmikecomedy
For what it’s worth, Sagarin’s computers have this:
1. Ole Miss
2. Alabama
3. Auburn
4. Mississippi State
5. Georgia
12. LSU
16. Texas A&M
(Florida State is 10th. Notre Dame is 15th.)