The Daily Mississippian sports editor Dylan Rubino ranks the 14 Southeastern Conference teams in week four. The Ole Miss Rebels return home this Saturday to face Vanderbilt. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. CT and will be televised on ESPNU.
1. Ole Miss – For the first time in my history of being sports editor, I’m putting the Rebels at the top spot where they belong. It takes a transformative player and/or a special team to beat Alabama on their home turf. This year may be the one where the Rebels live up to all the hype. Quarterback Chad Kelly played a sensational game, but he needs to limit the wild throws because they won’t all end up as touchdowns. This team has depth at every position and that will help as the season goes on.
2. LSU – Can any team in the country stop sophomore running back Leonard Fournette? Fournette torched Auburn with 19 carries for 228 yards and three touchdowns. Fournette looks like he can’t be stopped with 387 yards and six touchdowns on the season in only two games. Maybe the Tigers don’t need to pass the ball that much to win football games, as long as the star running back can eat defenses up every week. LSU makes the long road trip to Syracuse Saturday.
3. Georgia – The Bulldogs got revenge for last year’s loss on the road at South Carolina. Junior Greyson Lambert put on an outstanding show going 24-25 passing for 330 yards and three touchdowns in the 52-20 route of the Gamecocks at home. Sophomore running back Nick Chubb had another great game, rushing for 159 yards on 21 carries and two scores. If both the passing game and running game play like that, the Bulldogs will run away with the East.
4. Alabama- Five turnovers proved to be too much in their devastating home loss to Ole Miss. Quarterback Jake Coker came on in relief in the second quarter and led five scoring drives, but couldn’t overcome the early deficit. Make no mistake about it, Alabama is still one of the best teams in the country. They just hit a small Rebel-shaped bump in the road. The Crimson Tide isn’t close to being done.
5. Texas A&M- Lost in the shuffle are the Aggies of Texas A&M, who are the third undefeated team in the SEC West. They had no problems dismantling Nevada at home last Saturday 44-27. The Aggies now have the toughest part of their schedule coming up with Arkansas, Mississippi State, Alabama and Ole Miss in the next five weeks.
6. Mississippi State- After a close loss at home to LSU, the Bulldogs got back on track last Saturday with a 62-13 rout of Northwestern State. Quarterback Dak Prescott put on an efficient performance, going 10-11 passing for a whopping 227 yards and two scores. Mississippi State will be tested on the road the next two weeks with trips to Auburn and Texas A&M.
7. Tennessee- After a devastating home loss to Oklahoma, Tennessee put on the performance they desperately needed in their 55-10 win at home against Western Carolina last Saturday. The offense for the Volunteers seems to be firing on all cylinders at the right time. They hit the road this weekend to face a tough Florida defense this Saturday in the Swamp.
8. Missouri- Two way-too-close wins for the defending SEC East champions in back-to-back weeks. Missouri barely escaped a fighting UConn team at home 9-6. The Tigers trailed a bizarre 6-2 score at the end of the first half and scored a touchdown in the third quarter to avoid a second straight upset. Maize may be 3-0, but this doesn’t look like a team that can win the SEC East for a third straight year. They hit the road this weekend to face Kentucky.
9. Auburn- The pre-season SEC favorite took a big hit last Saturday in their road loss to LSU 45-21. The offense struggled the entire game with only 260 yards of total offense and zero first half points. Head coach Gus Malzahn has benched quarterback Jeremy Johnson and replaced him with freshman Sean White. White will be tested in his first start this Saturday night with Mississippi State coming to town.
10. Florida – In a contender or pretender matchup, Florida got the best of Kentucky on the road last Saturday in a 14-9 nail-biter. In an evenly matched game, the Gator defense shut down Kentucky at the right times, forcing two turnovers and holding them to less than 250 yards of total offense. We’ll see what the Gators are made of when Tennessee comes to town.
11. Kentucky- A home loss is bad for anyone, but Kentucky has nothing to be ashamed of with their loss to Florida. It was a pretty evenly matched game, but the Wildcats turned the ball over more than Florida, which proved to make a difference. Quarterback Patrick Towles’ play will need to improve if Kentucky wants to make a bowl game this season.
12. Arkansas- The dark-horse pick of the SEC suffered their second straight disappointing loss when they fell 35-24 at home to Texas Tech. Head coach Bret Bielema ran his mouth in the off-season, making comments about other teams’ non-conference schedule. Maybe he should worry about his own team and start winning some football games. The Razorbacks may be facing another loss this Saturday when they play Texas A&M.
13. South Carolina- The South Carolina offense looked horrific on the road at Georgia in a blowout loss. The quarterbacks totaled only 84 passing yards and the offense only reached 258 total yards. Another loss may be coming with UCF coming to Columbia Saturday morning.
14. Vanderbilt- The two opposite ends of the spectrum in this weeks power poll meet up in Oxford this weekend. Vanderbilt looked strong in their 47-7 blowout win against Austin Peay last Saturday. Quarterback Johnny McCrary played impressively, going 28-33 passing for 368 yards and two touchdowns. Maybe Vanderbilt has turned the corner, but probably not.
