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Once more, we discuss Alligator Army's vote in the SEC Power Poll — this time, with enough lead time for you to leave your feedback in the comments. Please do!
Leli: I'm going to venture that your top three is also unchanged?
Andy: Yeah, I think I'm fine with the same top three in order. My wonder is whether Florida's in that LSU-Alabama tier.
Leli: LSU and Alabama are going to sort themselves out next weekend.
I think Florida belongs in that tier right now. No SEC team has looked incredibly dominant in every game; I'm including LSU and Alabama in that, though those two have looked more dominant for longer stretches than anyone else. And you can argue that LSU's in a tier unto itself since it's still undefeated.
Andy: And Florida's got a mess at QB, but is it that much worse than what LSU and Alabama have? Especially given how Florida's defense plays at its best?
Leli: LSU probably has the most consistent QB of the three right now. But it's not like any of those three QBs have been setting the world on fire.
Andy: No. And I don't know if any of them is going to win a team games by himself.
Leli: I doubt it.
Andy: Anyway: We're good with that as a tier, it seems.
Leli: Yep.
1. LSU
2. Alabama
3. Florida
Leli: Next tier, I'd say, is Ole Miss and Mississippi State, in that order.
Ole Miss seems to be playing more like it did earlier in the season, though I'm sure the schedule helped: They had a chance to get their footing back against a Kyle Allen-led Texas A&M and Auburn.
Andy: I definitely wonder whether Kyler Murray beats Mississippi after this weekend. I'm sure Aggies are wondering the same thing.
Leli: And why they didn't get a chance to see last week, given how terribad Kyle Allen was that whole game.
Andy: Look, Allen didn't go 0-for-whatever. It was 1-for-whatever. Every completion is a little bit of hope.
Leli: They need a new hope. And they probably have one with Murray, though
Andy: Ain't it crazy that A&M's been through three new hopes since Kenny Hill, though?
Leli: Y'know, we've started three QBs since 2014 started, too. Womp womp.
As for Murray, the Cam Newton first game comparisons don't make too much sense to me, though. It was against South Carolina's defense, and we remember how they made Kenny Hill look last year.
Andy: Maybe they should just play South Carolina every week?
Leli: Yes! Can we all?
Andy: South Carolina might get tired of that.
Leli: Poor South Carolina. Anyway: We're all out of order right now. Because South Carolina sure isn't in this second tier.
Andy: No. But we have nothing important to add on the Rebels and Bulldogs. They held serve against Auburn and Bye. I think they deserve to stay where they were.
Leli: I have literally nothing to say about Mississippi State. They're pretty good. Bye week. The end.
4. Mississippi
5. Mississippi State
Leli: I'm going to throw these out for the next tier: Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas A&M. I think that's the same as we did last week, but we can adjust the order if necessary.
Andy: Tennessee just trucked Kentucky.
Leli: Tennessee hammered Kentucky and looked good doing it. They have had their moments this year and as funny as their early-season swoons were for us, I have to imagine that those are even more maddening now for their fans, since now they see what a clicking Tennessee can be capable of.
Andy: Like, Kentucky did the "wear black for a night game" thing and got all worked up for a chance to beat a team that very recently had nearly as long a winning streak against it as Florida still does ... and lost by 30. Tennessee's pretty good.
Leli: I agree. And they can easily win out. Their schedule was front loaded.
Andy: They're in prime position to be 9-4 after beating up on a less talented team in a bowl and be the trendy 2016 SEC East pick. So they're where they always are.
Leli: For every season, turn, turn...
I have Arkansas and A&M next and the order of those two matters not to me.
Andy: Yeah, we could flip a coin. Wouldn't matter.
Leli: Arkansas put 63 on Tennessee Martin, which is nice, but I don't know how excited one should be about that.
Andy: These are teams that could scare the better teams in the West in November, but should not win those games.
Leli: A&M looked better with Murray but also played South Carolina and I don't know how excited one should be about that.
Andy: Tennessee Martin might be better than South Carolina? Who knows?
Leli: I think Arkansas is slightly scarier. So I'd go Arkansas then A&M right now. A&M has the easier schedule here on out so that can change obviously.
6. Tennessee
7. Arkansas
8. Texas A&M
Leli: Poor South Carolina.
Andy: We've gotta be careful about being too sad about South Carolina. There are three other bad SEC East teams.
Leli: Only three?
Andy: ...well.
Leli: This brings me to my next tier: Georgia, Auburn and Kentucky. I'd be OK with that order too but also rearranging them is fine
Andy: An actual game on the field tells me Auburn > Kentucky and the transitive property of playing Tennessee says Georgia > Kentucky. But Georgia's offense basically stopped functioning sometime late in that Tennessee game.
Leli: Georgia has scored ONE touchdown in their last three games. And it came in garbage time.
Andy: Which is better than Missouri.
Leli: Yeah. I'm OK with Georgia, Auburn, Kentucky for now. Georgia probably gets one of those six-point thingies this week too against Kentucky. Probably.
Andy: If Georgia can't score against a team that JUST gave up 51? Pink slips should follow.
Leli: Also, wasn't the point of starting Faton Bauta his running threat? He ran for four yards.
Andy: See, it was the threat that was the point. Not actually running him. Mark Richt is a genius.
Leli: That's that Brian Schottenheimer NFL logic.
Andy: If this Georgia season goes down in flames and Schottenheimer and/or Richt gets fired, the story of these last two weeks is going to be riveting reading. If it doesn't ... well, I'd still read the story, but it won't get written for a while longer.
Leli: But Brice Ramsey punted pretty good!
Also, to steal one of your Twitter jokes, poor Greyson Lambert. Sony Michel takes the first snap, Bauta plays all game and Ramsey punts.
Andy: Ramsey was slightly better than Collin Barber, but he had to have been in for that terrible fake, right?
Leli: Oh, honey, that fake.
Andy: Why even bother?
Leli: I have no idea!
Andy: So much of Georgia's game plan and play-calling made no sense to me.
Leli: Schottenheimer! And I agree. I'm also shocked they didn't change QBs at some point.
Andy: Right? Bauta threw two picks in the first half and two more in the second — and it should've been three.
Leli: And they only had two drives cross midfield.
Andy: And their third in Florida territory came from a turnover.
Leli: I was really surprised Greyson Lambert spent the whole time on the sidelines in his neon headgear.
Andy: That neon headgear was stylish. Maybe he just likes it better?
Leli: Maybe he saw Jonathan Bullard and company and decided the sideline was just fine.
Andy: I know I would rather not be hit by him.
Leli: Me either. I am so happy he is ours!
Andy: One last thing: Sony Michel broke his damn hand on the first play of that game. That wasn't as serious an injury as Nick Chubb suffered, clearly, but he was hurt enough to leave the game. Georgia should probably just not play on the first plays of games. Just kneel. Spike the ball. Something.
Leli: Georgia always has these fantastic running backs. And they all always seem to get hurt.
Andy: The curse of Herschel?
Leli: Maybe!
Moving on: Auburn? War damn mediocre eagle. Auburn is still inconsistent and has big red zone issues.
Andy: Auburn looked better against Mississippi than it did against LSU. Which is nice, I guess.
Leli: They looked much worse earlier in the season. But they're not "good".
Andy: The receivers are bad. The secondary is painfully young. Carl Lawson being back is helpful, but they need more than a little help.
Leli: I don't get the trot Jeremy Johnson out occasionally to chuck it downfield thing, either.
Andy: It's better than the trot Jeremy Johnson out to run the leftover Cam Newton draws thing, isn't it?
Leli: No one is doing much with those now. I think that's a big part of their issue. They need one of those QBs — a Cam Newton, Nick Marshall type — for their offense.
Andy: I don't think they need that in a vacuum — but if you're not going to get catches from the wide receivers, you probably do.
Leli: True.
9. Georgia
10. Auburn
11. Kentucky
Andy: All right, next tier is last tier: South Carolina, Vanderbilt, Missouri.
Leli: We forgot to talk about Kentucky. If you want to...
Andy: I don't think we really need to talk about Kentucky.
Leli: The bottom tier is the hardest to order, I think.
Andy: Because we can't rank them as bad, worse, worst. South Carolina showed signs of life this weekend, at least. Vandy died at the hands of the #HTownTakeover. Missouri lost to Bye because Maty Mauk lost to something.
Leli: All have one really, really bad unit — Vanderbilt's offense, Missouri's offense and South Carolina's defense. The flip side is the other side of the ball for each of those teams isn't too bad.
Vandy did hold Houston to season lows on offense. And 21 of Houston's points were off of Vandy turnovers. Being shut out is terrible, don't get me wrong, but their defense played well.
Andy: Well, what's the best unit of any of those flip sides? I think it's Missouri's defense. Is it good enough to elevate them beyond No. 14? I don't think so.
Leli: I'd say Missouri defense, Vandy defense, and then South Carolina offense.
So how would you order the teams? I almost want to say South Carolina, Vanderbilt, Missouri this week.
Andy: South Carolina, Vandy, Missouri sounds fine to me. It also makes sense based on results.
Leli: It does! Except Missouri beat South Carolina. But Missouri can't do anything on offense. South Carolina can.
Andy: Missouri beat South Carolina when Drew Lock still had that new QB smell. You get one game with that buff. Then it wears off.
Leli: Also, that South Carolina defense effect. See Hill, Kenny; Murray, Kyler, etc. I was going to say at least Missouri gets Maty Mauk back ... but now Missouri does not get Maty Mauk back.
Andy: It seems wrong that Missouri can't go worse than 4-8. But they smartly front-loaded their schedule with the cupcakes.
Leli: I don't recognize those numbers in that order.
Andy: But, like, that's the thing: 2013 Florida would probably beat 2015 Missouri 20-0.
Leli: Maybe like 13-3. Maaaaybe.
Missouri wins ... maybe one more game?
Andy: The remaining schedule: Mississippi State, BYU, Tennessee, Arkansas. Three of those games are at home, but still: It's not happening.
Point is, this Missouri team doesn't have the tools to stress a team with an actual defense.
Leli: Nope. Missouri is winning none of those games.
Andy: Fun fact: Vanderbilt's offense has somehow been worse against FBS teams than Missouri's!
Fewest TDs vs. FBS teams in 2015: Kent State, 9; Boston College/Missouri, 8; Vanderbilt, 7. No one else is under 11.
Leli: I don't think Vandy or Missouri has another win in them.
Andy: I sure hope Vandy doesn't.
Leli: Vandy does play Kentucky, though, and I don't know what the heck is going on with them so maybe there there is a chance?
Andy: Missouri scored 13 on Kentucky. Can Vandy match that?
Leli: Hopefully. Maybe!
Also: South Carolina has exactly one likely win left, and it's The Citadel.
Andy: It gets easier to understand why Steve Spurrier resigned with each passing week.
Leli: That bottom tier likely has one win left among all three teams. That's a hell of a basement level.
Andy: The Citadel is ahead of some FBS teams in Sagarin, so maybe that's not even a likely win.
Leli: Yep. Which FBS teams? I'm just wondering if any of them are in our basement.
Andy: A bunch, actually. South Carolina's waaaaaay higher than you think Ahead of Kentucky, even.
Leli: Um. Missouri too.
Andy: I don't claim to understand Sagarin, in fairness.
Leli: Me either!
I just looked at straight up total offense rankings for FBS. UCF is last. Guess who is two places ahead of them? I think we made the right decision.
Andy: Yeah, it's all bad. It's all so bad.
Leli: So bad.
Remember when I said I felt bad for Missouri's defense? It's because their offense is 125th ... and their defense is sixth.
Andy: It's gotta be the biggest differential in recent history.