SEC Power Rankings: Week 7

The first edition of the BCS rankings came out on Sunday night, and they had the same teams at Nos. 1 and 2 as this week’s power rankings. LSU and Alabama were dominant again in rolling over speed bumps toward their showdown on Nov. 5. While the top three SEC teams look like BCS contenders, the rest of the league is a mess. Aside from LSU, ‘Bama and Arky, the SEC might be having a — gasp! — down year.

1. LSU, 7-0 overall/4-0 in SEC play (Last week’s ranking: 1) — LSU’s offense started slow against Tennessee, but the Tiger defense held the Vols down. For the fourth time this year, LSU held its opponent to seven points or fewer. With an offense that hasn’t been spectacular but hasn’t made many mistakes, that’s been a recipe for seven comfortable wins.

2. ALABAMA, 7-0/4-0 (2) — The Crimson Tide faced the second-worst team in the conference on Saturday, and it showed. Alabama held Ole Miss to 141 yards while compiling 615 yards of its own. We’ve questioned the offense all season, but it’s beginning to look like Trent Richardson has the ability to run over any defense in the league. Richardson finished with 183 yards and four touchdowns on 17 rushes — a terrifying 10.8 yards per carry — against the Rebels.

3. ARKANSAS, 5-1/1-1 (3) — The Razorbacks didn’t play on Saturday and are faced with an early-morning kickoff this week against what has to be a broken Ole Miss team. Arkansas’ offense is great, and its defense is good enough to win games. The Hogs should enter the regular-season finale against LSU with one loss.

4. AUBURN, 5-2/3-1 (6) — Here’s where things get tricky. The No. 4 ranking could probably go to any of four different teams, but we’ll give it to Auburn since this is an Auburn blog and the Tigers’ defense played so well on Saturday. It was another ugly offensive showing , but Auburn held Florida to six points and 194 total yards. This was mentioned in the game recap, and you can take it for what it’s worth, but LSU allowed the Gators to put together 11 points and 213 yards.

5. GEORGIA, 5-2/4-1 (4) — Georgia slips a spot this week, despite winning at Vanderbilt. That’s what happens when UGa allows a previously anaemic Vandy offense to rack up 28 points and 349 yards. Aaron Murray and the passing offense looked fine, but the Dawgs could only manage 117 rushing yards. Defensive coordinator Todd Grantham made a fool of himself, berating Commodore head coach James Franklin following the game over some perceived cut blocks, to which his players reacted by committing personal fouls. That’s been a common theme for the Bulldogs in the last couple of years: perceiving that the other team is dirty, actually playing dirty themselves, then talking about how dirty the other team was after the game.

6. SOUTH CAROLINA, 6-1/4-1 (5) — South Carolina looks up at Georgia in the rankings, despite defeating the Bulldogs at Athens in Week 2. That’s a result of the Gamecocks’ starting quarterback getting kicked off the team and their superstar running back suffering a season-ending injury. Carolina eeked out a win at Starkville, but it was awfully costly, because Lattimore is done for the year with a knee injury. Connor Shaw, who looked great against Kentucky, was 20 of 28 against a mediocre State defense but threw for just 155 yards and had two interceptions. Scoring points is going to be a challenge for the rest of the Gamecocks’ season.

7. FLORIDA, 4-3/2-3 (7) — Will Muschamp and his team must be pinching themselves, trying to make the nightmare end. Florida has dropped three straight and hasn’t been able to do anything on offense since quarterback John Brantley suffered an ankle injury against Alabama. To make matters worse, the Gators were terribly undisciplined against Auburn, committing six penalties, dropping four punts and turning the ball over three times. Florida has two weeks to fix itself before facing Georgia in the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party.

8. TENNESSEE, 3-3/0-3 (8) — The Volunteer offense couldn’t do much against LSU’s defense, but there’s not a lot of shame in that. What is going to hurt Tennessee down the stretch is playing Matt Simms at quarterback. With Tyler Bray injured, Simms started against the Tigers and was 6 of 20 for 128 yards and two picks. Without much of a running game, Tennessee has been forced to rely on the Bray-led aerial attack. Without Bray, there isn’t going to be much of an aerial attack upon which to rely.

9. VANDERBILT, 3-3/1-3 (9) — Vanderbilt gave Georgia a scare, forcing the Bulldogs to hold on until the final whistle for a five-point win. Vandy didn’t have much in the way of a pass offense, but the Commodores did rush for 200 yards and two TDs. Unfortunately for fans in Nashville, the defense had another bad week and allowed Georgia to pick up 443 yards and 33 points.

10. MISSISSIPPI STATE, 3-4/0-4 (10) — Oh, Dan Mullen. How frustrating it must be to watch your team to fall to 0-4 in SEC play in a year that is supposed to announce to the world that Mississippi State is ready to contend. It’s pretty simple for the Bulldogs — the defense is decent, and the offense is absolutely awful. Since scoring 34 points against Auburn in Week 2, State’s offense hasn’t been able to do much. Chris Relf wasn’t a good enough passer to lead the Bulldogs, so Mullen inserted Tyler Russell. Russell played poorly against Carolina. He completed 11 of 29 passes for 165 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. Mullen’s boys should be able to beat Ole Miss at the end of the year, but if they don’t, State will be home for the holidays with a 5-7 record.

11. OLE MISS, 2-4/0-3 (11) — Speaking of Ole Miss, the Rebels are recovering from getting hit by the train that is the Alabama Crimson Tide. Ole Miss’ offense is pitiful, and the defense is pretty bad, too, so there was never much of a chance the Rebels were going to upset the Tide. We can imagine, however, that they would have preferred avoiding a 45-point loss.

12. KENTUCKY, 2-4/0-3 (12) — Kentucky was off in Week 7, but we’re still not sure whether or not the Wildcats lost. It’s been a tough season in Lexington, and everyone is counting down the days until Nov. 5. Yes, that’s the day LSU and Alabama face off in Tuscaloosa, but it’s also the day that the Wildcats host Ole Miss in what should be the complete antithesis of that showdown in T-Town.