Ahhh, Vanderbilt. How we have missed you, providing the warm comfort food of certainty, as though your entire Nashville stadium were built of banana pudding and macaroni and cheese, yet is still sturdy enough to construct an entire Power Poll upon that foundation. Here is that Power Poll, the first of the 2014 SEC season.
SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE POWER RANKINGS
1
1
Georgia Bulldogs
Record: 1-0 (0-0)
I wavered between the Bulldogs and Texas A&M, each of whom committed unspeakable atrocities on teams from the state of South Carolina. (If I did a Power Poll-South Carolina edition, I would rank Charleston Southern No. 1 this week based on its win over Point University, which I am not making up.) Both looked deep and explosive but I give Georgia a slight edge on defense.
2
2
Texas A&M Aggies
Record: 1-0 (1-0)
Give the Aggies credit. They managed to keep the good parts of last year's circus without the sideshow.
3
3
Alabama Crimson Tide
Record: 1-0 (0-0)
This is actually a Bermuda Triangle of SEC West teams, and if you can feel free to shuffle the Crimson Tide, Auburn and LSU into any order you prefer. UA wasn't perfect on Saturday but did some good things that went largely unnoticed by the self-flagellating segment of its fan base. Now they have two games to work on things before Florida arrives.
4
4
Auburn Tigers
Record: 1-0 (1-0)
The Tigers pulled away from Arkansas as expected and even came up with a new version of the trap play by stranding the Razorbacks' pressbox coaches in an elevator through halftime.
5
5
LSU Tigers
Record: 1-0 (0-0)
The Tigers appeared to be in trouble until they figured out that Wisconsin's vertical passing game extended about two yards beyond the line of scrimmage. That, plus some of Maestro Les Miles' trickery, was enough for the win. Like Alabama, LSU now has two weeks to work out some of the Week One kinks.
6
6[img alt="" src="https://ct.yimg.com/mr/uploads/885/524117.gif" >Mississippi State Bulldogs
Record: 1-0 (0-0)
With everyone looking for a "sleeper" team in the SEC, why not the Bulldogs? No one looked more complete last Saturday although, on a tangential note, whatever happened to Southern Miss?
7
7
Ole Miss Rebels
Record: 1-0 (0-0)
Another trendy pick is Ole Miss, but while the Rebels did beat the new low-octane version of Boise State, they still don't have a great running game and may have a tougher time surviving a slow start from Bo Wallace against SEC competition.
8
8
Tennessee Volunteers
Record: 1-0 (0-0)
We now return to the SEC East portion of the program. Utah State wasn't a great opponent (Arkansas State will be tougher) but Tennessee needed an easy fan-pleasing win and got one, playing a lot of freshmen in the process.
9
9[img alt="" src="https://ct.yimg.com/mr/uploads/885/1285141.jpg" >Missouri Tigers
Record: 1-0 (0-0)
They made it all the way to Atlanta last season and are still a mystery. They play at Toledo on Saturday, a peculiar scheduling decision that may be riskier than some people realize.
10
10
South Carolina Gamecocks
Record: 0-1 (0-1)
The Gamecocks can't be as bad as they looked. But this ranking is based on what we've seen and what we saw last Thursday was ugly.
11
11[img alt="" src="https://ct.yimg.com/mr/uploads/885/524110.gif" >Florida Gators
Record: 0-0 (0-0)
Then, there is the problem of trying to rank teams based on what we didn't see. The Gators couldn't play their opener against Idaho because of weather, which probably left them wondering why it couldn't have rained for the entire 2013 season.
12
12
Arkansas Razorbacks
Record: 0-1 (0-1)
To be fair, Bret Bielema seems to be building the sort of team he wants. What is not so fair, though, is playing in the SEC West, where Arkansas may not be able to find a win for a second straight year.
13
13
Kentucky Wildcats
Record: 1-0 (0-0)
The Wildcats, like Tennessee, had a big opening win at home, but UT-Martin would probably be a 40-point underdog to Utah State. It will take more than that to move up.
14
14
Vanderbilt Commodores
Record: 0-1 (0-0)
After the way Temple abused the Commodores, the separation anxiety from James Franklin has reached epic proportion. The learning curve for Derek Mason in SEC Year One may be steep indeed.
- See more at: https://alabama.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1676644#sthash.TrAQystW.dpuf
SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE POWER RANKINGS
1
1
Record: 1-0 (0-0)
I wavered between the Bulldogs and Texas A&M, each of whom committed unspeakable atrocities on teams from the state of South Carolina. (If I did a Power Poll-South Carolina edition, I would rank Charleston Southern No. 1 this week based on its win over Point University, which I am not making up.) Both looked deep and explosive but I give Georgia a slight edge on defense.
2
2
Record: 1-0 (1-0)
Give the Aggies credit. They managed to keep the good parts of last year's circus without the sideshow.
3
3
Record: 1-0 (0-0)
This is actually a Bermuda Triangle of SEC West teams, and if you can feel free to shuffle the Crimson Tide, Auburn and LSU into any order you prefer. UA wasn't perfect on Saturday but did some good things that went largely unnoticed by the self-flagellating segment of its fan base. Now they have two games to work on things before Florida arrives.
4
4
Record: 1-0 (1-0)
The Tigers pulled away from Arkansas as expected and even came up with a new version of the trap play by stranding the Razorbacks' pressbox coaches in an elevator through halftime.
5
5
Record: 1-0 (0-0)
The Tigers appeared to be in trouble until they figured out that Wisconsin's vertical passing game extended about two yards beyond the line of scrimmage. That, plus some of Maestro Les Miles' trickery, was enough for the win. Like Alabama, LSU now has two weeks to work out some of the Week One kinks.
6
6[img alt="" src="https://ct.yimg.com/mr/uploads/885/524117.gif" >Mississippi State Bulldogs
Record: 1-0 (0-0)
With everyone looking for a "sleeper" team in the SEC, why not the Bulldogs? No one looked more complete last Saturday although, on a tangential note, whatever happened to Southern Miss?
7
7
Record: 1-0 (0-0)
Another trendy pick is Ole Miss, but while the Rebels did beat the new low-octane version of Boise State, they still don't have a great running game and may have a tougher time surviving a slow start from Bo Wallace against SEC competition.
8
8
Record: 1-0 (0-0)
We now return to the SEC East portion of the program. Utah State wasn't a great opponent (Arkansas State will be tougher) but Tennessee needed an easy fan-pleasing win and got one, playing a lot of freshmen in the process.
9
9[img alt="" src="https://ct.yimg.com/mr/uploads/885/1285141.jpg" >Missouri Tigers
Record: 1-0 (0-0)
They made it all the way to Atlanta last season and are still a mystery. They play at Toledo on Saturday, a peculiar scheduling decision that may be riskier than some people realize.
10
10
Record: 0-1 (0-1)
The Gamecocks can't be as bad as they looked. But this ranking is based on what we've seen and what we saw last Thursday was ugly.
11
11[img alt="" src="https://ct.yimg.com/mr/uploads/885/524110.gif" >Florida Gators
Record: 0-0 (0-0)
Then, there is the problem of trying to rank teams based on what we didn't see. The Gators couldn't play their opener against Idaho because of weather, which probably left them wondering why it couldn't have rained for the entire 2013 season.
12
12
Record: 0-1 (0-1)
To be fair, Bret Bielema seems to be building the sort of team he wants. What is not so fair, though, is playing in the SEC West, where Arkansas may not be able to find a win for a second straight year.
13
13
Record: 1-0 (0-0)
The Wildcats, like Tennessee, had a big opening win at home, but UT-Martin would probably be a 40-point underdog to Utah State. It will take more than that to move up.
14
14
Record: 0-1 (0-0)
After the way Temple abused the Commodores, the separation anxiety from James Franklin has reached epic proportion. The learning curve for Derek Mason in SEC Year One may be steep indeed.
- See more at: https://alabama.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1676644#sthash.TrAQystW.dpuf
