1) Alabama Crimson Tide: The Tide were their usual, dominant selves yet again in a 45-10 rout of the Tennessee Volunteers on Saturday. They seem to be hitting their stride on all cylinders as they get ready to compete for a shot at their third consecutive national title.
2) Auburn Tigers: From 3-9 to finding themselves in position to secure an at-large berth in the BCS down the road, Gus Malzahn and the Tigers have been nothing short of amazing this year. They had an easy one on Saturday against FAU, but handled their business like a true SEC team is supposed to. Now, they’ll see if they can keep the SEC success rolling this week when they take on Arkansas.
3) Texas A&M Aggies: Johnny Manziel did Johnny Manziel things, throwing for over 300 yards and four touchdowns in a 50-point effort against a decent Vanderbilt team on Saturday. At 6-2 and climbing their way back up the rankings, it may become mighty difficult to keep Manziel and the Aggies out of the BCS altogether.
4) South Carolina Gamecocks: The Gamecocks exploded everything in the SEC East on Saturday when they defeated previously-unbeaten and fifth-ranked Missouri on the road, behind a tremendous effort by QB Connor Shaw After Shaw was inserted back into the lineup, the Gamecocks took control in the fourth quarter and were able to get the win in two overtimes.
5) Missouri Tigers: A kick off the left upright in the second overtime is all it took to end the magical, unbeaten run of Gary Pinkel and the Tigers in their loss to South Carolina this week. However, they’re still alive in the East race, and this is still a talented enough team to get the job done down the stretch here.
6) LSU Tigers: Although I don’t question how good of a team LSU really is, I still continue to question whether or not they’re looking ahead to their looming showdown with Alabama, especially after they struggled mightily against Furman. Yes, Furman. They were able to get things rolling in the second half, but the bottom line is they shouldn’t have had to in the first place.
7) Georgia Bulldogs: The Dawgs were on a bye this week, and now they get ready for ‘The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party’ this upcoming week against Florida. They also will have Todd Gurley back in the offense, which should give this team the breath of fresh air it desperately needs.
8) Ole Miss Rebels: After taking care of LSU, the Rebels had an easy time with Idaho this past week as they improved to 5-3 on the year, and will now head into a bye week on a bit of a roll.
9) Florida Gators: Florida was on a bye week this week as they get set to head to Jacksonville to take on Georgia this week. Now, the question will be whether or not they can get their stagnant offense to show any signs of life against a talented UGA defense.
10) Vanderbilt Commodores: You never really know what to think about Vandy. They could have a strong showing like they did against Georgia, or they can be blown off the field by Texas A&M, as they were on Saturday. Granted, a majority of that may have had to do with the change at QB.
11) Tennessee Volunteers: After riding a high following the win over South Carolina, the Vols were brought back down to earth on Saturday by Alabama, further showing how far this program has to go before they’re competing at an elite level in the conference. However, Butch Jones has them headed in the right direction.
12) Mississippi State Bulldogs: The Bulldogs held off a resilient Kentucky team on Thursday night, which may have done more harm than good to this program as a lot of people are starting to grow weary of Dan Mullen at the helm. They continue to struggle in the second half of games, and that can’t be a good thing for the future of Mullen in Starkville.
13) Kentucky Wildcats: After the effort against Mississippi State, Mark Stoops and the Wildcats deserve a step up from the very bottom, at least for one week. If you look closely, you can see that there is potential within this program for some positives, although it’ll take a few years.
14) Arkansas Razorbacks: Bret Bielema and the Razorbacks were able to take a week off after they were dominated by Alabama, and now they have a date with Auburn on the horizon. With the brewing feud between Bielema and Gus Malzahn, this one could get very interesting, especially if Bielema doesn’t have an answer for Malzahn’s fast-paced offense that he seems to hate so much.
