The SEC had five head-to-head conference games on the Week 6 slate. Here are the SEC power rankings based on last week’s performances in terms of dominance.
The SEC has two teams that are still undefeated entering Week 7. The No. 8 Texas A&M Aggies held off the No. 9 Tennessee Volunteers in double overtime, 45-38 on Saturday night. As expected, the No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide had no trouble beating the No. 16 Arkansas Razorbacks in Fayetteville, 49-30.
Overall, the SEC only had five games this past weekend. All of them were head-to-head conference games. While the Missouri Tigers and the No. 14 Ole Miss Rebels had their scheduled byes, two SEC games were affected by Hurricane Matthew.
The Georgia Bulldogs and the South Carolina Gamecocks had their annual meeting moved back until Sunday afternoon. Georgia managed to win in Columbia, 28-14. The other game wasn’t as lucky. The No. 18 Florida Gators and the LSU Tigers had their annual meeting postponed from the tropical storm affecting Gainesville. That game has not been rescheduled.
The SEC power rankings are based on in-game dominance and begin with the Vanderbilt Commodores, South Carolina Gamecocks and Mississippi State Bulldogs.
Bad losses
It’s becoming increasingly clear that there are two SEC teams that just don’t have the offenses to make a serious attempt at a bowl game: the South Carolina Gamecocks and the Vanderbilt Commodores.
Vanderbilt lost in Lexington to the Kentucky Wildcats, 20-13, to fall to 2-4 (0-3) on the year. The Commodores have a great running back in Ralph Webb and a stellar defense under head coach Derek Mason. However, the passing game is ruining this year’s Vanderbilt football.
Starting quarterback Kyle Shurmur played slightly better against Kentucky. He completed 17 of 29 passes for 141 yards. No turnovers help, but an ineffective Vanderbilt passing game will keep this team from reaching a bowl. The Commodores may struggle to win even one SEC game this year.
South Carolina kept it interesting on Sunday afternoon against Georgia but ultimately fell to the Bulldogs, 28-14 at home. The Gamecocks did a fine job defensively of pressuring Georgia true freshman quarterback Jacob Eason. However, getting into the end zone is proving too difficult for the Gamecocks this year.
If a team is able to get into the end zone three times on South Carolina, they win. Plain and simple. South Carolina is still trying to figure out who its starting quarterback is: Perry Orth or Brandon McIlwain. It isn’t working.
Defensively, this team plays hard for new head coach Will Muschamp. The Gamecocks even have a reliable kicker in Elliot Fry. However, field goals and great defense aren’t enough to win in the gauntlet that is the SEC. South Carolina is getting better, but still not a bowl-caliber team in 2016.
If there is any team in the SEC West that isn’t going to reach a holiday season bowl, it’s looking more and more like that team will end up being the Mississippi State Bulldogs. Mississippi State had to beat Auburn at home on Saturday and got smoked.
The Bulldogs had an extra week to prepare for Auburn with their Week 5 bye. It did close to nothing, as Auburn came into Davis Wade Stadium and crushed Mississippi State, 38-14 in Starkville.
Quarterback Nick Fitzgerald had three costly turnovers, one interception and two fumbles against Auburn. His quarterback rating was an awful 19.3. Yes, Auburn has an improved defense under new defensive coordinator Kevin Steele, but this bad home loss to the Tigers doesn’t bode well for the Bulldogs’ chances to be bowl eligible. Mississippi State is now 2-3 (1-2) on the year.