Week 9 of the college football season is all wrapped up. How did the SEC do? Here are the weekly power rankings in the SEC based on Week 9 dominance.
The SEC had some interesting games in Week 9. Four teams were on their bye weeks, but the divisional races are beginning to get a little clearer. With the Tennessee Volunteers falling to the South Carolina Gamecocks in Columbia, that only helps the Kentucky Wildcats in the SEC East race. They beat the Missouri Tigers on the road to get to 5-3.
In the SEC West, the Auburn Tigers might now be a team capable of beating the Alabama Crimson Tide at season’s end. The Ole Miss Rebels are in a complete nosedive after their fifth loss of the season.
Here are the weekly SEC power rankings, based on how dominant all 14 teams looked in Week 9:
The Missouri Tigers are terrible this year. They have yet to beat a Power 5 and they probably aren’t going to. Missouri falls to 0-4 in SEC play this season after falling to the SEC East rival Kentucky Wildcats at home, 35-21.
Missouri cannot lose another game if it wants to go bowling this season. With four SEC rivalry games still left on the slate, that’s almost near impossible for a team that hasn’t put up 30 points against a Power 5 team all year.
The Tigers could win the Battle of Columbia against the rival South Carolina Gamecocks on Saturday, but that’s at Williams-Brice. Missouri could potentially beat Vanderbilt at home in two weeks, but if it’s a defensive battle, that favors the ‘Dores exponentially. The Tennessee Volunteers and the Arkansas Razorbacks are vulnerable, but that’ll be one improbable parlay to get Missouri bowl eligible.
There is not a bigger disappointment in the SEC in 2016 than the Ole Miss Rebels. It wouldn’t have been shocking to see the Georgia Bulldogs or the Tennessee Volunteers slip up in 2016, but the Rebels have made it to two straight New Year’s Six bowls. At 3-5 after losing to No. 15 Auburn, 40-29 at home, Ole Miss is in jeopardy of getting to a bowl.
To be fair, Ole Miss’ schedule has been brutal so far. Six of their eight opponents have been ranked at the time of their meeting. However, the Rebels have only beaten a rebuilding Georgia team at home. Can Ole Miss get to 6-6?
It’s unlikely that the Rebels beat the Texas A&M Aggies in College Station in two weeks, but the rest of their games are winnable. For Ole Miss to get to a bowl, the Rebels will have to beat a good mid-major program at home in the Georgia Southern Eagles and two rivals at the end of the year: the Vanderbilt Commodores and the Mississippi State Bulldogs in the Egg Bowl. 6-6 is on the table, but that’s it for Ole Miss.
The Georgia Bulldogs might miss its first bowl game in two decades this season. Georgia has lost four of five after fizzling out against the arch rival No. 14 Florida Gators in Jacksonville, 24-10. Offensively, this team has no identity. Defensively, it could be tighter.
Georgia can get to bowl eligibility if it does these two things: 1.) Beat the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns at home on November 19th. 2.) Win one of these three games: at Kentucky, vs. Auburn, vs. Georgia Tech.
With Kentucky and Auburn playing well, it might be hard for Georgia to win either of those games. If it is really going to come down to Georgia Tech at home, there is a chance it could be one lousy Thanksgiving Weekend for Dawg Nation.
What’s going on in Tennessee? The Volunteers have lost three straight games in the SEC after stumbling to the South Carolina Gamecocks in Columbia on Saturday, 24-21. This team is getting out-coached just about every Saturday. Tennessee is too talented to be this bad.
This team had College Football Playoff aspirations and were a no-doubt top-10 team entering the season. Now the Volunteers are going to fail to reach the SEC Championship for the ninth straight season. This is team is clearly no better than the third-best team in the SEC East.
The Volunteers still have a shot at being ranked at regular season’s end if they knock off rival Kentucky at home. Still, that’s not good enough for a team that had an 11-1, 10-2 feel entering the year. This was Tennessee’s year. The Volunteers were so much better on paper than everybody else in the SEC East. In an increasingly digital, paper means close to nothing now.