SEC Power Rankings, Week 11: Alabama clinches SEC West
By John Buhler
SEC Wins
It only took 11 weeks, but the Missouri Tigers finally beat a Power 5 team under new head coach Barry Odom. Unfortunately, it came a few weeks late to save Missouri’s season and it was against a Vanderbilt team that doesn’t know what it’s doing in the passing game.
Missouri has seen glimpses of promise from sophomore quarterback Drew Lock. He can make big plays in the passing game, but is far too erratic for the Tigers to lean on in crucial SEC games. Maybe he’ll be a more complete player during his junior season in Columbia?
Missouri has two more games this season. The Tigers probably won’t beat either the Tennessee Volunteers or the Arkansas Razorbacks. The best-case scenario for Missouri in 2016 is 5-7 (3-5), but it is most likely a 3-9 (1-7) football team.
As sad as it was to hear that Chad Kelly’s Ole Miss career was over after he tore his ACL and meniscus in his knee in Week 10’s win over Georgia Southern, it did give way to something pretty cool in Oxford.
True freshman quarterback Shea Patterson had to burn his redshirt in his first career start. Patterson had to go on the road to Kyle Field and play the No. 8 Texas A&M Aggies. Ole Miss prevailed on a Gary Wunderlich field goal to win 29-28 in College Station.
It’s been an up and mostly down season for the Rebels. They have College Football Playoff hopes, but should still be able to get to a bowl this year even without Kelly. All Ole Miss has to do is beat one of its two rivals: Vanderbilt and Mississippi State. We’re looking at a Rebels team that can finish 7-5.
The Tennessee Volunteers beat SEC East rival Kentucky at home on Saturday, 49-36 to improve to 7-3 on the season. Tennessee was expected to beat Kentucky, but now has a realistic pathway to winning the SEC East.
The Volunteers need to have the rival Florida Gators fall in Baton Rouge on Saturday, which is very possible, in addition to winning out. Tennessee’s two remaining SEC games are against Missouri and in-state rival Vanderbilt. Neither of those schools are going bowling.
Should Florida fall to the LSU Tigers in Week 12, it puts Tennessee back in the driver’s seat to win the SEC East. Their prize: being a 40-point underdog at the neutral-site Georgia Dome to the No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide. There’s virtually no way that Tennessee beats Alabama in Atlanta should these cross-divisional rivals meet again this season.
Georgia gets a boost in this week’s SEC power rankings in large part to not allowing a first down in the second half to the former No. 9 team in the country. The Dawgs were able to upset cross-divisional rival Auburn on Saturday evening, 13-7.
Few outside of Athens thought that Georgia could beat a superior Auburn team. However, Georgia has played Auburn very well in the Classic City in for much of the last decade plus (6-1 vs. Auburn in Athens).
Georgia didn’t score an offensive touchdown at home, which is frightening. Auburn’s defense is one of the best in the SEC. The Bulldogs reached bowl eligibility with this win. If Georgia beats both Louisiana-Lafayette and in-state rival Georgia Tech, the Bulldogs can be 8-4 in the first season under new head coach Kirby Smart.