SEC Football: Week 13 power rankings
By John Buhler
The final week of the 2016 regular season is in the books in the SEC. Here are the weekly power rankings in the SEC after Week 13.
Let’s be perfectly honest here. This was not a great season for the SEC. While 11 of the 14 member institutions are bowl-eligible, presumably all schools but the Alabama Crimson Tide will have four losses this year.
Week 13 saw the culmination of several high-stakes in-state rivalries. Alabama won the Iron Bowl. Mississippi State won the Egg Bowl. The SEC went 1-3 in their four ACC rivalry games, with Kentucky being the only one to top their in-state foe.
With 11 teams having one more holiday season bowl game, here are the weekly SEC power rankings based on what we saw in Week 13.
Not bowl-eligible
We knew that 2016 was going to be a rebuilding year in Columbia for the Missouri Tigers. After looking all sorts of terrible against Power 5 competition in September and October, the Tigers did manage to win two SEC games this year against Vanderbilt and Arkansas.
Overall, the Tigers finished the season 4-8 (2-6), but there are signs that this team could push for bowl eligibility in 2017. They will have starting quarterback Drew Lock for another season or two. The SEC East has never been worse. Maybe Barry Odom’s team can go worse to first in 2017?
That being said, this is the worst team in the SEC this season. Only three teams did not qualify for bowl eligibility and the Tigers were the only one to finish 4-8. While they played better ball in November, Missouri’s early season hole was too deep for Odom and company to overcome.
2016 was a disastrous season for the Ole Miss Rebels. This team had possible College Football Playoff aspirations entering the season. A brutal schedule and losing key players to either injury or the 2016 NFL Draft sank Ole Miss to 5-7 (2-6) this season.
The Rebels lost starting quarterback Chad Kelly to a torn ACL after their win against Georgia Southern. Ole Miss needed to go 2-1 in its final three games to reach bowl eligibility. After stunning Texas A&M, Ole Miss fall consecutively to major rivals Vanderbilt and Mississippi State.
Ole Miss had its shot at winning the Egg Bowl to be bowl-eligible, but in turn laid an egg at home to the arch rival Bulldogs. For a team that had been to two straight New Year’s Six bowls, this season was an absolute embarrassment for the Rebels football program.
Like Missouri, 2016 was going to be a rebuilding year for the Mississippi State Bulldogs football program. Former starting quarterback Dak Prescott is tearing it up in the NFL for the Dallas Cowboys. Mississippi State needed to adjust, but frankly ran out of time.
The Bulldogs finished the 2016 college football season at 5-7 (3-5). A missed field goal in Week 1 against the South Alabama Jaguars ended up costing Dan Mullen’s team another bowl bid. While Mississippi State will be home this holiday season, the Bulldogs did discover Prescott’s heir apparent at the quarterback position.
Nick Fitzgerald is the dual-threat signal caller that Mullen can win with in Starkville going forward. He was key in the Bulldogs’ big late-season wins over Texas A&M and arch rival Ole Miss. Expect Mississippi State to get back to a holiday season bowl in 2017.