The Georgia Bulldogs destroyed the Florida Gators so badly that the Gators had to let their coach Jim McElwain go. Here are the weekly SEC power rankings.
Week 9 of the 2017 college football season sure was interesting. Two of the top four teams in the nation lost, neither of which were SEC teams. The No. 2 Penn State Lions would fall to the No. 6 Ohio State Buckeyes on the road in Columbus, while the No 4 TCU Horned Frogs would fall to the No. 25 Iowa State Cyclones on the road in Ames.
While the Alabama Crimson Tide, the Auburn Tigers and the LSU Tigers were all idle in Week 9, perhaps the biggest news in the SEC was two-fold. One, the No. 3 Georgia Bulldogs dismantled the Florida Gators down in Jacksonville, 42-7. Two, that loss was so bad for the Gators that the university and head coach Jim McElwain agreed to part ways.
Yes, we live in a world where the former head coach of the last two SEC East champion Gators is now out of a job and Butch Jones gets to keep spouting out redundant clichés in Rocky Top and not win SEC footballs.
In essence, the SEC has two elite teams in Alabama and Georgia, six respectable teams and six teams that are varying levels of rancid garbage. Then again, couldn’t similar things be said about the other Power 5 conferences? Well, at least the SEC has the first two teams in the initial 2018 College Football Playoff poll in Georgia and Alabama.
Here are the weekly SEC power rankings heading into Week 10. Everybody will be playing this week, so that’s exciting. Let’s get ready for some SEC football. It’s November, guys!
Rocky Top finds itself at the bottom of the barrel this week. The Tennessee Volunteers are 0-5 in SEC play coming off their most recent loss to a major rival in the Kentucky Wildcats by a field goal. Assuming the Vols lose to LSU in a few weeks, they have to be perfect to even achieve bowl eligibility.
The three other games on the Tennessee slate besides LSU are Southern Miss, at Missouri and in-state rival Vanderbilt. Tennessee could win all three of those games to go 6-6. However, Missouri can put up points and Tennessee cannot. Vanderbilt did beat Tennessee last year. The Volunteers almost lost to UMass. For all we know, this could be a 3-9 season for Rocky Top. How embarrassing.
The Vanderbilt Commodores would be ranked the worst of all SEC teams, but hang on barely at No. 13 for this one reason: Derek Mason will outcoach Jones Thanksgiving Weekend in Knoxville. Even if Vanderbilt is 0-5 in SEC play, they haven’t played Missouri or Tennessee yet.
This game this weekend with the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers is a must-win for the ‘Dores. If they get that victory to stop the bleeding, Vanderbilt can salvage its season and still achieve bowl eligibility. Their hardest game the rest of the way is versus SEC East rival Kentucky.