SEC power rankings: Roll Tide what? LSU runs the West

The LSU Tigers are the unquestioned top team in the SEC Power Rankings this week after beating rival Alabama for the first time in eight games.

LSU just defeated Alabama on a national stage. With the President of the United States in attendance and the entire country focused on Tuscaloosa Saturday afternoon, the Tigers took down the Tide in Bryant-Denny Stadium.

And LSU looked remarkable doing so.

Alabama and LSU provided an incredibly entertaining game, but LSU was in control of the contest from the beginning. Thanks to an explosive 23-point second quarter, the LSU Tigers were able to claim a 33-13 lead heading into halftime and that’s when it was totally clear to everyone watching that LSU has a truly special team this season.

The Tigers, led by Joe Burrow and Clyde Edwards-Helaire, tore up and down the field Saturday. LSU’s offense looked majestic and the defense did just enough to keep Tua Tagovailoa occupied and slowed Alabama enough to give the Tigers the win.

LSU is the best team in the SEC and the Tigers might just have the best team in the country.

The Arkansas Razorbacks have been the worst team in the Southeastern Conference for the past couple of seasons, and while that isn’t totally on Chad Morris, he didn’t help the Razorbacks improve quickly enough. So Morris is now officially out and Arkansas is looking for a new head coach.

Vanderbilt had a rough time facing the Florida Gators. Losing 56-0 isn’t exactly fun for anyone, but it certainly has to hurt Vanderbilt more so than most given that the Commodores have been struggling all year.

2019 has been quite the ride for the South Carolina Gamecocks, but it hasn’t exactly been an enjoyable ride for South Carolina’s fans. The Gamecocks gave Georgia a transitive loss to Appalachian State on Saturday after South Carolina fell to the Mountaineers in a painful loss at home. Will Muschamp‘s seat has to be scorching hot following this one.

Joe Moorhead and the Mississippi State Bulldogs got to take a break thanks to a bye week. The Bulldogs face Alabama this week. Given how Alabama fell to LSU, expect the Crimson Tide to come out and wipe the floor with Mississippi State.

New Mexico State has a beautiful campus. I’m very partial to Las Cruces, New Mexico after having visited a couple of times for work. All of that said, New Mexico State has a very bad football team. Crushing the Aggies is good for Ole Miss’ morale, but it’s not indicative of the Rebels improving in any sort of significant way. But Ole Miss needs wins and blowout wins are better than close wins.

This loss should haunt Mark Stoops and the Kentucky Wildcats. Up 13-0 following the first quarter, Kentucky had a perfect opportunity to cruise to a solid victory over Tennessee. Instead, the Wildcats didn’t score another point throughout the game and dropped this game 17-13. Losing to Tennessee is painful enough as it is. Losing to Tennessee after having a double-digit lead is even worse.

2019 was supposed to be a special season for the Missouri Tigers. Mizzou was able to court highly touted transfer Kelly Bryant to come to Columbia and this was supposed to be a breakthrough year for the Tigers. Getting hit by the NCAA hurt some, but this team still should have been decent. But, Bryant getting dinged up and the offense drying up on the road has made this season a sour one.

The regular season is coming to a close and Tennessee is just one win away from bowl eligibility with two chances to get there. The Vols have improved over last year and have a great opportunity to make it into the postseason. After beating Kentucky, all Tennessee needs to do to get to that point would be to beat either Missouri or Vanderbilt. Both of those games are certainly winnable for this team.

A bye week was a nice break for Jimbo Fisher and the Texas A&M Aggies. A&M certainly needed the break as the Aggies close out the year with a home game against South Carolina, a road trip to Georgia, and then a road trip to Baton Rouge to face off against LSU. This could get messy for the Texas A&M Aggies. Going 8-4 isn’t the worst thing ever, right?

Shutout wins are good for any team. Shutting out Vanderbilt isn’t necessarily a difficult task, but shutout wins are still good. Florida has to be happy with how it defeated Vanderbilt and needs to take that sort of dominance moving forward to close out the season strong.

On its bye week, Auburn just got a look at what it takes to beat its in-state rival when the LSU Tigers took down the Alabama Crimson Tide. Apparently it takes a ton of points. Auburn’s offense will get an opportunity to prove itself when the Tigers take on the Georgia Bulldogs this coming Saturday. That won’t be an easy win for Auburn, but it’ll be a great opportunity to see just how Auburn measures up against the best teams in the Southeastern Conference this season.

Georgia’s offense slogged its way to a 27-0 win over Missouri, but a win is a win. The Bulldogs now have to get ready to hit the road and take on the Auburn Tigers. Georgia just needs to keep winning and the Bulldogs will make it to Atlanta where they’ll almost certainly face the LSU Tigers in the SEC Championship Game. Between now and then, the Bulldogs will need to find a way to score more frequently if they hope to come out on top of the SEC this season.

Alabama got smacked around in the first half of its game against LSU, but the Crimson Tide certainly appeared resilient in the second half. Bama did a great job of taking a 20-point halftime deficit and trimming that margin of defeat significantly. Still, a loss is a loss and Alabama’s playoff hopes are on life support. The Crimson Tide will certainly need some help to get back there this season.

LSU is the king of the SEC, at least for now. The Tigers looked phenomenal Saturday as they went into Tuscaloosa and came out with a monumental win over the Crimson Tide. Joe Burrow likely locked up the Heisman with the win and LSU looks like the favorite to win it all this season. LSU’s defense was exposed against the Crimson Tide, but this team has everything it needs to compete for and possibly win a national title this season.

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