SEC Power Rankings after Week 13

It’s over, the reign of Kentucky is done, well at least for this week. In this week’s power rankings, Big Blue have been forced to abdicate their spot atop the leaderboard to the Gators of Florida after taking a severe beating over the weekend.

But this change isn’t the only one affecting the power rankings. No, the SEC has gone and gotten itself into a bit of a mess. Where two weeks ago (only 14 days) we were thinking that the conference was playing well enough to have at least four spots, if not even five. Well we’re back to probably no more than three teams dancing because every time you turn around someone has done something to not only harm their resume, but everyone else’s.

This is the SEC where it just means…something.

Tier 1

Tier 1 is going to be composed of the same three teams for the foreseeable future I imagine and they will be in some order. But for this week Florida is on top after their win over Kentucky this past weekend, and what a win it was! This continues a trend that Kentucky has shown so far this season by beating the decent to not so great teams on their schedule to losing to the greater proportion of the top teams on their schedule. I’m not sure we should be reading into this because we all remember what UK did against Wichita State as an 8 see a couple years ago, so who knows? South Carolina for their part took care of Georgia over the weekend and then lost at home, in quadruple overtime to Alabama on Tuesday in one of the weirder, longer games I’ve ever seen. That game had SEC all over it. Nobody seemed to want to win, but someone had to.

Tier 2

Welcome to a bunch of teams that could dance in March if the bubble is as bad as everyone says and has been saying for the past few years. The bubble is the softest it’s ever been, the bubble is huge because everyone is terrible, etc. and we need 68 teams…blah, blah, blah. Alabama slides into fourth place and would have a decent shot at dancing if they had ever been able to figure out the conundrum that are the Auburn Tigers. Since January 14^th, the Tide have lost twice, both to Auburn and beat far superior teams, so you tell me what’s going on. Alabama has a good test against Kentucky at home, sneak that win in and March becomes real. Tennessee meanwhile took all the praise I heaped on them and went and lost to Mississippi State on the road last Saturday, but managed to take care of Ole miss this past Wednesday. Win some lose some. Speaking of losing, let’s all say hi to Arkansas. Losing on the road at Missouri, not a great look, but then getting stomped by Vandy at home, that’s unusual. Arkansas has thrown themselves right onto the wrong side of the bubble and a road trip to LSU is no longer a gimme.

Tier 3

All the teams that you can’t figure out, live here. Vandy got a nice win at Arkansas this week, but have been inconsistent all year, which isn’t that surprising in a new coach’s first year with a bunch of players he inherited. Georgia on the other hand seems to have lost all its confidence following that loss to Kentucky in overtime and have been playing poorly since. Auburn for their part have won three of four games, however the competition has not been the class of the conference so there’s nothing to get too excited about here, but hey, winning’s better than losing. Bringing up the rear of Tier 3 are the Rebels of Ole Miss who are plugging away and working towards that .500 conference record that Andy Kennedy loves and our voters have noticed. Do you Rebels.

Tier 4

Oh Texas A&M what has happened to you? Barely, BARELY getting by Mizzou at home and beating LSU on the road are not good looks. Last year seems so far away at this point. And beating Mizzou and LSU is nothing anyone should be proud of, it’s a given. State for their part did beat Tennessee which was a very nice win and followed that up with a loss to Auburn. State, maybe next year.

Tier 5

We have a shift in who is the crappiest! Our voters saw that Mizzou win over Arkansas and the fact that they look like they’re trying and said no more 14^th place! LSU and their listless Johnny Jones piloted life are now in 14^th by a point. It’s a shame these two can’t meet again as a play in game for the SEC tournament, what a sight it would be. Whose AD would get court side first to fire who? So much drama…

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Points were distributed as follows: 1st = 14, 2nd = 13, 3rd = 12, 4th = 11, 5th = 10, 6th = 9, 7th = 8, 8th = 7, 9th = 6, 10th = 5, 11th = 4, 12th = 3, 13th = 2, and 14th = 1

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First win over ranked team since 2004. Played harder in the first half than South Carolina. Totally deserving of their win. Would have good shot at NCAAs had they not been swept by Auburn and blown out by Arkansas. (Garnet and Black Attack)

May as well forfeit the Kentucky game with those tired legs on the weekend to be fresh for a winnable run against @ Missouri, LSU, Georgia, and @ A&M to close the month. (Dawg Sports)

That was the moment we'd been waiting for. With Bama's win at SC, someone finally made a serious case for a 4th bid. (Good Bull Hunting)

Even after that bad week, Arkansas should be ranked in the 4-12 range. (College and Magnolia)

It says something about the SEC that they're this high after losing to Mizzou and getting rolled by Vandy at home. (Anchor of Gold)

So Mike Anderson has a plan and here it is. Get beat at Mizzou so he can get fired, and THEN retake the Mizzou job and really start recruiting Otto Porter…for real this time. (Rock M Nation)

Nice 2-0 week for Auburn, who has quietly gone 5-2 over their last seven. Cue the Monty Python guy yelling "I'm not dead yet." (Good Bull Hunting)

In news certain to be short-lived, Auburn has the fifth best NCAA Tournament resume in the conference according to BPI. (College and Magnolia)

Ladies and gentlemen, your trendy 2017-18 preseason top 25 team. (Anchor of Gold)

Hottest team in the SEC right now. (Garnet and Black Attack)

The king is dead, long live the king! Gators are #1 until further notice. (College and Magnolia)

The win over Kentucky was dominant, and they followed it up with a strong win at Georgia. They are looking more than ready for a dance. (Dawg Sports)

They’ve lost three games in a row to the class of the conference, and in some other conference that might mean something. But this is the SEC where it just means less. (Rock M Nation)

They're better than this. Of course, why they aren't playing better is a big problem, and one that is keeping Mark Fox's chair warm for him at the moment. (Dawg Sports)

Lost three straight in SEC play to UK, UF, and USC. Still like them more than other teams but if they don’t win at UT this weekend they could drop three of four with Miss St, UK and @ALA the next week. (Garnet and Black Attack)

Kentucky has four winnable games upcoming against three teams with the chance to knock them off. And Missouri. (College and Magnolia)

They lost by 20 then struggled with Johnny Jones at home. For most programs, that's a bad week. For Kentucky, it's a catastrophe. (Good Bull Hunting)

Not sure which is worse: losing to Florida by 22 or beating LSU by only 7. (Anchor of Gold)

Showed a little life at Kentucky. Bet against the Tigers at your own peril, I guess. Although the better move is to not bet on their games at all, because you really, really don't want to find an extra reason to watch this team play. (Good Bull Hunting)

Still hold the head-to-head over Mizzou to keep them out of the basement. (Garnet and Black Attack)

The game against Kentucky was evidence that no one is seriously coaching this team. And you know they’re going to Milton Johnny Jones in March, not fire him, just stop his checks and reassign him to some boiler room. (Rock M Nation)

Ladies and gentlemen, your other trendy 2017-18 preseason top 25 team. (Anchor of Gold)

They're struggling to win on the road, and dropping home games too. (Dawg Sports)

Still 7th in the standings but they have lost 5 of 7. (Garnet and Black Attack)

I'm not sure if Mizzou actually is better than LSU, but more recent win gets the square. (College and Magnolia)

After beating Arkansas Mizzou fans were openly fretting a win streak on Twitter just in case it would result in Kim Anderson retaining his job for another year...this is where we are as fans. (Rock M Nation)

Someone needs to give that handsome genius who predicted the win over Arkansas a raise. (Dawg Sports)

They've submitted four straight 1-1 weeks. It's nice when programs act like they're supposed to. The world makes a little more sense. (Good Bull Hunting)

Andy Kennedy is within a game of .500 in the SEC? Andy Kennedy is within a game of .500 in the SEC. (Anchor of Gold)

My favorite swiss watchmaker. Win 3, lose 2, win 1, lose 2, win 2, lose 2, win 2...(Dawg Sports)

It'll be interesting to see how they bounce back from a 4 OT defeat in Starkville Saturday night. But this team is strong with Thornwell leading the way. (Dawg Sports)

Lost in 4 OT to Alabama at home. Somebody besides Thornwell and Dozier will have to step up for anything to happen in March. (Garnet and Black Attack)

Remember that Syracuse-UConn game from the 2009 Big East Tournament that went 6 overtimes? Yeah, that South Carolina-Alabama was not that game…

Were in the NCAA conversation before blowing a big lead in Starkville. Need to string some wins together to get back into the convo. Good start against Ole Miss. (Garnet and Black Attack)

In the midst of winning five of six, decided to remind everyone that they're a young team. (Anchor of Gold)

Won 5 of their last 6, with the only L coming on the road. Rick Barnes may have them coming around, or they may have just gone on a hot run with the #fever. (Dawg Sports)

Texas A&M took advantage of the best imaginable conference schedule this week. (College and Magnolia)

What's it called when the scheduling gods serve up a week of Mizzou and LSU? Whatever it's called, it's my favorite thing on the menu. (Good Bull Hunting)

Having games against LSU and Mizzou back to back is no way to prepare for a trip to Florida. In fact the amount of bad habits the Aggies were exposed to will probably make this game even easier for the Gators. (Rock M Nation)

Winners of 4 of their last 6, with a trip to Missouri this weekend before a home game with A&M to potentially add 2 more Ws. (Dawg Sports)

The weird thing is if they were 16-8 against a joke of a non-conference schedule instead of 12-12 against a tough one, the fans would be ecstatic with nothing else changing about the team. (Anchor of Gold)

Vanderbilt appears to play better in stadiums with a normal layout and a normal bench configuration. Weird. (Good Bull Hunting)

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And that will do it for this week. I can’t promise you good games this weekend in the SEC, but I can promise you you’re going to see something weird, wild and wonderful.