We arrive at the midpoint of the SEC football season and can sum up the state of things by wondering: Will Texas, when it hosts Georgia this week, be caught looking ahead to its trip to Vanderbilt?
We kid. At least we think we did. But through the first half of the season, here is the state of things:
• Before the season, the SEC had five teams considered legitimate College Football Playoff contenders, all ranked in the top 11 of the preseason AP poll. Only one of them — Texas — is playing up to expectations. Two of them — Ole Miss and Missouri — are already on the brink. Georgia and Alabama would make the field right now, but all four of those teams look like they could play their way out of it.
• Four other SEC teams were ranked between No. 13 and No. 20, and three of them — LSU, Tennessee and Texas A&M — are right in the mix.
Free, daily sports updates direct to your inbox.
Free, daily sports updates direct to your inbox.
Sign Up
• Oklahoma, which was preseason No. 16, is pretty much out of it now, hanging around with the other desperados of the conference, hoping to salvage something in the second half.
• And then there’s the great feel-good story: Vanderbilt, with Arkansas a strong supporting character in this year’s critically acclaimed narrative: It’s Not Always About The Playoff.
Texas coach Steve Sarkisian, center, and the Longhorns improved to 6-0 with their win over Oklahoma on Saturday. (Kevin Jairaj / Imagn Images)
The midseason state of the SEC vibes, which as usual is not a pure ranking of how good each team is, but the feelings around each program — both within the team and the fan base — and the perception outside it. It’s a wildly subjective ranking, based partly on records, but also expectations, momentum and just the general mood:
1. Texas (6-0, 2-0 SEC)
Beat Oklahoma, 34-3
Last week: 4
Steve Sarkisian’s team is dominating. There are still questions, as the best wins are over Michigan and Oklahoma, fringe-ranked teams. The questions can be answered this week, but when a team basically has punched its Playoff ticket six games into the year, things are going well.
GO DEEPER
No. 1 Texas hasn’t peaked yet. What happens when it does?
2. Vanderbilt (4-2, 2-1)
Won at Kentucky, 20-13
Last week: 1
Just give Clark Lea the Coach of the Year award now. And let him sign all his players to contracts that prevent them from being poached, especially Diego Pavia, who gets an extra year of eligibility. However many years he wants. Mr. Sankey, this program has endured so much, let it happen.
3. Texas A&M (5-1, 3-0)
Bye
Last week: 2
We still don’t know how serious a CFP contender this team is; we just know the schedule sets up well for it. But LSU and Texas at home and trips to South Carolina and Auburn also keep 8-4 on the table. First up, is only the second true road game of the season (lowly Mississippi State). The Aggies did well in the first one, at Florida.
4. LSU (5-1, 2-0)
Beat Ole Miss, 29-26 (OT)
Last week: 11
Now that was a big lift, a ranked win and some legitimacy to a record burnished by “eh” wins over unranked opponents. And if the Tigers are real contenders, the next three weeks are the chance to prove it: at Arkansas, at Texas A&M and Alabama at home. We’ll know a lot more after that.
GO DEEPER
Ubben: Garrett Nussmeier, LSU the seize moment to stun Ole Miss. Now, anything is possible
5. Arkansas (4-2, 2-1)
Bye
Last week: 3
Sam Pittman and his program enter the second half feeling much better than many expected them to feel. But now they get a reinvigorated LSU coming into their stadium, one of four ranked opponents among the final six games. The vibes are good but ripe for volatility.
6. Tennessee (5-1, 2-1)
Beat Florida, 23-17 (OT)
Last week: 8
Is it progress for the program that, rather than just pummeling teams via its high-octane offense, Tennessee is now finding ways to win games when it doesn’t play well? That’s certainly the optimistic view. But it could be that defenses are starting to figure out Josh Heupel’s system.
GO DEEPER
Tennessee staves off Florida on RB Dylan Sampson’s 3-TD rally
7. Alabama (5-1, 2-1)
Beat South Carolina, 27-25
Last week: 7
Since going up 30-7 at halftime on Georgia, the Crimson Tide have seen that lead disappear (but they did recover to win) and had their past two games go down to the wire, losing one of them. They were especially lucky that South Carolina couldn’t put together a decent few plays to get in field goal position. Kalen DeBoer football is proving fun, but it’s too fun. Very un-Saban like.
GO DEEPER
Making the case for why Alabama is a contender and why it’s not
8. Georgia (5-1, 3-1)
Beat Mississippi State, 41-31
Last week: 6
Georgia has failed to cover the spread in its past three wins. Yeah, just win, but Kirby Smart says you’re either elite or you’re not, and it’s the latter right now, so no one will be surprised if Georgia goes down convincingly at Texas. But considering it’s still Georgia and has all this talent, no one will be shocked if it finally puts it all together.
9. Missouri (5-1, 1-1)
Won at UMass, 45-3
Last week: 12
Six years ago, Missouri athletic director Jim Sterk went to his football coach, Barry Odom, and told him they had scheduled a home-and-home with UMass for 2024-25. Odom replied: “I don’t care, by then I’m gonna be coaching UNLV where my quarterback will quit the team because of a busted NIL deal.” To which Sterk replied: “What’s NIL? Well, I don’t care either because I’ll be retired by then.” But first, he hired Eli Drinkwitz, told him about going to UMass in 2024 and said: “You’ll be coming off a bad loss at Texas A&M, and it’ll be a great confidence boost. Trust me.” And so it was, hope you enjoyed this background.
10. Ole Miss (5-2, 1-2)
Lost at LSU, 29-26 (OT)
Last week: 5
This season was all about the Playoff, and now the Rebels are on the brink, almost certainly needing to win out to make it. That’s still doable — Georgia is the only top-20 opponent left on the schedule — but the home loss to Kentucky is looming as one of the most Playoff-consequential of the season.
11. South Carolina (3-3, 1-3)
Lost at Alabama, 27-25
Last week: 15
The Gamecocks reflect their quarterback. Something exciting is going to happen; you just don’t know whether it will be good or bad. Who knows if it’ll get them to a bowl, but it keeps them interesting.
12. Kentucky (3-3, 1-3)
Lost to Vanderbilt, 20-13
Last week: 9
If you said before the season the Cats would lose at home to South Carolina and Vanderbilt, you’d figure Mark Stoops already had been put on a rail out of town. But the win at Ole Miss and near-win over Georgia cancel that out, at least vibes-wise. We’ll check in again after the next two: at Florida and Auburn at home (two big weeks for the mood of all three programs).
13. Auburn (2-4, 0-3)
Bye
Last week: 13
Much of the attention on The Plains is already about next year, thanks to a strong recruiting class, and Hugh Freeze and company deserve credit there. But when 3-9 is still a plausible record, a scenario that could make some of those recruits rethink things, some wins down the stretch need to happen. Stealing one at Missouri would help.
14. Florida (3-3, 1-2)
Lost at Tennessee, 23-17 (OT)
Last week: 14
Sigh. Even as the Gators keep showing fight and improvement, they can’t close the deal. As the game was winding down, you looked at Billy Napier and wondered: Dare we say, he could be starting to save his job? But then the ending, ultimately not going for two and the win and the offense going backward in overtime … again, sigh.
15. Mississippi State (1-5, 0-3)
Lost at Georgia, 41-31
Last week: 16
The team that loses by 24 points at home to Toledo proceeds to keep it closer at both Texas and Georgia. Makes sense. Well, the way it feels may be a bit better, but as Bill Parcells said, you are what your record says you are.
16. Oklahoma (4-2, 1-2)
Lost to Texas, 34-3
Last week: 10
When a coach gets asked at halftime whether he’s making a quarterback change, things aren’t going well. And they haven’t been going well on offense all season for the Sooners, who rode their defense for a while. But it could only do so much. Now the last half of the season has four ranked teams on the schedule. Brett Venables, who went 10-3 in his second year, is virtually guaranteed to not hit that mark in Year 3. The only question is if he can avoid his first year (6-7).
Is Oklahoma the worst team in the SEC? No, of course not. But the vibes, coming off the rivalry game, sit in the basement this week.
(Top photo of Quinn Ewers: Ricardo B. Brazziell / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)
