NEW POLL ALERT: Auburn Still Ranked

John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

SOMEHOW.

Auburn beat Arkansas yesterday, and while we got to see exactly how poorly the Tigers played, nearly losing and needing a beneficial call on a spike late to guarantee the win, what usually happens is that most folks only saw the final score. We definitely didn’t cover, but we stuck another notch in the left column, not the right one.

So where do we fall in the rankings this week?

AP POLL

1. Clemson
2. Alabama
3. Georgia
4. Notre Dame
5. North Carolina
6. Ohio State
7. Oklahoma State
8. Cincinnati
9. Penn State
10. Florida
11. Texas A&M
12. Oregon
13. Miami
14. Auburn
15. BYU
16. Wisconsin
17. SMU
18. Tennessee
19. Michigan
20. Iowa State
21. Louisiana-Lafayette
22. Kansas State
23. Virginia Tech
24. Minnesota
25. USC

COACHES’ POLL

1. Clemson
2. Alabama
3. Georgia
4. Notre Dame
5. Ohio State
6. North Carolina
7. Oklahoma State
8. Penn State
9. Florida
10. Cincinnati
11. Texas A&M
12. Miami
13. BYU
14. Auburn
15. Wisconsin
16. Oregon
17. Tennessee
18. Southern Methodist
19. Michigan
20. Iowa State
21. Louisiana-Lafayette
22. Kansas State
23. Virginia Tech
24. USC
25. Minnesota

As for the SEC, let’s give a quick rundown of how each team fared and how they look after week three —

ALABAMA: Thankfully, they looked somewhat mortal in one regard. While the offense was about as flawless as can be against Ole Miss, the defense gave up almost 700 yards and 50 points. Ole Miss’ offensive line pushed the Tide around, and only blinked late in the game when they needed a bold move to try to pull ahead. If the offense has an off week (a big ask), or even a bad half, the defense might not be up to the task to keep opposing offenses at bay. Still, they’re likely the most dangerous team in the SEC still.

ARKANSAS: Well, they may be better than indicated. Was that stingy first half against Georgia a fluke? What about shutting down Leach? They’re not going to be basement dwellers for long, because Sam Pittman has these guys motivated and playing much better football.

FLORIDA: Finally their defense got them. People said over the first two weeks that the Gators didn’t have enough to stop a team that was a little better than Ole Miss or South Carolina, and A&M made them pay. Kellen Mond even looked good, but the offense disappeared for a while, and the Aggies blanketed Kyle Pitts and took away the Gators’ best weapon. That’s concerning.

GEORGIA: The defense might be the best singular unit in the SEC, and we’re going to see exactly how good they are this week when they play in Tuscaloosa. Stetson Bennett is cut from the cloth of Georgia quarterbacks of old. Just get it done and don’t screw up. Let the defense take care of the rest. They turned it on after halftime yesterday.

KENTUCKY: Hey, one of our wins looks good! Kentucky shut down Mississippi State, winning 24-2 despite gaining only 157 total yards. Couldn’t really tell much due to the quality of the opponent but they’re still going to be a tough out for pretty much everyone.

LSU: Uh, what happened here, guys? Maybe everyone was right about them coming back to earth with all the graduates, early entrants, holdouts, and coaching departures. You wouldn’t know by talking to LSU fans. The defense is atrocious, and Myles Brennan leads an offense that’s boom or bust. All game long yesterday it seemed like they’d go incomplete pass, two-yard rush, long completion on third down. You can’t live like that, and Missouri’s defense bowed up at the end to stuff them at the goal line.

MISSISSIPPI STATE: Lipstick gone here too. You beat what’s apparently a bad LSU team and the world is enamored. Now, two losses later and Mike Leach is talking about purging players who don’t fit in. Let this sink in, they scored 44 points in Baton Rouge and are 12th in the SEC in scoring. That’s how bad the last two games were.

MISSOURI: Hello, the Eli Drinkwitz version of the Malzahn attack seems to work. That was an enjoyable game and a big first win in CoMo. They took advantage of LSU’s woes and worked their offense to near perfection, but the most impressive bit was the goal line stand as they denied LSU the game-winning score in the closing seconds.

OLE MISS: Dang it, this is the most fun team in the conference. I hate what Matt Corral is going to do to us, but at least it won’t be a surprise. Lane Kiffin’s influence turned the Rebels into a fantastic offensive team, and the offensive line (former Jack Bicknell unit) looked great against Alabama. Defensively, though, they’re the worst team in the SEC. Bama had over 700 yards and 63 points and the Rebels barely seemed as if they were on the field half the time.

SOUTH CAROLINA: I’ll admit, this is the only game I didn’t watch yesterday, but it seems like the Gamecocks ran over a depleted Vandy squad that might not even have enough players for a game next weekend. Will Muschamp isn’t going to do anything too fancy, so Auburn just has to strap in for what I’m sure will be a physical game if nothing else.

TENNESSEE: You big teasers. Jeremy Pruitt’s head wrap COVID mask led us to believe that maybe he had something for Georgia, and while the Vols led at halftime, they got skunked in the second half. Georgia posted a 24-0 effort in the third and fourth quarters, but the Vols still have some guys in the receivers on the outside. Like Kentucky, won’t be an easy out at all.

TEXAS A&M: Kudos, Jimbo. You earned a small portion of that oil field they paid you with. This was his first win over a top five team since being in College Station, and I don’t think Kellen Mond has ever looked as good as he did yesterday. They’re still not a really good team (who is, though?) but what looked like a pretty full home crowd at Kyle Field was a big difference yesterday.

VANDERBILT: n/a, COVID doing COVID things.

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