SEC Power Poll: Drafty-Draft
by David Hooper on Sep 7, 2009 3:00 PM EDT
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Another returning tradition of college football bloggery returns with the SEC Power Poll, moderated by cocknfire of Team Speed Kills. The ballot will be due tomorrow this week, thanks to the Labor Day holiday (in which all SEC fans - save UGA fans - can bask in victory). As a general rule, my Power Poll will have the same hierarchy as the BlogPoll, though this gives us a better chance to discuss the unranked SEC teams than the BlogPoll does.
Much like the BlogPoll,. we simply don't have enough information to make a nice, clean list. The first few teams are easy to figure out, but the bottom half is a pick 'em.
- Florida. Not putting them here would be just plain silly.
- Alabama. It may have been ugly, but they won the way they want to win - by wearing the opponent out and simply rolling over them.
- LSU. If you've followed the BlogPoll, you'll see that Ole Miss was last seen higher than LSU. That's changing; I was more impressed with the win that LSU earned after the 2,500 mile run to the Pacific Time Zone than Ole Miss's early struggles.
- Ole Miss. The second half was much better. We'll see whether the first half was opening jitters or a signal of something more systemic.
- Tennessee. After week one, I would normally be happy with either UT or UGA here. However, the injury to Sturdivant and the newfound questions about the passing game are big concerns.
- Georgia. It may have been a loss, but at least it was on the road, against a tough team, and reasonably close. They are seriously going to miss Sturdivant, though.
- Auburn. Not a bad start for the Tigers, who may be the biggest name in the SEC that nobody's heard of.
- Kentucky. Here, everything is a tossup right now. I place UK here simply because Miami (OH) is a D-1 opponent and they pitched a shutout. Their questions are special teams and defensive line, but the offense appeared to work well.
- Vanderbilt. The 45-0 shutout was the most impressive of the remaining 1-AA steamrollers.
- South Carolina. Garcia may prove to be reliable this year, but that was a dismal first outing on Thursday.
- Arkansas. They had a very strong passing day (449 yards), but the run game, special teams, and defense were all questionable against Missouri State.
- Mississippi State. Another solid win, but even their own fans admit that they have a long ways to go, SEC-wise.
That's the draft. I'll submit it this evening alongside the BlogPoll; any feedback is appreciated, as always, as well as continued discussion on the BlogPoll if you feel like it.
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Georgia was last seen above UT too. Does that change with the injury? Also, I’d be inclined to have Arkansas much higher, but I didn’t want their first game, so I don’t know.
The top 4 and the bottom 1 are clear. 5-11 can be argued a lot of different ways.
by Incipient_Senescence on Sep 7, 2009 5:49 PM EDT reply actions
I'm so torn on the Georgia/Tennessee deal.
That injury really, really hurts them. Even if the replacement (forgive me, UGA fans, for not learning his name yet) turns out to be alright, the confidence they’ll have in the passing game is diminished. The UGA/SoCar game projects to be another ugly defense-fest right now.
But yeah, I’m staying consistent between the two polls, so at this millisecond, I’m actually putting Tennessee above Georgia. Maybe a 21/23 kind of a deal. Not that week 1 polls amount to anything.
Arkansas is a mystery to me. I read through pretty much all of the comments over at ArkansasExpats, and they’re shaky on their own team. The passing game was unstoppable, but they had trouble running the ball against Missouri State. The defense and special teams needed some work, too. Really, their placement was more a function of the great games that Vanderbilt and Kentucky had than it was a function of Arkansas. All three played 1-AA teams, but the other two were more complete.
Okay
You’re probably more knowledgable about Arky than me. Although, to be fair, Kentucky did not play a I-AA team. They played a MAC team that actually finished in the top 15 once this decade (remember Ben Roethlisberger). Miami (OH) sucks these days though.
by Incipient_Senescence on Sep 7, 2009 11:14 PM EDT reply actions
You're right.
And I knew that. My mistake.
by David Hooper on Sep 7, 2009 11:21 PM EDT up reply actions
Ole Miss is overrated
They really struggled with Memphis, which is typically not that great of a team. A couple of TO’s set things up for them in the first half or they may not have scored, although Ole Miss looked better in the second half. Memphis has a little give up in them, so that might be a factor as well. Hard to tell, but it wasn’t that dominating a performance.
I'm leaning toward overrated right now as well.
But I want to wait until after the UCLA game before I bump Tennessee ahead of them. Right now, so long as each team is within about 3-4 spots of the general consensus, I’m happy. That’s a generous margin, I know, but I can’t defend any higher scrutiny after week 1.
Chris Low
Chris Low has Tennessee behind South Carolina. Did he watch that USC game, or is he just an idiot??? I am leaning towards the latter considering he thought one game wasn’t enough to judge Tennessee, but it was enough to move Arkansas into #4. Maybe he’s afraid of being called a Tennessee homer on ESPN message boards.
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