My Power Poll breaks down in two fashions: the poll I officially submitted and the poll that actually resides in my head. First, the poll I submitted:
- Florida
- Alabama
- LSU
- Mississippi
- Georgia
- Auburn
- South Carolina
- Arkansas
- Kentucky
- Tennessee
- Vanderbilt
- Mississippi State
Next, the poll in my head, and a few comments.
- Florida and Alabama
- LSU and Mississippi
- Everybody Else
Florida and Alabama are the two obvious ones. LSU and Mississippi still look to be the next two with the best chances to succeed, even though you can point to more significant flaws within either of them. Other than that, I'm still not sold that Auburn has made as much of a turnaround as the first two weeks appear to indicate. Maybe they have, but I'd like to see more. It's just as likely right now that we could be writing about their spectacular collapse when the end of the season rolls around.
Georgia and South Carolina are basically the same team right now, with Georgia simply having come out on top of a weird game in Athens. Tennessee is not as bad as people are talking themselves into this week, but it's way too early for a home loss to be softened much. Like the BlogPoll, I could be fine with a lot of different organizations of the ballot. The bigger difference is that the lower end of the SEC appears to have improved considerably over last year. MSU is still the cellar dweller out of a lack of other candidates, but the improvement there still seems tangible at this point. I would pit the SEC's 10-12 against pretty much any other conference's 6-8 right now and call it an even fight at worst.