SEC Power Poll: A Sea of Blue's Ballot for Week 8

by Truzenzuzex on Oct 22, 2008 11:00 AM EDT in Football Comment 7 comments

Week 8 already. Wow, this football season is flying by, and we are now well past the half-way point.

The SEC Power Poll results are now up at Garnet and Black Attack. UK has managed to hold on to its mid-pack position. It still bothers me to see how much more respect South Carolina gets than Kentucky, but that is just the way it is. I think you can make an argument that the way UK played against Arkansas was not an encouraging sign for the Florida game, or any other SEC team not name Vanderbilt or MSU.

Alabama's hold on the top spot is weakening, and given their most recent performance against Ole Miss, understandably so. How will the loss of their star defensive tackle affect them? We'll have to wait and see, as this week is the Third Saturday in October -- Alabama at Tennessee. UT could revive their season with this game, so they are likely to be fired up. Alabama is nursing injuries. This could be one for the ages, and maybe Fulmer's Last Stand.

Team	cWL	W-L	bWL	SoS	Last	Rank	Tru	Tru Comments	Ken	Ken Comments
Alabama	4-0	7-0	5-0	43.39	1	1	1	Still winning, but not looking as strong as earlier. Will Cody's absence stem the Tide?	1	Everything is close with 'Bama, but they continue to win.
Florida	3-1	5-1	4-1	50.38	3	2	2	Bye week.	2	Bye week -- Behind 'Bama by only a paper thin margin.
Georgia	3-1	6-1	4-1	57.26	3	3	3	Moreno was awesome, but do the Dawgs just hate the red zone, or what?	3	Richt has team playing better.
LSU	3-1	5-1	3-1	47.6	2	4	4	Tigers are winning, but they aren't scaring anyone.	4	Solid bounce-back after debacle in the swamp.
Vanderbilt	3-2	5-2	3-2	48.48	5	5	5	No shame in losing between the hedges, but 131 yards passing? Georgia's defense is good, but please.	7	Adams and Nickson suddenly ineffective -- Teams have begun to game-plan effectively against the 'Dores.
South Carolina	2-3	5-3	3-3	45.59	6	6	7	215 yards passing isn't horrible, but it also isn't Fun 'n Gun. 39 yards rushing is Kentuckyesque.	6	Gave LSU all they wanted -- I like Spurrier's team much better now than I did a month ago.
Kentucky	1-2	5-2	2-2	47.15	8	7	6	Epic failure forestalled by the Randall Cobb Show. Mike Hartline even threw a couple of spirals in this game.	8	Miracle victory! Will their be a carry-over effect?
Auburn	2-3	4-3	2-3	45.32	7	8	10	Bye week.	5	Bye week -- Did they find an offense?
Mississippi	1-3	3-4	1-4	46.44	9	9	8	Gave us all a reason to wonder about Alabama.	10	Played 'Bama tough -- They are very inconsistent
Arkansas	1-3	3-4	1-4	55.85	12	10	9	The Razorbacks are becoming dangerous – if Smith is on the field, that is.	11	Petrino has a great RB in Smith, but little else.
Tennessee	1-3	3-4	1-4	49.33	11	10	11	Fulmer's seat is still plenty hot, but at least it hasn't melted Neyland into slag yet. Good win for the Vols.	9	Scored 34 on a pretty good defense -- A definite improvement.
Mississippi State	1-3	2-5	1-4	48.82	10	12	12	Held the Bulldogs to 189 total yards. Strong defense, but the offense still looks like a 5-A team.	12	Takes one giant step back with blowout loss to the Vols.

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Rankings

Basically agree with your average ratings, just a couple questions/quibbles:

1) Tru – how can you rank UK over SC, considering they beat us (rather handily) at our own crib just two weeks ago?

2) Ken – Auburn at 5?? Defense is pretty good, yes, but that offense is, well, offensive. They’re closer to 12 than they are to 5.

C! A! T! S! CATS! CATS! CATS!

by NYCCats on Oct 22, 2008 1:30 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

You're most certainly correct in questioning where I have Auburn ranked.

Actually, the Auburn people told me if I kept them ranked in the top 5, I would begin receiving a weekly stipend. Ergo, they are in my top 5 :)

I guess I still believe that they are on the verge of being a good team. Their defense is very good (if it wasn’t they would be ranked much lower), and they do have talent on the offensive side of the ball, but with the drastic change in systems, they are struggling.

Couple that with Vanderbilt’s major drop-off, and the fact that I’m still not completely sold on USC, voila, I have Auburn at 5.

by Ken Howlett on Oct 22, 2008 10:43 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Well ...

… first of all, it’s not just me — All major polls have UK ranked above South Carolina. In my case it is largely due to strength of schedule and record. Yes, South Carolina narrowly beat us at home, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that USC is a better team. They were just better on that day, and they have been worse on more days than they have been better.

A Sea of Blue -- Kentucky Sports for the Discerning Fan

by Truzenzuzex on Oct 22, 2008 11:12 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Hartline even threw a couple of spirals...

Classic. He’ll need to throw a few more this weekend to keep us within four scores.

by daniel81 on Oct 22, 2008 5:10 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Yeah, that's for sure.

But when he throws the ball right, he usually throws it very accurately. It’s when he gets the wobbles that the thing looks like it was thrown end over end.

A Sea of Blue -- Kentucky Sports for the Discerning Fan

by Truzenzuzex on Oct 22, 2008 5:37 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs