This ballot is a bit belated due to the fact that I have been on the road a lot this week and I'll be at the Ryder Cup for the rest of the week. I may have time to post in the early AM most days, but no promises. Consider blogging likely to be light until Monday. Ken may pick it up a bit over the weekend after he gets back from vacation.
OK, so after 3 weeks of football, the Wildcats are 3-0, even if we did come up looking a bit weaker than anticipated against MTSU. It's a shame so few SEC schools have any respect for that team, but I think it's because they don't have the nerve to schedule them -- only Mississippi State has them on their schedule this year in the SEC besides us, but Louisville also gets to play them in a couple of weeks. Speaking of Louisville, that win we got against them at PJCS looks a lot more legit now, because the Cardinals dropped Kansas State last night 38-29.
Moving right along, here is my SEC Power Poll ballot for this week. Ken is on holiday, so he didn't participate. The final Power Poll has already been released, and you can find it here at Garnet and Black Attack.
Team | cWL | W-L | bWL | SoS | MoV | Score | Rank | Remarks |
Georgia | 1-0 | 3-0 | 1-0 | 66.67 | 23.3 | 3.5 | 1 | Still #1 in my book. The OBC has an actual defense, and I don't hold the low point total against them on the road. |
Florida | 2-0 | 1-0 | 56.48 | 34.5 | 6.05 | 2 | Bye week. Georgia was unimpressive, but doesn't deserve to drop. | |
Alabama | 3-0 | 1-0 | 54.25 | 24 | 8.8 | 3 | Ate a cupcake. Saban can do that. | |
Auburn | 1-0 | 3-0 | 1-0 | 58.4 | 16.3 | 11.83 | 4 | Auburn has scored 64 whole points so far, even less than UK. That spread option is so high-powered it’s scaring the hell out of the SEC. |
LSU | 2-0 | 52.58 | 33 | 14.38 | 5 | Pounded down a pastry. We'll know more next week. | ||
Vanderbilt | 1-0 | 3-0 | 1-0 | 59.69 | 15 | 23.51 | 6 | Won, but giving up 350+ yards/game, last in the SEC. Give them credit, but not too much. |
Kentucky | 3-0 | 1-0 | 57.15 | 22 | 28.36 | 7 | FG kicker made UK look much worse than they are and nearly cost them the game. | |
South Carolina | 0-2 | 1-2 | 1-2 | 55.21 | 6.7 | 44.63 | 8 | Great defensive game against UGA. Scoring 19 whole points per game. |
Tennessee | 1-1 | 0-1 | 56.94 | 14.5 | 47.25 | 9 | I have them ranked this high because they are Tennessee, and they are supposed to be better than Ole Miss, UA and MSU. | |
Arkansas | 2-0 | 58.96 | 2.5 | 49.95 | 10 | Open date actually helped them, but not for long | ||
Mississippi | 2-1 | 0-1 | 56.16 | 13 | 56.25 | 11 | Beat a I-AA team. Not buying it. | |
Mississippi State | 0-1 | 1-2 | 0-1 | 58.54 | 5 | 59.16 | 12 | The #10 and #12 offenses in the SEC met and scored 3 offensive points between them, surprising no one. |
Note: Strength of Schedule numbers will likely look a little squirrelly next week as I change from an early season to a mid-season algorithm. They will get better over time, but will still be a bit quirky for the next week or two. Also, the spreadsheet format I am using will be changing until I find one I like.
So this is where we stand in Week 3. Kentucky will be likely to move down the list after next week, as off-weeks tend to have that effect on Power Polls. Week 5 pits us against my alma mater, Western, and in week 6 we move into SEC play with Alabama in Tuscaloosa.
Your comments are welcome and encouraged.