The post-week 2 SEC Power Poll is out, and if Kentucky Wildcats fans may have deluded themselves into thinking that the other SEC bloggers, who are totally aporetic as far as Kentucky football is concerned (an attitude we more than make up for during basketball season), would take note of Kentucky's beat-down of Kent St. in a positive way, this poll should thoroughly disabuse them of that wayward notion.
SEC football is perhaps the most put-up-or-shut-up league in the entire nation. It has dominated the national polls and results for years now, and the only way to win any praise at all is to do something meaningful. In the SEC football world, beating up a team who tried to deliberately score a safety for its penultimate opponent, then accidentally succeeded in that endeavor against UK, is destined for deep disdain in this league. Consequently, even defeating them by a wide margin is hardly worth a mention.
UK fans, however, understand that victories on the football field are somewhat precious. Over the years, every successful foray into football since the Bear moved out of Lexington in at College Station could be described as having three common characteristics - difficult, mostly unexpected, and relatively rare. After last year's debacle and losing to Louisville in the season opener in 2012, it will take a nationally relevant victory for anyone other than Kentucky fans to care in even the most Lilliputian degree. And to be fair, given the nature of the league, that's just about how it should be.
Here are the poll results. Be sure to visit Team Speed Kills for more, including voter comments, which are usually pithy and sometimes insightful:
1. Alabama Crimson Tide, 140 points (unanimous)
2. LSU Tigers, 130
3. Georgia Bulldogs, 119
4. South Carolina Gamecocks, 110
5. Tennessee Volunteers, 98
6. Florida Gators, 89
7. Mississippi St. Bulldogs, 83
8. Missouri Tigers, 66
9. Texas A&M Aggies, 60
10. Arkansas Razorbacks, 39
11. Mississippi Rebels, 35
12. Auburn Tigers, 32
13. Vanderbilt Commodores, 29
14. Kentucky Wildcats, 20
For the record, here's what my ballot looked like:
| Rank | Team | cWL | W-L | PF-PA | MoV | Polls | Comments |
| 1 | Alabama | 2-0 | 76-14 | 31.0 | 1 | Maybe took the Hilltoppers a bit lightly, allowing McCarron to be sacked six times. | |
| 2 | LSU | 2-0 | 82-17 | 32.5 | 3,2 | Ran through the Huskies. | |
| 3 | Georgia | 1-0 | 2-0 | 86-43 | 21.5 | 7 | The only stat that wasn't close is the one that counts. |
| 4 | South Carolina | 1-0 | 2-0 | 65-23 | 21.0 | 8,9 | The Gamecock passing game wasn't particularly efficient, but it got the job done. |
| 5 | Florida | 1-0 | 2-0 | 47-31 | 8.0 | 18,17 | Huge win for Muschamp's boys on the road against a very talented A&M squad. |
| 6 | Tennessee | 2-0 | 86-34 | 26.0 | 23,29 | Proved they could beat up an FCS team, but couldn't keep them from scoring. | |
| 7 | Mississippi State | 1-0 | 2-0 | 84-19 | 32.5 | 30,28 | Easily handled Aubie in a game that wasn't as close as the score. |
| 8 | Texas A&M | 0-1 | 0-1 | 17-20 | -3.0 | 47 | Dangerous team, but not quite tough enough to take down the Gators, even in College Station. |
| 9 | Arkansas | 1-1 | 80-58 | 11.0 | 27,21 | The ghost of Lloyd Carr's 2007 Michingan team visited Arkansas on Saturday. The fact that Louisiana-Monroe isn't an FCS team probably didn't make John L. Smth feel any better. | |
| 10 | Mississippi | 2-0 | 77-37 | 20.0 | 43 | 2-0 against nobody in particular. | |
| 11 | Missouri | 0-1 | 1-1 | 82-51 | 15.5 | Better than the score against the Dawgs. Welcome to the SEC. | |
| 12 | Auburn | 0-1 | 0-2 | 29-54 | -12.5 | Played the toughest schedule in the SEC so far, and it shows. To top it off, they get Arkansas-killer Louisiana-Monroe next. | |
| 13 | Kentucky | 1-1 | 61-46 | 7.5 | Looked good against Kent St. Trouble is, it was Kent St. Western Kentucky likely a tougher test. | ||
| 14 | Vanderbilt | 0-1 | 0-2 | 26-40 | -7.0 | 0-2 after a loss to Northwestern. FCS Presbyterian should make the record less ugly. |
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