Power Ranking the SEC West After Week 3

Ranking everyone in Texas A&M Football’s division

It’s been quite the interesting couple of weeks for the SEC, and specifically the SEC West. The division continues to underperform at the top line, with a couple of exceptions. A contender who faltered may now be finding their way back into the top echelon, and a perennial power could be falling. Let’s see how things shake out.

I have been saying for quite a few weeks now that I think Mississippi State does not have the correct personnel to run this new system, and LSU exposed some of those deficiencies this week. Will Rogers, one of the more veteran QBs in the division, looked lost on simple plays, and the back end of the defense is clearly not up to snuff. It’s going to be a long year down in Starkville.

Arkansas has been playing with fire for the early part of this season, turning in subpar performances against Western Carolina and Kent State considering the quality of opponent. Now those chickens have come home to roost, as BYU came in and out-toughed the Hogs at home. Will this be a wakeup call for Jefferson and co? Can they get things turned around? I’m not so high on that prospect.

A 14-10 win over Cal—terrible though they may be—is still better than a 38-31 loss to BYU at home. I still maintain that the Tigers will be able to jump up and bite someone this season—hopefully not Texas A&M football this Saturday—but I don’t think they have what it takes to make a lot of noise in the division. There’s a lot of space between spots 5 and 4 here.

I know in my mind and in my heart that Alabama is still a good team. I know that. But they are doing a terrible job showing it. Weather or no, you should not be tied 3-3 with USF late into the third quarter if you are a serious division contender in the SEC. A visit from Ole Miss this week will be illuminating for the Tide.

The Tigers might be ranked higher if they had faced one other team that could take advantage of their deficiencies, so as to showcase that they have grown. Instead, they had Mississippi State. You did what you needed to do, but I’m still skeptical about the Tigers.

It looks like Texas A&M football has their defensive house back in order after a dominant showing against ULM. Yes, the Warhawks are a poor team, but the Aggies not only showed all the hallmarks of a great defensive performance against such a team, they returned to the versatile defensive scheme that helped them so much last year, as opposed to what we saw out of Texas A&M football against Miami on September 9. Oh, yeah—and they have the best quarterback in the conference.

It’s surprising to me that initial lines have Alabama favored by double digits over the Rebels. Given their struggles against the Tide, despite how I have these teams ranked here, I’ll still be in believe-it-when-I-see-it mode when it comes to that matchup—that psychological piece can be hard to shake for a team. But if they win in Tuscaloosa, they could be the favorites to take the West crown.