The SEC Forum at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

1-3 bama, uga, lsu - i wouldn't argue with anyone that wants to put any of these #1, 2 or 3. i think i'd go in the order listed, but not a big deal.
4 - au - imo, a pretty clear #4, slightly behind the 3 above and clearly above everyone else. easily has the best combination of wins, though, and maybe that's skewing my perception since they've had the toughest road to date. but the 1-3 just look better. definitely in contention for secw and cfp.
5 - uf - long way to go, but have a chance to challenge uga if they play well and uga stumbles.
6 - mizz - thumped usc pretty good, starting to overcome the poor opening game.
7 - aTm - might be the 2 toughest games anyone has played so far this season, but didn't look very good in either. had chances, but couldn't take advantage in either, and was on verge of getting blown out in both. still a good team.
8 - msu - beat uk soundly. had they taken care of business vs ksu, they'd be sitting pretty good right now.
9 - kentucky - best of rest right now.
10 - usc - kinda speaks to how bad the rest are for them to be here.
11 - ole miss - gonna get trounced.
12 - vandy - at least it was uga
13 - arky - what. the. hell. just be happy there's a tenn in your conference.
14 - tenn - will stay here until they get an sec win. at least.

Good analysis.  I'm somewhat impressed with LSU to date.  They seem to have an offense, and perhaps not much defense?

We won't know much about Bama until they play someone decent.  That is about to happen.  But that Third Week in November looks cruel and unusual.

Well, we do know Bama is Bama, just not quite how Bama they are yet.

best resume, for those that like that better:


4 - florida - have a decent win vs miami and blowout vs uk.

Definitely didn't blow UK out.  Was a 1-point game, survived a late FG miss, and happened to score a long TD while running out the clock.

Definitely didn't blow UK out.  Was a 1-point game, survived a late FG miss, and happened to score a long TD while running out the clock.

i was thinking of the tenn game this weekend. my bad.

As for who ends up playing in ATL later, I don't think anything has changed, except perhaps Florida is looking a bit frayed (or not, they have beaten UGA before with a less talented team obviously).

LSU is looking more competitive on offense.  I'm not sold on Auburn despite the nice wins and experience for Nix.

Too early to tell obviously, but UGA looks about like what's expected.  Assuming ND is a good team, UGA played well against them.  

Didn't check in on UF this week.  May have time at some point to watch their Tenn. game.  Score alone looks like an improvement over what I saw from UF in the Miami and UK games.  I like Mullen as a coach and I only half joked when I told people Franks getting hurt would only improve Florida.  

LSU has turned into some kind of Big 12 team.  Offense that destroys cupcakes, can't tackle worth a damn.  I can't tell if I'm evaluating them based on what I actually see or if I'm just steeped in the memory of a bunch of high-scoring teams that pile up points vs. Nobodies and then get stomped by the first real defense they run into.  There is a big part of me that doesn't believe they can keep going like this against two or three of the conference teams we'll see.  Texas is going to wind up with a good defense, I think, and putting 45 on them is good, I guess, but I didn't trust their defense coming into the season and I'm not going to waffle on it now.  They replaced 8 starters on that side of the ball, and they weren't a particularly good unit last year anyway.  Not a good recipe for a good defense in week 2.  There is a lot of talent there, and with experience (and I really like their DC Orlando) they'll probably wind up very good, but I'm not counting on that game to mean LSU can score a bunch on Auburn, Florida, or Bama.  Will probably hinge on how good the OL actually is.  

Defense has been pretty okay actually, just not as good as it should've been on paper.  Tackling is the worst culprit, the good news being that's one thing that can improve in a season, if it happens to do so.  For as much as being made about our secondary, it's actually been really good coverage out there, just that guys are trying to strip the ball instead of make tackles and simple 8-10 yard completions occasionally turn into 60 yd. TDs.  No complaints about run defense, other than a couple of plays vs. Vandy where run fit was poor and....ugh....tackling was bad.  

The other thing that may improve them there is LSU has been without 3 starters on the line since the Texas game and was missing 4 of the front 7 the week before that--along with a hobbled CB--because of injuries in the Texas game.  Although they were totally faking those injuries, so I hear from people where I live.  This week off comes at a really good time.  Some optimism that all but a couple of these guys could be back by Florida week.  

Florida, as usual, will be the measuring stick for what this team is.  By Florida week, the Tigers have usually become whatever they're going to be and it's often the start of the jump up in talent/end of cupcake season.  Maybe we'll do some tackling drills between now and then, or something.  

First four weeks of the season and what do we know so far? 
Auburn has looked better than expected. They have two solid wins vs. Oregon and Texas A&M. Tulane is also 3-1 with a win over Houston. No one really talked too much about Auburn in the offseason and here they come... 
LSU has a QB.....finally!  Dude is balling out and LSU is finally able to take advantage of their stud WR's they have had for years, but never used right. Really good win over Texas.  But that defense....giving up 38 to Vandy? What in the world? 
Georgia- Defense has looked good, offense has had its moments, (thank the lord for depth) but Smart needs to turn Fromm loose. Hopefully, Notre Dame runs the table the rest of the way. 
Still looking for some pass rush and for someone to cover #84 from Notre Dame. 
Alabama--offense looks good, defense doesn't look like it normally does because there is a lot of youth having to play many more meaningful snaps earlier than what was expected because of injuries.  Not really sure what we can gather from the 1st 4 games against competition that is  combined 5 wins 10 losses. 4 more games against the murderers row of Ole Miss, Texas A&M, Tennessee and Arkansas before this team is really tested against LSU. 
Florida--I'm still not really sure what kind of team Florida has....don't confuse my hatred of the lizards for me being overly critical of them, but...i wouldn't hang my hat on a win vs a Miami team that lost to North Carolina. (who has losses to Wake Forest and Appalachian State) We will learn alot more about Florida when they play Auburn and LSU in back to back weeks when October rolls around. 
Missouri-after being upset in week 1 by a 3-1 Wyoming team, Mizzou has rattled off 3 straight. Quality win (at least right now) against West Virginia (3-1)
Texas A&M--4 games, two against top 7 teams in the nation. Arkansas up next and then Alabama...yikes. This could turn out to be the best 7-5 team in the nation at the end of the year. Mond hasn't looked like the QB who threw for 6 TD's against LSU last year. 
 
Are the others worth talking about aside from Vanderbilt who has played 2 top 5 teams? 
Tennessee? Good lord...
Arkansas? San Jose State?? Come on, man!


 

Auburn has looked better than expected. They have two solid wins vs. Oregon and Texas A&M. Tulane is also 3-1 with a win over Houston. No one really talked too much about Auburn in the offseason and here they come...

LSU has a QB.....finally!  Dude is balling out and LSU is finally able to take advantage of their stud WR's they have had for years, but never used right. Really good win over Texas.  But that defense....giving up 38 to Vandy? What in the world?

Auburn....like clockwork, count on them to "come out of nowhere" when talking heads don't hype them up, and to disappoint when they do get the preseason love.  I'm working on a theory about Malzahn's offense....I don't know that's it's predicated on the QB like everyone wants to think.  The experience and perceived talent at QB is where the media usually goes up or down with them, and with a lot of teams that's as good a bet as any.  AU/Malzahn, I'm thinking, is actually more centered around having THAT guy at tailback.  Their best teams have a real standout back and have survived subpar QB play well.  Their disappointing teams usually feature a QB who you'd think could lead the team but has lacked that stud in the backfield that I believe actually makes Malzahn's offense go.  They surprised in 2017, but with Kerryon Johnson, then disappointed in 2018 without him despite the veteran Stidham at QB.  So far this year the Whitlow kid is looking good, which could be a good sign for them.

LSU....the defense only gave up 24 to Vandy (late pick-6, fumble recovery in EZ for two scores the defense was not on the field for), but yeah.  Tackling and health of the unit is a problem right now.  Maybe it's hard to keep up a level of intensity when the score is 28-7 at the end of the 1st quarter, or maybe it's hard to stay sharp when the offense scores in an average of 1:48 per drive.  These guys have been playing with the benefit of a ball control offense for years and now their routinely losing TOP even when they do well.  Maybe they're still adjusting, or maybe this is the new normal.  None of that really explains or forgives Vandy scoring TDs on the opening drive of each half.  But seriously.....WHAT GOD DO WE HAVE TO SACRIFICE TO FOR SOME GOOD INJURY LUCK??!!!