Topics for Discussion // 10.17.10

So Georgia's all better now? I wouldn't generally ask that based on games against Tennessee and Vanderbilt, but the Dawgs waxed them like a good SEC team should. Georgia's already dug itself a pretty deep hole; it needs South Carolina to lose three SEC games while it goes undefeated if it hopes to win the East. But anything seems possible in the SEC East this year, which is approaching 2007-level chaos midway through the season. At least the bonfire that was Mark Richt's seat appears to have been doused for a while.

How bout them, um, Wildcats? Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves; Kentucky has only looked particularly good in two games. But UK has also developed something of a pattern since the blowout against Florida: Get behind early, rally late and either win or end up just short of winning in the end. Look at the rest of Kentucky's schedule -- Georgia, at Mississippi State, Charleston Southern, Vanderbilt and at Tennessee -- and it's not hard to see the Wildcats winning seven or eight games, including three or four in conference. Which might be enough in the East.

What do you say about a 108-point game? We've already run down all the unbelievable numbers from the Auburn-Arkansas game, so we won't go through them all over again. Suffice it to say, there was a lot of running and scoring going on in the Greater Opelika Metropolitan Area on Saturday. Can we now say that Arkansas was dramatically overrated, or is Auburn that good? And can the Tigers win the SEC West with that defense?

Can we overlook Mississippi State? Winning the SEC West isn't very likely with losses against Auburn and at LSU, but the Western Division Bulldogs are looking pretty good all of a sudden. And "pretty good" in this case means more than just an invitation to the Liberty Bowl. State is 5-2, with at least three more winnable games on the schedule. Is it possible that these Dogs are the fourth-best team in the conference?

Speaking of bowls ... It's time to start trying to make sense of all this. We're looking for your favorites for these games: Music City and Liberty (who share the seventh and eight picks, barring a second SEC team in the BCS) and Birmingham (which gets the ninth). If you don't think there's anyone left for Birmingham Bowl, or one of the others, please say so. After this weekend, no answer is to ridiculous to be considered.