As always, a complete recap will be along later in the day. Probably tonight -- work intervenes, even on a weekend.
Florida has the best chance to run the table from here on out? Really? That's what Tim Brando said, and I don't see it. It still seems to me that Alabama has the best chance to do it -- and it's weak to say "Alabama can't go undefeated in the SEC because it's hard to go undefeated in the SEC even if there's no game on their schedule that would lead you to believe they can't go undefeated in the SEC." In any case, here are the remaining schedules for Florida and Alabama:
| Alabama | Florida |
| Arkansas State | Georgia |
| at LSU | at Vanderbilt |
| Mississippi State | South Carolina |
| BYE | The Citadel |
| Auburn | at Florida State |
Take out Arkansas State, The Citadel and Florida State -- those aren't SEC games, and Alabama and Florida should be favored in all of them in any case. Alabama's best remaining game is at LSU, while Florida's is vs. Georgia; we saw how that played out this weekend. So are Auburn and Mississippi State better than South Carolina and Vanderbilt? I would think not. And that ignores Georgia who, after the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party, has only at Kentucky and at Auburn to go (and an interconference game against puzzling Georgia Tech). So what am I missing?
Georgia vs. Florida will be the SEC game of the year after all; who wins it? And who would be a harder match for Alabama: The Dawgs, who got clobbered at home when they faced the Tide, or Florida's suddenly Spurrieresque (in point margins) offense? This could become more significant if Texas or Penn State stumbles somewhere down the stretch -- the Gators or the Dawgs could instantly interject themselves in the BCS title talk with a win over Bama in Atlanta. (Or the Tide, if once-defeated, could get itself back in the race.)
What do we make of the middle of the conference? LSU, a week after beating South Carolina, played nowhere near as well as the Gamecocks did against Georgia. Vanderbilt, having defeated South Carolina, Mississippi and Auburn, seems to be in full-fledged collapse. Is Ole Miss somewhere in the "middle"? It seems that there's a chasm between Alabama/Florida/Georgia and LSU and a smaller gap between the Bengals and ... who, exactly? South Carolina? And then what?
Is this a down year for the SEC? I think we have to start leaning toward "yes" on this one. LSU is good but not great. South Carolina is average to above-average, as is Ole Miss -- sometimes. Vanderbilt and Kentucky are slumping. Auburn is an embarrassment to college football, Mississippi State is awful, and Arkansas still hasn't really gotten any better since it had to rally to beat Western Illinois. And then there's Tennessee ...