For one week at least, the SEC has put four teams in the top ten of the AP Poll.
The highest ranked team is from the state of Alabama, but it's not the fallen Crimson Tide. Auburn leads things off at No. 7, followed by Alabama, LSU, and South Carolina. Never mind the fact that the Gamecocks just beat Alabama and have the same number of losses. Clearly such things are meaningless. Arkansas is not too far off at No. 12, and so the Razorbacks would figure to move into the top ten if they knock off Auburn this weekend. Florida meanwhile tumbled to 22, the lowest rank the Gators have had in the Urban Meyer era.
Over in the Coaches' Poll, the conference only has three in the top ten. Auburn, Alabama, and LSU are matches in the 7-8-9 part of the lineup, but South Carolina only clocks in at No. 12. Again, the South Carolina team that beat Alabama and only has a loss to the undefeated and No. 7 ranked Auburn (on the road and by just one score, no less). Arkansas is right behind the Gamecocks at No. 13. Florida is No. 22 here as well.
I know expecting logic to come out of the polls has always been a fool's errand, but I can't for the life of me figure out how these people ended up with South Carolina so resoundingly behind Bama. Alabama's win over Penn State is about worthless now that Ron Zook ran it up on the Nittany Lions, and the Tide's big win over Florida is not quite as big any more. At the very least, it doesn't match up as well as, say, South Carolina's win over Alabama.
South Carolina has the better signature win (which happens to be the head-to-head match up) and the better loss, and yet the team is two spots behind Alabama in the AP and four spots behind in the Coaches' Poll. Every week brings us new confirmation that the poll system is broken, and this conundrum is the highlight of this particular week.