Poll Watching: SEC Puts Six in Top 16, South Carolina Surges

With Georgia falling out, the SEC no longer has seven teams in the polls. Really, it's kind of hard to believe that even the SEC truly has seven of the top 25 teams in the country. Of course, there's plenty of season left to figure things out.

That said, the ranked SEC teams have been taking care of business one way or another. Thanks to losses by the higher ranked ACC teams from last week, the SEC teams have moved up ever higher to make for an impressive six of the top 16 teams.

In the AP Poll, Alabama took five first place votes from Boise State to consolidate its power at the top. The Tide and No. 2 Ohio State are the top two by a fairly large margin, setting up for a season-long death march unless someone can knock them off. Florida fell back from eighth to tenth as Iowa and Oklahoma passed the Gators up. Arkansas's poll inertia (don't lose, don't fall) leads the Hogs up to the 12 spot, while South Carolina jumped all the way from 24 to 13 as voters desperately search for quality teams. LSU passed up USC and three losers to get up to 15, while Auburn rounds out the SEC list at 16. Georgia is sixth in also receiving votes.

In the Coaches' Poll, a similar pattern emerged. Alabama and Ohio State pulled away in the top two spots. Florida dropped a spot to seventh as Oregon passed up the Gators. LSU passed Arkansas on the way to 12th, while the Razorbacks are right behind in 13th. Auburn moseyed its way up to the 15 spot, while South Carolina jumped from 25th to 16th. Georgia is sixth in the also receiving votes category in this poll as well.

In ESPN's power rankings, the SEC still came in with seven teams. Bama and Florida held steady at 1 and 11, respectively. South Carolina surged from 23 to 12, with Arkansas right behind at 13. Auburn and LSU are back-to-back again, but this time in 17th and 18th instead of 21st and 22nd. Georgia squeaked in the poll at 25, as the WWL's voters didn't penalized the Bulldogs that badly for losing to what everyone believes to be a better team. It's always nice to see that happen.