SEC Power Poll, Final Week: Settled

SEC POWER POLL, FINAL WEEK

1. Alabama Crimson Tide, 112 points (unanimous first place)
2. Georgia Bulldogs, 101
3. Texas A&M Aggies, 99
4. South Carolina Gamecocks, 87
5. Florida Gators, 79
6. LSU Tigers, 74
7. Vanderbilt Commodores, 64
8. Mississippi Rebels, 55
9. Mississippi St. Bulldogs, 49
10. Missouri Tigers, 38
11. Arkansas Razorbacks, 30
12. Tennessee Volunteers, 28
13. Auburn Tigers, 14
14. Kentucky Wildcats, 10

If you want to know whether this is a weird season in the SEC or not, consider this: The voting margin between Alabama and LSU is almost three times as large as the gap between LSU and Vanderbilt. That's strangeness going on there.

Elsewhere, Georgia beats Texas A&M for the No. 2 spot in a photo finish, while the Gamecocks end up above both of the teams they lost to but two spots behind a team they defeated. (This is not a criticism of either factor, just an interesting side note.) And we're considering changing Kentucky's name to "Oh, Kentucky" in future editions of the poll.

Voters?

ALABAMA

Decades from now, we may find out that Nick Saban has been genetically engineering superhuman linebackers, offensive linemen and running backs in a state-of-the-art laboratory many miles beneath Bryant-Denny Stadium. But he may win another dozen titles between now and then.--SB Nation Atlanta

This isn't SEC domination; this is Saban domination.--Red Cup Rebellion

ARKANSAS

Easily made the best hire of any program this offseason.--Red Cup Rebellion

I just can't shake the feeling that, three years from now, the Bret Bielema hire is going to earn the Hogs the Good Coach/Good Program/Bad Fit Trophy that Michigan locked down during the Rich Rodriguez era.--Dawg Sports

AUBURN

Has any coach fallen faster than Gene Chizik? And you can't say he didn't earn it -- that was the worst Auburn team I've ever seen in person.--Get the Picture

Highlight of the season has to be putting up more of a 1st Quarter fight against Alabama than Notre Dame did.--Georgia Sports Blog

FLORIDA

Given the state of the Florida offense, Muschamp was working all season with a thin margin for error, as the bowl game showed. Getting eleven wins out of this team was good coaching.--Get the Picture

The Gators uneven play over the course of the season caught up with them in the Sugar Bowl, where they gave the SEC its biggest black eye of the bowl season. The lack of discipline shown by Florida in this game was kind of astounding after the focused performance against FSU.--Garnet And Black Attack

GEORGIA

Old conventional wisdom on UGA: Never quite good enough. New conventional wisdom: 5 yards from winning national championship.--Georgia Sports Blog

Five more yards in the Dome, and that would've been the Bulldogs' boot print all over Notre Dame's behind.--Dawg Sports

KENTUCKY

Insert joke about basketball season here. Sorry, Wildcats, but somebody's got to be the Vanderbilt, and Vanderbilt decided they didn't want to be it anymore.--SBN Atlanta

So, you play in the SEC East and your in-state rival just had a statement win in a BCS bowl? At least you have basketbal....oh.--Georgia Sports Blog

LSU

Old Les Miles: Eccentric. New Les Miles: Worse game manger than Mark Richt circa 2001.--Georgia Sports Blog

Bowl loss by one point to Clemson perfectly encapsulated their season.--A Sea of Blue

OLE MISS

Which is the bigger achievement: getting to seven wins a year after flaming out at 2-10, or getting a bigger crowd to show up for the fricking BBVA Compass Bowl than there was at the Sugar Bowl? Legion Field hasn't seen that many people since Ruben Studdard did a free concert there, and maybe not even then.--SBN Atlanta

Florida wishes they could travel like Ole Miss fans do.--Georgia Sports Blog

MISSISSIPPI STATE

Earned the ignominious distinction of being the first team to lose to Northwestern in a bowl since the Truman administration to cap off an epic, if somewhat expected, fall from grace over the second half of the season.--Garnet And Black Attack

If, instead of Vincent Price and a fly, the teleportation booth had contained Rich Brooks's resume and Ed Orgeron's dietary regimen, what emerged from the receiving station on the other side of the lab would have been Dan Mullen.--Dawg Sports

MISSOURI

Weren't so much bitten by the injury bug as they were taken into a back alley and beaten with lead pipes by it, but unfortunately we don't do "sympathy" in the SEC.--SBN Atlanta

Welcome to the SEC. How do you like it so far?--A Sea of Blue

SOUTH CAROLINA

Give Spurrier credit. There aren't many coaches who have built two top ten programs in the history of this conference. And with the ‘Cocks, it was essentially from the ground up.--Get the Picture

The Gamecocks got to 11 wins via one of the season's best bowl games, a thrilling win over Michigan. Jadeveon Clowney will enter his junior season as perhaps the face of college football.--Garnet And Black Attack

TENNESSEE

Making the switch to a 3-4 defensive front in a make-or-break year for his job security was Derek Dooley's way of saying "Hey y'all, watch this" and throwing a bottle of Everclear on the campfire.--SBN Atlanta

Are we entirely sure that Tennessee and Vanderbilt didn't just switch places when no one was looking?--Dawg Sports

TEXAS A&M

What do they do for an encore?--A Sea of Blue

Although the Aggies' first season in the SEC exceeded everyone's expectations, the closeness of Texas A&M's two losses reveals that 2012 easily could have been even better.--Dawg Sports

VANDERBILT

James Franklin is the toast of Nashville. It'll be interesting to see where this program's ceiling is.--Get the Picture

Played like an SEC team. That's pretty high praise.--A Sea of Blue