Even with Rocky September, SEC West Still College Football's Toughest Division

If you're a Mark Twain fan, you'll recognize the following quote, which was appropriate for both a school and division Saturday: "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated."

Yes, Ole Miss made a statement by blowing out Georgia 45-14—there's no question about that. It faced a big-name opponent that wasn't ranked in the Top Five, built a large lead and—unlike in losses to Florida State and Alabama—didn't allow a comeback.

"This one will stand out," Rebels head coach Hugh Freeze said during his postgame press conference. "... When you lose games like that and felt like you could have won, and when you have to hear about it in this world with all of the social media world, it hurts. It stings. This one is pretty special."

It was also pretty big for the SEC West, which some had claimed was losing its luster and should no longer be considered college football's toughest division.

Granted, it didn't get off to the best start this season, but after the smoke had cleared in Week 4, the SEC West was still king of the hill.

Take a look around. Alabama crushed USC 52-6 and survived Ole Miss. Texas A&M opened with a 31-24 overtime win against UCLA and now looks like it could be a legitimate contender. Arkansas secured a win against TCU in Week 2. Auburn and LSU may be struggling, but no one is questioning their defenses.

Then remember this: Every SEC West team except for the Rebels either has a new quarterback or has had a quarterback controversy/competition, which almost always takes a little time to work through. Bumps in the road are only natural, especially in the first few games of a season.

So with South Carolina at Mississippi State (a 27-14 victory for the Bulldogs in Week 2) the only East vs. West matchup through the first three weeks, Georgia at Ole Miss was a benchmark game.

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The Bulldogs didn't just get exposed. It was the Rebels' third-largest winning margin against an Associated Press-ranked opponent—with the two largest having come in 1969 against No. 3 Tennessee (plus-38) and 1957 versus Texas (plus-32), which finished the season ranked 11th. Consequently, one can only conclude the gap between the divisions is still pretty wide.

Additionally, the West already had four wins against Top 25 opponents before this weekend (when it notched four more)—more than any other conference, much less division.

The hype might have been building for the Big Ten East and ACC Atlantic, but top to bottom, they don't measure up.

Don't believe it? Try the following test: Rank the teams in each division, not based on their record but on how good you think they are. Then take the average team in each division, which is the fourth-best team, and compare them.

For example, last week the Congrove Computer Rankings, courtesy of CollegeFootballPoll.com, had Texas A&M as the SEC West's fourth-best team at No. 16 overall. For the ACC Atlantic, it was North Carolina State at No. 40. The Big Ten East had Indiana at No. 41.

Subsequently, imagine the three divisions were facing off in a best-of-seven series, with the top teams playing and so on through the seventh-best squad. In such a scenario, the SEC would probably be favored to sweep the games against the other conferences' bottom tiers.

That's the difference.

The Big Ten East has Ohio State, Michigan and Michigan State and was collectively 17-2 coming into this weekend. But it is also extremely top-heavy, particularly after the Spartans' loss to Wisconsin on Saturday.

The ACC Atlantic boasts Clemson, Louisville and Florida State. The rest of the division, however, isn't expected to score too many quality wins this season.

ACC Atlantic		Big Ten East		SEC West
No. 3 Louisville	4-0	No. 4 Michigan	4-0	No. 1 Alabama	4-0
No. 5 Clemson	4-0	No. 2 Ohio State	3-0	No. 10 Texas A&M	4-0
Wake Forest	4-0	Maryland	3-0	No. 17 Arkansas	3-1
No. 13 Florida State	3-1	No. 8 Michigan State	2-1	No. 18 LSU	2-2
N.C. State	2-1	Indiana	2-1	No. 23 Ole Miss	2-2
Syracuse	2-2	Penn State	2-2	Auburn	2-2
Boston College	2-2	Rutgers	2-2	Mississippi State	2-2

Ole Miss entered Saturday fifth among SEC West teams in the latest Associated Press Top 25 poll, at No. 23. It'll likely be third in the division in the next one. Auburn, which played Clemson tough in its opener, will visit Mississippi State on Oct. 8, and the loser could finish in the division cellar.

That's a tough division.

Brynn Anderson/Associated Press

Let's take a step back. The SEC has won eight of the last 10 national championships. Led by Alabama's four, the West has captured six.

The NFL recently released its annual roster breakdown, detailing which colleges had the most active players on opening weekend. LSU was first with 42, and Alabama was tied for fourth with 35.

On Bleacher Report's Matt Miller's latest Big Board, 13 of the top 50 players for the next NFL draft are from the SEC West, including 10 of the top 23.

You get the idea.

Two plays in particular demonstrated the difference between Ole Miss and Georgia on Saturday, and both came when a quarterback was pressured. On third down at his own 37, the Bulldogs' Jacob Eason made an ill-advised throw over the middle that was picked off and returned 52 yards for a touchdown by Derrick Jones.

On first down early in the second quarter, the Rebels' Chad Kelly should have been dropped for a sack on a play-action rollout. Instead, he escaped an arm tackle and threw into double coverage in the end zone, and DaMarkus Lodge caught a 55-yard touchdown pass.

"It was a deep post. I told Lodge, 'Don't stop running, because I'm going to throw it no matter what," Kelly said. "But I knew he could outrun the coverage, so I just had to make a play, juke the one guy. I just had to get it out."

It was one of the few risks Kelly took, as he completed 18 of 24 passes for 282 yards and two touchdowns and ran for a 41-yard score. Maybe more importantly, he didn't have any passes intercepted.

Between Kelly and an impressive group of tall receivers, Ole Miss could soon find itself back near the top of the rankings. While slogging through college football's toughest September schedule, the Rebels learned they can play with anyone.

Nevertheless, Alabama—ranked No. 1 since the preseason—would probably have to lose twice for Ole Miss to have a shot at winning the division, because the first tiebreaker is head-to-head record. In the first of two games in which the Crimson Tide can fix problems, get details right and establish an identity, they dominated Kent State 48-0 on Saturday. Next up is Kentucky.

"Our team knew after last week that we needed a lot of determination and a lot of grit in this locker room," Alabama senior tight end O.J. Howard said after the game. "Everybody put it all together today and got it going early."

That's what it's going to take to survive this division. Alabama and Ole Miss have momentum, but things figure to only get tougher from here.

Quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.

Christopher Walsh is a lead SEC college football writer. Follow Christopher on Twitter @WritingWalsh.