Why SEC West Will Produce a 2-Loss Champion

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — No one stormed the field. There were handshakes, hugs and some smiles from the players wearing white and powder blue helmets, but it was nothing like a year ago. 

With that victory, 23-17 on its home field, Ole Miss acted like it had won the national championship or even better, and many of the players have a piece of the goalposts that were torn down and carried around campus in celebration.

This time few, if any people were surprised when it escaped from Alabama on Saturday night with a 43-37 win, nor should they have been. Ole Miss had the confidence and the quarterback, while the Crimson Tide still had the same issues that have been problematic for a while now and will take some time to solve.

It made for terrific TV and a lot of tired people.

“Oh, man, what a game,” a relieved Hugh Freeze said after his team survived the furious comeback attack.

“We just found a little left. When you come on the road you can only bring 70 guys. The home team can dress, I think, 15 more, all those things that go into it," Freeze said. "This is our first time on the road, in a very emotional [game], I mean, we were drained.”

So were the fans, especially since the exhausting game didn’t end until 12:26 a.m. CT (which was beyond ridiculous, but a subject for another day). Similar to the previous Saturday night/Sunday morning, when LSU at Mississippi State went down to the last snap, no one quite new which team was going to come out on top until the very end.

“The last nine minutes were the longest nine minutes,” Ole Miss senior defensive back Mike Hilton said after a fourth quarter that featured 51 offensive snaps. 

Team	Remaining SEC Opponents
Alabama	at Georgia, Arkansas, at Texas A&M, Tennessee, LSU, at Miss. St., at Auburn
Arkansas	Texas A&M, at Tennessee, at Alabama, Auburn, at Ole Miss, at LSU, Miss. St., Missouri
Auburn	at Kentucky, at Arkansas, Ole Miss, at Texas A&M, Georgia, Alabama
LSU	at South Carolina, Florida, at Alabama, Arkansas, at Ole Miss, Texas A&M
Ole Miss	Vanderbilt, at Florida, Texas A&M, at Auburn, Arkansas, LSU, at Miss. St.
Miss. St.	at Auburn, at Texas A&M, Kentucky, at Missouri, Alabama, at Arkansas, Ole Miss
Texas A&M	Arkansas, Miss. St., Alabama, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Auburn, at Vanderbilt, at LSU

Welcome to the new Southeastern Conference, where the margin of error is so small and one play can make all the difference. Granted, that’s seemingly always been the case, but now we’re beginning to see it week in, week out.

Moreover, we’re only through three weekends of the 2015 season.

Here’s what we’ve learned so far in the West Division: Ole Miss appears to be for real, LSU has the early Heisman Trophy front-runner in Leonard Fournette and Alabama still looks like an offense with nine new starters.

But those things were in many ways expected. The real surprises have been with Auburn, whose supporters are now realizing that a new defensive coordinator doesn’t necessarily mean much without new players, and Arkansas…well, maybe the less that's said the better.

Atop the division, and with the inside track on earning a trip to Atlanta, are LSU and Ole Miss, which are now like the teams in a tournament waiting for the survivors of the loser’s bracket.

LSU will be heavily favored in each of the next five games and then have its bye before visiting Alabama on Nov. 7. Its only two conference games over that stretch are at South Carolina and home against Florida.

Ole Miss, meanwhile, gets Vanderbilt this weekend before visiting Florida. It could also be looking at a 7-0 start if it doesn’t stumble.

Texas A&M is still with them at 3-0, but has yet to play a conference opponent. Yet after giving up 23 points to Ball State and 27 to Nevada, the jury has to still be out on the Aggies even though they knocked off Arizona State.

As for Alabama and Mississippi State, the two teams that took the narrow late-night losses are both 2-1 overall and already going through gut-check time.

But the Bulldogs surged in the middle of last season all the way to No. 1, and Alabama shook off the Ole Miss loss to win the SEC title. Can they do it again?

There will be similar surges and regressions this season as well. We still don’t know about LSU’s quarterback, Ole Miss’ resiliency or Alabama’s identity. No team is without questions or appears unbeatable.

Consequently, it’s extremely likely that no team will go through the schedule unscathed, and any having just one loss would be nothing short of remarkable.

The hottest and most improving team in November will win the division even if it has two losses for the season. It’s going to be that kind of year, and to quote the song by The Carpenters: "We’ve only just begun..."

Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.

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