SEC Football Power Poll Ballot For Week Three

We run our own SEC Football Power Poll at SECRivals.  Taking a look at our SEC Football Power Poll ballot for week three (rough draft), there are some small shuffles.    Again, it is still early in the season and the teams are just now beginning to settle into their ranges.

1. Florida Gators.  Last week's No. 1 team is still No. 1 on our ballot.  We are not going to immediately jump onto the 'they haven't played anyone, they didn't cover' bandwagon.  Is this the best team in the SEC?  The AP Top 25 thinks so.  Is Bama better?  No one knows at this point.  Do not forget that the Gators played the nation's No. 3 defense and gained 300+ yards ... while not having the services of their best receivers, best linebacker and had a running back battling flu-like symptoms.
2. Alabama Crimson Tide.  How good is this Tide team?  They look solid, but like Florida, have only played a single quality opponent.  Greg McElroy has taken this team over and is a leader .... much like we predicted.
3. LSU Tigers.  How much better does this team's road win @ Washington look now?  The offensive is not as explosive as what we have seen in recent years, but all they are doing is win.  The team (and fans) are still adjusting to the new Chavis led defense.  
4. Ole Miss.  They are not as flashy as you would expect, but they are still undefeated (still have not played anyone).  Like the Gators, until this team gives us a reason otherwise, they are still high on the poll.
5. Georgia Bulldogs.  Sixth last week.  The defense was supposed to dominate.  Does UGA have a defense?  At all?  Better yet, does Willie Martinez survive the entire season?  Joe Cox appears to have turned the corner and Caleb King might be a regular player now.
6. Auburn Tigers.  Seventh last week.  West Virginia made Auburn one-dimensional.  Auburn still won the game by the eleven points that SECRivals predicted.  AU forced WVA into SIX turnovers and still withstood the Noel Devine onslaught.  Was the first quarter freakish or what?
7. Arkansas Razorbacks.  Fifth last week.  Coming into the season, we knew that the offense was going to be like watching a Tecmo Bowl game.  The Razorbacks are not disappointing to this point.  Defense must improve for this team to keep moving forward.
8. Kentucky Wildcats.  Tenth last week.   This team regressed a bit this week.  Are they simply settling into their position within the power poll standings?  This team is still 2-0 and just beat their in-state rival.
9. South Carolina Gamecocks.  The Gamecocks have had their backs to the wall since going into week two.  The offense has looked better this year, but how much of an over all improvement are we seeing?  The Gamecocks allowed FAU to hang around far too long.
10. Tennessee Volunteers.  This team has the nation's No. 3 total defense.  If you want to see the offensive stats, you simply scroll to the other end of the list.  'Atrocious' is simply not a fitting word.  I would not be surprised to see Tennessee run the ball 80% of the time the remainder of the season.  
11. Mississippi State Bulldogs.  The Bulldogs are 2-1 and fresh off of a win versus Vanderbilt.  Mullen has very little in which to work with.
12. Vanderbilt Commodores.  Wow.  Coming into this season, the Vandy faithful had (very) high hopes for this team.  We received some flack because we believed that the expectations were unwarranted.  At times, Vandy has looked good.  Then again, last week this team looked simply bad.

What do you think?  Does our rough draft match the rankings that you have in mind?  What would you change and why?

Darrell Owenby is a seasoned SEC sports analyst, freelance writer and editor of SECRivals.com. Darrell can be heard around the nation on sports talk radio shows discussing the SEC.