'Bama, SEC West a Dominant Force; Florida, SEC East Dying a Slow Death?
There is no argument that the SEC has been the best conference in the country over the past few years. This fact is indisputable: Alabama, Florida, LSU, Auburn, Ole Miss, Georgia, Tennessee, Arkansas, and South Carolina have all contributed to making the SEC a super conference.
But something seems to be happening within the conference itself. The SEC West appears to have become dominant while the SEC East is slipping. With the exception of Ole Miss losing to Vanderbilt, the SEC West is dominating.
Florida has not looked sharp this year, at least not until they played Kentucky, another SEC East team. While the gators have been winning, and are ranked No. seven in the country, their offense has not clicked. We will tell what Florida really has against Alabama this weekend.
South Carolina looked to be the team to beat in the East. That is, until they played Auburn. Spurrier actually benched his first string quarterback, Stephen Garcia, in the forth quarter of the game in an unsuccessful attempt to defeat the Tigers.
The Bulldogs are 0-3 in SEC play, with two of those loses to Arkansas and MS State, both SEC West teams. Mark Richt may be done as the coach of the Bulldogs after starting 1-3, which is the only Bulldog win coming against LA Lafayette.
Kentucky got slaughtered by the Gators last weekend and Tennessee—well, Tennessee is just plain bad this year. The only SEC East team to win against a SEC West team so far this year has been Vanderbilt. And after the Rebels' showing against Fresno State, one has to wonder if Vanderbilt could duplicate that win in a rematch.
On the other hand, the SEC West has looked pretty dominant. Alabama is ranked #1, Auburn is ranked #10, LSU is ranked #12, and Arkansas is ranked #15. Every team in the SEC West, except Ole Miss and MS State, is ranked in the top 15!
The gap between the SEC East and the SEC West definitely seems to be widening. While it is true that it is still very early in the season, the SEC West is obviously the strong arm of the Southeastern Conference at this time.
Looking ahead to the SEC schedule for Saturday, the trend could very likely continue. Alabama is a nine-point favorite over Florida. Ole Miss is a four-point favorite over Kentucky. LSU is a 16-point favorite over Tennessee. Connecticut is a 10-point favorite over Vanderbilt. And Georgia is only a slight favorite over a lackluster Colorado.
This could be another bad weekend for the SEC East, while the SEC West teams could have another banner day. If Georgia loses to CU, the SEC East could possibly end up going 0-5 on Saturday! Wow, that is hard to comprehend!
What is behind this shift in power? Is this simply a down year for the SEC East or is there something more happening in the Southeastern Conference? Is the SEC East becoming another Big 12 North?
The only thing that I can say for sure is that South Carolina is the only safe East team this weekend. But if I were Spurrier, I wouldn't get too comfortable: the Crimson Tide is headed their way next week!
Bohdi Sanders ~ www.TheWisdomWarrior.com
