SEC Power Poll Week 3

The SEC Power Poll first, then my non-existent BlogPoll ballot.

1 Alabama. See, this is what happens when you allow a meaningless touchdown with 15 seconds left which makes the score appear closer than it was. People only care what you did wrong, not that you built a 21 point lead and had a double digit lead for almost all of the second half.

2 LSU. Beating up on creampuffs which, let's face it, they didn't do last year. So... improvement!

3 Georgia. You're supposed to schedule your bye week BEFORE the tough games, guys.

4 South Carolina. Let a beaten team up off the mat, but never really in danger of losing.

5 Texas A&M. The game will be remembered as a classic, not as a futile comeback after falling behind by three touchdowns. A&M never took an offensive snap in the second half down by a score or less.

6 Ole Miss. Got in on the kicking Texas while they are down action.

7 Auburn. Gus Malzahn has already transformed this team in a month. Last year, they lose that game. Hell, it probably isn't even close.

8 Florida. The Gators find themselves in the middle tier, not the elite tier. That's what you get for losing to an ACC team.

9 Vanderbilt. They made the game competitive, but it was never really a contest. Another moral victory, which show up in the standings as a loss.

10 Mississippi St. That's a game the Bulldogs have to win. They should have won, but should have doesn't count for squat.

11 Tennessee. Oregon just scored another touchdown.

12 Missouri. Failed to cover against Bye Week.

13 Arkansas. Dispatched Southern Miss with ease. This is progress.

14 Kentucky. Surprisingly frisky against Louisville. It's not enough to get them out of the basement, but at the end of the year, their 14-point loss is going to be used to bludgeon the Cardinals. So, congrats for essentially preventing your cross-state rivals from winning the national title. Achievement unlocked!

The Non-Existent BlogPoll Ballot

1 Clemson
2 Oregon
3 Bama

Bama's win over A&M still isn't enough to climb back to the top of my ballot. If we're going straight Power Poll, Oregon looks better than anyone else in the country, and they have two wins over teams in AQ conferences. Clemson still has the single best win of anybody, which is enough to keep them at the top spot, but I'm beginning to waver. Bama showed a lot of flaws in winning, but I think how much they largely dominated A&M is being cast aside. A&M never had a realistic shot at winning this game, and scoring a TD with 15 seconds left to cover the spread does not impress me. This was a comfortable win, not a nail-biter.

4 LSU
5 Florida St.
6 Ohio St.

I've been ranking the Buckeyes lower than just about anybody, primarily based on the fact I wasn't impressed by last year's team. But it was last year's team that struggled against Cal, not this year's team. OSU just went out there and blew their doors off. It's time to at least consider the possibility this Buckeyes team is real good.

7 Stanford
8 Oklahoma St.
9 Georgia
10 Baylor

That's right, Baylor. Why not? OK, they haven't played anyone with a pulse, but they are at least scoring at an almost unimaginable rate. If you have a lousy schedule, you better win by a lot (I'm looking at you, Louisville). But who has really impressed? Baylor has at least looked impressive, though we really don't know how good they are. But, and here's a funny thing to say about Baylor, they deserve the benefit of the doubt based on their track record.

11 South Carolina
12 Texas A&M
13 Louisville

In three months, we're going to look back on this week as the week Louisville lost the national title. As mentioned above, If you play bad teams, you have to blow them out. You can't have national title aspirations and beat Kentucky by 14, especially when you will have no big wins on your resume.

14 Arizona St.
15 Wisconsin

That game was a travesty. OK, that's not fair. It was an outstanding game, marred by a terrible call at the end. But wins are wins, so ASU gets the nod. What this really shows is the difference between the Pac-12 and the Big Ten. ASU is a middle class Pac-12 team and Wisconsin is one of the best Big Ten teams, and they were evenly matched.

16 Northwestern
17 Oklahoma
18 Miami
19 UCLA
20 Michigan

UCLA looked sluggish in the early goings, as teams who travel cross country often do, but in the second half, they turned on the afterburners. That was a systematic destruction of a pretty good Nebraska team. The Big Ten only won one of four games against the Pac-12, and Michigan certainly didn't help the conference's reputation by needing a goal line stand to beat Akron. AKRON!

21 Washington
22 Ole Miss
23 Arizona
24 Auburn
25 Maryland

Look! The Terps! Maryland has quietly started the year 3-0. They look like a much better team now that they aren't playing a linebacker at quarterback. I doubt they are world beaters or anything, but they lost to UConn last year, and this year's team won with relative ease. I'll even defend their uniforms.