Status of the SEC

We're a fourth of the way through the SEC schedule. Every three games I'm going to try and rank the SEC. Since few conference games have been played I expect this to change dramatically in the future.

1) LSU They haven't faced tough competition yet going against North Texas and Appalachian State. But they crushed both. Don't really know what they have at quarterback but right now the rest looks like an NFL team. Considering they won a national championship and share of another with Matt Mauk and Matt Flynn I don't know how big of a problem this will be for them. See what they can do against a good defense this weekend and we'll have a better idea.

2) Florida - Lack of a non quarterback running option and difficulty with a bad although rival Miami brings them down barely. Just barely. Still look loaded with speed and they get Percy Harvin back. Have a great middle linebacker but are a little suspect on the outsides.

3) Georgia - Vandy beat South Carolina worse. Knowshon is the best running back in the country. Stafford looked solid against Central Michigan and okay against South Carolina. Defense is solid.

4) Bama - Last year they also started big and fell apart. Huge drop from top three. Win over Clemson doesn't look as good after the struggling with Tulane. Don't see them being able to give the top three teams a game. Could easily fall to a lower team but for now they look better than the rest. Andre Smith is one of the best lineman in the country and a dominate force they will be able to run behind against anyone.

5)Kentucky - Haven't played a tough team yet but putting up good scoring margins. Middle Tenn. win looks good after they beat the same Maryland team that beat Cal bad. Have one of the weakest schedules in the country and might still be a week or two before we know if they really are any good. Poised to take a huge tumble in the ratings.

6) Vandy - Lack of passing game but still find a way to score points. Lead conference in turnover margin. Solid D. Runs the ball very well.

7) Ole Miss - Opposite of the rest of the conference. Potential for better than average offense when they click. Potential for a very bad defense against passing teams. But if the defense can at least make teams keep it honest like they did against Wake, they can have a decent season. Have to have the offense play better than it did against Samford.

8) Auburn - Probably one of if not the best defense in the conference and easily in the top three on defense. Offense is horrible like a lot of teams on here. Chris Todd doesn't have the arm and is too scared to get hit. If Kodi Burns gets healthy they could rise up. The spread does not use what talent they have with solid running backs. Their fans Saturday acted like they lost and didn't think they could win another conference game. I reminded them they still played Arkansas.

9) South Carolina- Defense is decent. Offense is bad. Just not as bad as others. Spurrier doesn't look interested in football these days.

10) UT - After BYU escaped Washington to destroy UCLA, Fulmer's loss to UCLA looks really bad. Fulmer's offense just isn't the same with out Cut. Blowing out a horrible UAB team doesn't show anything. Real test will be how they handle Florida this weekend.

11) MSU - Great defense. Worst BCS quarterback and offensive scheme. How does Woody McCovery still have a job? Is five seasons not enough for Croom to see that his offense doesn't work? And the offense will be worse with Anthony Dixon out. Jessie Bowman is one of the better D-lineman in the conference.

12) Arkansas - Defense looks bad struggling against La Monroe and West Illinois. Offense is having to have Casey Dick perform miracle comebacks to be 2-0. Will be interesting to see what happens when they play above the Sun Belt. Does Petrino quit once a loosing record is ensured? Its about to get tough as they play Alabama, Texas, Florida and Auburn in four straight weeks.