SEC vibes rankings: South Carolina’s surge continues, Georgia regains its swagger
Hello, friends, and welcome to this week's unveiling of the SEC vibes rankings. Let's bring in the chairman of the vibes committee. Thanks for being here.
Thanks for having me, Chuck.
My name's not Chuck.
That's great.
OK, so could you remind our viewers what criteria you and the committee use to determine these rankings?
Criteria? I don't understand.
Schedule strength, wins over ranked teams, road wins, that kind of thing.
(Laughing) Yeah, we don't do that here.
Oh. So it's different from the College Football Playoff selection committee?
Well, we're both making it up as we go along. We're just honest about it.
Huh.
But they're supposed to do a ranking of how good teams are, do a vote, then trot out an athletic director who was in the bathroom when they voted on the selection chair and force that guy to explain why they voted that way. Whereas our task is to rank via the vibes.
The vibes?
Right, basically how good teams are feeling. For instance, South Carolina is feeling pretty good, right? And LSU is feeling like feeding its coach to its mascot.
That's kinda harsh.
Sorry, Chuck.
Again, not my ... you know what? Let's just get to the rankings.
Beat Missouri 34-30 Last week: 2
Preseason: Gamecocks picked to finish 13th in the SEC, Shane Beamer placed on some hot-seat lists. Currently: Gamecocks making some "next four out" of the Playoffs lists , Beamer new front-runner for SEC Coach of the Year.
Idle Last week: 1
This week I found myself writing in Jaxson Dart in my Heisman poll. (After Travis Hunter and Ashton Jeanty .) This may be recency bias, but if you had to pick the SEC team to emerge from the pack and win the natty, the pick right now would be the Rebels . That home loss to Kentucky is inexplicable, but it was also a long time ago.
Beat Mercer 52-7 Last week: 3
Things are rolling again, and Alabama looks like it will be in the SEC Championship Game if it wins out, where it could easily win and get a first-round bye. A national title is very much still on the table. (To be fair, so is losing Saturday at Oklahoma.)
Beat Tennessee 31-17 Last week: 10
Ah, so that's what happens when you get another home game.
Won at Arkansas 20-10 Last week: 4
The conundrum for the selection committee: Convincingly beat at home by the only ranked team it's played, but won the rest by an average of 17 points, only one within one possession. The feeling of the vibes committee: We'll believe this committee keeps the Longhorns out when we see it.
Idle Last week: 6
Why is Vandy slotted in here before some of the Playoff contenders, especially after the Commodores seemingly came down to earth after that home loss to South Carolina? Because that happened a week ago. The idle week is a chance to sit back, reflect and realize that in the grand scheme of things Vanderbilt is still bowl-bound, owns a win over Alabama and even if it loses its final two games — which it may — this has still been a great season for the program.
Beat New Mexico State 38-3 Last week: 7
This is still very much a playing-with-house-money situation for the Aggies and Mike Elko. But the fact they're barely favorites at Auburn (-2.5) on Saturday shows that loss at South Carolina left a mark.
Beat LSU 27-16 Last week: 12
A good case can be made for putting the Gators even higher. They're playing well enough now that Ole Miss is on upset watch. And the trip to Florida State looks to be close to a gimme at this point. DJ Lagway looks like the real deal. Billy Napier is doing just enough to provide hope. Should Florida feel great about the overall future of the program? Eh, we're not there yet. But should it feel much better than it did early in the season? Quite obviously.
Lost at Georgia 31-17 Last week: 5
Yeah, the Volunteers can still make the Playoff, but it also may be out of their control. Plus there's now a Georgia complex for the program and a creeping worry that Josh Heupel may have hit his ceiling. It's still better than the wilderness this program occupied for the better part of the last decade. But the Vols also have aspirations.
Lost at South Carolina 34-30 Last week: 8
Another heartbreaker, another missed opportunity in a season that has been one big missed opportunity.
Lost to Texas 20-10 Last week: 9
Things are getting interesting in Fayetteville. Someone bought a billboard that said, "Thanks for the memories, coach Pittman, but five years is enough." Which begs the question: Is five years really enough to say, "Thanks for the memories"? That feels like more of a 10-year farewell. Anyway, bowl eligibility should come this week against Louisiana Tech , then comes the trip to Missouri, which could decide things.
Idle Last week: 11
Hopefully a productive off week spent thinking about how these final two games — Alabama, then at LSU — are a chance to (almost) totally redeem this season, or reinforce it as a dumpster fire. Tune in, should be exciting!
Beat Louisiana-Monroe 48-14 Last week: 15
Basically the same as Oklahoma, except you have Hugh Freeze, giant killer, so you're pretty sure he will beat Texas A&M this weekend and then have Alabama on the brink but lose when he calls 25 consecutive pass plays even though Jarquez Hunter is sitting on 299 rushing yards. Or something like that.
Idle Last week: 13
As miserable as this season has been, the SEC now has a starting quarterback named Van Buren, so it wasn't a complete loss.
Beat Murray State 48-6 Last week: 14
Another team that has a chance to be a chaos agent this week. Do we actually think there's a chance of that? No, but "chaos agent" is a fun phrase.
Lost at Florida 27-16 Last week: 16
And ... long sigh ... here we are again.
A not very good tidbit for Brian Kelly, via Jason Starrett of TruMedia: Kelly is the fourth LSU head coach to lose at least three straight games within a season dating back to 1999. The previous three were all let go within 12 months of the streak: Ed Orgeron (fired mid-season 2021), Les Miles (fired early 2016) and Gerry DiNardo (fired in-season 1999).
So, yeah, something to stow away for next season. Unless LSU loses at home to Vanderbilt this week. Or at home next week to Oklahoma. Or in the Liberty Bowl while Notre Dame is off winning multiple Playoff games.
The vibes for Mr. Kelly ... not great, Bob. Not great.
(Photo of Nyck Harbor and Joshua Simon: Jeff Blake / Imagn Images)
