There are three teams vying for a spot in the SEC Championship Game this season that none of us saw coming — Kentucky, Mississippi State and Ole Miss.

Off to a 5-1 start, the Wildcats’ transformation in Year 2 under Mark Stoops has Big Blue Nation amped for the second half of the season while the two Magnolia State unbeatens make up two thirds of college football’s Top 3.

It comes as no surprise that the leaders of these programs have graded out high at the midseason point. We’ve included a couple most recent lists to show how our coach rankings can fluctuate week to week:

Ranking coaches based on their 2014 seasons to date with an emphasis on their last game, here’s a quick glance:

5. MARK RICHT, Georgia — Bashed throughout his tenure for coming up short on the national stage, Richt seems to always win the games he’s supposed to at Georgia, none bigger than an emphatic 34-0 blasting of Mizzou without Todd Gurley on Saturday. With just over 24 hours to figure out a plan to combat the Tigers’ fierce front four, Richt went old-school and returned to the between-the-tackles mindset that makes this program elite. Instead of talking about division title hopes dashed this week, we’re holding the Bulldogs in high regard as the East frontrunner. That’s on Richt.

4. BRET BIELEMA, Arkansas — It hasn’t shown up in the SEC wins department, but you have to applaud the effort given at Arkansas this season, a program that appears to be on the verge of something great under Bielema. Emotional after his players fought valiantly for four quarters against Alabama last weekend, Bielema saw the light at the end of the tunnel when he stepped to the podium with a football team Razorbacks fans could stand behind. This was a team that was outscored 104-0 over their previous two meetings with the Crimson Tide, but came a few plays short of a landmark upset.

3. MARK STOOPS, Kentucky — Stoops has done a tremendous job turning this program around in 2014 and deserves a couple coach of the year votes, but let’s not get carried away after six games. Kentucky fans didn’t take too kindly to my SEC East predictions the rest of the way, but I think the Wildcats’ toughest matchups are still to play. The win over South Carolina, though important for momentum, doesn’t mean as much as it did coming into this season since the Gamecocks are one of college football’s most overrated teams. A win Saturday night in Baton Rouge? That would require some attention.

2. HUGH FREEZE, Ole Miss — Not only did the Rebels avoid playing down to their competition post-Alabama, but Ole Miss humiliated Texas A&M in front of a record crowd Saturday night in street brawl fashion. Cody Prewitt’s interception return for a touchdown in the second quarter provided the Rebels with a 21-point lead over a team that was ranked sixth in the nation just two weeks ago. Texas A&M fans raced to the exits early in the fourth. It was the kind of ‘look at us’ performance coach Freeze can hang his hat on, one that will come into play when the College Football Playoff selection committee begins separating contenders in the coming weeks.

1. DAN MULLEN, Mississippi State — For those of you waiting on the StarkVegas train to derail, it might be awhile. Mississippi State’s third consecutive win over a Top 10 team proves when equipped with the right players, Mullen’s an elite coach and a sexy candidate for several major jobs expected to come open at the end of the season. The tough part is playing out the stretch with the pressure of being No. 1, but what we’ve seen from the Bulldogs over the last month proves this team’s a legitimate threat. Mullen is college football’s national coach of the year if we handed out awards at midseason.