Hey SEC East, are you drunk?

It sure feels that way through the first four weeks of the 2014 season. Every team has a loss, and every team that has played a conference game has a conference loss.

Two words come to mind when looking at this division: parity and inconsistency.

First, parity.

No team has had a dominant performance yet against a respectable opponent. Yes, they’ve beaten inferior teams to a pulp in paycheck games, but South Carolina struggled with East Carolina, a team we are now finding out is very good. Georgia needed a strong second half to pull away from Clemson late. Kentucky took Florida to 12 rounds in its bout two weeks ago. Missouri struggled with UCF and got beat by Indiana. Vanderbilt got beat by Temple, but fought valiantly against South Carolina and Tennessee put away a pretty good Utah State team with ease, only to struggle with Arkansas State.

Anybody want to claim this division?

Next, inconsistency.

After a humiliating loss to Texas A&M and the aforementioned battle with East Carolina, South Carolina had by far its best game of the year against Georgia a week later. Dylan Thompson did what he wanted to with the Bulldog secondary en route to the Gamecocks putting 38 points on the board. Missouri went on the road to Toledo and had probably its best showcase of the year with Maty Mauk throwing five touchdowns in just his second career road start. You never know which Vanderbilt team is taking the field, it seems to depend on who Derek Mason throws out there under center. Florida followed up a home win with the offense laying an egg in Tuscaloosa.

Are you seeing where I’m going with this?

I’m about to throw out a number that explains why as of today, September 24, Georgia is still the favorite in this division.

One. Georgia plays just one ranked opponent in its final nine games. (That number could bump to two, if Arkansas beats Texas A&M this weekend.)

That’s it. One opponent currently in the Top 25. Florida plays four teams. Kentucky plays four. Missouri plays three. South Carolina plays one. Tennessee plays four. Vanderbilt plays two.

Each of these teams have a few more losses on its schedules which will shake up the rankings, but as of right now and based off the performances we saw from each team the last time they played, Georgia is still the favorite.

The Bulldogs have come the closest to being the most consistent team. The offense has put up points all year scoring 45, 38 and 66 points against Clemson, South Carolina and Troy. Georgia has the most potent rushing attack in the division averaging over 300 yards per game. The defensive fronts of the Tigers and Gamecocks, considered the strength of both defenses, could not stop the trio of Gurley, Michel and Chubb.

The defense has not yet realized its full potential with the makeover still in progress under first-year coordinator Jeremy Pruitt. They’ve had one great half and one bad game, a game in which Dylan Thompson played the game of his life. The Bulldogs front seven stacks up against any in the country, and the bench is being emptied with a host of young guys seeing the field such as Dominick Sanders, Lorenzo Carter and Rico Johnson. That will benefit the depth of the unit later in the season, which plagued the defense under Todd Grantham last season after the injury bug hit.

Every Eastern Division team – including Georgia – has shown glaring weaknesses through the first four weeks of the season. The secondaries have hurt both Georgia and South Carolina at times. Florida doesn’t have a quarterback. Kentucky is still a very young, inexperienced team as is Tennessee. The offensive line can’t block air for Missouri and Vanderbilt, well … the problems in Nashville have been well documented.

The Bulldogs face a good, very underrated Tennessee team on Saturday, who brick-by-brick are putting things back together on Rocky Top. Quarterback Hutson Mason sent out a warning to his team earlier in the week noting that the Vols are more than capable of going into Athens and winning.

This thing is far from over. But if you’re Georgia and you can put all the pieces together, you have to like your chances.