There’s no question about which teams are currently the best in the SEC: No. 1 Alabama and No. 2 Georgia. Both teams opened the 2021 season with impressive wins and are again legitimate national title contenders this year.

But which SEC team is the third best in the conference? If you go by the AP Top 25 poll, it would be Texas A&M, which is ranked No. 5. Florida (No. 13) and Ole Miss (No. 20) would seem to be in the mix as well.

On “Pregaming The SEC” on Wednesday, analysts Chris Doering and Jacob Hester had another idea. There may be a surprise school in the conversation, which Doering got into when he began discussing the topic of the third best SEC team.

“Well, I think we can eliminate LSU, there was a lot of people who had them in that discussion, so I think they’re out of the mix,” Doering said. “I think it still remains probably Texas A&M, I think that’s the team that we think about as having the best opportunity because of where they were last year, the season they had where they finished just on the outside of the College Football Playoff.

“But I think you can make an argument — stick with me here now on this, Hester — I think you can make an argument that what we saw from Will Levis and Liam Coen and the Kentucky Wildcats that they might be rounding into a team — I’m worried as a Florida guy.”

Hester listed the 4 teams that he believes are closest to Alabama and Georgia — Florida, Ole Miss, Kentucky and Texas A&M. But he’s also high on the Wildcats after their season-opening win over UL Monroe.

“Will Levis was fun to watch, the offense looked different, that offensive line is the best offensive line, I think, in the SEC,” Hester said. “Go watch the tape. That’s all I can tell you, go watch the tape and you’ll see that. We know who they have at running back. They’ve got some questions on the outside, they need some playmakers. But man, this team is going to only gain confidence as the season goes along.”

Kentucky had a winning record in 4 consecutive seasons before going 5-6 in 2020, but the program isn’t typically on the same level as some of the top schools in the SEC. Perhaps that’s now changed.

The Wildcats will look to make an early statement when they host Missouri on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET on SEC Network.