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The SEC is a wild place, with teams’ chances at a division crown or playoff berth, or a coach’s job security, can vary widely week to week. Whose stock is rising and whose is dropping this week in the SEC East? SDS takes a look.
RISING
- Missouri’s divisional championship bid. On paper and on the field, the Tigers look to be about as mediocre as it gets. Their offense is averaging a meager 250 yards per game in SEC play, and Maty Mauk looks nothing like the game-changing quarterback he flashed the potential to be when he took over as starter midway through his freshman year last season. Despite their struggles, which includes a horrific home loss to Indiana in September, Mizzou is poised to steal the SEC East crown for the second straight season. While the Tigers have two road games left, Tennessee and Texas A&M aren’t exactly juggernauts. A Georgia loss to Auburn would put Missouri in the driver’s seat.
- Josh Dobbs. After his performance against South Carolina, Volunteers fans have to be wondering where Dobbs was all season. The dual-threat sophomore could have easily swung the results of two games, Florida and Georgia, if he could have come in and played anywhere near the level he’s operated at over the last two weeks. A quarterback as talented as Dobbs would have laid out a much clearer orange-brick road for Butch Jones rebuilding plan.
- Will Muschamp’s job security. Make no mistake, Muschamp is still likely under evaluation every week of the season, but the Gators’ resilient win over Georgia could well have earned the embattled coach the rest of the season to state his case. It was Muschamp’s first win over the Bulldogs as Florida’s head coach, a boost the program sorely needed. Whether its enough to convince athletic director Jeremy Foley to retain Muschamp is a question that will be answered after the season.
FALLING
- Georgia’s playoff chances. Barring some miracles, it would appear the Bulldogs’ chances of making it to the inaugural College Football Playoff are more or less dead. With two losses, Georgia now sits at No. 20 in the CFP rankings. They’d need to win out, including the SEC Championship game, and have a whole lot of other teams ahead of them stumble badly. UGA fans will need to wait at least another year for their team to deliver on national championship hopes.
- Lorenzo Ward’s job security. Despite expressions of confidence from Steve Spurrier and his own enthusiasm toward his defense’s prospects, Ward’s seat is as hot as any in the SEC. The Gamecocks put up another remarkable offensive performance against Tennessee and the defense once again crumbled at the most inopportune times. Ward’s defenses looked great when they were loaded with NFL talent, but he’s been exposed in a season when the Gamecocks aren’t as fortunate from the talent perspective.
- Kentucky’s bowl chances. After starting the season 5-1, the Wildcats looked to be in the midst of one of the best turnarounds in college football following a two-win season a year ago. In Mark Stoops’ second season, though, things have gone south quickly. Kentucky has dropped three straight games since that flying start, and none of their three remaining contests — Georgia, at Tennessee and at Louisville — will be a cakewalk for the slumping Wildcats. While a three game improvement is definitely progress, it won’t make Kentucky fans feel any better when they think about what could have been.
A former freelance journalist from Philadelphia, Brett has made the trek down to SEC country to cover the greatest conference in college football.
