Every Wednesday, we rank the SEC and Big 12 teams in one power poll. The order of the SEC teams is based on the Week 11 SDS SEC Power Poll.
There could be a conference that gets two College Football Playoff bids, but it may not be the SEC.
TCU currently ranks No. 4 in the College Football Playoff poll. With a manageable remaining schedule, the Horned Frogs could be sitting pretty at 11-1. TCU’s playoff hopes may rest on Minnesota (7-2) — currently a strong non-conference win. The Golden Gophers still must play Ohio State, Nebraska and Wisconsin.
Baylor, meanwhile, is No. 7 in the latest CFP poll. The Bears have a head-to-head win against TCU and a chance to boost its resume with a home game against Kansas State to close the season.
Perhaps most importantly, TCU and Baylor have already played, while No. 1 Mississippi State and No. 5 Alabama square off Saturday.
The Big 12 claims three of the top six and four of the top 10 in the combined rankings.
ALONE AT THE TOP
There may be two unbeatens in the power conferences, but don’t get it twisted. The Bulldogs are alone at the top, as the College Football Playoff committee hammered home Tuesday night by ranking Oregon ahead of 9-0 Florida State.
1. Mississippi State
SERIOUS PLAYOFF CONTENDERS
Four of the current top seven in the CFP poll hail from the Big 12 or the SEC. Is there any doubt as to the identity of the best two conferences in college football this season?
2. Alabama
3. TCU
4. Baylor
BIG BOY FOOTBALL
You may not find these teams in the top four at the end of the year, but you sure don’t want to meet them on the gridiron. Auburn’s offense and the defense of the other three teams are among the best units in college football.
5. Auburn
6. Kansas State
7. LSU
8. Ole Miss
FRINGE TOP 25 TEAMS
There’s not a ton “fringe” about Georgia as of today — the Bulldogs currently are 15th in the CFP poll — but a loss to Auburn on Saturday may even knock UGA out of the poll, as unlikely as that is. Meanwhile, Oklahoma toppled out this week after a crushing loss against Baylor, while the Texas A&M-Missouri winner Saturday will be in the Top 25 next week.
9. Georgia
10. Oklahoma
11. Texas A&M
12. Missouri
ANY GIVEN SATURDAY
Georgia found out the hard way: any of these teams can win any given game. West Virginia tested Alabama early in the season. Oklahoma State did the same against Florida State. These teams all should make bowl games and have a chance to take some momentum into 2015.
13. Texas
14. West Virginia
15. Florida
16. Oklahoma State
DONE ENOUGH TO PROVIDE HOPE
Each of these teams is in danger of missing a bowl game — Kentucky after a 5-1 start. Arkansas might go a second consecutive season without an SEC win. No matter — all of these programs have at least shown glimmers of light to the fans.
17. Tennessee
18. Arkansas
19. Kentucky
WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT
Did anyone expect the Gamecocks to sit at No. 20 — not in the Top 25, but in a combined ranking of Big 12 and SEC teams — in the first half of November? South Carolina was a Top 10 team in the country to start the season with serious SEC championship aspirations. Instead, the Gamecocks are in the company of some painful-to-watch Big 12 stragglers.
20. South Carolina
21. Texas Tech
22. Kansas
WINNING A CONFERENCE GAME WOULD BE SHOCKING
That shock came true last week as Kansas beat Iowa State to claw out of this group, dragging the Cyclones into it in the process. Iowa State’s best remaining chance to get a conference win comes Saturday as the team hosts Texas Tech, while Vanderbilt may need to bide its time until the last weekend against Tennessee.
23. Vanderbilt
24. Iowa State
An itinerant journalist, Christopher has moved between states 11 times in seven years. Formally an injury-prone Division I 800-meter specialist, he now wanders the Rockies in search of high peaks.
