SEC
In 2009, when Alabama beat defending BCS champion Florida in the SEC Championship Game, it felt like the balance of power had suddenly shifted. From 2010-2016, the SEC West was the stronger division as all seven division teams would appear in bowl games that are part of the current New Year’s Six lineup. In the SEC East, South Carolina had a good run under Steve Spurrier, Georgia was up-and-down with Mark Richt and Missouri won the division twice, but the division as a whole represented the weaker half of the conference.
This season’s cross-division clashes suggest that the power may be shifting back to the SEC East. With 13 of 14 games in the books (Missouri and Arkansas play this week), the SEC East is up 8-5, likely to make it 9-5. It’s a significant sign of improvement from last year’s 3-11 showing from the division.
The SEC West, however, may get the last laugh if Alabama knocks off Georgia in Atlanta.
SEC West: 5-8
Alabama: 2-0
Arkansas: 0-1 (play Missouri this weekend)
Auburn: 0-2
LSU: 1-1
Ole Miss: 0-2
Mississippi State: 0-2
Texas A&M: 2-0
SEC East: 8-5
Florida: 2-0
Georgia: 1-1
Kentucky: 1-1
Missouri: 0-1 (play Arkansas this weekend)
South Carolina: 1-1
Tennessee: 1-1
Vanderbilt: 2-0
Pretty interesting that every team from the East has at least one win over a West team and four of the seven West teams are winless vs the East. You also have to think Mizzou has a good chance of going 2-0 vs the West if their rotating crossover wasn’t Alabama, but I guess that’s just part of it.
Missouri doesn’t have a crossover win atm…. UF going 2-0 wasn’t expected.
Well, he did say “if their rotating crossover wasn’t Alabama”.
Bama could probably hang with NFL teams…
He said every team has a crossover win.. That’s not the case. I do believe they will beat Arky though.
Ignore BamaTime, their internet connection cuts in and out at his trailer park so he only has 10 mins to sound out each word and sometimes skips over important info like “if their rotating crossover wasn’t bama”.
You guys must struggle with comprehending what you read…. You really don’t have to go past his first sentence to figure it out…
Florida wouldn’t have beaten State but for Moodhead.
Moorhead
“Pretty interesting that every team from the East has at least one win over a West team and four of the seven West teams are winless vs the East.”
Agree with BT. 1st sentence is incorrect as written bc Mizz is currently 0-1. And u guys try to clown Bama fans for not understanding English
Firing Mark “Almost” Richt was the catalyst in shifting more power to the East and creating actual, real balance.
Not really… UF, UT and UK is where the change is this season.
The process started at the end of the 2015 season when we fired Richt. Having Georgia as a constant underachiever was a big part of the West’s ascendency. That’s the point I was making.
And again you have nothing…Smart’s teams are following the same path you clueless folks claim for Richt’s teams…always slip up and lose to a team you should beat…2 years ago his teams lost 5 games, last year his team lost a game to Auburn that they never should have lost(got the brakes beat off them), then compounded it by losing the game for all the marbles(i don’t care who they played they lost it). Then this year they were up to the same tricks by losing to an inferior LSU team, and in their chance to win a nat’l championship they are probably going to lose to Bama again…same trajectory as Richt was on….i have faith that UGA will eventually get it done…but all you Richt detractors are lying through omission while trying to ignore the same results by your favorite…just repeating that same old b.s.
I understand your attempt at a point but hiring KS isn’t the reason for the east improving. UGA was good under richt while UT, UF and UK were struggling… The difference from last year to this year is those three teams. Not UGA who finished 1-1 just like last season…
Yeah but the main reason UF and UT are better this year is because they fired their coaches after getting throttled by UGA. Georgia’s winning and recruiting forced UF and UT to make changes to not get left behind.
You guys are really trying to give UGA to much credit in this. UT was garbage and getting worse under Jones. Going winless in conference had to do with more than just UGA hiring a coach. Ole Jim just wasn’t a good fit at Florida. He won the east back to back but the administration at Florida never liked him… Maybe give those other teams a little credit instead of trying to claim credit for their improvements…
Mullen alone is a big power shift.
There is no power shift considering the West still has the top 2, possibly 3 teams in the SEC. Dec. 1 will end the debate real quick.
Agree but it appears that the mid pack & bottom teams in the West have gotten worse. I do believe that AL, LSU or A&M could beat GA in the SEC CG while you would be hard pressed to find a team in the East not named Georgia that could stay within 17 pts of AL.
And the West’s 5 wins came from those 3 teams. Not a coincidence that the East is 1-5 against those 3 teams
Auburn & Miss St worse than expected. TN, Vandy, Kentucky better than expected. Georgia 1-1, Alabama 2-0, A&M 2-0, Arkansas 0-2 all unchanged from last season’s cross div. It was assumed that OM and ARK would be bad this yr and that FL would be improved this yr. S Carolina & LSU avg teams as expected.
Cross div results appear to be result of 2 West teams underachieving and 3 east teams overachieving.