SEC schools remain static as Stewart Mandel updates his list of college football hierarchy
Ten years after initially releasing his feudal style pecking order of ranking the haves and have nots of the college football world, FOX Sports college football writer Stewart Mandel is back with his third rendition of rankings. Mandel waits every five years to do these rankings to get an objective and non-reactionary view of each and every Power 5 program.
Mandel labels each Power 5 program, plus Notre Dame and BYU, with one of four labels: Kings for the most elite programs, Barons for those just below the few elite, Knights for the next level down and Peasants at the bottom rung of the Power 5 rankings. While many programs were adjusted up a notch or down, no SEC program was elevated or demoted from its previous ranking set five years ago.
The only SEC movement in Mandel’s rankings five years ago, from his initial list published a decade ago, was to move Tennessee down a peg to Baron status and move LSU up a notch to King status.
Here’s how every SEC school ranked by Mandel’s 2017 rankings:
Kings
- Alabama, Florida, LSU
Barons
- Auburn, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas A&M
Knights
- Arkansas, Missouri, Ole Miss, South Carolina,
Peasants
- Kentucky, Mississippi State, Vanderbilt
Do you agree with his selections?