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SEC Football

SEC vs. Pac-12: Week 11

Christopher Smith

By Christopher Smith

Published:

Every Friday, we rank the SEC and Pac-12 teams in one power poll. The order of the SEC teams is based on the Week 11 SDS SEC Power Poll.

There are four teams in the Pac-12 and SEC still capable of making the four-team College Football Playoff. Mississippi State and Alabama play this weekend, with a Bulldogs win eliminating the Crimson Tide. Oregon and Arizona State, if both keep winning, also will meet in the Pac-12 championship.

We’re close to a conclusion to this wild season.

Currently, the SEC claims seven of the top 11 spots in the combined power rankings between these two conferences. The Pac-12 is thinner up top.

ON A PEDESTAL

Vegas favors the Bulldogs to get knocked off — hard — in Tuscaloosa tomorrow. But for now, Mississippi State deserves its own category. That’s what you get when you’re undefeated halfway through November in the SEC.

1. Mississippi State (9-0)

LEGITIMATE PLAYOFF CONTENDERS

All three of these teams should be in the playoff if they win out. Alabama even has a chance to capture the No. 1 overall seed by beating Mississippi State, Auburn and the SEC East champ. (Easier said than done.) Arizona State can win the Pac-12 South by taking down Arizona on the road the final game of the Pac-12 regular season, then knock off Oregon and emerge as the one-loss Pac-12 champion. Or the Ducks could keep gliding right into the playoff.

2. Alabama (8-1)
3. Oregon (9-1)
4. Arizona State (8-1)

CAPABLE SPOILERS

These teams all have two or three losses after being a significant part of the CFP at one point or another. Yes, Auburn and Ole Miss, we realize you’re still “mathematically alive” in the SEC West, but don’t count on winning the division, much less going to the national semifinals at this point. There are too many good one-loss teams across the country, and you won’t be favored to finish the regular season with fewer than three losses. Still, it would be fun to take down, say, Alabama and Mississippi State with you, right?

5. Auburn (7-2)
6. LSU (7-3)
7. Ole Miss (8-2)
8. UCLA (8-2)

JUICY UPPER-MIDDLE CLASS

The Trojans put up 31 first-half points last night against Cal, which had no answer for WR Nelson Agholor (16 catches for 216 yards). Meanwhile, Georgia has absorbed its two annual boneheaded performances and could be a threat to the SEC West champion if it can get past Auburn and catch Missouri. And Texas A&M hopes last week’s offensive rally against Auburn was no fluke.

9. Georgia (7-2)
10. USC (7-3)
11. Texas A&M (7-3)

HEADED TO MEDIOCRE BOWLS

Tigers fans have the biggest gripe here — Missouri still could finish the regular season 10-2 and win the SEC. Everyone kept waiting for the other shoe to drop last season as well and it never did. But if the Tigers lose to Texas A&M this weekend, this team could easily finish 8-4 in the SEC East, which isn’t regarded as a powerhouse this year. Similarly, Arizona is still alive in the Pac-12 South, but looks headed for a three or four-loss season with games at Utah and against Arizona State remaining.

12. Arizona (7-2)
13. Utah (6-3)
14. Missouri (7-2)
15. Florida (5-3)

FEISTY LOSERS

The Cardinal look like a good bet to finish Pac-12 play at 4-5 after knocking off Oregon in consecutive seasons (2012-13) and entering the year highly ranked. The defense isn’t what it was, and Kevin Hogan hasn’t developed into a decent Pac-12 quarterback. Tennessee, meanwhile, is in position to finish with three SEC wins, a feisty finish for the Vols in Butch Jones’ second season.

16. Stanford (5-4)
17. Washington (6-4)
18. Tennessee (4-5)
19. Cal (5-5)

PROJECTED OUT OF A BOWL

Who would’ve ever guessed that South Carolina, ranked No. 7 preseason after three consecutive 11-win seasons under SEC legend Steve Spurrier, wouldn’t even make a bowl game? Lose on the road to Florida and Clemson and that’s this team’s fate. Meanwhile, Razorbacks, even with the SEC’s eight-game conference schedule, you can’t make a bowl game just by sweeping the non-conference schedule. Just a head’s up.

20. Arkansas (4-5)
21. Kentucky (5-5)
22. South Carolina (4-5)
23. Washington State (3-7)
24. Oregon State (4-5)

WE BEAT UMASS

Both athletic directors should and will exercise patience, but we don’t blame fans for wondering if Derrick Mason and Mike MacIntyre are capable of authoring significant improvements for 2015.

25. Vanderbilt (3-7)
26. Colorado (2-8)

Christopher Smith

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.

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