Alabama, South Carolina, and Arkansas, ranked right where they should be?

The latest polls are out and SEC fans aren't particularly happy. Why, you ask…Let's talk about it.

Then #1 Alabama lost to then #19 South Carolina resulting in a new ranking of Alabama #8 and South Carolina #10. That's a 7 spot DROP for the Tide and a 19 spot JUMP for the Gamecocks. Both position moves are incredible if you ask me, but there are some angry Gamecock fans out there simply because they think USC should be ranked higher than Bama because they beat them. Novel concept right?

In my opinion, the polls got it right, you won't hear me say that much, but in this case I will, and here's why. 

·         The best team on the field Saturday, October 9^th was the South Carolina Gamecocks = TRUE.
·         The best team in country until Saturday, October 9^th was the Alabama Crimson Tide = TRUE.
·         These to team met and South Carolina won the game = TRUE.

Here's comes the BUT…

If these two teams were to play a 3 game series, who would likely win the series?

·         I have to believe, based on how the 2 teams have played other games to date, that Alabama would most likely win this series.  With that said, if I had a vote, I would have ranked Alabama above South Carolina.  I probably would have even ranked them higher than 8.

It is my thought that if all match ups were to be played as a series, i.e. baseball, you are more likely to hand the "W" to the correct team. We all know that 1 game and every game in the SEC is tough to win. Some teams are better than others, but on a given night, anyone can steal a win.

I don't want to take anything away from the HBC (Head Ball Coach) and the Gamecocks, they played great (except for the safety that could have been avoided) and they deserve all the things that come from beating the #1 ranked team in the country. I just don't think they are hands down a better team than Alabama.

So what else are SEC fans upset about, you ask?

How about the sub-Top 10 ranking for the high powered Offense of Arkansas? Arkansas faced Texas A&M this past weekend and jumped out to big lead behind the cannon arm of Ryan Mallett. For those you who follow the Hogs, this is a typical start when they are playing a solid team. Long story short, Hogs scored big early, then had to hang on for dear life for the victory as they continue to struggle with turnovers late, largely due to the fact that they can't run the call consistently enough to kill the clock.

So the Razorbacks are currently ranked #12, down from #11 prior the Texas A&M win. But the 1 spot fall is not the issue I'm hearing about. The issue is more around why they are not ranked in the Top 10 with the other 1 loss teams such as Alabama and South Carolina. Hmmm.

My first answer to the question is ROOM. There are only 10 spots go around and 8 of the them have undefeated teams renting them.

My second answer is Arkansas hasn't beaten anyone to deserve the top 10 respect it wants. Arkansas' schedule and results look like this…

1.       Tennessee Tech (Blowout)
2.       Louisiana-Monroe (Blowout)
3.       @ Georgia (31-27 Hogs)
4.       Alabama (24-20 Tide)
5.       Off
6.       Texas A&M (24 – 17 Hogs)

What about this schedule says Top 10? Nothing – Sure they beat UGA on their turf, but we all know Georgia is nowhere near their normal team and even farther away from their pre-season Top 25 ranking than Mark Richt wants to think about. The Alabama game did way more harm to the Hogs than just a SEC West loss. It exposed 3 things: 1) Arkansas cannot run the ball. 2) Mallett will make bad decisions when pressured. 3) Arkansas Defense while better than last year, will give up big plays if you keep pounding away.

Let's face it, if Arkansas beats Alabama, which they would have if not for the 3 items above, then they are Top 10, probably even Top 7, but they didn't. South Carolina added more fuel to the fire by beating the Tide in much the same way that Arkansas had a chance to do. If the Hogs beat Auburn this weekend then they will jump into the Top 10. If they don't, it wouldn't surprise me to see them fall to #19 or 20. I really like Arkansas, especially the QB/WR combos they fire at you, but they have to start blowing out weaker teams and closing out these SEC teams once they get that 1^st half lead they normally start with.

My 2 cents, suggest that Alabama, South Carolina and Arkansas are ranked right where they should be. If will all shake out in the end, all you have to do is win baby win!

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