Texas A&M moves to the top as championship game chaos looms: SEC Vibes Rankings

If you love chaos and the idea of ​​SEC administrators banging their heads against the walls, you might like the following scenario, which has a non-zero chance of occurring: Georgia is the No. 1 team in the country, but fails to to win the SEC Championship game.

Here's how it happens: First, Georgia wins its last five games, Oregon loses one game, and Georgia moves up to No. 1. Next, Texas A&M prevails as the only undefeated team in SEC play and LSU wins, making Georgia the only teams with a single loss. The first tiebreaker is a head-to-head and they didn't play. The next tiebreaker is a record against regular opponents, and LSU wins that by beating Alabama.

And voila, you get a rematch of last Saturday's game and not the team that won that game against the actual No. 1 team in the country. Fun!

We are still a long way from that. Texas A&M could lose one of its three remaining SEC games (at South Carolina, at Auburn, Texas). LSU could lose to Alabama in two weeks or in one of its other three games (at Florida, Vanderbilt, Oklahoma). Georgia could lose to Florida, Ole Miss or Tennessee. The door remains open for Tennessee and Texas with a loss, perhaps even for one of the six teams – six! — with two conference losses, including Alabama and Ole Miss.

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Yes, it could be really fun.

Or maybe it will be a clean affair in the end.

Taurean York and the Texas A&M defense forced three turnovers against LSU on Saturday. (Maria Lysaker / Imagn Images)

Here at Vibes Rankings, we rank teams based on highly subjective criteria: the feelings around the program, the dynamics, the expectations and the general perception of how things are going. It's no longer just a ranking of how good the teams are, but also the rankings. Anyway, the mood:

1. Texas A&M (7-1, 5-0 SEC)

Defeat LSU 38-23

Last week: 4

Mike Elko is out there, bold as a coach using all of his first-year assets: changing quarterbacks and making it work, throwing shade at his predecessor, under whom he worked for five years. These are fun times for the Aggies. Is it real and will it last? Who cares – enjoy the ride.

Go deeper

Khan: Mike Elko's structured, detailed approach is exactly what Texas A&M needed

2. Georgia (6-1, 4-1)

Bye

Last week: 1

Georgia's offense ranks seventh in the SEC in scoring, sixth in total yards and eighth in yards per play. Georgia's defense isn't much better: fourth in points allowed, seventh in total yards allowed and eighth in yards allowed per game. All pedestrian, but the schedule wasn't like that: Georgia faced three top-10 opponents (Texas, Clemson, Alabama), played three road games at night (Kentucky, Alabama, Texas) and faced only one non-power conference team ; Every other SEC team except Florida has played at least twice.

3. Tennessee (6-1, 3-1)

Bye

Last week: 2

Tennessee appears to be in a great position: It has three games it should win (Kentucky, Mississippi State, UTEP), two games it just needs to separate (at Georgia, at Vanderbilt), good defense and an offense. and quarterback who is in Anytime could come back to life. But until that quarterback comes to life, and consistently, it's difficult to fully commit to it.

4. Vanderbilt (5-3, 2-2)

Lost 27:24 to Texas

Last week: 5

Every week there is a team that I look at and think, “You know what? I had it too high/too low.” Last week it was Vanderbilt that was eliminated because other teams had big wins and the Commodores got a mediocre win over Ball State. But in hindsight, it’s Vanderbilt. So when it's 5-2, the mood is great. And even after Saturday's loss, spirits remain high: There were multiple chances for Texas to win the game, and Diego Pavia and Co. kept coming back. This remains the most interesting team in the SEC this year, and for good reason.

Won at Mississippi State 58-25

Last week: 12

Barring an end-of-season collapse, it seems like we could put Sam Pittman's hot seat on hold. A late-season date against Louisiana Tech should Clinch Bowl eligibility, and every other game (Ole Miss, Texas, Missouri) offers a different level of winning opportunity. More importantly, the way Arkansas is playing suggests the program is in better shape than it ended last year.

6. Texas (7-1, 3-1)

Won at Vanderbilt 27-24

Last week: 7

If we wanted to draw such a conclusion, we could point out that Texas' most convincing SEC win was against Oklahoma, its former Big 12 partner. In the other three games, the team lost at home to Georgia by 15 points, won by 3 points at Vanderbilt and struggled to a single win at home against Mississippi State before pulling away by 22 points. However, as this is only a small selection and there is still a lot of football to go around, we won't point it out.

Go deeper

Rexrode: Quinn Ewers, Texas, had a better day at Vanderbilt than you might think

Bye

Last week: 6

For anyone wondering why most teams in the top half of the table don't play each other, maybe it's because they're busy playing South Carolina, which has already played LSU, Ole Miss and Alabama. The Gamecocks get Texas A&M this week and then face Vanderbilt and Missouri. And just for laughs, the season ends at Clemson. If the rankings hold, that would be seven out of twelve games against ranked opponents.

Go deeper

Lessons learned from Alabama's shutout of Missouri after a slow start

8. Alabama (6-2, 3-2)

Defeat Missouri 34-0

Last week: 13

The mood still doesn't indicate whether this is the team that took a 28-0 lead against Georgia or the one that made mistakes over the next three 1/2 games. But the win over Missouri stopped the downward trend, and now there's a bye week to prepare for LSU, which could decide the Tide's playoff hopes.

Go deeper

Did Alabama and Kalen DeBoer find a new identity against Missouri?

9. Ole Miss (6-2, 2-2)

Defeated Oklahoma 26-14

Last week: 10

Ole Miss' offense through its first four games against three non-power conference teams and Wake Forest: 214 points, 2,683 yards. Ole Miss' offense over the next four games, all against SEC teams: 96 points, 1,311 yards. Yes, three of those SEC opponents – Kentucky, South Carolina and Oklahoma – have weak defenses. But it's still a pretty big difference.

10. Florida (4-3, 2-2)

Bye

Last week: 8

Momentum is slow, but Billy Napier could do enough to earn another year with the Gators. If things get close, one could expect him to come back, considering he has an interim president and athletic director at his side. But getting overwhelmed by Georgia on Saturday in Jacksonville could ruin all that.

11. LSU (6-2, 3-1)

Lost at Texas A&M 38-23

Last week: 3

This could still be a playoff team: It just needs to beat Alabama in two weeks and win every other game and it will be favored. But Brian Kelly's team just isn't doing enough to inspire confidence: The defense looks like it's putting things together, but is getting run over by the backup quarterback. Garrett Nussmeier looks like a first-round quarterback but ends up throwing three picks. Maybe it will finally happen in a few weeks, but Tigers fans must be frustrated waiting for it.

12. Auburn (3-5, 1-4)

Won at Kentucky 24-10

Last week: 14

The four-game losing streak is over. The narrative that this team is one bad game away from going 5-2 through three games (Cal, Oklahoma, Missouri) is very much alive. It's not a narrative that's going to take on the mood all that much, but you can bet Hugh Freeze will!

13. Missouri (6-2, 2-2)

Lost 34-0 at Alabama

Last week: 9

Realistically, the playoff hopes are all but over. If Missouri can win, it may be able to base its argument on Brady Cook being out for most of the Alabama game. And it's worth a try. But this team now has a minus-52 point differential over power conference opponents, no big wins and no real chances down the stretch.

14. Mississippi State (1-7, 0-5)

Lost to Arkansas 58-25

Last week: 11

After three weeks of looking decent, the series ends and the mood drops again. Mississippi State has had some bad years but has not gone winless in SEC play since 2002. Zach Arnett inherited a difficult situation last year and still went 5-7. I know the athletic director wanted his coach, but man.

15. Oklahoma (4-4, 1-4)

Lost at Ole Miss 26-14

Last week: 16

Well, at least the first half on Saturday was good. But overall, we're still saying that when Oklahoma stayed within 12, it covered the spread – by 8 points – which doesn't say much about the current state of the program.

Accordingly @PFF_CollegeNone of Ole Miss' sacks from Jackson Arnold came on blitzes yesterday.

Arnold was fired nine times. Guys just get beaten one on one.

— Tom Green (@Tomas_Verde) October 27, 2024

16. Kentucky (3-5, 1-5)

Lost to Auburn 24-10

Last week: 15

Mark Stoops has built his reputation in recent years by generally winning the games he deserves and not beating better teams. That year, he got a big win at Ole Miss and took Georgia to the brink, but he lost at home to Auburn, South Carolina and Vanderbilt and came under fire at Florida.

Stoops had a pretty good run at Kentucky, and that doesn't mean it should be over. But it feels pretty close to that.

(Top photo: Tim Warner / Getty Images)