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SEC Football: What’s wrong with the SEC?

By Matt Green

KNOXVILLE, TN - SEPTEMBER 09: Head coach Butch Jones of the Tennessee Volunteers looks on during the second half of the game against the Indiana State Sycamores at Neyland Stadium on September 9, 2017 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - SEPTEMBER 09: Head coach Butch Jones of the Tennessee Volunteers looks on during the second half of the game against the Indiana State Sycamores at Neyland Stadium on September 9, 2017 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) /
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We are three weeks in to the SEC football season, and there are very few teams that look like SEC title contenders.

After just three weeks, only five SEC football teams are still undefeated. And that number could be nearly cut in half this week. Vanderbilt (3-0) hosts Alabama (3-0), while Georgia (3-0) hosts Mississippi State (3-0). The other undefeated team, Kentucky (3-0), is hosting a Florida team that they haven’t beaten since 1986.

Ever since the SEC started flexing their muscles with seven straight national championships, they got cocky, declaring themselves the hands-down best conference in college football. And at one point it was, but right now it’s not.

The SEC still gets the best players, has the biggest stadiums, and the most passionate fanbases, but on the field other conferences have caught up. Part of the perception of the SEC is that the teams that were supposed to be contenders haven’t looked good through three weeks.

Florida

Florida may have beaten Tennessee in epic fashion on Saturday, but we shouldn’t forget how awful the Gators’s offense has been in their first seven quarters of the season. It took them 115 minutes to score their first offensive touchdown of the season.

Tennessee

Tennessee is allowing 275 rushing yards per game through three games. (Photo by Tyler Lecka/Getty Images)
Tennessee is allowing 275 rushing yards per game through three games. (Photo by Tyler Lecka/Getty Images) /

Tennessee looked like the better team in this game, but they’re still flawed. The Volunteers allowed 168 rushing yards to a Gators team that managed just 11 rushing yards against Michigan and is still without starting running back Jordan Scarlett.

LSU

Les Miles was run out of town for not bringing the offense into the 21st century, and Matt Canada was paid big bucks to elevate the Tigers’ offense. Now, it could turn out that Mississippi State is one of the best teams in the SEC, but on Saturday LSU’s offense was non-existent.

Auburn

Auburn’s offense was shut down at Clemson, but those Tigers look like one of the best teams in the country. However, Auburn didn’t look much better in their 24-10 win over Mercer. The Tigers only led by 7 points late in the fourth quarter.

Ole Miss

Ole Miss is another team that disappointed last week. They scored 16 points on their first five drives of the game against Cal, then didn’t score after that. If the Rebels are unable to fund a running game, they may not win an SEC football game this season. Shea Patterson makes some great plays, but he’s still a first-year starter, and the mistakes are going to happen.

Missouri

Missouri was just dismantled by a Purdue team that’s gone 9-39 over the last four years. I was dead wrong about the Tigers. They look like the absolute worst team in the SEC and I don’t see it getting better any time soon.

The rest of the SEC

The jury is still out on Texas A&M, Arkansas, and South Carolina. They each have one loss and it’s still possible that they could turn things around. The Aggies struggled with UL-Lafayette for two quarters, and the Razorbacks were blown out by TCU the last time we saw them.

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LSU, Auburn, Florida, and Tennessee were all preseason top 25 teams, and everyone but the Vols are still ranked. It wouldn’t surprise me, however, if none of these teams were ranked by season’s end. Out of the five undefeated teams, only Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi State look like legitimate SEC title contenders, but I don’t see either Bulldogs dethroning the Crimson Tide.

As I said before the season started, outside of Nick Saban and Dan Mullen, there are no proven coaches in the SEC through three weeks, it looks like Butch Jones, Kevin Sumlin, Gus Malzahn, and Bret Bielema could all be looking for a job in December.

It’s only three weeks. Down in SEC country we all love to overreact. There’s a chance some of these SEC football teams get it together and turn their seasons around, but right now it looks like instead of hearing S-E-C chants, we’re more likely to hear chants of O-VER-RATED.

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