SEC football bottom-dwellers
14. Arkansas
13. Tennessee
12. Vanderbilt
Ranking this worst tier was like trying to decide whether you would rather be hit by Ray Lewis or Lawrence Taylor. There is no right answer.
Poor Chad Morris. Struggling to run a spread offense with a team specifically recruited to run the power run, it’s going to be a long couple of years for the Razorbacks. They convert less than thirty percent of third downs, allow a 62.5 completion percentage, and have turned over the ball ten times in four games. Arkansas was bound to struggle in the transition, so this should come as no surprise to anyone. As of now, Arkansas is the weakest team in SEC football.
State of Tennessee football
Tennessee has had two warm-up games that resulted in two wins by a margin of 83-3. They also have had three tests so far that resulted in three losses by a margin of 125-47. Tennessee has a turnover margin of -4 and does even worse on third down than Vanderbilt. Looking ahead on Tennessee’s schedule, they may only have one winnable SEC football game: a final week match-up with Vanderbilt.
Vanderbilt’s best performance on the year came when they narrowly lost on the road to Notre Dame. They then followed that up by a three score loss to South Carolina and a victory over Tennessee State by a mere four points. Vanderbilt’s struggles on third down and their tendency to give away turnovers at the exact rate they bring them in will always hold them back.