Week 3 of college football is a strange in-between of buy games, conference games, and some solid nonconference shootouts. The SEC had a fair mix of all of the above, but some teams just stood out among the rest.
With near upsets, blowouts, and everything in between, these teams have begun building their identities. So which squads are starting to emerge as the best in the SEC? And who has been lagging?
16. Mississippi State Bulldogs
The Mississippi State Bulldogs have quietly been off to the roughest start in all of college football. Their recent loss to Toledo at home was nothing short of flat-out ugly. Losing 41-17 to a MAC team is not what you expect from SEC football, let alone a team like the Bulldogs who have been trying to get back to form.
Their recent loss to Arizona State the week before made sense, they lost on the road by only a touchdown to a relatively tough team, but losing by a huge margin at home will get the fanbase quite angry. Until they prove anything, they will have to sit at the bottom of these rankings.
15. Vanderbilt Commodores
After an overtime win over Virginia Tech and a 55-0 blowout over Alcorn State, Vanderbilt was ready to make a statement this season. However, Georgia State had other ideas and knocked them off 36-32. A chance to go 3-0 and potentially be on the path to a bowl game has now been stunted.
The Commodores may have something to build off of here, but they did not show that against Georgia State. At 2-1, there is still room to work with, but that was a game where they could have shown if they were still the same old Vanderbilt or not.