ATHENS — Georgia maintained its stronghold atop the AJC SEC Power Poll, with Kirby Smart continuing to find ways for his team to overcome attrition amid a tough schedule.
The Bulldogs’ 34-20 win over Florida wasn’t pretty, but it was efficient, and now Georgia takes its act back on the road to face Ole Miss.
Texas — once the hottest team in the SEC until UGA dealt it a 30-15 loss — is No. 2 in the poll with the Gators headed to Austin Saturday.
Tennessee, the No. 3 team in the poll, is riding a three-game win streak entering its home tilt with Mississippi State.
The nine AJC SEC power poll voters were unanimous in ranking Georgia, Texas and Tennessee in the 1-2-3 spots before Texas A&M (107 points) narrowly took the No. 4 spot ahead of No. 5 Ole Miss (104 points) and No. 6 LSU (101 points) and No. 7 Alabama (97).
For all the rankings out there, the SEC Championship Game remains in the balance with five teams with only one conference loss: Georgia (5-1), Texas A&M (5-1), Tennessee (4-1), Texas (3-1) and LSU (3-1).
The Tigers play what amounts to an SEC elimination game with Alabama (3-2 SEC) in Death Valley at 7:30 p.m. (ABC).
With the SEC race in mind, some of the AJC pollsters weighed in on their projections for the SEC Championship Game this week:
Josh Ward, WNML-Knoxville
I’ll stick with Georgia vs. Texas in the SEC title game.
“Georgia has two big challenges the next two weeks against Ole Miss and Tennessee. And the regular season finale between Texas and Texas A&M could go either way.
I’ll take what I believe are the top two teams in the league: Georgia against Texas
Kaylee Mansell, Cox Enterprises-DawgNation
SEC Championship: UGA vs LSU. It’s crazy to think that the SEC may not know who will participate in the SEC Championship game until the last regular season game is over.
My thoughts go to the process of elimination: UGA defeats Ole Miss and Tennessee putting them both out of SECCG contention.
LSU takes out Alabama giving them their third loss. Texas defeats Texas A&M. Therefore, UGA, LSU, and Texas all have one loss.
However, due to head to head matchups, UGA’s win over Texas would let them in. Therefore, the SECCG is set with a one-loss UGA and a one-loss LSU.
Edgar Thompson, Orlando Sentinel
Georgia versus Texas. The SEC’s standard-bearer faces the new kid on the block for a championship and potential top seed in the College Football Playoffs.
Aaron Torres, Fox Sports
“How crazy is the SEC this year? There’s a five-way tie atop, and that doesn’t even include the defending SEC champion, nor a preseason Top 10 team that was a buzzy preseason pick in Ole Miss.
I think Texas goes 4-0 down the stretch, including a win in College Station to finish the regular season at 11-1, 7-1 in the SEC and headed to Atlanta for the championship game.
Here’s where it gets complicated … I believe there will be a six-way tie for second place in the league standings.
Ole Miss beats Georgia, wins out and ends up 6-2 in the league standings. Georgia loses to Ole Miss, but beats Tennessee at home, leaving both those teams at 6-2 in league play.
Alabama beats LSU and wins out, leaving them at 6-2 in league play, but it also leaves LSU at 6-2 as well.
Finally, Texas A&M’s loss to Texas would leave them at 6-2.
In the end though, I’ll leave it up to the math experts at the league office to decide who represents the league based on my scenario. Who knew covering SEC football involved so much addition, subtraction and long division?!”
Big Riser: Ole Miss jumped from No. 6 to No. 4 after its 63-31 road win at Arkansas, a victory that matched the most points the program had ever scored against an SEC opponent.
Big drops: Texas A&M fell out of a tie for second and into fourth after dropping a 44-20 game under the lights at South Carolina.
Arkansas dropped from No. 10 to No. 12 after the 32-point home loss to Ole Miss.
Outliers: Missouri and Florida actually moved up a spot (at Arkansas’ expense) despite not winning games.
The Tigers were idle, distancing themselves from a 34-0 road loss at Alabama in which starting QB Brady Cook left the game injured.
The Gators lost to Georgia 34-20, but not before taking a 13-6 lead into halftime and rallying to tie the game at 20-20 with 7:29 left in the fourth quarter.
AJC SEC Power Poll
Note: The parenthetical after the current ranking denotes last week’s ranking.
1. (1) Georgia — 144 points — Highest vote 1, Lowest vote 1
2. (T-2) Texas — 135 points —Highest vote 2, Lowest vote 2
3. (4) Tennessee — 126 points — Highest vote 3, Lowest vote 3
4. (T-2) Texas A&M — 107 points — Highest vote 4, Lowest vote 7
5. (7) Ole Miss — 104 points — Highest vote 4, Lowest vote 7
6. (5) LSU — 101 points — Highest vote 4, Lowest vote 8
7. (6) Alabama — 97 points — Highest vote 4, Lowest vote 8
8. (8) Vanderbilt — 77 points — Highest vote 6, Lowest vote 10
9. (9) South Carolina — 76 points — Highest vote 6, Lowest vote 10
10. (11) Missouri — 60 points — Highest vote 8, Lowest vote 12
11. (12) Florida — 55 points — Highest vote 10, Lowest vote 12
12. (10) Arkansas — 51 points — Highest vote 10, Lowest vote 13
13. (14) Oklahoma — 33 points — Highest vote 13, Lowest vote 14
T-14. (15) Kentucky — 23 points — Highest vote 12, Lowest vote 16
T-14 (13) Auburn — 23 points — Highest vote 13, Lowest vote 16
16. (16) Mississippi State — 12 points — Highest vote 14, Lowest vote 16
SEC Power poll voting panel
This week’s SEC games
(Opening lines via Circa Sports)
Florida at Texas -22, noon, ABC
Georgia -3 at Ole Miss, 3:30 p.m., ABC
South Carolina -2.5 at Vanderbilt, 4:15 p.m., SEC Network
Mississippi State at Tennessee -24, 7 p.m., ESPN
Alabama -3 at LSU, 7:30 p.m., ABC
Oklahoma at Missouri -4, 7:45 p.m., SEC Network
