Alright guys at the mid-point in the season, it looks like a 3 horse race between Alabama, Auburn, and LSU. UM, MSU, and Ark. are so far out, they are out of this world and into the next county.
Final order of finish?
I'm gonna go with defense and say the Tide #1, Auburn #2, and LSU #3. LSU already has one SEC loss. The Tide and Auburn are unbeaten in the SEC, but Auburn has not really played the meat of their SEC schedule yet.
Auburn's offense appears to have enough firepower now, with that great D, to make some noise. Not sold on LSU yet ---too many turnovers ---will catch up with them, despite their overall great team talent.
IF Croyle gets hurt, then the Tide will fade. D alone won't be enough. Hopefully for that young man, his injury days are over. He took some pretty good shots in the UM game and got right up each time ---tough kid.
Auburn has not really been tested yet, except for maybe the season opener when they clearly were not yet ready for prime time. As Webbmaster predicted, all of that changed with their relatively easy early schedule giving them a chance to slowly regroup and gain confidence on the offensive side of the ball.
And the funny thing, at this point, is that an improving Ole Miss team and defense could play a spoiler role in this 3 horse race to the finish. And I would feel really bad about that.
As for the remaining 3 teams (UM, MSU, or Ark.), it is the Weedwacker Bowl at best, and playing for pride and next season most likely.