Forget everything said about Georgia being the new frontrunner to win the Southeastern Conference Eastern Division. South Carolina — two weeks after being walloped by Texas A&M at home — pulled out a gutsy 38-35 win at home to stay alive in the SEC East race.
Following all the SEC East games on Saturday, Florida was the top team in the East. Its first-place ranking was earned despite needing triple overtime to stave off Kentucky — a team Florida has beat 28 consectutive years.
That is not exactly encouraging for Florida fans, who will watch their team travel to Tuscaloosa to take on the No. 3 Alabama on Saturday.
Besides Florida, Missouri is the only undefeated team in the East that hasn’t been talked about.
Without defensive ends Michael Sam and Kony Ealy — and no Dorial Green-Beckham on offense — the Tigers are quietly beating teams.
Missouri opens SEC play with a road game against South Carolina on Sept. 27. Remember, no one was talking about this team much until the end of last season when they found themselves atop the SEC East and made it to Atlanta.
The SEC West has talent across the board: It would not be surprising if the SEC West champion has two division losses come the SEC Championship in December.
The current AP Poll has five SEC West teams ranked among the top-10 teams — No. 3 Alabama, No. 5 Auburn, No. 6 Texas A&M, No. 8 LSU and No. 10 Ole Miss. The highest ranked team from the SEC East is Georgia, which is somehow sitting ahead of South Carolina at No. 13.
The first four SEC West teams easily have the talent to contend for a College Football Playoff, but having more losses from playing in a gauntlet of a division could hurt their chances. Ole Miss could surprise people in their matchup at home against Alabama in a few weeks. The Rebels will likely still be undefeated heading into the week six matchup.
Puzzling Losses Put Question Marks Above Teams: Virginia Tech, which went into Columbus, Ohio, and upset then-No. 4 Ohio State in Week 2, completely flopped at home to follow the upset win by inexplicably losing to an unranked East Carolina. The Hokies’ loss makes OSU look even worse, and perhaps hurts their chances at getting back in the playoff to represent the Big Ten.
Louisville went on the road to Virginia that came into the game with a 10-game FBS losing streak and lost by a field goal thanks to a muffed punt on their own 25. The Cards were the new favorites to win the Atlantic Coast Conference Coastal Division following their week one win over Miami.
USC, which beat a talented Stanford team on the road in week three to give them the No. 9 ranking, followed it up by getting upset on the road by unranked Boston College. The Pac-12 now looks even more favorable for Oregon moving forward.
Who Are You?: Notre Dame, which shut out Michigan, did win in week four, but they had difficulty pulling out a 14-point victory over a bad Purdue team in Indianapolis. The notion that the Irish are the one team that can upset Florida State this season looks a little less promising following the underwhelming performance.
And UCLA, 2014’s sleeper playoff pick heading into the year, barely beat a Texas team that had been beaten by a combined 65 points in weeks one and two. Not to mention they lost starting quarterback Brett Hundley (elbow) in the first quarter.
Follow Morgan Moriarty on Twitter @Morgan_Moriarty
Alabama quarterback Blake Sims (6) throws as he works through drills during Alabama football practice on Monday at the Thomas-Drew Practice Facility in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
