Will the Real SEC Champion Stand Up, Please?

Before the 2014 college football season started, I predicted that the SEC Championship Game would feature the winner of the Iron Bowl against South Carolina.

Georgia and LSU are as talented as anyone, but Georgia always has a knack for dropping at least one game that keeps from a title game, and LSU lacks experience at key positions.

Mississippi State has the second best quarterback in the league, but lacks the depth to make a long run to the SEC title game. Ole Miss goes as Bo Wallace goes, and as long as he takes care of the ball (a seemingly difficult task for the senior), the Rebels could be an SEC dark horse. Missouri would fly under the radar and compete for East, but they could be bothered by the loss of talent in the backfield and on the defensive line.

Florida could be much improved; with a better offense combined with an extremely talented defense, the Gators could be the dark horse of the East.

Arkansas, Tennessee, and Kentucky would be about the same as last year, while Vanderbilt (losing head coach James Franklin to Penn State) and Texas A&M (trying to replace Johnny Manziel and his favorite target, Mike Evans) would take a step back from last year’s success.

All of this is what I thought going into the season opener.

And then Texas A&M rolled over South Carolina in Columbia 52-28 in the very first game, turning everything I thought I knew about the SEC on its head.

From there, the world of SEC football has gone from slightly unpredictable to downright crazy.

What has transpired over the past five weeks has been unabridged insanity, and we haven’t even gotten into the real meat of this year’s conference matchups.

Texas A&M dominated South Carolina on the road 52-28 in week one, but needed overtime to complete a 21-point comeback over Arkansas yesterday, who was beaten handily by Auburn 45-21, also in week one.

After struggling in its second game as well, South Carolina showed renewed intensity and beat Georgia 38-35 after the Bulldogs dominated Clemson 45-21 in their first game, and jumped into many experts’ College Football Playoff projections.

That same Georgia team struggled mightily against an upstart Tennessee team yesterday, narrowly pulling out a 35-32 win.

Florida and Kentucky battled in a shootout all the way to triple overtime before Florida came out on top in week three; that same Florida team was eventually overwhelmed by Alabama 42-21 in Tuscaloosa in week four.

Kentucky won the clash of the scrubs with Vanderbilt 17-7 yesterday, not long after the Commodores were thrashed by Temple 37-7 in their first game, demolished by Ole Miss 41-3, and barely beat Massachusetts 34-31. Vanderbilt also played a close game against a very unpredictable South Carolina team.

Mississippi State held off a furious LSU comeback in Death Valley in week four, after dominating the Tigers for nearly three whole quarters. Yesterday, Missouri upset South Carolina in Columbia, a week after being upset themselves by Indiana at home.

What the first five weeks of SEC football have proven is this: no one is unbeatable.

So my question is this: who will win the SEC?

No single team has emerged as a frontrunner thus far, and every squad has noticeable weaknesses that can be exploited by more than one team in the conference.

Alabama’s secondary is extremely vulnerable, and the Crimson Tide offense has been a bit turnover prone. Auburn has taken care of business at home with convincing wins, but struggled offensively on the road against Kansas St, and the secondary has had some problems.

Texas A&M’s offense is flying high, but struggled on both sides of the ball against the physical play of Arkansas. Todd Gurley is a force of nature and best running back in the nation, but Hutson Mason hasn’t made enough big plays for Georgia for me to be totally sold on him.

Ole Miss’s defense is quite talented, but their success ultimately rides on the consistency of Bo Wallace. Force Wallace into making mistakes (it’s easier than you’d think), and Ole Miss is very beatable.

Mississippi State was the most underrated team in the SEC until they exposed LSU, and Dak Prescott is a superstar in the making, but the Bulldogs have problems in their secondary and linebackers, and occasionally struggle with consistency on both sides of the ball.

LSU has tons of young talent and should be scary good the next couple of years, but for now, they need to get their quarterback issues worked out. Missouri hasn’t been bad, but they haven’t been impressive, either. Maty Mauk is a touchdown machine, but the ground game has been pedestrian against mediocre competition.

South Carolina has been hot and cold, the most difficult team to get a read on. Their secondary definitely has huge holes in it, and Dylan Thompson makes some questionable throws. Bret Bielema’s “real American football” is working outside the SEC for Arkansas, but the Razorbacks still don’t have enough depth to control games late.

Florida’s offense is certainly better, but it isn’t where Will Muschamp wants it yet. And now I have questions about their secondary surrendered 400-plus passing yards to Alabama. Tennessee, like LSU, has lots of youthful potential, but right now have no experience on the offensive or defensive lines.

Kentucky is improving, but still need more playmakers on offense. Every other team simply has better athletes. And as sad as it is to see, Vanderbilt is back to being Vanderbilt. They can’t stop anyone on defense, and they’re playing musical chairs with their quarterback.

Every single team is beatable, a good and bad thing if you’re an SEC team looking at your schedule. Yes, every remaining game could be a win in theory, but that also means they could just as easily be losses.

This year, more than ever, no SEC team is safe. Fans outside the southeast don’t realize just how much these teams beat up on each other, and this year it will be more evident than ever.

This coming Saturday will tell us a lot about where everyone in the conference really stands. All six of the SEC West’s ranked teams are in action, with 15^th-ranked LSU travelling to take on fifth-ranked Auburn, sixth-ranked Texas A&M visiting 12^th-ranked Mississippi State, and third-ranked Alabama road trips over to eleventh-ranked Ole Miss.

Florida and Tennessee square off in Knoxville, 13^th-ranked Georgia takes on Vanderbilt in Athens, and South Carolina meets Kentucky in Lexington.

Once the dust settles, we might have a clearer picture of who’s for real and who’s not. But if the first five weeks have been any indication, we probably won’t.

But I do feel confident saying that there will not be an undefeated team in the SEC this year. Only five remain, and they all have a tough road ahead of them.

But that’s what we all love about college football, right? The unpredictability? It adds to the excitement.

And this year, there will be no finish more exciting than that of the Southeastern Conference.