SEC Power Rankings: The Top Two Are Ready to Collide

The table is now set in Tuscaloosa as the two SEC powers collide in what is shaping up to be the biggest game of the year in the SEC and maybe in the country. First Ole Miss.

The Rebels are the closest thing we’ve seen to an All-star team in Oxford since 1963….that’s 52 years by my math. The talent and depth on this team is staggering and through the first two contests there are no apparent weaknesses. Chad Kelly is the best quarterback in the league right now…bar none. Can anyone stop this scoring machine? Bama holds the best chance.

Ole Miss and Alabama have the best two defenses in the SEC this year and maybe, just maybe the best two offenses as well. Texas A&M could factor into the latter, however the jury is still out in College Station. Bama will try to shut down the Rebel running game forcing Kelly to throw almost every play which may be their undoing. If Bama has a vulnerability on defense, it is in the secondary. Make no mistake it will definitely be tested Saturday night.

Ole Miss will have their hands full slowing down Bama’s ground attack, but if any team can do it, we can! This game somewhat reminds me of the Texas A&M – Alabama game in recent years when A&M’s offense was just too much for Bama to contain. However, we’ve NEVER defeated them back-to-back. Will 2015 be the first? The game of the year is now.

Around the rest of the league there were a few major surprises starting with the Arkansas “crash and burn” at the hands of the Toledo Rockets. Who saw this disaster coming? The win by Kentucky at SC shows just how far the “ole ball coach” has fallen…now to the SEC cellar with Vanderbilt. Note the top tier in this week’s Power Rankings reflect five of the first six from the SEC west. Only Georgia and Missouri made the elite seven.

This week Auburn heads to LSU which will definitely place the loser in a difficult position going forward. Through the first two games Auburn appears to be the most overrated preseason team of the league with A&M the most underrated.

Tennessee’s loss to Oklahoma in Knoxville wasn’t Skeeter Davis’ ” The End of the World” but it was close. The Vols are still not there quite yet as their defense and inconsistent offense remain works in progress. Back to the west it’s going to be a long season for our boys in Starkville. The “school down south” cannot stop a cold on defense let alone an offensive juggernaut which LSU is far from having one. However, the Bengals continued their domination in Starkville as State struggled the entire night in attempting to hold on. It was too little and too late.

The home field loss was devastating to the Bulldogs of the west. This week aside from the center stage matchup, the most interesting matchups for Ole Miss fans are Auburn at LSU and Florida at Kentucky. Should the Rebels prevail in Tuscaloosa (I can’t believe I’m even thinking this), this Rebel force is capable of running the table. Ten or eleven wins is probable at this juncture with a “Final Four” invitation more real than ever.

After Saturday night we’ll know a great deal more. I’m hoping for the best birthday gift ever…a “W'” and praying that Hoppy Langley’s prediction is correct!

Steve Vassallo is a HottyToddy.com contributor. Steve writes on Ole Miss athletics, Oxford business, politics and other subjects. He is an Ole Miss grad and former radio announcer for the basketball team. Currently, Steve is a highly successful leader in the real estate business who lives in Oxford with his wife Rosie. You can contact Steve at sovassallo@gmail.com or call him at 985-852-7745.