Week 10 shook up the SEC, and the fallout showed up again on Sunday when the new Super 16 poll dropped.
The conference had a rough-and-tumble weekend of crossover games that helped sort out the real College Football Playoff and SEC title threats from the teams slipping out of the picture. When the dust settled, five SEC programs had earned spots in the National Football Foundation’s latest top 16.
Georgia claimed the top spot in the new Super 16 poll, just as it did in Sunday’s AP Poll. The Bulldogs backed up that ranking with a blowout win at Ole Miss on Saturday night, and they remain the SEC’s lone one-loss team as Week 11 approaches. That performance also kept Georgia perched at No. 1 in both the AP and Coaches’ polls.
The SEC’s next representative doesn’t show up until No. 7, where Alabama landed after its own statement win on the road. The Crimson Tide went into Baton Rouge and beat LSU, leaving the Tigers on the edge of irrelevance in the Playoff conversation.
Alabama kicked off a run of three straight SEC teams in the poll. Texas checked in at No. 8, followed by Tennessee at No. 9.
Kentucky rounded out the league’s group of five, but the Wildcats took a hit after Saturday night’s loss at Tennessee. They dropped five places to No. 13.
With nearly a third of the poll occupied by SEC teams, here is how the full new Super 16 looked on Sunday:
In Other News...
LSUs Alabama Loss Exposed One Offensive Problem Fans Cant Ignore
LSUs loss to Alabama did more than sting in the standings. It also came with a harsh grading snapshot from Pro Football Focus, which handed the Tigers their lowest offensive and defensive marks since earlier defeats this season. For a team still trying to find consistency on that side of the ball, the numbers reinforced what the eye test suggested on a difficult night.
Among the individual evaluations, Jackson Harris came away with LSUs top offensive grade, while Braelin Moore drew one of the lowest marks for pass blocking. Those kinds of splits matter because they point to where the Tigers were getting solid work and where the protection issues kept showing up. For LSU, the bigger concern is not just the result itself, but how clearly the grading exposed the same offensive problem fans have been watching all season. [Read more 🡒]
LSU Playoff Hopes Took A Brutal Hit For One Frustrating Reason
LSUs playoff path took a major blow in Tuscaloosa, where the Tigers left with a 31-13 loss to Alabama despite moving the ball well for long stretches. The numbers on the stat sheet were not the problem so much as what happened when LSU got close to the goal line. The Tigers piled up more than 450 yards of offense and controlled possession, but drives kept dying in the red zone, and missed field goals plus turnovers turned promising possessions into empty ones.
Alabama made LSU pay for every mistake, with quarterback Keelon Russell delivering a sharp performance by completing 17 of 24 passes for 206 yards and three touchdowns. LSUs offense also had to deal with steady pressure and a rushing attack that never really took hold, which made the red-zone failures even more costly. For a team trying to stay in the College Football Playoff conversation, it was the kind of frustrating loss that lingers because the production was there, but the finishing touch was not. [Read more 🡒]
LSU Just Suffered Another Alabama Gut Punch At Home
LSU spent much of the night doing enough to stay in the game on paper, but not enough where it mattered most, and Alabama left Tiger Stadium with another familiar result in a place that has become increasingly unfriendly to the Tigers. The Crimson Tide won 31-13, extending a run that has seen them take seven of their last eight trips to Baton Rouge, even though LSU actually outgained Alabama in total yards.
The frustration for LSU came from missed chances that piled up as the game went on, including failed fourth-down tries and a missed field goal that kept points off the board when the Tigers needed them most. Afterward, Lane Kiffin said the loss has to be put behind them, but for LSU the bigger issue is harder to ignore: against Alabama, the margin keeps getting decided by execution, not effort. [Read more 🡒]