ESPN College Football

We're putting spring behind us and looking toward the fall with our post-spring power rankings:

1. LSU: The Tigers had one of the best springs around. Things were quiet off the field, and the offense rallied behind quarterback Zach Mettenberger. Coach Les Miles was very impressed with Mettenberger's play and maturity, and expects LSU's offense to be more balanced with him under center. LSU can still use four or five running backs, as well. Defensively, the Tigers are stacked once again, especially up front with two potential first-rounders in ends Sam Montgomery and Barkevious Mingo. Questions surround the inexperienced linebackers, but Kevin Minter had a tremendous spring in the middle. On paper, LSU is equipped with the talent to make another title run, and gets Alabama at home this year.

2. Alabama: While the defending national champs saw a lot of "new" faces on defense this spring, coach Nick Saban left happy with where his players were -- but not satisfied. There is still work to be done, especially in the secondary, where the Tide must replace three starters. Dont'a Hightower and Courtney Upshaw are gone at linebacker, but the coaches were impressed with how Nico Johnson, C.J. Mosley and Adrian Hubbard played this spring. Some think Hubbard, a redshirt sophomore, could be Bama's top pass-rusher. Offensively, quarterback AJ McCarron is back, more mature and surrounded by a very veteran line. He has a group of younger receivers to throw to, but has at least four quality running backs. Alabama's road to repeating is tougher, with games at Arkansas and LSU.

3. South Carolina: A healthy Marcus Lattimore (knee) at RB makes South Carolina an even better contender for the SEC East crown. His status is uncertain, but the pieces around him are pretty impressive. Quarterback Connor Shaw had an impressive spring, and looks ready to be the passer coach Steve Spurrier wants him to be. The defense is once again stacked, especially up front with ends Jadeveon Clowney and Devin Taylor. There are questions in the secondary, with two new, young starters in Victor Hampton (cornerback) and Brison Williams (safety), while senior Akeem Auguste returns after missing last season with a foot injury. Still, Spurrier is chirping about his SEC counterparts, so you know he thinks he's got a good team this year.

4. Georgia: The Bulldogs should be higher on this list, but when you take into account the suspensions of four defensive starters at the beginning of the season, they slide a little. Georgia returns nine defensive starters, including one of the nation's best linebackers in Jarvis Jones, and some firepower on offense, led by veteran quarterback Aaron Murray, who could get some early Heisman love. It also sounds like enigmatic running back Isaiah Crowell is slowly turning things around. Yet again, the Bulldogs have a favorable SEC schedule, with no games against Alabama, Arkansas or LSU, so their road to the SEC championship is easier than South Carolina's, but keep an eye on that inexperienced offensive line.

5. Arkansas: If not for Bobby Petrino's embarrassing dismissal, the Razorbacks might be ranked higher. Offensively, it doesn't get much better than what Arkansas has. Tyler Wilson returns as arguably the league's best quarterback, and he'll get to work with one of the most complete backs around, Knile Davis, who is returning from a devastating ankle injury. An older and more improved offensive line returns, and so does a talented receiving corps led by Cobi Hamilton. But there are questions. How effective will interim coach John L. Smith be, especially if something goes wrong? Will Marquel Wade's suspension leak into the fall after his spring arrest? And will the defense improve and be more aggressive under new coordinator Paul Haynes? The good news is that Alabama and LSU play in Fayetteville this fall.

6. Florida: The chemistry is much better in Gainesville. Florida returns 10 starters from a defense that ranked eighth nationally in 2011. Matt Elam looks like a budding star at safety, and Florida's linebacking group is solid. Buck/defensive end Ronald Powell could be out after tearing his ACL this spring, but coach Will Muschamp recently said Powell is off crutches. Stud defensive tackle Dominique Easley is also walking fine after tearing his ACL in last year's season finale. The Gators have their third offensive coordinator in three years, and unproven sophomore quarterbacks Jacoby Brissett and Jeff Driskel are still battling. Florida has unproven running backs and receivers, but the offensive line toughened up tremendously.

7. Auburn: The Tigers welcomed two new coordinators, Scot Loeffler and Brian VanGorder, this spring, and by all accounts players were very receptive. Coach Gene Chizik is still dealing with a lot of youth, as close to 70 percent of his roster is made up of underclassmen. One of those underclassmen is quarterback Kiehl Frazier, who made strides as a passer this spring and seems to have the edge in the quarterback race with Clint Moseley, who missed some of the spring with a sore shoulder. The defensive line will be the team's strength, with end Dee Ford exploding this spring and Corey Lemonier returning. There is a lot of depth up front on defense, which will go a long way for the Tigers.

8. Missouri: Coach Gary Pinkel and his players have made it clear they aren't intimidated by the move to the SEC. These new Tigers return solid offensive firepower, but there has to be some concern about quarterback James Franklin, who missed most of the spring after having surgery on his throwing shoulder. Plus, Mizzou's backup QB could miss games this fall after his recent arrest, so the Tigers' offensive success will be riding on Franklin's health. The Tigers are replacing a few starters on both lines, but feel confident about both areas. Mizzou will face a Georgia team down a few defensive players in Week 2, but must travel to South Carolina, Florida, Tennessee and Texas A&M.

9. Tennessee: A lot is different in Knoxville, as the Vols welcomed seven new assistant coaches. Coach Derek Dooley insists the changes were for the best, but there's still going to be some adjusting to do this fall. The good news is that Tennessee returns a lot on both sides of the ball, starting with quarterback Tyler Bray and receivers Justin Hunter and Da'Rick Rogers. A healthy trio there makes Tennessee's passing game one of the best in the league. Questions remain on the offensive line and at running back, but improvements were made this spring. New defensive coordinator Sal Sunseri would like to run more 3-4 this fall, but players aren't totally comfortable, leaving some concerns.

10. Mississippi State: Quarterback Tyler Russell finally looks ready to take over as the guy in Starkville, and he'll have a veteran receiving corps to work with. However, that group still has a lot to prove, especially senior Chad Bumphis. The running game looks solid with LaDarius Perkins and Nick Griffin, and the offensive line got help from the junior college ranks. Defensively, there are a few holes to fill up front and in the secondary, but Johnthan Banks and Corey Broomfield are a solid cornerback tandem and linebacker is set with a few vets back, including stud Cameron Lawrence. Junior college defensive end Denico Autry has to perform early to help a line with a couple of holes.

11. Texas A&M: The Aggies have some holes to fill this year, but the offensive line will be a strength. Left tackle Luke Joeckel, a future first-rounder, leads a line that returns four starters. Star wide receiver Ryan Swope is back, and running back Christine Michael should be healthy (knee) this fall, but quarterback is an issue. Sophomore Jameill Showers has the edge right now, but like all of his competitors, he lacks experience. The defense will lean on linebackers Sean Porter, Steven Jenkins, Jonathan Stewart and converted end Damontre Moore, but the secondary has depth and experience issues, and the team will still be adjusting to a new staff led by coach Kevin Sumlin.

12. Vanderbilt: There is some solid offensive talent in Nashville, starting with running back Zac Stacy and receivers Jordan Matthews and Chris Boyd, but coach James Franklin is still waiting for quarterback Jordan Rodgers to be more consistent. The offensive line is very thin and could barely get through spring. The defense must replace a handful of starters and leaders, but Franklin felt better about guys like linebacker Chase Garnham, defensive end Walker May and cornerback Trey Wilson. Vandy's schedule will be tough this fall, and if that offensive line doesn't hold up, getting back to a bowl will be tough.

13. Kentucky: Coach Joker Phillips was pleased with how spring practice ended, especially when it came to finding offensive playmakers, like receivers Demarco Robinson and Daryl Collins. Quarterback Maxwell Smith had a solid spring, but struggled during the spring game, meaning the battle with Morgan Newton and freshman Patrick Towles should go into the fall. The offensive line is still trying to get by after losing three starters, and the Wildcats must replace six starters at linebacker and in the secondary. Given the Wildcats' schedule, they will need to sweep their nonconference games to be in bowl shape.

14. Ole Miss: The arrival of coach Hugh Freeze brought a lot of positive change to Ole Miss, especially off the field, but there are still a lot of concerns. There are depth issues at just about every position, especially running back and defensive tackle. Even one of the most experienced groups, the offensive line, has struggled mightily with picking up Freeze's spread offense and is the team's biggest weakness. Academic issues are also worrying Ole Miss' staff, and top running back Jeff Scott and cornerback/receiver Nickolas Brassell are in that group. Quarterback is still up for grabs, but progress was made on defense, especially in the secondary.

We're taking a look at some of the breakout SEC players from this spring:

• Marcus Caffey, CB, Kentucky: Caffey spent his first year on Kentucky's campus looking up at the rest of the running backs on the roster. But the coaches didn't want to waste his talent, so he moved to cornerback, a position in desperate need of bodies. The Caffey experiment worked, as he immediately adapted to his new position and left spring with one of the starting corner spots. The youngster is a bigger body at corner, which will help him when taking on some of the league's bigger receivers.
• Dee Ford, DE, Auburn: After missing most of last season with back issues, Ford came back very strong this spring. The rising junior caused plenty of issues for Auburn's offense all spring with his play off the edge. The rust that was supposed to come with missing most of the previous season wasn't there, and he left with the starting defensive end spot opposite Corey Lemonier. Ford was named the defensive MVP of Auburn's spring game and registered four tackles, including two for loss and one sack.
• Joe Morrow, WR, Mississippi State: Morrow showed that he can be that receiver who really stretches the field in Mississippi State's offense. He was a big-play machine in Starkville this spring with some tough catches and the ability to fly by defenders. The redshirt freshman wasn't ready to play last season and still has some maturing to do, but the staff expects him to expand the Bulldogs' passing game this fall. He caught six passes for 97 yards and a touchdown in the spring game.
• Latroy Pittman, WR, Florida: Coach Will Muschamp said Pittman was one of the most consistent players this spring and had a knack for making the tough catches. Muschamp also said that he had a tremendous work ethic this spring, but must stay grounded. The early enrollee isn't the fastest player out there, but he's big, physical and will immediately help a very unproven receiving corps. He caught two passes for 51 yards in the spring game.
• Antonio Richardson, OT, Tennessee: Richardson spent last year on special teams, but the coaching staff always had an eye on him. The hope was that he'd make a big impact this spring, considering the issues Tennessee had up front last season. The 6-foot-6, 329-pound rising sophomore impressed all spring and left with the starting job at left tackle. He's not only big but he's extremely athletic and tough, making him a solid option at the line's most important position.
• Demarco Robinson, WR, Kentucky: On a team that was in desperate need of more offensive firepower, Robinson was one of the most impressive players at Kentucky's camp and if spring is any indication, he'll have a lot of passes thrown his way. Coach Joker Phillips said Robinson made play after play in practice this spring and should help take some pressure off of rising senior La'Rod King in the passing game. He caught nine passes for 146 yards and two touchdowns in Kentucky's spring game.
• T.J. Yeldon, RB, Alabama: Yeldon enrolled early at Alabama this spring and did more than just go through the motions. The 6-foot-2, 216-pounder continuously showed off an array of moves and wasn't afraid to take a little contact. Yeldon put everything together in Alabama's spring game, where he totaled 179 yards rushing and receiving and scored on a 50-yard pass. He also earned the Dixie Howell Award, which goes to the game's most valuable player. With Trent Richardson gone, Alabama will look to draw more from its stable of running backs this fall. Eddie Lacy might be listed as the starter, but Yeldon showed this spring that he's capable of getting some carries here and there.
• Adrian Hubbard, LB, Alabama: Hubbard had a monster spring for the Crimson Tide. He takes over for Courtney Upshaw at the Jack position and the people at Alabama think he might be the Tide's top pass-rusher this fall. The rising sophomore earned the Dwight Stephenson Lineman of the Game Award given to the spring game's most valuable lineman after registering seven tackles, including four tackles for loss and 3.0 sacks.
• Steven Jenkins, LB, Texas A&M: Jenkins started six games last year, but was still fifth on the team in tackles. The former juco college transfer was all over the field for the Aggies this spring and made a lot of plays at the Will linebacker position. He's very fast and athletic and should really excel in his second year in Mark Snyder's 4-3 defense.

Rick Minter's challenge upon taking over the Kentucky defense last season was clear.

His boss, Joker Phillips, wanted to see a more aggressive defense, a defense that created more turnovers and a defense that persevered.

"It’s our goal on defense is to be known as one of the nastier units, one of the more efficient units and it’s hard to prepare for us, and you've got to bring your hard hat every time you go against us on defense," Minter said.

Last season was just the start.

The Wildcats' final stats weren't great. They finished 10th in the league in both total defense and scoring defense. It took a while to adjust to Minter's new system, and there were some hiccups along the way, most notably the three-game stretch against Florida, LSU and South Carolina. Kentucky lost all three games and gave up a combined 137 points. The low point was the 54-3 drubbing at South Carolina.

"We played well against LSU," Minter said. "Some of the numbers don’t show it. And, yet, we laid a complete egg against South Carolina. We’ve got to become more consistent. No matter who we have out there, we have to play the game much more consistently. We like to say that championships are our goals. You want to have a winning season and go to bowl games, but your highest goal is to win the East and try to play for the national championship and try to fall in line with all the rest of these teams.

"To do that, you have to play great defense every week."

What was so encouraging for Phillips and Minter was the way the Wildcats finished the season and the promise that so many of the younger players showed.

In three of its last four games, Kentucky held opponents to 19 or fewer points, including a 30-13 win over Ole Miss and a 10-7 win over Tennessee. In the 19-10 loss to Georgia, the Wildcats held the Bulldogs to 317 total yards and then limited the Vols to 276 total yards the next week. In those last two games, Kentucky also forced seven turnovers.

"I like what I see in the young guys," Phillips said. "We got a chance to see a lot of them during the last part of last season, on defense especially, against Georgia and Tennessee. We had some injuries and were forced to play some of the young guys, and it was very encouraging how we played on defense. They were running around and making plays, a lot of true freshmen -- Bud Dupree, Eric Dixon, Ashely Lowery, Christian Coleman, all those young kids. We had them at every level --defensive line, safety, linebacker and corner."

It's time to take that next step in 2012, and the Wildcats will be without their two most productive players from a year ago -- Danny Trevathan and Winston Guy.

"We really proved to ourselves at the end of the season, one that we could compete with anybody in the conference, and two, our scheme works if we go out and play and execute it and play with emotion," Minter said. "I think we at least set a tone, got some foundations laid. Now, it’s all about what we do this year."

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Schools in the SEC have been known to spend millions of dollars during the recruiting process.

If a kid can play, schools are going to find him.

Kentucky quarterback Maxwell Smith was the exception. He recruited Kentucky.

Now a sophomore, Smith heads into the 2012 season as the guy to beat at the quarterback position for Kentucky. Coach Joker Phillips said coming out of the spring that Smith would be the Wildcats’ starter if the season started today.

Not bad for somebody who didn’t have a single offer from an FBS school when his senior season of high school ended. For that matter, national signing day came and went that February, and Smith still didn’t have an offer from an FBS school.

A Granada Hills, Calif., product, Smith had Sacramento State as a possibility and was also thinking hard about going to junior college.

“I found Kentucky. They didn’t find me,” Smith now jokes.

What happened is that Smith didn’t play his junior season of high school. He had some minor injuries and was playing at a high school, Bishop Alemany in Mission Hills, Calif., that ran the ball most of the time.

So Smith transferred prior to his senior season to Birmingham High School in Van Nuys, Calif., and put up big numbers.

The only problem was that schools were just starting to hear about him and thought he was a junior.

“Stanford and UCLA were asking for my film, but they thought I was a junior,” Smith explained. “I was way under the radar.”

Determined to play big-time college football, Smith started sending out tape from his senior season. He picked out several SEC schools with offenses that he felt like fit his game. Kentucky was on that list.

Offensive line coach Mike Summers was the coach Smith made contact with, and the Wildcats immediately liked what they saw. They offered Smith a scholarship, but like everybody else, thought he was a junior.

Smith wound up coming on a visit to Kentucky two springs ago. He still didn’t have a firm offer at that point. The Wildcats were full and didn’t have any scholarships available, so they offered him a chance to grayshirt, which meant delaying enrollment until that January.

Smith accepted, and even though there was very little fanfare surrounding his signing, he had exactly what he wanted -- a chance to compete at the highest level in college football.

“I just went back to California and worked,” Smith said. “I didn’t have a playbook or anything. I didn’t even know any of the Kentucky players. I just knew I had to work as hard as I could to be ready.”

Smith didn’t have to wait long to get his first taste of the SEC. He played in eight games last season as a true freshman and made his first start against Ole Miss in Game 9.

Kentucky trailed in the fourth quarter of that game, but Smith brought the Wildcats back with a pair of touchdown passes in the fourth quarter, and they won 30-13. Smith finished 19-of-36 for 283 yards. His 38-yard touchdown pass to La’Rod King was a beauty, and most importantly, he didn’t throw any interceptions.

“The thing you like about Maxwell is his toughness and the way the guys respond to him,” Phillips said. “That’s something your quarterback’s got to have, and Maxwell never flinched last year.”

The 6-foot-4, 230-pound Smith started the rest of the way until a sprained throwing shoulder kept him out of the finale against Tennessee.

While not pleased with the two interceptions he threw in the spring game, Smith said there’s no question that his teammates look at him in a different light than they did this time a year ago.

“They know me now and know what I can do,” Smith said. “Nobody really knew anything about me last year. But when I went into that Mississippi State game and played well, and then we came back and won against Ole Miss, you could sort of see everybody then saying, ‘OK, maybe Maxwell can do this.’

“I’ve tried to feed off that. I feel like I have real good camaraderie with my teammates, both on and off the field. I think they trust me now to make good throws and get it right out there.”

Still, Smith isn’t taking anything for granted. A Freshman All-SEC selection a year ago, he knows senior Morgan Newton isn’t going to just lie down when he returns to the practice field this fall. Newton missed the spring after having shoulder surgery.

“With Morgan coming back healthy, you’ve got to win it all over again,” Smith said. “You’re never safe. It’s a business. It really is, just like the NFL. You have to be ready for anything.”

Until somebody tells Smith differently, though, he views it as his job to lose.

“That’s how I’ve got to look at it,” he said. “If I’m performing and doing things well in practice, and they feel like I can help this team win, then it’s my team.”

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Emblazoned on Joker Phillips’ nameplate, which sits on his office desk in Kentucky’s Nutter Training Center, is the inscription, “Til the battle is won.”

That battle, at least from a football sense, is still raging at Kentucky, and it’s never going to be anything but a battle when it comes to making the Wildcats a consistent winner in the SEC.

In this basketball-crazed state, one that’s still aglow thanks to the hoops national championship brought home by John Calipari and his band of one-and-done phenoms this month, football will always reside in the shadows to some degree.

It doesn’t help, either, that the Wildcats are coming off back-to-back losing seasons.

But Phillips, entering his third season as Kentucky’s head coach, has a little different perspective. He’s seen how far the program has come in the past decade, and has been an integral part of the Wildcats’ resurgence.

Prior to last season’s 5-7 finish, the Wildcats were one of only five SEC teams that had gone to five consecutive bowl games. The other four were Alabama, Florida, Georgia and LSU, which is obviously some pretty exalted company.

And even though it was a struggle the whole way offensively a year ago, it’s the way Kentucky ended the season that gives Phillips and his staff so much optimism for 2012.

“We were a game away from playing in our sixth straight bowl game. Only four other teams had done that,” Phillips said. “We were really close, but it was a down year for us with some of the injuries and losing some of the personnel that we lost, and being as young as we were. I think with another year of growth in our system, and another year of growth with our personnel, we think we can get back to the level that we’ve been at and continue to grow from there.”

Phillips couldn’t be more pleased with the young talent in the program, and he said the Wildcats have stuck by their guns in terms of what they’re looking for in a player.

Toward the end of the season, Phillips said he looked out on defense and there were five true freshmen on the field at various times against Georgia and Tennessee. That experience, not to mention the infusion of new talent, will be vital next season, especially with the Wildcats losing top defensive playmakers Danny Trevathan and Winston Guy.

“You look at this last class, and we wanted to find 25 guys who have high character and are highly intelligent, and have ability also,” Phillips said. “Those guys that have all those things will do something every day to improve themselves. Therefore, it’s easier for us to develop them and get them ready to play.

“That’s how we decided to build this thing, and we think these last two classes that we put together have a chance to be two of the best classes to ever play here, and we’re already working on a third straight.”

The disappointment of not going to a bowl game last season was tempered by what happened on the final Saturday of the regular season in Lexington.

After 26 straight losses to Tennessee, Kentucky finally ended that drought by beating the Vols 10-7, and did so with senior receiver Matt Roark stepping in and playing quarterback after Maxwell Smith and Morgan Newton were unable to play because of injuries.

Phillips was a player on that 1984 Kentucky team that had last beaten Tennessee, and he’d also been on the losing end to the Vols 15 different times as an assistant coach or head coach.

So, it goes without saying that he suffered as much as anyone through all those losses to the Vols.

“I’d been in a lot of those meeting rooms, war rooms, whatever you want to call it, and trying to get a plan together to beat those guys,” Phillips said. “Never did I think when I left here in 1984 that that would be the last time that we would beat Tennessee in 20-something years.

“A lot of the ex-players who left in 1984 can sit and criticize those teams, but I was a huge part of it. I was in there trying to get those players prepared to beat those guys. So, yes, there was a lot of pain. It didn’t sit well with me. It didn’t sit well with our fans, and I understand that.

“Maybe we can start our own streak now.”

It wasn’t just that one win against Tennessee that reassured Phillips the program was headed in the right direction.

A week earlier, Kentucky went toe-to-toe with eventual Eastern Division champion Georgia on the road, before falling 19-10, and opened the month of November with a 30-13 blistering of Ole Miss.

“The way we finished, period, was encouraging -- playing well against Georgia and then beating Tennessee,” Phillips said. “The thing I liked about the Tennessee game was that we got to see some seniors go out the right way. Every senior that played on defense made plays, but there were a lot of young guys who played, too.

“And for those young guys to have success carried through to the offseason, and that momentum has shown this spring. It’s shown in the way they’ve worked, and now it’s starting to show in their confidence level and the way they’ve played this spring.”

Now that we’ve gone through our position rankings in the SEC for the 2011 season, the only thing left is the coaches.

The head coach is obviously a big part of these rankings, but we’re taking into account the total staff and the job all of the coaches did this season in developing players, developing the team and getting the team to play its best in the biggest moments.

Here goes:

1. Alabama: The only blemish for the national champions was the LSU game in the regular season, and that was an overtime loss. Offensive coordinator Jim McElwain did an excellent job bringing along quarterback AJ McCarron, and it was hard to beat the Tide’s balance on offense. What more can you say about Kirby Smart and the defense? It’s a group that rates up there among the best in Alabama history, and when Nick Saban gets to the title game, he’s money. Alabama was easily the most prepared team on Jan. 9 in the Big Easy.

2. LSU: For 13 games, Les Miles and his entire staff did as good a job as any staff in America. There were several off-the-field issues that Miles handled well, and through it all, he kept his team on point against a killer schedule. Defensive coordinator John Chavis did a masterful job all season and won the Broyles Award as the top assistant coach in the country. But in the end, the Tigers were poorly prepared offensively in the title game and never made any significant adjustments. Miles’ refusal to at least try another quarterback remains a mystery.

3. South Carolina: It’s been a while since Steve Spurrier has been this happy about a football season. The Head Ball Coach and his staff have a lot to be happy about. The Gamecocks won 11 games for the first time ever, beat rival Clemson for the third straight season and did so despite their best player, running back Marcus Lattimore, going down with a knee injury during the middle of the season. It was one of Ellis Johnson’ best defenses at South Carolina, and after he left to take the Southern Miss head job, Lorenzo Ward saw to it that the Gamecocks didn’t miss a beat defensively in their Capital Bowl win over Nebraska.

4. Arkansas: With Tyler Wilson taking over for Ryan Mallett at quarterback, the Hogs were as potent as ever offensively, and that’s a credit to both Bobby Petrino and his right-hand man, Garrick McGee, who left at season’s end to take the UAB head job. Special teams were very good all season, although the Hogs gave up punt returns for touchdowns in their two biggest games of the season against Alabama and LSU. The disappointment was on defense, where Arkansas took a step backward from 2011, which is why Petrino parted ways with Willy Robinson and brought in Paul Haynes.

5. Georgia: Mark Richt and his staff get serious props for recovering from an 0-2 start and steering the Bulldogs to the SEC championship game. A lot of teams would have folded after that South Carolina loss. In particular, defensive coordinator Todd Grantham was invaluable with the mental toughness he brought to a unit that finished fifth nationally in total defense. The only real disappointment for the Bulldogs was how poorly they played on special teams, and the way Richt managed that first overtime in the Outback Bowl loss to Michigan State is another reason Georgia’s staff isn’t ranked a little higher.

6. Vanderbilt: The Commodores’ best win came in the regular-season finale when they routed Wake Forest on the road to qualify for a bowl game. And even though they lost their bowl game and wound up with a losing record, first-year coach James Franklin and his staff breathed new life into a program that had only gone to four bowl games previously in school history. The Commodores lost four of their six SEC games by a total of 19 points, and they improved dramatically on offense, especially in the offensive line. As much as anything, Franklin brought an edge to the program that it had been lacking.

7. Auburn: It’s never easy to go from a 14-0 national championship season to a ho-hum season where you lose three of your last four SEC games by a total of 101 points. The Tigers’ defense was dreadful for most of the season, and other than former tailback Michael Dyer, there wasn’t a lot to get excited about on offense, either. Nonetheless, Gene Chizik and his staff still found a way to carve out eight victories, including wins over five teams that finished the season with winning records.

8. Mississippi State: Maybe the expectations for Mississippi State at the start of the season were a tad unrealistic, but Dan Mullen helped create those expectations by winning nine games in his second season and spanking Michigan in the bowl game. Chris Wilson’s defense came around the second half of the season, but the Bulldogs didn’t take the step most thought they would on offense. They were a couple of plays away from winning nine games again, and it’s the first time Mississippi State has put together back-to-back winning seasons since Jackie Sherrill had four in a row from 1997-2000.

9. Florida: The first year was a mulligan of sorts for Will Muschamp, who inherited some issues off the field he needed to solve. He made a tough (and the right) decision by kicking off his best player, cornerback Janoris Jenkins, after multiple drug arrests. The Gators also held their ground defensively. But the Charlie Weis experiment as offensive coordinator wasn’t a good fit, and the Gators were as bad offensively as they were the year before during Urban Meyer’s last season.

10. Kentucky: Had the Wildcats played just 11 games in 2011, Joker Phillips and his staff might have been ranked even lower. But then came the finale against Tennessee and the end of the 26-game losing streak to the Vols. Not only that, but the Wildcats figured out a way to win with receiver Matt Roark playing quarterback. It was a struggle the whole way offensively during the season, but first-year defensive coordinator Rick Minter deserves credit for bringing a more aggressive approach to the defense and forcing more turnovers.

11. Tennessee: A very average season for the Vols turned into a forgettable season thanks to their lackluster 10-7 loss to Kentucky. The Vols were slowed by key injuries to Justin Hunter and Tyler Bray and were playing a lot of younger players, but Derek Dooley has been the first to say that they also need to coach better going forward. The running game was a no-show in 2011, and there was a serious problem with team chemistry as the season wore on, something Dooley must correct if he’s going to be around long-term on Rocky Top.

12. Ole Miss: It was a tough end to a 14-year SEC coaching run for Houston Nutt. Some poor recruiting classes at the start of his Ole Miss tenure caught up to him, and so did some crippling injuries. There were no answers at quarterback, and even though the numbers were ugly on defense, defensive coordinator Tyrone Nix is a much better football coach than the numbers would suggest. The reality is that when you lose 14 straight conference games over two seasons, you’re not going to be ranked very high in any rankings.

Kentucky has released its entire 2012 signing class.

Coach Joker Phillips and his staff signed 26 players, including two four-star prospects in athlete Patrick Towles (Fort Thomas, Ky./Highlands) and outside linebacker Khalid Henderson (Austell, Ga./Pebblebrook).

The versatile Towles is probably the biggest signee in this class and should compete with Maxwell Smith and Morgan Newton for playing time at quarterback when he gets on campus.

You can view Kentucky's entire 2012 signing class here and you can check out Phillips' signing day news conference at 3 p.m. ET here.

As we take another look at the 2011 season, we'll check out the top 10 moments from the SEC's year.

It's not as easy as it looks, but someone has to do it.

I'm sure we'll think of a couple more as the days go by, but here are our top 10 moments from 2011 in reverse order:

10. Houston Nutt's dismissal: Ole Miss said goodbye to its head coach after Nutt was fired toward the end of the season. After back-to-back nine-win seasons that ended with Cotton Bowl victories, Nutt was fired after two dismal seasons in Oxford. He coached the entire season, but ended his tenure with 14 straight losses to SEC opponents.

9. Kentucky's last stand: There wasn't much for the Wildcats to be proud of in 2011, but Kentucky's 10-7 win over Tennessee was truly memorable. It snapped a 26-game losing streak to the Vols (dating back to when Joker Phillips played at Kentucky) and eliminated Tennessee from postseason play.

8. Georgia clinching the East: After starting the season 0-2, Georgia won 10 straight, but its ninth win meant the most. Georgia's 19-10 win over Kentucky on Nov. 19 clinched the SEC Eastern Division and sent the Bulldogs back to the SEC championship for the first time since 2005.

7. Vandy's bowl bid: Coach James Franklin promised change at Vanderbilt and he got it in his first year. The Commodores reeled off six wins and their 41-7 win over Wake Forest on the last weekend of the regular season sent Vandy bowling for the first time since 2008.

6. Richardson's run: Trent Richardson's Heisman moment came on a run and a move for the ages. Before he could finish off his eventual 76-yard touchdown run in the third quarter against Ole Miss, he had to embarrass defender Senquez Golson by cutting back and then immediately forward, leaving the rookie stumbling to the turf just before the end zone.

5. Adams' return: No plays were as exciting to watch in the SEC -- and probably nationally -- than Joe Adams' amazing punt return against Tennessee. Adams was scintillating, as he reversed field 10 yards and shook off five tackles before darting down the right sideline for what stood as a 60-yard touchdown return.

4. South Carolina's 11th win: Last year, the Gamecocks made history when they made it to their first SEC championship game. In 2011, South Carolina won 11 games in a season for the first time when the Gamecocks routed Nebraska in the Capital One Bowl. It also ended a streak of three straight bowl losses.

3. Reid's interception: When you think back at the 2011 season, Eric Reid's interception against Alabama at LSU's own 1-yard line has to be one of the first images you see. With the Tide running a trick play involving a pass from receiver Marquis Maze to tight end Michael Williams, Reid out-muscled Williams for the ball in midair. The play propelled LSU on its magical run and sent Alabama home with what seemed like a season-changing loss.

2. LSU's magical run ends: LSU was a win away from entering the "best ever" conversation, with eight wins over ranked teams, but LSU ran into a freight train named Alabama in the hated rematch in the Allstate BCS National Championship Game. LSU's offense fell flat as the Tide ran over the Tigers 21-0 in their own backyard of New Orleans.

1. Alabama hoists the crystal football ... again: The state of Alabama clearly owns college football at the moment. Alabama's 21-0 win over LSU in the national championship gave the state three straight crystal footballs and was the second for the Crimson Tide in three years. Nick Saban admitted that this championship (his third) was the sweetest and you could tell because he actually smiled afterward and took his Gatorade bath like a true champ.

For one final time in the 2011 regular season, we hand out our SEC helmet stickers.

This is one star-studded list:

LSU defensive back Tyrann Mathieu: The Honey Badger had sort of been hibernating since his late-October suspension, but he was there front and center Friday in LSU’s 41-17 rout of Arkansas. Mathieu returned a punt 92 yards for a touchdown and forced two fumbles, the first of which led to the Tigers’ touchdown right before the half. He was also playing a new position. With Eric Reid nursing an injury and unable to play, Mathieu shifted from cornerback to safety and looked like a natural.

Alabama running back Trent Richardson: The ballots for the Heisman Trophy are due in a little more than a week. Richardson likely picked up a few more votes Saturday with his career-high 203 yards rushing in the 42-14 win over Auburn. He also scored on a 5-yard touchdown catch and now has 23 touchdowns on the season, which is one off the SEC record of 24, set by Shaun Alexander in 1999. Richardson has 1,583 rushing yards and has played some of his best football this season on the biggest stages.

Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray: He tossed four more touchdown passes in the 31-17 win over Georgia Tech to give him 32 on the season. He’s thrown at least four touchdown passes in three of his last four games and spread his scoring strikes out among four different players against the Yellow Jackets.

Vanderbilt running back Zac Stacy: His 184 rushing yards and three touchdowns led Vanderbilt to a resounding 41-7 road win at Wake Forest, making the Commodores bowl eligible for the just the fifth time in school history. Stacy now has 1,136 yards for the season, which puts him No. 1 all-time among Vanderbilt single-season rushers, and is averaging 6.2 yards per carry.

Kentucky coach Joker Phillips: The season as a whole wasn’t what Phillips or anybody in the Big Blue Nation wanted, but the Wildcats managed to do something Saturday they hadn’t done since Phillips was a senior receiver at Kentucky in 1984. They beat Tennessee after 26 straight defeats to the Vols. Not only that, but the Wildcats did it with a senior receiver, Matt Roark, filling in at quarterback and attempting just six passes. Roark rushed for 124 yards.

Kentucky’s Danny Trevathan exhaled late Saturday afternoon and became the unofficial spokesman for the entire Big Blue Nation.

“It was about time,” Trevathan exclaimed. “We’re celebrating two things today. The streak is dead, and this is a new beginning for Kentucky football.

“These guys can now go on about their business and not have to worry about a streak that lasted 26 years. That’s crazy … 26 years. I mean, a lot of marriages don’t last that long.”

It wasn’t a memorable season by any means for the Wildcats, but nobody’s complaining in the Bluegrass State about how it ended.

For the first time since 1984, Kentucky can celebrate a football victory over Tennessee after holding off the Vols in a 10-7 slugfest at Commonwealth Stadium.

Coming in, Tennessee had won 26 consecutive games in the series, which was the longest streak by one conference opponent against another in major college football.

Trevathan, playing his final game at Kentucky, capped a splendid career with a game he said he’ll never forget.

It wasn’t so much what it meant to him, Trevathan said, but what it meant to his teammates and coaches he leaves behind.

In fact, prior to the game, Kentucky coach Joker Phillips had Trevathan speak to the team in the locker room.

The senior linebacker didn’t hold anything back.

“I just told them that they would all be my brothers until the end,” said Trevathan, who finished his season with 143 total tackles to lead the SEC in that department for the second year in a row. “It had been a rough year for all of us, but I wanted them all to know where I stood and that we were going to stay the course and go out and play our best game.

“I love these guys, and they’re going to carry this thing on now. They don’t have that weight of that 26-game streak on their shoulders any more. It’s gone and not coming back.

“It’s a new beginning for our program, and I’m glad I could be here with these guys to see it end.”

Kentucky snapped the streak with senior receiver Matt Roark going the whole way at quarterback and attempting just 6 passes. The Wildcats’ regular quarterbacks – freshman Maxwell Smith and junior Morgan Newton – were banged up and unable to play.

Whereas Roark wasn’t going to throw it, he finished with 124 rushing yards, and the Wildcats didn’t turn the ball over a single time.

Kentucky (5-7, 2-6 SEC) won’t be going to a bowl game for the first time since 2005, but Trevathan made a plea to fans to stay behind Phillips and the players.

“They’re going to get it done here, and they’re going to keep moving forward,” Trevathan said. “I hope everybody understands that. Having this streak behind us will help.

“My work here is done, but these players and coaches will always be my band of brothers. I’m just glad they won’t have to answer any more questions around here about losing 26 straight games to Tennessee.

“It’s time we start our own streak.”

There is no question that the top of the SEC Power Rankings have remained one of the most consistent elements of college football this season:

1. LSU (11-0, 7-0): It took just 28 seconds for LSU to clinch its game at Ole Miss last week. LSU has been dominant before, but Saturday might have been the Tigers' most dominating performance of the season. It would have been hard to blame the Tigers for losing some emotion and energy after such a tough game against Alabama, but that just hasn't happened. Friday, LSU takes on arguably the conference's hottest team -- Arkansas -- in a game that will have a major impact on both the SEC championship game and the national title. LSU has come this far without a hiccup, it's hard to bet against the Tigers now.

2. Alabama (10-1, 6-1): LSU hasn't missed a beat since topping the Crimson Tide on the road, but Alabama sure has. The Tide was sloppy against Mississippi State and took a while to get things going against Georgia Southern. Still, Alabama is a win away from most likely clinching a berth in the national championship -- even if the Tide doesn't go to the SEC championship. In fact, it would benefit the Tide more not to go to Atlanta. But Alabama must beat hated rival Auburn before it can even think about heading to New Orleans for one last party. Last year's heartbreaking loss to the Tigers is surely still weighing on the Tide, and Saturday is a chance for redemption.

3. Arkansas (10-1, 6-1): Quietly, the Razorbacks have put themselves right in the middle in the national championship conversation. The Hogs are playing their best football right now and are a win away from possibly clinching a spot in the national title game. The Razorbacks enter their much-anticipated game with No. 1 LSU Friday with heavy hearts after the passing of freshman tight end Garrett Uekman Sunday. This should truly be an emotional week for Arkansas players and coaches, who have to figure out a way to get ready for a football game at the end of the week. The emotional toll can go either way for teams in these situations, and Arkansas' veteran leadership will be responsible for helping this team transform its grief.

4. Georgia (9-2, 7-1): The Bulldogs were counted out from the beginning and are now the SEC Eastern Division champs. But what a way to end SEC play. Instead of rolling over Kentucky with the momentum it garnered from a blowout win against Auburn, the Bulldogs came out shaky and could only muster 19 points against a struggling Kentucky team. Still, Georgia captured the East and will make it back to Atlanta for the first time since 2005. Georgia could still throw a wrench into the national championship picture with a stunning win next week, which still makes this a very dangerous team.

5. South Carolina (9-2, 6-2): This has been a tough season for the Gamecocks. What started off as a promising season will end with South Carolina watching the SEC title game instead of playing in it for a second straight year. For everything this team has been through, you have to commend the Gamecocks for finishing as strong as they have. The defense has more than made up for the offense's major shortcomings. Now, the Gamecocks will look to get to double-digit wins by upsetting rival Clemson on Saturday. South Carolina gets the Tigers at home in front of what should be a pretty electric crowd.

6. Auburn (7-4, 4-3): What a season the Tigers have had. After losing pretty much every component to last season's national championship squad, Auburn pulled out victories we never saw coming. This team is blanketed with youth, but never let that get the best of it during close games. There have been plenty of growing pains that have held the Tigers back, but seven wins is pretty good for a team having to totally rebuild this year. Now, the Tigers have a chance to ruin Alabama's season. It wouldn't matter if Auburn had zero wins heading into this weekend. A win against Alabama would cure everything.

7. Florida (6-5, 3-5): Year 1 of the Will Muschamp era almost took a major turn for the worse when the Gators had to scrap together a comeback victory against FCS foe Furman at home Saturday. It proved once again that this team is out of whack on the field, but the Gators certainly fought back after getting down by two scores. It had to be tough on Gators' fans eyes to witness Saturday's near-meltdown, but the win made the Gators bowl eligible for the 21st consecutive season. Florida State is next on the schedule. The Seminoles haven't been too impressive either, which will hurt the national feel of this once proud rivalry. But this is a very important game for Muschamp. He needs this victory to get his second win against a Florida rival.

8. Tennessee (5-6, 1-6): Like the walkers from the Walking Dead, Tennessee regenerated over the weekend with a crucial win against Vanderbilt. There was some controversy to go with it, but the Vols notched their first conference win of the season and are a win away from going back to a bowl game. A loss to the Commodores would have been devastating for this team and coach Derek Dooley, but now they don't have to worry about that. This has been a very tough season for this program. Injuries have ravaged the offense and youth has led to inconsistency. However, making it to a bowl game with a win against Kentucky could make things right with Vols Nation.

9. Mississippi State (5-6, 1-6): The fight we expected from this Bulldogs team just hasn't been there. This was supposed to be a possible dark horse in the SEC West race, but has struggled to consistently develop a solid offensive game since its Week 2 loss to Auburn. That game might have changed everything for Mississippi State. Even with the struggles, the Bulldogs are still a win away from making it back to the postseason. Mississippi State takes on lowly Ole Miss in the Egg Bowl on Saturday. Dan Mullen is 2-0 against Houston Nutt, and while neither team looked great over the weekend, you have to think that the Bulldogs have the edge with Ole Miss a game away from saying goodbye to its head coach.

10. Vanderbilt (5-6, 2-6): For all of the talk about this being a new Vanderbilt team, the Commodores sure haven't figured out how to beat an SEC team on the road. And the struggles against Tennessee just continue to pile up. There is no question that this is a more impressive and exciting Vanderbilt team to watch, but the execution against bigger SEC teams just isn't there when it counts. Costly turnovers haven't helped, either. Vandy was a win away from getting back to a bowl game for the first time since 2008, but lost to Tennessee in overtime. Now, the 'Dores have to beat Wake Forest on the road in order to become bowl eligible. The road hasn't been kind to this team thus far.

11. Kentucky (4-7, 1-6): Kentucky fought all the way until the end against Georgia, but at the end of the day it just didn't have enough going for it on offense to pull off the shocker. Kentucky has struggled with its offense all season, and when the Wildcats needed a play here or a play there, there was nothing. That's been the story of a team that lost a handful of offensive weapons from a year ago. The Wildcats can only get to five wins this season if they beat Tennessee, meaning the chance at six straight bowl game has faded away. This was supposed to be a tough season, but it was hard to envision the offense looking this bad for so long.

12. Ole Miss (2-9, 0-7): You have to give a lot of credit to Ole Miss' fan base for coming out excited for the LSU game. Minutes before kickoff, Vaught-Hemingway Stadium was rocking and it actually felt like an intimidating venue for an instant. That lasted for all of 28 seconds when LSU's Ron Brooks took a poorly thrown pass by Zack Stoudt 46 yards in for the score. The student section began to clear out almost immediately. But this has been a disaster of a season for the Rebels, who will part ways with their coach after the Egg Bowl. The offense took a step back and the defense just never had enough plays in it. This program will go into total rebuilding mode with its new coach, but could get some momentum with an upset of Mississippi State on Saturday.

This hasn’t been an easy season for Kentucky coach Joker Phillips.

His Wildcats are hovering around the bottom of the SEC in most offensive and defensive categories. They needs two more wins to become bowl eligible, but the team limping into the last two weeks of the season after the injury bug bit the defense.

And without the playmakers from last year’s team, the Wildcats have rarely found any sort of rhythm on offense this season.

Now, with a sixth straight bowl berth on the line, Kentucky is slated to take on one of the hottest SEC teams around in Georgia, which will clinch the SEC Eastern Division with a win on Saturday.

No one is giving Kentucky much of a chance this weekend, and from what Phillips has seen from the Bulldogs on tape, he can see why Georgia has reeled off eight straight wins and is at the top of the division.

“The thing you see with this Georgia team is just how physical they are,” Phillips said. “They’ve got some attitude plays on offense -- that they are downhill. They are big and physical inside on defense and they are very aggressive on both sides of the ball.

“When you have those type of guys, you can run downhill with people, and they’re doing a good job of it.”

Phillips said Georgia’s physical nature reminds him of the South Carolina team that won the East last year.

Kentucky assumes the ultimate underdog role this weekend in Athens, Ga., but it seems that all the pressure is on Georgia. The Wildcats are in a must-win situation for a bowl bid, but Phillips said making it to the postseason hasn’t been on the minds of his players or coaches.

“We haven’t spent a lot of time on it,” Phillips said of discussing a possible postseason bid with his team. “Our goal is to make sure we’re trying to improve every game, every day.”

Despite Kentucky’s 4-6 record, Phillips said the team has improved. The younger players are getting better, but have a tendency to go backward at times. Injuries on both sides of the ball haven’t helped, but Phillips said he sees a lot of fight in this team week in and week out.

Improvement can be hard to pinpoint when you look at Kentucky’s season as a whole, but Phillips has been impressed with the way his players have continued to hold their heads high and haven’t given up.

“Our attitude has been great,” he said. “We’ve been beat up, banged up for a big part of the season. We haven’t made enough plays down the field, but I really like the attitude of the football team and how they’re playing.”

The winner Saturday between Kentucky and Vanderbilt will keep alive its bowl hopes.

But over and above football, the game will also constitute a first.

It will be the first time in SEC history that two black head coaches will go up against each other in football.

James Franklin is in his first season at Vanderbilt, while Joker Phillips is in his second season as the Kentucky head coach.

Perhaps the most refreshing thing about Saturday's matchup is that very little has been made about this being the first matchup of two black head football coaches in the SEC. Certainly, it warrants being mentioned and will always be a slice of this conference's history.

But the fact that it's not a huge story is a good sign that we continue to make progress in these parts (and in the SEC) when it comes to race, although there's still a ways to go.

Remember, it was only seven years ago that the SEC hired its first black head football coach. Sylvester Croom coached at Mississippi State from 2004-08. Phillips followed Rich Brooks at Kentucky in 2010, becoming the SEC"s second black head football coach. Franklin was the third when he was hired at Vanderbilt prior to this season.

Kentucky truly took advantage of its bye week.

The Wildcats had a mountain of offensive problems heading into Saturday, but ended their four-game losing streak in a 38-14 win over Jacksonville State. It was their most impressive offensive performance of the season.

Kentucky entered the day ranked last in the SEC in scoring and total offense, but the Wildcats more than doubled their average number of points per game and racked up a season-high 445 yards. The Wildcats looked the most complete they have all season against the Gamecocks.

What really should have made coach Joker Phillips happy was that the running game produced 340 of those yards. Junior CoShik Williams, who took over a Kentucky backfield ravaged by injuries, had his coming out party Saturday, rushing for a career-high 148 yards.

While this certainly wasn't an SEC opponent the Wildcats clobbered, it was the first real positive step for Kentucky's offense. It was the exact way the Wildcats wanted to start the second half of the season. We'll see if this offensive explosion for the Wildcats bleeds over into next week's game against Mississippi State.

» Power Rankings: ACC | Big 12 | Big East | Big Ten | Pac-12 | SEC

Hey, what do you know? The first BCS standings of the 2011 season look exactly like this week’s SEC power rankings at the top.

It’s still LSU and Alabama and then everybody else:

1. LSU (7-0, 4-0): For perspective on how well the Tigers have it rolling right now, they steamrolled Tennessee 38-7 in Neyland Stadium last Saturday, one of the Vols’ worst home beatings ever, and LSU coach Les Miles said afterward, “It wasn’t our best game, certainly, but we did the things we needed to do to secure victory.” It’s the same thing the Tigers have been doing all season, controlling the game with a punishing running attack on offense and then turning around and punishing opposing offenses with a suffocating defense. That’s seven straight wins by double digits, and LSU heads back home this week to face Auburn after debuting as the No. 1 team in the first installment of the BCS standings.

2. Alabama (7-0, 4-0): The way the Crimson Tide are running through foes, it’s hard to imagine them being second to anybody. Checking in at No. 2 in the first BCS standings, they’ve won their four SEC games by a combined margin of 162-31 and are coming off a 52-7 pasting of Ole Miss on the road. It’s difficult to see anybody beating this team right now. That is, unless it’s LSU. We won’t have to guess much longer. Their Nov. 5 matchup is fast approaching. But Alabama still has Tennessee at home this week before turning its attention to LSU. The Crimson Tide might be known for their defense, but they’re also demonstrating that they can be plenty explosive on offense. And the guy wearing No. 3 on offense for the Tide ain’t half bad.

3. Arkansas (5-1, 1-1): The Hogs were the third SEC team in the top 10 of the first BCS standings. They were No. 9, which seems like a long way back. But if they keep winning, who knows what can happen? Coming off an open date, Arkansas travels to Ole Miss this week and has a very manageable schedule the rest of the way. The Hogs should also be as healthy as they’ve been after seeing several starters sidelined, including senior defensive end Jake Bequette, for much of the first half of the season. There’s a lot of momentum in the program right now, especially with the way junior quarterback Tyler Wilson is playing, and a second straight BCS bowl berth will be at stake over these next six weeks.

4. Auburn (5-2, 3-1): The Tigers might have one more loss than South Carolina, but they also beat the Gamecocks in Columbia and are coming off an impressive defensive performance in a 17-6 win at home against Florida. Auburn defensive coordinator Ted Roof and his staff deserve some props, because that defense has made considerable strides since those first few weeks of the season. The quarterback picture is unclear heading into the LSU trip this week, although Clint Moseley replaced Barrett Trotter in the Florida game and is likely the guy going forward. Either way, the Tigers continue to find ways to win and have been the SEC team that has done more with less, especially when you consider how inexperienced they were coming into the season.

5. South Carolina (6-1, 4-1): The Gamecocks can only hope they don’t have many more weeks like last week. Fifth-year senior quarterback Stephen Garcia was kicked off the team. Coach Steve Spurrier unloaded on a local columnist and was skewered for it nationally, and then star running back Marcus Lattimore suffered a season-ending knee injury in the 14-12 win at Mississippi State. Nothing has come easy for South Carolina this season, and it hasn’t always been pretty. The offense (other than the Kentucky game) has sort of puttered along, and it will really be a challenge now that Lattimore is out. Nonetheless, the Gamecocks control their own destiny in the Eastern Division race and are playing their best defense of the season. In their past four games, they’ve given up a total of 34 points. They’re one of four teams in the league off this week.

6. Georgia (5-2, 4-1): While it’s South Carolina that holds the head-to-head tiebreaker and controls its own destiny in the East race, Georgia might have the clearest path to the division title. The Bulldogs survived last week in a harrowing 33-28 win against Vanderbilt and have now won five straight games since opening the season with back-to-back losses. They get a week off before their Oct. 29 showdown with archrival Florida, which should ensure getting some of their best players back, including linebacker Alec Ogletree and freshman receiver Malcolm Mitchell. The start to the season was disappointing, but this is right where the Bulldogs wanted to be going into late October. They’ve fought their way back into the race. Now, we’ll see if they can finish the deal.

7. Florida (4-3, 2-3): After three straight losses to Top 25 opponents, the Gators get a week off. The even better news for them is that they hope to get senior quarterback John Brantley back in time for the Georgia game on Oct. 29. Brantley suffered a high ankle sprain in the Alabama game, and Florida’s offense has been dreadful ever since. The Gators have gone three straight games now without rushing for 100 yards and are still looking for an identity in a lot of different areas. The defense played better in the 17-6 loss to Auburn, but Florida made a ton of mistakes on special teams and still has a ways to go before climbing back into elite status in this league.

8. Tennessee (3-3, 0-3): There’s not a lot guaranteed for the Vols the rest of the way other than the fact that they’re going to have to scratch and claw just to finish .500 or better. It doesn’t look like sophomore quarterback Tyler Bray will be back during the regular season, as the plan now is for him to have surgery on his broken thumb. The Vols will need to get more out of backup quarterback Matt Simms and the passing game from here on out, but this next one could be even uglier than the 38-7 home loss to LSU last week. The Vols travel to Alabama looking to snap an eight-game losing streak against nationally ranked foes.

9. Vanderbilt (3-3, 1-3): The Commodores fought the whole game last week and nearly pulled off a big upset against Georgia. After the game, first-year coach James Franklin was still fighting mad as he and Georgia defensive coordinator Todd Grantham almost came to blows. Franklin said this version of Vanderbilt isn’t going to “sit back and take it anymore.” It was a big step in the right direction offensively for Vanderbilt, which tried a little bit of everything in piling up 349 total yards and scoring 28 points. Next up is Army at home, a must-win for the Commodores if they’re going to be bowl-eligible this season.

10. Mississippi State (3-4, 0-4): The Bulldogs have Ole Miss and Kentucky to thank, or they’d be even lower in these rankings. Once ranked as high as No. 16 in the national polls this season, Mississippi State is still looking for its first SEC win. The consensus among the players coming out of last Saturday’s 14-12 home loss to South Carolina was that the Bulldogs weren’t that far away from being a good football team. That might be, but their record is a long way from being where everybody in Starkville thought it was going to be at this point.

11. Ole Miss (2-4, 0-3): It just keeps getting worse for the Rebels. They were flattened 52-7 last Saturday at home by Alabama, their 11th SEC loss in their past 12 games dating to the 2009 season. If that’s not enough, they also lost two more key defensive players. Cornerback Marcus Temple and end Wayne Dorsey, both seniors, suffered season-ending injuries against the Crimson Tide. Ole Miss has scored just three offensive touchdowns in its three SEC losses this season.

12. Kentucky (2-4, 0-3): For the first time in a while, the Wildcats aren’t coming off a loss. That’s because they were off last week, a much-needed open date after four straight losses and a glut of injuries. The Wildcats are still searching for anything to get them going offensively. Coach Joker Phillips hopes to have a few more guys closer to 100 percent this Saturday against Jacksonville State. In the meantime, he doesn’t have to worry about his job. Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart said last week that Phillips would “absolutely” be back next season as coach.