There has been enough football this season, we can begin measuring the Alabama Crimson Tide against the performances of other SEC football teams. After week three, every SEC team, except one, has played three games. Vanderbilt, having played in week zero, has played four games.
Almost half the conference, Arkansas, Florida, South Carolina, Kentucky, LSU and Mississippi State have already played an SEC game. But it remains too early to track conference standings.
Instead, we evaluate the teams based on their best wins and worst loss. To do so, a ranking of all opponents is needed. Every week, Jeff Sagarin provides one with his rankings combining all 261 FBS and FCS teams.
Alabama football fans may distrust rankings based on computer algorithms, but Sagarin has the Alabama Crimson Tide at No. 1.
Note: The rankings below are current and not the ranking of SEC opponents when the games were played.
SEC Football Best Wins (for each team)
- Alabama (3-0) beat No. 8 Texas, in Austin
- Florida (2-1) beat No. 10 Utah
- Georgia (3-0) beat No. 12 Oregon in Atlanta
- LSU (2-1) beat No. 25 Mississippi State
- Arkansas (3-0) beat No. 27 Cincinnati
- Tennessee (3-0) beat No. 29 Pitt on the road
- Texas A&M (2-1) beat No. 34 Miami
- Kentucky (3-0) beat No. 43 Florida on the road
- Mississippi State (2-1) beat No. 59 Memphis
- Ole Miss (3-0) beat No. 97 Troy
- Auburn (2-1) beat No. 100 San Jose State
- Vanderbilt (3-1) beat No. 107 Northern Illinois on the road
- Missouri (2-1) beat No. 119 Louisiana Tech
- South Carolina (1-2) beat No. 123 Georgia State
SEC Football Losses (from best to worst)
- South Carolina lost to No. 2 Georgia
- Auburn lost to No. 6 Penn State
- Mississippi State lost to No. 16 LSU
- Florida lost to No. 18 Kentucky
- Missouri lost to No. 28 Kansas State
- LSU lost to No. 38 Florida State
- Vanderbilt lost to No. 39 Wake Forest
- Texas A&M lost to No. 54 Appalachian State
Let’s assume the Sagarin algorithm is more accurate than other rankings, like the AP and Coaches polls. The ESPN FPI could be used to compare the Sagarin rankings but ESPN does not publish a ranking for the FCS teams.
Like the FPI, the Sagarin rankings do not rate the resumes of Arkansas and Florida nearly as high as the AP and Coaches polls. Fans can debate the merits of individual teams, but using the Sagarin computer model provides added insight.
All of us will draw our own conclusions from the data above. A quick one for me is so far, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Auburn, Missouri and South Carolina do not have a good enough win to generate enthusiasm. The same would be true for Vanderbilt, but for the Commodores, any win is a good win.