SEC teams with their hands on the panic button in Week 7

It was upset Saturday in college football last week and the SEC was not immune from the bug that was traveling around.

Alabama lost to Vanderbilt in the most stunning defeat of the day, but unbeaten Tennessee fell on the road to Arkansas in the night cap in another upset. Early in the day, Missouri got hammered on the road at Texas A&M.

That was three previously undefeated SEC teams going down, two of which lost to unranked opponents. Missouri's loss on the surface isn't so bad - A&M is a good team and Kyle Field is a tough place to play - but they were taken to the woodshed. A lot of people had doubts that the Tigers were actually playoff contenders, and they did nothing to dispel that notion in College Station.

As we head into Week 7, the hierarchy in the SEC has been turned upside down. This college football season has a decidedly 2007 feel to it, and I've got a feeling we haven't seen the last major upset of the season in the conference. Not even close.

Who might be reaching for the panic button this week?

Ole Miss or LSU

One of these teams is going to emerge from Death Valley on Saturday night with renewed playoff energy, scoring a big win over a Top-15 opponent to boost its resume. The other will take its second loss of the young season, putting playoff hopes in jeopardy and removing any further margin of error.

LSU has rebounded well since a season opening loss to USC. They've won four in a row, though only one of those games against a quality opponent on the road against South Carolina (a game they probably should have lost.)

The Tigers have nothing but conference games left on the schedule from here, and need a home win over the Rebels with back-to-back road games coming at Arkansas and at Texas A&M right after.

Ole Miss responded well from its home loss to Kentucky with a dominant 27-3 win over South Carolina on the road last week. The Rebels' playoff aspriations are still very much alive as they sit No. 9 in the AP Poll.

But there's still a lot of doubt about Ole Miss as they haven't played a difficult schedule to date. The win last week over the Gamecocks was easily their biggest win of the season so far. A road game at night in Death Valley will take the Rebels' best performance of the season.

A loss would put Ole Miss in a difficult position to get to the playoff; a win would set Ole Miss up, with a manageable schedule, to push toward the playoff and potentially an SEC Championship.

Tennessee

Tennessee's high-powered, explosive offense has been stuck in the mud the last couple of weeks. The Vols' defense has been carrying a lot of the weight, and it worked in a win over Oklahoma in Norman, but the Vols got caught at Arkansas.

Through three games, Tennessee was scoring 63 points-per-game and looked completely unstoppable. In the last two games - their first two conference games of the season - they're averaging under 20.

Now they come back home to Neyland, but a desperate rival awaits. If Billy Napier wants a chance at keeping his job, upsetting Tennessee in Knoxville would be a big step in that direction. Quietly, the Gators have looked better in the last couple of weeks, scoring wins over Mississippi State and UCF.

Ths is the first of four straight home games, but with Alabama looming the next week, the Vols can't afford a second consecutive loss here, especially as a two touchdown favorite, again.

Alabama

Who are we kidding? Alabama fans are already beyond panic after the program's first loss to Vanderbilt in 40 years. But that panic will reach a fever pitch unless the Crimson Tide bounces back, in a big way, against South Carolina in Tuscaloosa this weekend.

It won't be enough for the Crimson Tide to win, it'll need to win big over the Gamecocks to satisfy a fanbase that still demands perfection. A ho-hum, 38-31 type of victory will have Alabama fans jumping off the cliff, assuming any game the rest of the way outside of Mercer is probably a loss.

I think everyone - Alabama fans and media pundits everywhere - are probably overreacting to the Vanderbilt game. But another loss - or just another sloppy, close win - would move us toward DEFCON 4 in Tuscaloosa.