Inside the AP Poll: SEC teams are playing musical chairs with nine-game conference schedule

Lane Kiffin didn’t even wait until LSU had played its ninth SEC game before he trotted out the talking point.

Discussing LSU’s injury issues two games into SEC play, Kiffin told ESPN’s Marty Smith that the injuries were directly tied to the rigors of the league “versus other conferences, and how (they) don’t have to play players or play them as long,” referring to the impact of the SEC going to a nine-game conference schedule.

“Be careful what you wish for, SEC,” Kiffin said.

Now, this didn’t make any sense for a coach to say in September. But the league’s head coaches have been preemptively complaining about the impact of the nine-game SEC schedules for months. It was a major talking point at both SEC spring meetings and SEC media days. Adding the additional conference game ensures that eight SEC teams will finish with an additional loss. That could be the difference between a bowl game and staying home. It could be the difference between a College Football Playoff berth and the Pop-Tarts Bowl. It could cost one or more coaches their jobs.

Missouri makes big jump to No. 14 in AP Top 25 with rout of Gators; Texas No. 1 for 4th week in row

Missouri made a big jump to No. 14 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Sunday following its rout of Florida while the Gators dropped eight spots to No. 16 and were replaced by LSU in the top 10.

• Associated Press,

All that to say, this is an important narrative to keep in mind as we look at this week’s AP Top 25. Because, unsurprisingly after a strong nonconference performance when the league’s teams went 10-2 against other Power 4 competition, there are still a lot of SEC teams in the poll. And you’ll notice that a lot of them are one-loss SEC teams playing a round of musical chairs.

That’s because Missouri just crushed Florida, which gives the Tigers a top-10 win — because the Gators vaulted into the top 10 last week after crushing Ole Miss. The Rebels had vaulted into the top five themselves after beating LSU, which had become a top-10 team after crushing (a rather pedestrian version of) Clemson.

I’m not saying LSU, Ole Miss, Florida or Missouri are bad teams by any stretch of the imagination. But they are cycling through these spots because each team got massively up for a big game and then suffered a letdown a week later. Head-to-head results come into play when evaluating these teams against each other, but at some point, it becomes almost impossible to keep all the winners ahead of all the losers. Especially when you factor in Mississippi State’s win over Mizzou — and the fact that Alabama dominated the Bulldogs in Starkville this weekend.

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Week 5 absolutely delivered, from fireworks at the new stadium in Evanston to the statement made by Mizzou in CoMo.

• Nicole Auerbach,

It’s nearly impossible to determine what the order of these teams should be right now. (I ordered them differently than my peers did, it appears!) Thankfully, we’ll get more data points as these SEC teams continue to play each other. That will help the poll and the eventual CFP rankings.

By the time we get to December, the SEC’s top teams will have survived something of a grind, especially with teams like Mississippi State and Kentucky rising to join the league’s middle class (and refusing to be SEC doormats any longer). What could this mean? That SEC teams that finish 10-2 and 9-3 will likely have very strong resumes, which will allow them to dominate the CFP at-large conversation. The SEC could (and should?) very well have a bunch of teams that make the CFP bracket — which is the CFP giving the SEC credit for its challenging schedules. We’ll have to make sure to remind the coaches that!

Stray thoughts/observations:

• The 15-30ish range was even more difficult to determine this week. Why should Pitt be ranked but not Wake Forest? Is it just because the Panthers played on a Friday night, so more voters got a look at them?
• Mississippi State suffered its first loss of the season (to Alabama) but one of the best wins on its resume (over Minnesota) continues to age well, as the Gophers have picked up wins over Washington and Michigan in the past two weeks. Minnesota got some votes this week as well.
• I’m glad to see North Dakota State receiving some votes! Unsurprisingly, the Bison have continued their tradition of excellence at the FBS level. It’s great to see some voters highlighting that early-season success.