Getty Image
The SEC continues to flex its muscle as college football’s top conference. This week, a statement was made on that status in the AP Poll.
The league made history by having affiliates littered throughout the Top 15. You wouldn’t know that a few of those top teams have struggled thus far!
The first two weeks of the season have been a bag of mixed results in the Southeastern Conference. While teams like Texas and Georgia have coasted with convincing wins over the likes of Clemson and Michigan, many others have hit speed bumps.
Texas A&M fell to Notre Dame in Week 1, just before the Fighting Irish were upset by Northern Illinois.
Auburn has a loss to Cal, Arkansas blew a two-touchdown lead at Oklahoma State, LSU lost its opener to USC, Florida was embarrassed by Miami, and Mississippi State has been beaten by Arizona State.
To this point, the league is 5-5 against other P4 conferences, and even some of the early wins have proved hard to come by.
South Carolina nearly lost to Old Dominion in its opener. Alabama struggled for 3.5 quarters against South Florida. Oklahoma had a close call with Houston. Those results against G5 competition don’t necessarily scream “America’s Top Football Conference.”
That said, the majority of SEC teams have evaded complete disaster in those close calls to keep their places in the Top 25 poll.
This week, the league made history.
View this post on Instagram
Six of the Top 7 teams in the AP Poll hail from the SEC. That’s a first in the poll’s 88-year history.
Many of those teams began the year in the preseason Top 15, making it a bit easier to slide up to achieve the feat. Still, it’s impressive!
Despite making history, there are still some blemishes on the Southeastern Conference resume. Most notably an 0-3 overall record to (former) PAC 12 schools.
We’ll see how many of these squads can stick around at the top of the rankings as the year treks on.