For a brief moment last Saturday night — OK, let’s be honest, for several brief moments — Mississippi State seemed on the verge of turning the SEC Power Poll upside down. But the Alabama Crimson Tide found a way to escape from Starkville with its position atop the ranking intact. Nothing is going to happen this week that will change that.

But is the SEC starting to flash a little more depth than people anticipated? Sure, Georgia’s brand is diluted. Sure, the bottom four teams — including two of the league’s standard bearers, Tennessee and Florida, is in disarray. But shouldn’t there be a lot of newfound respect for Auburn, and at least some for LSU, Mississippi State and (gulp) South Carolina. Let’s all enjoy a delicious cupcake this weekend and ponder that until Ragnarok comes to the league in a couple of weeks.

Rank	Team	Last Week
1.		1.	The Walking Wounded can probably win this weekend even if they really do use a walker on every play. For Alabama fans, victory isn’t on the scoreboard against Mercer. It’s getting the starters safely on the bench before noon.
2.		3.	I told you it was Voodoo Time. I told you that every three or four years, the planets aligned in some weird formation and  strange things started happening at Auburn. I told you, but did you listen? No. So now that there are orange and blue zombies walking down your street trying to eat your brains, don’t complain to me. Because I told you.
3.		2.	The Bulldogs found out the hard way about throwing a freshman quarterback into Jordan-Hare Stadium. But still have hope, if a good deal less hype.
4.		4.	YES I KNOW TYPING IN ALL CAPS IS SHOUTING, I HAVE TO SHOUT BECAUSE THE COWBELLS HAVE MADE ME DEAF!!!!
5.		5.	Did you know that Butch Jones is undefeated against LSU? He is (because he never coached against them.) A narrow escape…
6.		6.	I’m not saying that the Gamecocks can ruin Clemson’s playoff dreams on two weeks. I’m just saying those chickens can sneak up on you…
7.		8.	We aren’t quite to the point where rival fan bases are holding up ironic “We Want Mizzou” signs but at least they’ve stopped holding up “We Want Mizzou — No, Seriously, We Need The Win” signs.
8.		7.	If Jim McElwain, Butch Jones, Bret Bielema and Kevin Sumlin all carpool to their color commentary gigs for the Tuesday night MAC games next year, they can save a lot of money.
9.		9.	I will guarantee you that you had never heard of Jordan Ta’amu three weeks ago (I hadn’t) and today he’d be the starting quarterback at a half-dozen programs in the SEC.
10.		10.	Roughed up Vanderbilt which is, strictly speaking, legal but is going to make people think you are a bully until the big kids come around.
11.		11.	Let’s be honest here. Every one of these bottom four teams richly deserved to be ranked No. 14 and I would gladly do it except Florida’s current lease on the basement strictly prohibits them from sub-letting. P.S. UT fired Butch Jones after six weeks of him hanging on like a barnacle with a crew cut.
12.		12.	Vandy lacks the spectacular crash-and-burn badness of the other programs in the Bottom Four. They’re just a good, old-fashioned Vandy sort of bad, like a tepid bowl of tomato soup.
13.		13.	Drinking and driving is not acceptable under any circumstances but if you’re the backup quarterback at Arkansas, that’s almost mitigating.
14.		14.	A year ago, UAB didn’t have a football team to put on the field. Today, we are debating whether the Gators — playing at home — can beat the Blazers. And a lot of people don’t think they can.